Firecracker series
I was working on a movie doing Behind the Scenes and Stills and on the drive out to set, I would pass this fireworks stand. The colors were vibrant and the building was huge. Because it’s off season, the stillness felt unnatural.
(Thank you, Have a nice day - Model and stylist: Danielle Evon Ploeger. Director, Photographer and Makeup: Ima Leupp. Handmade bag by Ima. Wig: Coco Coquette. BTS/retouching: Joseph Hassage)
(firecracker)
It wasn’t until I realized I don’t want to be whatever I was trying to be, and shaved my head and started focusing more on telling stories than what I looked like to other people.
I supposed that’s what growing up feels like.
Comfort in discomfort and willing to grow and not focus on what other people might think, but instead who I am and what I have to say.
I was still thinking about the mermaid series and how I am tired of hustle culture and how I feel like my work has been simply a service and a vehicle for other people’s visions for so long and I think I forgot what I feel and what I need to express.
I was on the cusp of going to France with my Fianceé and thinking of American culture and the stereotypes associated with us. How they’re not wrong. We value beautiful, blonde all American women, but not enough to let them have agency over their bodies, we celebrate loudly and sometimes unnecessarily, and above all we chase consumerism but I know, for me, I’m exhausted. I’m still homesick but I’m already home.
I wanted to use vintage lenses because everything feels so sharp these days and with AI being more invasive in art, I wanted to do something to add a little texture and color that felt more one of a kind.
(American Fireworks)
As someone who is not traditionally feminine, but proud of my femininity,
I remember when I tried to embody a more traditionally female exterior.
I wanted to show skin, but not too much skin,
I can’t walk in heels, but they make your calves look good,
I like fishnets, but do they give the wrong impression?
It made me so tired to try to fit into what is beautiful when beauty is subjective.
Too many questions, too many opinions.
(You’d look prettier if you smiled)
I bought the dentist cheek spreader on impulse because I knew I would want to shoot with it one day and brought it on a whim knowing that Danielle has similar artistic tastes and is always interested in warping her beauty and pushing her modeling to the limits. The amount of times someone has told me to smile, as someone who smiles easily, is sickening.