Mermaid Photoshoot

“The human world, it’s a mess.” -Sebastian, The Little Mermaid

Every year, my friend Anika and I get together on a cold Maine winter evening, have a cocktail, sit in front of her fireplace, and discuss ideas for our annual summer photoshoot that brings local creative people together for one day of glamour, experimentation, and fun. Last year, Anika was kind enough to indulge my fantasy of creating a special sea treasures jewelry collection that would adorn our friends in full mermaid getups, complete with an underwater scene and gorgeous floral arrangements. The conversation went a little bit like this: “Maybe we can make a giant shell that the models can get into?” “YES.” We might have been a little tipsy, but the ideas were flowing and we were both excited to roll with the idea and design our most elaborate concept to date.

We started wrangling local friends and small business owners and were lucky to find that everyone seemed to be as excited about the concept as we were. These collaborative shoots are unpaid for all, designed to be a break from the parameters of our usual work and an opportunity to play dress up and have some fun. Once the gallery is edited, we all share the photos and tag each other to promote each other’s work within our local community. I have made so many new friends through these shoots and it’s just always such a fun and exciting day that we all look forward to each year.

I highly recommend following the talented people that made this shoot possible. They are all extremely creative, hardworking, and just all around great people that I’m honored to know. Scroll to see a peek behind the scenes and photo highlights!

Concept/Jewelry: Carly, @fluxjewelrystudio

Concept/Flowers: Anika, @badrabbitflowers

Photography: Rachel, @harper.photo.co

Hair: Rebecca, @bexbedheadz

Makeup: Rilee, @mzfitbeauty

Cake: Mary, @whiskandkeycake

Nails: Emmie, @emmiefrancis_

Models:

Oronde, @orcrug

Michaela, @michaela.unfiltered

Leah, @midcoastmainemodel

Behind the scenes…

Not pictured here are the many hours of shopping for the perfect mermaid tails, fabric, outfits, blowing up countless decorative bubbles, Mary’s hours in the kitchen making cake, and the creation of Anika’s floral arrangements and fashion accessories. Coordination emails, the several sets of beautiful press-on fingernails that Emmie made for our models, playlist curation, sewing pearls onto bras, and countless other details make this all possible. So much goes into these shoots and it’s all so worth it when the day comes and we can all show off our hard work! We laughed so much, and yes, we had to carry the models around because hopping around in a mermaid tail isn’t what anyone signed up for.

The shell chair!

Anika and I transformed this basic wooden chair from Facebook Marketplace into the shell throne of our dreams using wooden framing, chicken wire, lots of zip ties, pool noodles, and paper mache. We thought this would be a bit of a nightmare to build but once we put our heads together, it came together surprisingly quickly and easily. And would you just look at that beautiful paint job that Anika did???

Photo highlights…

There were so many amazing shots that it’s hard to choose favorites. Stay tuned for this summer’s shoot and thank you for following along and supporting your local creative types, we appreciate you so much! -Carly