I had been planning this photo shoot for awhile and we awoke this morning to the most glorious day Columbus has seen in some months now. I simply had to take photos!
I packed up some props, and Alekha and I headed to our local park for this photo shoot. I knew I wanted it to have a summery, tea party theme - but very vintage-y and innocent, reminiscent of the innocence of childhood. It was inspired by the poem "Life Is But A Dream" by Lewis Carroll. The spot we chose to lay out our picnic was perfect - a small grouping of trees on the bank of the lake at the park. And the light was absolutely magical today. Love it when that happens!
I can't post this photoshoot without mentioning the actions I used. I love the actions at Paint The Moon, and most of these use PTM actions, but I've also used a few from M4H (My Four Hens). Annie at Paint the Moon has a great blog with loads of photography tips if you're just getting started or even if you've been at it for awhile.
I also wanted to mention that my inspiration came after months of following Skye Hardwick's Blog, Reverie Mine - you must check out her amazing blog - her photos are truly magical, it's easily one of the best children's photography blogs out there. And of course I have to give a shout out to my sweet little model who, tempted with the promise of a picnic and a trip to Barnes & Noble afterward, gave me her best face!
A boat, beneath a sunny sky
Lingering onward dreamily
In an evening of July
Children three that nestle near,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Pleased a simple tale to hear
Long has paled that sunny sky;
Echoes fade and memories die;
Autumn frosts have slain July.
Still she haunts me, phantomwise,
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
Children yet, the tale to hear,
Eager eye and willing ear,
Lovingly shall nestle near.
In a Wonderland they lie,
Dreaming as the days go by,
Dreaming as the summers die;
Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden gleam
Life, what is it but a dream?
......
In the pleasant green garden we sat down to tea;
"Do you take sugar?" and "Do you take milk?"
She'd got a new gown on– A smart one of silk.
We all were so happy, as happy could be,
On that bright Summer's day when she asked us to tea.
~Kate Greenaway
......
Are you a princess? I said & she said I'm much more than a princess, but you don't have a name for it yet here on earth. (Brian Andreas)
......
Alice was beginning to get very tired of sitting by her sister on the bank, and of having nothing to do: once or twice she had peeped into the book her sister was reading, but it had no pictures or conversations in it, `and what is the use of a book,' thought Alice `without pictures or conversation?' (Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)
I know a bank where the wild thyme blows,
Where oxlips and the nodding violet grows,
Quite over-canopied with luscious woodbine,
With sweet musk-roses and with eglantine:
There sleeps Titania sometime of the night,
Lull'd in these flowers with dances and delight;
(Wm Shakespeare, A Midsummer Night's Dream)
I had a little tea party, this afternoon at three.
'Twas very small- three guest in all, Just I, myself and me.
~Jessica Nelson North
Dale Carnegie
Alice moving under skies
Never seen by waking eyes.
(Alice in Wonderland, Lewis Carroll)
Though she managed to pick plenty of beautiful rushes as the boat glided by,
Sweet childish days, that were as long
As twenty days are now.
~William Wordsworth, "To a Butterfly"
Leaving the main stream, they now passed into what seemed at first sight like a little land-locked lake. Green turf sloped down to either edge, brown snaky tree-roots gleamed below the surface of the quiet water, while ahead of them the silvery shoulder and foamy tumble of a weir, arm-in-arm with a restless dripping mill-wheel, that held up in its turn a grey-gabled mill- house, filled the air with a soothing murmur of sound, dull and smothery, yet with little clear voices speaking up cheerfully out of it at intervals. It was so very beautiful that the Mole could only hold up both forepaws and gasp, 'O my! O my! O my!' (Kenneth Grahame, The Wind in the Willows)
Ever drifting down the stream
Lingering in the golden gleam
Life, what is it but a dream?
- Frances Hodgson Burnett, A Little Princess
Childhood is the most beautiful of all life's seasons. ~Author Unknown
“I don't believe in things like that - fairies or brownies or magic or anything. It's old-fashioned.'
'Well, we must be jolly old-fashioned then,' said Bessie. 'Because we not only believe in the Faraway Tree and love our funny friends there, but we go to see them too - and we visit the lands at the top of the Tree as well!” ― Enid Blyton, The Folk of the Faraway Tree
Forget not that the earth delights to feel your bare feet
“Sometimes, if you stand on the bottom rail of a bridge and lean over to watch the river slipping slowly away beneath you, you will suddenly know everything there is to be known.” (Winnie the Pooh)
Look at the trees, look at the birds, look at the clouds, look at the stars...
Faeries, come take me out of this dull world,
For I would ride with you upon the wind,
Run on the top of the dishevelled tide,
And dance upon the mountains like a flame.
~William Butler Yeats, "The Land of Heart's Desire," 1894
