Safe with Me: Angela’s Edwardian-inspired photo shoot

Posted on August 6, 2015 by Crashing Nightingale

In July, I had the distinct pleasure of photographing someone whose work I’ve admired for many years. Angela Ryan is an international model; but her work doesn’t stop there. Along with a modeling career that spans from fetish to pinup, she is a performer, creative director and stylist. I’ve been familiar with her work through social media for years. So it was an absolute honor to work with her and create some photo magic!

Angela and I conversed before she made her trip to Nashville. We decided on an Edwardian-era theme to my delight. After we decided on the theme, I went to work to find the perfect Edwardian blouse. The vintage gods were in my favor as I found one quickly and she was a beauty. These articles of clothing are like pieces of art so I enjoy photographing anyone in them. I recruited my side-kick and personal muse, Lashon, to help with set design. Between the time I scheduled Angela’s photo shoot and when it took place, I brainstormed the direction we would take. I was feeling a little inspired by the green fairy so decided to have a bit of a darker element to the look.

Tarryn Feldman, a talented hair and makeup artist, completed Angela’s look. The set was designed by Lashon who is a master at making anything come together.

~ Credits ~
Model: Angela Ryan
Makeup/hair stylist: Tarryn Feldman
Set designer and assistant: Lashon Miller
Edwardian blouse: The One I Love Vintage
Corset from Angela’s personal wardrobe
Gloved cape: from Angela’s personal wardrobe; designer Louise Black

“The world was to me a secret which I desired to devine.”

“Nothing contributes so much to tranquilize the mind as a steady purpose- a point on which the soul can focus its intellectual eye”

“How many things are we upon the brink of discovering if cowardice or carelessness did not restrain our inquiries”

“But her’s was the misery of innocence, which, like a cloud that passes over the fair moon, for a while hides, but cannot tarnish its brightness.”

“I desire the company of a man who could sympathize with me, whose eyes would reply to mine…”

“I’m a creature of fine sensations”

“I have love in me the likes of which you can scarcely imagine and rage the likes of which you would not believe. If I cannot satisfy the one, I will indulge the other.”

The devil that dances in my head
Is never, is never dressed in red!

The Gypsy

Posted on July 7, 2015 by Crashing Nightingale

Muse: a woman, or a force personified as a woman, who is the source of inspiration for a creative artist. Every creative artist needs a muse. Someone that captivates them and inspires them to create. Muses have been the fuel to artists’ engines for centuries.

If you’ve read previous posts from my blog, you’ve become acquainted with the fact I’m delving into photography. Taking classes, soaking up all the knowledge I can and practicing, practicing, practicing! I LOVE learning every piece of it.

It also tremendously helps that I have one of the most creative people on the planet on my team. My muse happens to be my BFF from the high school days, Lashon. I’ve pretty much christened her my Creative Director. 🙂

Our last portrait session was inspired by some vintage photos we’ve collected and had a bit of a darker vibe. All it took was just a spark of inspiration and we took it and ran with it. I recruited our friend, Rachel, for hair and makeup and she turned Lashon into a beautiful vamp. Rachel also assisted during the photo shoot by keeping an eagle eye out for any flaws and also keeping us in stitches from her wise cracks!

Ladies & gentlemen, I’m pleased to introduce to you the recent photo shoot with Lashon, The Gypsy.

In a quaint caravan, there’s a lady they call The Gypsy.
She can look in the future and drive away all your fears.

Everything will come right, if you only believe The Gypsy.

She could tell at a glance, that my heart was so full of tears.

She looked at my hand and told me, my lover was always true.
And yet in my heart I knew, dear, somebody else was kissing you.

But I’ll go there again, ’cause I want to believe The Gypsy.

That my lover is true and will come back to me some day.

After the Party: Photo shoot with Lashon

Posted on May 16, 2015 by Crashing Nightingale

This set of portraits were done along with another set on the same day with my model, Lashon. We couldn’t decided on dresses, so you know what you do to solve that? Capture photos in both!

These photos were taken around historic downtown Murfreesboro, Tenn. I love historic downtowns and think they are great places to take photographs. So much character and nostalgia. Of course we also got to stop in our favorite boutique on the square in Murfreesboro, Sugaree’s. Lashon and I are both devoted customers of this fine little shop. The dress Lashon wore in this set and the one in the blog prior to this are both from Sugaree’s.

“Have I gone mad? I’m afraid so, but let me tell you something, the best people usually are.”

“Alice:How long is forever? White Rabbit:Sometimes, just one second.”

“It’s no use going back to yesterday, because I was a different person then.”

“Little Alice fell
d
o
w
n
the hole,
bumped her head
and bruised her soul”

Snowfall in March

Posted on March 9, 2015 by Crashing Nightingale

There’s something about snow that seems so magical. It covers the earth in this silent and glistening blanket. Although I am not a huge fan of cold weather, I do love a good snowfall. The kind you wake up to and it seems to make the earth quieter. It’s one thing I miss about living in the mountains.

Recently, my little corner of the earth received a hefty dose of beautiful snow and I told my husband we were going outside to play in it later. He may have been reluctant at first (he’s from California where the sun is always shining) but once we were in it with the pups, his hesitation melted away. We grabbed our camera and released the hounds (our two dogs) and had a merry time photographing this rare occurrence of this weather in March and where we live.

Below are the photos. As you can see, we wore our fancy plaid 🙂

Black are my steps on silver sod;   
Thick blows my frosty breath abroad;   
And tree and house, and hill and lake,   
Are frosted like a wedding-cake. ~ Robert louis Stevenson

Like Brooms of Steel  
The Snow and Wind  
Had swept the Winter Street ~ Emily Dickinson

Freeze, freeze, thou bitter sky,
  That does not bite so nigh ~ William Shakespeare

An Enchantment with the Edwardian Era

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Crashing Nightingale

You may have heard the term, “Old Soul.” Typically it’s used to describe a person that is wise beyond their years, has one foot in the past or celebrates history in some kind of way. Buzzfeed has a great checklist for signs you’re an old soul which you can read here (I said yes to some of these; can’t say I didn’t partake in a party phase in my twenties 😉 ).

If you’ve perused my blog you may have gathered that I’m kind of an old soul. I love history and feverishly can’t get enough of anything between the late 1800s up until the 1940s. It’s who I am and I’ve had a love for all things historical for a long time.

I bought an Edwardian blouse from Wildfell Hall Vintage a few months ago. She is delicate and I knew she deserved another spot in the limelight. So what better way to give her this than a photo shoot?! So I talked to my friends of And How! Imaging and we made some Edwardian magic.

Check out the photos from our recent photo shoot where we channeled my inner-Gibson girl. 🙂

A precious, mouldering pleasure ‘t is
To meet an antique book,
In just the dress his century wore;
A privilege, I think

Because I could not stop for Death–
He kindly stopped for me–
The Carriage held but just Ourselves–
And Immortality

Nightly, from their azure towers,
To keep watch above the flowers,
In the midst of which all day
The red sun-light lazily lay

By a route obscure and lonely,
Haunted by ill angels only,
Where an Eidolon, named NIGHT,
On a black throne reigns upright

“Hope” is the thing with feathers –

That perches in the soul –

And sings the tune without the words –

And never stops – at all –

crashing nightingale

Travel the world, traverse the skies.

Tag Archives: vintage

Safe with Me: Angela’s Edwardian-inspired photo shoot

The Gypsy

After the Party: Photo shoot with Lashon

Snowfall in March

An Enchantment with the Edwardian Era

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