In the midst of this test on our democracy, I thought I would roll out this series of images of mine from this summer from right here in the Upper Valley of NH and VT. Back in 2011, I started a series of stylized shoots, I called Do You Dream in Color? This is the most recent of those. One morning this summer, I was on the rail trail with my son near downtown Lebanon, NH, and observed some beautiful spots with some overgrown dandelions and weeds. I knew I wanted to come back to shoot photos there. These images are from two locations, one in West Lebanon and one on the rail trail. They remind me of my favorite story, “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett.

During quarantine I took Brooke Shaden‘s portraiture class on Creative Live. She is a wonderful dark surrealist autobiographical photographer and Photoshop compositor. I am very moved by her ingenuity, expressiveness and skill. The last two images from this set are influenced by my coursework in her portraiture class. I call them “Surrender” and “Suspension”, respectively. I hope to do more creative surrealist portraiture.

Sometimes since I’ve been in the garden I’ve looked up through the trees at the sky and I have had a strange feeling of being happy as if something was pushing and drawing in my chest and making me breathe fast. Magic is always pushing and drawing and making things out of nothing. Everything is made out of magic, leaves and trees, flowers and birds, badgers and foxes and squirrels and people. So it must be all around us. In this garden – in all the places. ― Frances Hodgson Burnett, The Secret Garden

Firefly Photography is happily booking portrait photography sessions in Keene, NH, Woodstock, VT, Hanover NH, Seacoast, and Upper Valley for dreamy maternity, child, engagement, couples, HS senior, & family portrait photography, as well as commissioned styled shoots like this one.

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