Back to Black

My blogs have become more sporadic lately, but blogging should be a pleasure, not a chore, and life has a knack of reminding you to get on with things.  Some of my friends are dealing with loss right now and such events always make me reflective.  My photos are effectively my journal anyway, so I've had to scroll back through October to see which bits to share with cyberspace for the month of October?

Well, it's spooky season, so here goes!  These days we don't make such a big deal of Halloween (although some might think that three carved pumpkins say otherwise).  But, I have been indulging in some seasonally appropriate, mystical and downright spooky activities.  

I've been sticking to a regular exercise regime of nordic walking three times a week.  I usually get a few looks and comments, but the benefits are good enough for me not to care.  Maybe it's the fact that my DNA results show I'm approximately one third Scandinavian!

Determined to capture the recent Hunter's Moon, we headed to Enville Church (home of three and counting Knights Templar graves), believing it to be a good vantage point for the moon rise.  We were not mistaken.  As we walked around the ancient grave yard, the moon emerged without warning, from behind a cloud.  I quickly set up my tripod, a timer on the shutter release and my lens to infinity.  Whilst it might not win any awards, I was pleased to have captured this magical moment.

This one was less successful technically, but I still like the result.

At this time of year, I usually create a concept for a Halloween self portrait.  This year, I've been otherwise engaged.  However, after the disappointment of having to cancel a planned styled shoot using a vintage late 60s wedding dress (thanks Vix), I decided to play dress up.  It was, as is often the case with me, a spur of the moment decision and therefore there's no hair styling or make up.  However, the dress is too beautiful not to be seen and the results are maybe a little spooky.  

My own sartorial choices are undergoing something of a transformation.  My style is still eclectic and my appreciation of vintage and interesting second hand finds remain, but I'm falling back in love with black.  It's just so cool and classic...not to mention gothic.  Plus black pieces are so versatile, slotting easily into any wardrobe.  I've picked up a couple of chunky new-to-me knits, which work beautifully with my vintage skirts and over dresses.  This practical and stylish find is worth a share.  I love it's Victorian inspired ruffle details (the reverse is cable knit).  It makes me feel like I'm wearing a corset.

This lovely dress popped up on Vinted and just screamed Autumn.  My tresses have gone a darker shade of blonde too to match the darker half of the year.

This little fella has been visiting us regularly.  He's such a traitor.  Despite not belonging to us, Noah makes himself feel at home whenever he calls and as such, appears to have claimed ours as his second home; so much so that he now attempts to send off his shy sister on the rare occasion that she ventures across to our side of the street.  He looks like butter wouldn't melt doesn't he?  Look at that wet nose!

He demands our attention whenever he visits, putting up his paw (the haunted, hovering paw as we call it) to request more fuss if we dare to turn away.  He's actually sitting on my lap and nudging my hands as I type.

We visited Shrewsbury's Halloween Steampunk Fair at the weekend and I was able to get in some portrait practice.  The old oak doors and sandstone walls of St Mary's Church provided  perfect backdrops.  Some sitters (standers?) needed little direction.  Others responded to my simple direction to "look hauntingly into the middle distance."

Vive la revolution!

First in the queue when witches' hats were handed out.

Shades of Annie Hall?

Gregory's social media profile reads:  "Failed music hall impresario, barker, fire breather and occasional observer of the occult."  Now what could be better for Halloween?

This man had a particularly characterful face that belongs in an old Ealing comedy and I loved his hat.

Here's West End stage star, Polly Wolf, looking moody as requested.

Unguarded!

Her companion's companion was Eddie, the bearded dragon.

Outside, there was morris dancing...

It had a distinctly pagan flavour, but the 21st century was never too far away...

Still, this man's drinking vessel was on point.

Here come the girls!

Some intentional motion blur.

Don't they look amazing?

Beetlejuice, Beetlejuice!

My favourites - representing White Rose Steampunks - the Yorkshire contingent.

We also squeezed in a visit to the Severn Valley Railway on a glorious sunny Autumn day.

There's always a sense of time shifting whenever we visit this heritage railway station.  For example, there was evidence of a bunch of day trippers visiting from decades earlier.

But on the deserted station platform, it was a very different story.  Here's Morti Don tending the station garden.

A super fit cyclist casting a shadow or something more sinister?

To say the inhabitants were gloomy is something of an understatement.

We didn't linger.

I'll be catching up with everyone's blogs over the next couple of days.  For now, I'll leave you with a super short video.  Turn the sound up!

Happy Halloween!

Wishing you a safe Samhain.

Love in Ruins

 In the midst of fitful dreams, mysterious voices summoned me to the Priory ruins of Dudley.  They were persistent...I felt compelled to obey their ghostly calling.

By the time I reached the Priory, it was daylight, but ominous clouds and an eerie silence - save for the low moaning wind caressing ancient stones - made me feel somewhat out of step with time.  Should there be any question that the barrier between the spirit world and ours was weakening, just around a darkened corner, the sight of a windswept harpist upon her lofty perch, removed all doubt.

Ms Lewis-Freeman was watchful, beneath her blackened veil, in mourning for her lost love, but answering a time transcending calling from him.

She felt his presence on the wind.

Noa, the harpist, too, sensed time and tide shifting; something was about to unfold.

Some kind of energy crackled, like electricity, on the breeze.

Ms Lewis-Freeman began to walk through the ruins, where several lifetimes before, she had confided her love for the elusive Mr Moore.  She searched high...

....and low.

Noa, initially fearful of the strange forces that had conspired to bring her here, hid her own face behind a veil.

Whist Miss Lewis-Freeman and Noa joined forces to find the former's lost love...I encountered a pale stranger, seated on the old garden bench.  I walked alone, back towards the ruins.  I swear the stranger had remained seated...

...but suddenly, he was there in front of me again.  I confess I was startled.  But then, a momentary distraction - the calling of a crow - and I found myself alone once more.

At once, the music started...mesmerising, like a siren's call.

Could it be?  

Could it really be?

Together at last...

...they fed off each other...both for sustenance and in an ungodly act of vampiric intimacy.

They roamed and reminisced like the old acquaintances they were...  

...entertained and bewitched by Noa's playing.

Immortality requires endless patience.  Noa observed from a distance.  She now had a better understanding of her otherworldliness and the complicated feelings created by eons of solitude.  She had found her kind.  The undead.

And so the music played on...and nothing else mattered.

Winter Peach Photography (@winter_peach_photography) | TikTok

                                                                                                        THE END

And back to reality!  These photos are the result of a Steampunk elopement shoot I had originally planned for a late September Sunday at a different location.  Forced to postpone due to the abysmal weather forecast, those of us located closest to each other, namely Sonia, the make-up arist, (Sensual Passions), Noa Harpist and Tracey and Kevin, major players on the Steampunk scene (and all round good eggs), were keen to risk it.  We hurriedly hatched our plan B, a Spooky Season photo shoot amongst the atmospheric Priory ruins in Dudley.  

In spite of the deliberately dour expressions, we all had a blast and attracted a fair bit of attention on the day.  Numerous people stopped us to ask us about the shoot or requesting photos.

The hours passed quickly and the whole team brought their A game.  It's not every day you get to hang out with Dracula and his missus to the heavenly sound of harp music.  

Because my skills don't stretch to fading out a soundtrack and overlaying an alternative audio track, I'm sharing a clip here of Noa playing the Metallica classic.  Isn't she great?

Winter Peach Photography (@winter_peach_photography) | TikTok

Thanks to all involved for making a miserable Sunday so memorable!