Model: Marissa Stokes Published in Arsenic Magazine
This summer I have found myself completely drawn to the water, and anytime I get the chance to shoot in or around it I am one happy lady. For several months now, I have been putting together the idea of an early morning water nymph/lady of the lake inspired shoot. After scouring Pinterest and devoting an entire board to the idea, I contacted the stunning Marissa Stokes to come out and be my nymph muse. She got up to meet me at the crack of dawn down in La Jolla and hoped right in the water without question.
I chose to stick with a wardrobe composed of simple dresses and slips in order to achieve a "Lady of the Lake" feel. This white slip is a vintage piece I got from my grandma years ago and I couldn't be happier with how it looked in the seaside caves.
I also drew a bit of inspiration from a previous shoot I worked on this sumer, incorporating the concept of a woman Shipwrecked and stranded (speaking of which, be sure to watch for my editorial "Shipwrecked" coming out soon in the new issue of Stone Free Magazine.) This black vintage dress reminded me of something a woman would have worn on a journey across the sea, so shooting this piece wet just worked perfectly. It is that simple beauty that is created by the dichotomy of having a model fully clothed mixed with the sand and sea water that I think is at the core of what has drawn me to shoot in or near water so much recently.
The cave that we shot a portion of this series in provided us with the exact conditions I had hoped for. There was a small tide pool that allowed us to shoot in water without having to constinatly be in the open sea and there was soft early morning light pouring through the far entrance.
The cave also had an interesting old post helping to fight against the erosion caused by the never ending waves, and some smooth rock walls that were worn down to perfection. The dark color of the rocks really made this light turquoise maxi dress prop.
in the end, this series came out better than I had ever envisioned it could be. Marissa brought a wonderful elegance to the overall piece and really understood the direction I was going in. I would like to send a huge thank you out to her for being such a great muse in this piece and for braving the early morning ocean water! I just had to include this one outtake, I think her face says it all!
I'd also like to thank Arsenic Magazine for publishing this piece and once again allowing me to be a part of their awesome publication! And, as always, be sure to check back here soon to see the full set of my shoot with the stunning Nesha Torres for Shop Trendy and Tipsy!
XO-
Wendy