French vibes, bold colours

Shoot ideas originate in one of two ways:

1. Instant concept download into your brain.

OR

2. A concept with is brought together with a lot of thought and only makes sense when the final images come through. 

This shoot was definitely the second case scenario. My sister’s room has a small bedside table full to the brim with cosmetics. I wanted to see what colours she had and began picking out and mixing the ones I liked. One pile was a pale shimmery baby blue, rose pink and gold toned powders- it reminded me of the French Revolution queen – Marie Antoinette especially as portraited in Sophia Coppolas film.

It’s hard to relate to the last Queen of France. Married at just 15, often portrayed as frivolous, out of touch with her subjects, convicted of incest and treason…it’s no surprise. However, there is no denying her love of colourful and dramatic clothes and I can definitely relate to that.
So that’s the look we went for; 18th century french inspired ,eccentric and theatrical. I chose the earrings as they resembled chandeliers, the word itself originating from the French “chandelle” or candle in the mid 18th century. Ladies in this period of time aimed to look as pale as possible, using white powder liberally to cover marks on their face left behind by smallpox. Little hearts , moons or other shapes were used to cover up marks which were still visible through the powder. Lips were small and shaped like rose – buds and cheeks were highlighted with very bright pink powder. In addition to all this, hair was also powdered, eyebrows plucked off and filled in with mouse hair (wow). We didn’t take things that far this time haha.

Hope you enjoyed this shoot!

Tamilian vibes

It was pure luck that me and my sister found this saree on a random op-shop trip. It cost us $10.25 and the combination of peach and olive green was a winner on my skin tone. Our previous cultural shoot was about the traditional dress of the Sinhalese ethnic group and it was only natural to do our take on the next biggest ethnic group.

Our aim was to highlight the things we love about the traditional dress of a Tamil lady. My sister took charge of the makeup, opting for red and brown tones for the eyes and finishing it off with kajal. We “stole” our mother’s gold jewelry, and although we are not partial to it, we can certainly see the appeal after this shoot.

Ethnic differences can be considered internal differences, especially from an outsiders perspective. There are a lot more similarities between the Sinhalese and Tamil people than differences. Genetically, we all come from India (exactly where we don’t know) and if we really want to go back in time, all of us come from the African subcontinent.

However, the failure to identify and respect these internal differences of religion and culture, even in a simple photo shoot is an echo of the type of attitude which led to the civil war; a 30 year long dispute between the majority Sinhalese and minority Tamils.

We shot at the Kovil at Carrum Downs, Melbourne, starting off with a personal prayer asking for the blessings of Lord Ganesha (remover of obstacles) in our private attempt at bringing attention to Tamil culture, through our medium of clothes, makeup and photography. As our prayers came to a close, the sun shone brightly and the Sunday crowd lessened and we took our shots.

NOTES:

Model – myself. Saree draping – also by myself and the neat drapes disappeared as the day went by. SIGH.