Death Dujour... then some more.

Death Dujour was a collaboration I did with my friends and fellow photographers Tim Kruskamp of Silent Shudder Photography and Arielle Marie Miller Bounthisanh of Arielle Marie Photography or was once Elle Marie Photography.

The entire idea was brought on when one night I was sitting up late reading stories about hollywood murders and mysteries, one of the biggest ones was the infamous Black Dahlia. I later then wrote Arielle and asked her if she thought it would be a good idea to get her and Tim and we could shoot together.

Being the starving artists we are we knew we could not afford models at the time so we thought hey we will model together, Arielle use to model in NYC and has a good port, me on the other hand.... not so much.

Well we had been working on this idea for a few months, with Arielle running over make-up and hair ideas and me collecting vintage dresses.

It finally comes to the day we are to shoot!
Just to inform everyone Arielle and Tim are both based out of Ohio, I live in Indiana, so I had to drive to them, whilst doing my hair..... Keep in mind I come from a family of fuzzy red haired Scots on my fathers side, so if the weather is just right you have a recipe for disaster.... It was raining in Indiana and blazing hot in Ohio with no rain.

I have my hair in curlers and my famous aviator sunglasses on. I noticed while driving through Dayton OH, that I am getting alot of chuckles and what the hell looks from truckers, and other motorists.... I look in the mirror to start applying my make-up only to see the famous cartoon character Maxine staring back at me, I then burst into a fit of laughter only concerning more people who are passing us by.

As soon as I get close to Chillicothe I take out the rollers in my hair, BIG MISTAKE, the whole thing was horrible. I looked like I had a brown cotton ball on the top of my head, a curly disaster if you will! Never in my life has my hair been so puffy!

I walk into Arielles home in a panic, she is pretty good with a hair brush and a curler, but we both were not prepared for the birds nest that she had to comb out. After about 30 minutes of my hair screaming uncle we had in back under control and looking kind of like Helena Bonham Carter from Sweeny Todd. Tim arrives and we get down to business.

We had all agreed to shoot in this massive yet very very beautiful cemetery not far from Arielles home.

One of the ideas I had come up with was to take red glitter and turn it into the "death smile" that the Black Dahlia had become famous for.  I was taking the glitter and ever so carefully placing it on Arielles face, when the glitter poured right into Arielles mouth.... A large amount I might add. So, after Arielle was done choking we came to the conclusion by Christmas time, she will have plenty of ornaments to go around. ( Arielles words not mine )

So after we  fixed the glitter disaster, we started shooting, only to notice Arielle was being nibbeled on by giant black ants ( I am guessing carpenter ants) she later broke out in hives that night .

Not only was this poor girl being forced to choke down glitter and be eaten alive, but it was well into the 100's that day, we were drinking all the water we could manage ( thanks to Tim who supplied it for us!)

We made our way back to her place rested for a bit,  got dressed and then it was my turn , I did a few akward poses in a tree all the while seeing a car stalk us the entire time.
After that bit was over ,we went into the woods close by and Tim was not going to shoot Arielle and I together. His vision was the both of us tied together .
(Keep in mind we had all brought a few props, Tim had supplied a Hatchet , and a black blanket, while I had a naked mannequin, rope, and a small creepy little clown that was named Georgenne, sadly we all came to the conclusion that Georgenne had a drinking problem due to the fact that she was a girl who looked like a boy. )
I digress, back to the point, Tim now has Arielle and myself tied together laying down, in a cemetary, with a black blanket, and a hatchet near by this does not look good. Tim had given us his whole thought on how we needed to pose and have our facial expressions. Arielle being the professional she is totally zoned out and looked like a zombie, while I am laying there I am thinking to myself " with our luck someone is going to come along and see this, and this is going to look so so so bad" So I start laughing like a child and trying to be professional about the whole thing, ( thank God Tim is a patient man because this would not stop) Arielle was not phased by my laughing at her, or the fact that one of our friends was hovered over us while we are tied together.

We then decided we would shoot just me ( I was not crazy about the idea, I am pretty shy in front of the camera and feel my best work is done behind the camera)
To make time go faster we thought I should just change into a french gold gown in the car... Well after noticing my car is the size of a tic-tac box, that it was just not going to happen, so we thought " O have Kinsey dress behind that black blanket Tim brought... So Tim is off by his car looking in the opposite direction while Im telling Arielle "don't look don't look" So then I had just realized that I am very undressed and in the middle of a cemetery, and that was way worse than being tied to my friend with a hatcher close by and Tim "shooting" us. As soon as I get the dress on I noticed that my bra is in a tangle and that the dress was not fitting right because I was drenched with sweat, causing my dress to cling in a not so flattering way.

So after all that trouble we all agreed to get out of the heat and go to Arielles  and chow down on some hamburgers and hot dogs, until it cooled off and I could stop sweating like a pig ( which is funny because pigs don't sweat)

Arielle and her wonderful husband  threw together a nice spread. A fresh organic fruit plate and these AMAZING itlaian bagettes with organic mozerella and tomato with herb butter. OMG someone who was modeling that day should not have eaten that much bread and butter! It was safe to say Tim and myself enjoyed it! Now so everyone knows Tim is a vegetarian, and brought " Fake Chicken" with him to cook. The brand called Quorn. We all after trying this "Fake Chicken " came to the conclusion that it tastes like Mcdonalds chicken  nuggets lol But one of the side dishes that I thought was funny was sticky rice. I never thought I would be eating a hot dog with a side of sticky rice ( very good and yes it's sticky) Arielles husband is Laotian and cooks something Laos everytime we see him and Arielle. He cooks some of the best food, so thanks to Von for being our wonderful Chef and introducing us to Sticky Rice!

After stuffing our faces with hamburgers and hotdogs ( and sticky rice) we got me in the dress without it sticking in odd places, and headed off to the cemetery with a giant clock in tow

We are shooting and I am hearing noises behind me that sound like foot steps, I was reminded that it was most likely a coon or something along those lines, since we were in fact, in the woods. Tim and Arielle both had some battery problems at that point and we kind of thought it was odd. Arielle had then shot some orbs, by the time we were dont shooting, we were told by my husband that he saw something walking behind me when we were shooting ( keep in mind he was a good distance away and heard nothing we were saying) So that explains the footsteps.......

All in all that was one of the funnest shoots I have been on. Even though someone almost died of glitter intoxication, and I was half naked in a cemetery it was one of the best memories I will have.