Cow Patties and Quills

Playing photographer/Model/Maniac/Hiker/Location Scout is exhausting, and often ends in disaster, which I seldom fully admit to. Some time ago an image popped in my head that won’t leave until I attempt to capture the image on my camera. Driving around North of here, past deep dark woods, eerie rays of light streaking through the evergreen canopy… BAM. Image captured, imagination soaring. Me. My friends Elk Skull. Mohawk. It seemed so simple.

This led to me buying up chunks of hair from the beauty supply store, all in nice neat silken ponytails. Weave. The enthusiastic girl hooked me up from the latex to attach it (which reads clearly DO NOT APPLY DIRECTLY TO SCALP) right down to the perfect hairspray to use.I hot glued it all to some netting, spent weeks cleaning up long strands of hair, that managed to get EVERYWHERE. In a box it went, until my motivation to make that image happen came back around. Saturday was the day.

I wasn’t quite sure how i was going to make the hair ‘stand up’ into a mohawk, but surely wasn’t about to go to the trouble of doing ANYTHING with it until I knew if the latex would firmly adhere the faux follicles to the little patch of hair i have up there. Instant success !!! until it was clear this was not something I should be attempting alone. It didn’t take but ten minutes to create a rats nest, which was now VERY much adhered to my body.. what to do, what to do??? WIRE ! I grabbed the spool of wire, created 6 inch long ‘bobby-pins’, and eventually, after using most of the can of hairspray, had something big enough, vertical enough, and solid enough to get me through this photo shoot.

I should have ducked when i walked through that door way.

Long story short, as i never do well, it was late in the day, I was loosing light, and needed to get somewhere photographic, and soon. I was directed by a friend to a great spot just down the road. After I drug my giant Rubbermade full of gowns, gear, and accessories, across the field, through the cows, and into the darkening woods, that mohawk was little more than a messy mop atop my head.

Another miraculous moment for me, as everything is going wrong, last minute, rushing around, dropping things, cow crap EVERYWHERE… the location and near dusk lighting were perfect. A few test shots, light’s good, gown is good, Boulders for me to stand upon, PERFECT !…

Then out of the corner of my eye, I see it… A skunk !?? WHEW! no, not a skunk, although not much better, it was a porcupine. I’ve seen them often dead on the side of the road, There was ‘that one’ that i wanted to take my picture with a few years ago, after I’d spent a few hours in the bar, but this was my first encounter with a quilled critter in the wild.

I bounced up and down, made noises that I could only assume might frighten such a creature. I waved a wedding gown at him… Nothing. My presence didn’t phase him for a second. Sadly I didnt’ have a bigger flash on my camera, for it would have been at least PARTIALLY worth it, to present to you a photo of said animal. But no… Darkness. That’s all I have to offer, A photo of darkness, and a knotted disaster of who knows WHO’s hair, that had to be pried off of my head.

So there you have it and there you are… All of this, and that image is still stuck in my head, and will stay there, until I complete my goal, and get that shot (minus the mohawk, i think)… Just

All that I have to offer from a prickley end to a dusky photo shoot.