The "fair maiden" dress... What is your favorite prop?

 I'm sure there a few photographers and artists that can relate to using props in their images.  We can enhance our art and story by using them!  Sometimes they work, sometimes they don't...

Today's prop: 
The "Fair Maiden" dress....

I came upon this dress somewhere in New Hampshire in 2014 I believe...one of my long long drives from Boston up to the coast of Maine.  I thought it was super home-made looking and a little dated.  However I've found over this last year or more that I've really had a lot of fun making photography with it.  

Why do I call it the "Fair Maiden" dress? 

Several reasons:
#1-it's white and shiny - everything that "fair" could mean.  Bright...takes light really well and REFLECTS light really well.

#2-my first name "Jennifer" means white wave, fair lady, fair enchantress, fair

#3- any time i use this dress now I have a common theme in which the person wearing truly takes this ugly white dress and gives it life...it has a liquid flow to it unlike ANY other dress i've ever owned.   

This image below was created around Cannon Beach, OR.  By the time this dress gets wet the flow no longer is apparent, but it still gives great shapes & inspiration.  I think the reflection is just amazing and gives me a sense of a mirror. 

 

This image was created at Haystack Rock.  A very dreamy place full of mystery and things that you can see at low tide...but i was there at HIGH tide. :(   The wind most often takes this dress and makes it look interesting and also is a great separator to dark backgrounds in any light scenario.  When its in full sun, it GLOWS!  

This image was created AFTER all the amazing 2 days of shooting with Jasmine.  I had wondered what it would look like on the ground or floating in the water.  I found however, that the waves would literally bunch it up and carry it out to sea....I almost let it go a little too long!  This dress has been good to me... I have put if through a lot so far.  I can tell you this much - it loves the beach... just as much as I do. :)  

 What props inspire you?  What props do you find yourself using over and over?  

Show me some images and tell me about your prop!!!!

Love Jen

The sparkles in the water.................

 
In 2014 I was able to see a lot of my true heart-dreams come true.  I worked hard every day to keep focused on those particular dreams so they wouldn't die!  In September I had the pleasure of visiting Cape Cod and on that trip I took a detour through Rhode Island and Connecticut.  We don't often talk about those states down here in Texas unless you are from there.  For me, I immediately thought of the movie 'Mystic Pizza' and decided that was a dream to fulfill.  As silly and as nerdy as it sounded - I wanted to experience that. So this adventure through Rhode Island was on the way to Mystic, CT.  (yes the pizza place is real!)

My assistant and I stopped along the waters of Rhode Island on the way to the train station in Providence and these were the moments I was able to capture while standing on the dock.  At first I was completely in shock!  The bright stars DANCED on the top of the water and didn't stop moving one bit.  They were blinding!  I pulled out my camera and HOPED that I could capture even a fragment of what it looked like!  I had never seen anything like that in all my adventures with the water and sunlight.  The video footage tells a better story HERE.

The sparkles in the water were a wonderful reminder to stop and be thankful for creativity and how all things work together for a grander purpose. We have dreams that we write down...and dreams that we live without even thinking about it.  The biggest challenge you can give yourself is daring to look INSIDE yourself and dream the impossible dream and then LIVE the impossible dream!  

Today's Questions:
-Have you fulfilled a life-long dream yet?  Why or why not?
-Is fear stopping you from making a leap?
-What is ONE particular dream that you think about all the time?  Why have you not done it?

To DREAM more join me at the Ladies' RETREAT - July 24-26th 2015.  Open for 5 women!

Below are some of the photography stills from the moments on the dock!  I will never forget this small memento of a time in my life where I was living a dream.