Tag:mermaids
Mermaids! The word conjures up visions of beautiful sea creatures. Since the Disney version, their image has been seriously sanitised as Hans Christian Anderson’s story in 1837 was much darker. With the upper body of a human and the lower body of a fish, they were also known as sirens, luring fishermen to their death. Their gift brought misfortune upon those it was bestowed on, and if a mermaid were offended, it would bring floods or other disasters.

Mermen
The male equivalent of a mermaid is a merman. Although sightings of mermen were less common than mermaids, there is still a lot of traditions and folklore about them.

Our Cast
Fortunately, for our mermaid shoot, our three mermaids and one merman weren’t dangerous. But like an actual mermaid, they did all have great difficulty walking over the sand with their tails on 😉
Our cast for the shoot were Jess Garrett, Jess Carolyn, Emily Reinhard and Michael Nguyen. All were great sports perching on hard, sharp rocks or flapping about in the water.

Jess Carolyn was our pregnant mermaid with a baby mermaid due in the next few weeks.

The day was warm, so they were all more than happy to hop into the water for us this time.

It is summer in Australia. Warm sunny days and blue, blue skies. All Aussies thoughts turn to beaches. White sand, blue foamy waves lapping at the shore, and mermaids, sitting on rocks on the seashore.

OK.. granted… not everybody thinks of mermaids on rocks, on the seashore. But photographers are a little outside the square. The thought popped into my head when I was planning a seascape shoot. What to do that makes it a bit different… hmmm …just add a mermaid or two.

I sourced their tails and wigs, added headbands. We chose a nice spot down Sandringham and arranged for a sunset time slot. Naturally, the sunset was extremely ordinary, a nice bit of colour but no clouds to bounce light off. However, being as I am not a purist, I am happy to swap skies out if it improves the image. I know, I’m a philistine.


Both our models, Jess Carolyn and Jess Garrett were awesome to work with. They had to shimmy and roll across the sand, as walking with that tail on, was out of the question. We photographed them on various rocks and on the seashore, before asking them to get into the water for the last half hour.


The water was cold. Very cold. But they were total professionals and troopers and got in the water. Gasped in shock as the cold water hit them. Then smiled for shots between the cold waves.

A huge thank you to both girls. You made an idea a reality and your cheerful personalities made it a fun night.
Blue Mermaid: Jess Carolyn aka Miss Fairyfloss
Pink Mermaid: Jess Garrett
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