A fine botanical specimen
I’d not done anything for me in a long time… the old school Scarpati thing that’s a little bit a lot of everything and I wanted to go there, to remember innocence and strength and fantasy all comingled. This is classic minimalist portraiture in a very definite top light.
One of the things that – for me – makes this photograph stand out is the wings. I found in a man Taiwan who supplies specimens for all the major museums and scientific displays. It meant re-hdrydrating, shaping, prepping and re-drying the specimens into shape; you can spend $10,000 on a pair of man-made wings, but nobody makes better wings than God!
This is some kind of crazy grasshopper from Malaysia that the wings came from, but then the fantasy takes over. And it’s funny to get that mixture of spirit and attitude, but the choice of faeries aren’t what you’d think: a lot of swimsuit models and pin-up bombshells signed up, but to me, that wasn’t a faerie. I wasn’t looking for the obvious things like the overly curvaceous, but more someone spunky, fun, playful, boisterous, loud and sprightly. The green faerie is the innocence in knowing – and seeing the humor in it.
A friend in Brazil hooked me up with a source that sells an amazing assortment of exotic insects. Crazy mad scientist stuff. They even sell specialties like a magic solution to loosen joints and wings on dead examples so you can pose them any way you want.
