The Shapeshifter

I love how photography works as my therapy, whenever I feel like I’m being sucked and stuck in inertia. Finishing an image in this period makes me feel that I at least have accomplished something despite dwelling in the land of slump, where tiredness, dive in motivation, as well as the inner conflicts that it highlights and brings exist in this particular moment of my life. That I at least have a remembrance of this time when the world is not all sunshine and rainbows. Nonetheless, I could rejoice and look forward to the fact that this is just a phase and that this place is somewhere I have visited before, which most of the time resulted in lustrous pearls of wisdom and creativity when I get out of it.
This image depicts a dragon in her human form. A shapeshifter. It wasn’t really the original theme that I planned for this model, but since my good friend Zaynab (who is the MUA for this shoot) came back from her workshop abroad with this gorgeous cape and the company that I am currently working for have this amazing dragon ring, I suddenly had this image in my head. Whenever I get bored, I imagine different realities and create stories and characters in my head that I simply must photograph. I would often try to imagine how this character would look like and what elements (e.g. in this case gold leaf to illustrate scales) I need in order to create this image. Sometimes a complete image would flash in my head for a split second and I would try my best to re-create it as soon as I can before I end up forgetting about it. I actually wanted to add gold leaf sheets floating in the air to give the photo a 3d effect. However, my Photoshop skills is not that advanced yet. Something that I need to learn in the future.
Gratitude to all of the creatives that were involved in this photoshoot. <3
Model: Topaz Arbell
MUA: Zaynab Artist of Makeup
Dragon Ring: Castens - Enchanted Jewellery
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