From a collodion perspective, “Flight” is a unique blend of two different types of wet-plate photography processes. Each 20 x 24 photo is part of a larger series that, once complete, will illustrate the entire poem.

{Our model for "Flight," Gwen, holds the finished piece.}

We hope to complete 20 images in the fairy tale series. This series has touches of old and new mixed into a series of large-production photographic metaphors.

{Collodion wet-plate photographer and model Gwen hold finished 20 x 24 collodion photographs of "Flight."}

The ferrotypes that accompany the poem are layered with an additional ambrotype line of poetry.

First the Ferrotype is shot of the model then later we photograph a large printed mural of the poem copy onto glass a Ambrotype. The two are sandwiched together to make the finished one of a kind piece!

Thomas Gibson Studio recently finished the first 20 x 24 ferrotype in a new collodion wet-plate series called “Flight.”

Inspired by a poem written by my niece Carly, “Flight” brings to life a story of a young woman who has always had dreams of taking flight to another place.

“Flight”

Who can say what makes the soul take flight?
A breath of wind can change a spirit’s course.
On wings we seek our dreams, our selves,
That flesh and bone might take our truest form.
There’s a child born every now and then.
With a yearning that flutters and darts.
And all of the trappings and lures of this world.
Can’t capture her wildness of heart.
She’d let her heart fly free and soar,
If it grow a pair of wings.
Though it would go, at least she’d know
That it was free of earthbound dreams.
She packs for a time she can’t sense yet,
Taking little to nothing at all.
Her love is her freedom, her hope — the horizon
And to follow its sirens call.
To trilling notes she’d dance and float
Her feet as fleet as birds uncaged;
Her dream-flight dress rehearsal
For the somedays that she craved
From deep within, the skysong called:
It was Piper to her cage’d will.
And though her feet were rooted deep,
Her hopeful spirit rallied still.
And so it happened, on a twilit ramble,
Watching violets ink across the sky,
The music of the heavens filled her being.
She flexed her wings, and fluttered into life.
Darting against the deepening sky,
Pursuing-at last-the vanishing gold,
The youngling winged with rapture
And gloried in it hundredfold.
With twigs, with string, with bric-a-brac
We build a nest we’re bound to leave
Errant feathers may be left behind,
But brought along are the things unseen.

Thematically, it involves the struggles of good and evil in the reality of the young woman’s world. She grew up in nature’s world and had always put herself in many of the fairy tales she read as a child. As she matures she encounters the simplicity of nature and continues to yearn for other worlds

To help bring this theme to life, we hired Portland, Oregon, artist Geahk Burchill to design the head bust of the crow and wings. We discovered Geahk on Etsy, one of our favorite online spots for inspiration.

The wings are individually airbrushed with extreme attention to detail. He designed a special harness for our model to put on puts on; then, the wings are attached to give them a realistic shape.

Check back next week for part two of the Flight.

One of the best things about shooting editorial is the teamwork that goes into getting the perfect images. Recently, the editors at Natural Home and Garden magazine, a national, green lifestyle magazine based in Topeka, Kansas, called upon us to help capture the perfect cover images for their summer issue.

We’ve worked with Natural Home and Garden for the past few years to help them with their photography needs to create beautiful spreads in the magazine; to be able to help on a cover shoot was an amazing opportunity to get our creative juices flowing even more for the perfect shot we knew would attract the magazine’s more than 200,000 readers.

A shoot is a bit like a small film production, with a cast, crew and a director. In this instance, the cast was a gorgeous selection of local, organic foods for the magazine’s cover story, “Eat Better, Spend Less.” The crew consisted of my assistant, Travis, and me taking art direction from the magazine’s editors — the directors. Natural Home and Garden editor Jessica Kellner and lifestyle editor Ginevra Pylant provided the vision for the shoot based on the cover story’s fresh-food angle.

{Thomas Gibson Studio photo assistant Travis, Thomas Gibson, Natural Home and Garden editor Jessica Kellner and Natural Home and Garden lifestyle editor Ginevra Pylant get together for a day of shooting the summer cover of the magazine.}

“We wanted the photos to inspire our readers to eat fresh this summer, and wanted to tell the story of someone who had just returned from their garden or farmer’s market with a fresh supply of produce and flowers,” Jessica says. “We chose organic and vintage items, many from our own homes and from a local antique store (Locust Street Market), because we love the look and we support the idea of reuse over buying new.”

{Setting up the cover shot at Thomas Gibson Studio}

{Adjusting the setup and checking out the view from the camera before capturing the shot}

With the help of everyone on the team, we were able to make the potential cover images come to life. Here’s a sneak peek at one of the shots being considered for the cover.

{Thomas Gibson Studio shot several images for Natural Home and Garden's cover story, "Eat Well, Spend Less."}