Laura hand-stitched the skirt out of feathers. We worked with makeup artist Rachel Duff, who did a great job modernizing the Mona Lisa’s muted makeup. In case you’re wondering, the frame was held up by metal stands, which I removed from the final image with Photoshop.

We also took the opportunity to update our series of photos with Laura and her creatures. Here’s the new one:

We’ve done two previous creature photos. The previous two look like spring and summer, and this latest one represents fall. I realize that all we need now is a winter one. I’m sure we’ll shoot that soon.

She created a “money forest” in her studio, and it was truly spectacular. It was my job to photograph it, so I really wanted to do it justice.

The lighting was tricky in this one. We wanted to create a magical or mystical mood. I imagined it almost like a fairy tale. With all the dangling threads and fibres, I knew that the best way to do this was to backlight it heavily. At the same time, I wanted her skin to appear porcelain and pure, so it required some good fill light too. To create this affect, I used three strobes. One was positioned high in her loft above and behind the set. I pointed it at the white ceiling to give a sort of “overcast” light that would fill the entire scene, but mostly from behind. The second strobe was positioned behind and above to the left of the frame. I used a white brolly-box to cast soft light in all directions. It provided a halo-type backlight to Laura, and also lit up the hanging strands of wool and made them glow. The third and final strobe provided a main light to spotlight the figure. I put a brolly-box on that light too, to soften it and prevent any hard shadows from the money tree branches. This light was positioned above and to the right of the frame, slightly ahead of Laura. It was pointed down towards her face. This way it would cast some flattering shadows from front to back. As usual, I like to light female faces directly from the front.

To create the impression of depth in the photo, we positioned hanging strands of wool in front and behind Laura. I shot at f2.8 around 70mm. We attached money in layers at different distances from the camera, so the shallow depth of field would imply the distances, and create a three-dimensional flow through the image.

So there you go. Money forest. I have planted a $5 bill to see if it I can grow my own now.

Considering how many things could have gone wrong with this shoot, everything came together just perfectly. The temperature, the slight clouds diffusing the sun, the perfect amount of wind, the color of the water–it all just worked.

The cones are elements of Laura’s own art, so including them was essential to this image. It’s a good thing they made a great stand-in for the giant clamshell.

The shoot progressed after that with the giant white bird, which is another character from Laura’s art. We shot a number of photos before hitting just the right combination and actions to create this dynamic image.

I shot both images using my new 24-70mm lens. After a brief initial period of discomfort with the focal length range, I have quickly warmed to this lens. It’s simply a pleasure to explore this chunk of perspective that I have been missing from my vision for several years. I didn’t even realize I was missing it. During this shoot, the only equipment I brought was the camera with 24-70mm lens attached, and the 70-200mm lens in my bag. As it turned out, I never even took the 70-200mm out of the bag. The new lens just felt right.

Anyway, we’re delighted by how these photos turned out. There are more to come too…