Earlier this year, I sent out a pretty cryptic Facebook request for some totally random props – colored wigs, bows and arrows, feathered wings, schoolgirl clothes, things made out of leather… I’m sure everyone thought I was totally nuts.  Well… here are the results!  In February, I got to be a part of the most super fun project of pretty much ever, working with the teen program of the Pikes Peak Library District in Colorado Springs  to shoot images for a series of posters promoting teen literacy.  While other libraries have done similar READ projects, they usually use images of famous people holding their favorite books – but we decided to style some shoots based on novels that the teens chose, and we recreated images from these books as if they were movie posters.  Our goal wasn’t to stage specific scenes from the books, but to try to visually convey the style and feel of the plot.  Over the course of four days, we lugged camera equipment, props, teens, and parents all over the Springs – this project was massive.   It was so much fun to style these shoots with the library and the teen models and try to capture the feel of each book through locations, props, makeup, and crazy costumes.   I have to wait to show the final posters until they are officially unveiled at the Briargate branch, but here are a few of my favorite behind-the-scenes shots.  A HUGE thank you to all of our models, who braved freezing temps and my craziness; to their parents for all of their help & chauffeuring ; to all of the wonderful people who lent us props and costumes; to Miramont Castle for letting us run all over their beautiful castle grounds and play dead in their hallways; and especially to Lindsay from the library, who organized, planned, and coordinated this massive project to perfection!

First, the shoot based on the novel  Maximum Ride :

Day two : the Sherlock Holmes shoot at Miramont Castle (which happens to be staffed by some of the kindest, sweetest people ever)

Creepy stabbing shadow!

Next, the manga / anime shoot!  We used this awesome video tutorial for the makeup.  Actually, all of her makeup tutorials are strangely soothing…

And finally, the shoot based on The Hunger Games – which will be made into a movie in the next year or so!  I’ll be curious to see how they style it.  It should be mentioned that, when we did this shoot, it was SO FREEZING COLD.  We brought blankets, hand warmer packets, and a heating pad… and then the heating pad exploded and started leaking all over everything!  These ladies are exceptionally wonderful for running around in the snow for hours.  You guys are the best!  Great job – you don’t even look cold… even though I know how much you were shivering.

Okay, I guess I lied… that was way more than a “few” images :)  Thanks again to everyone who was involved!