The Four of Staves was… complicated. It was one of the few cards we’ve tried, and then had to try again.

Four of Staves 1.2

The idea was simple enough; the four of wands is generally interpreted as a card of domestic beginnings, and I immediately jumped to the idea of depicting Stephanie under a chuppah, waiting.

Four of Staves 2.2

And then it all fell apart. I had thought of setting the chuppah up on a hill, specifically with the idea of Stephanie looking out to sea, waiting hopefully. So, off we trucked with our four poles to the park to try it, but… the poles were too heavy to stand up, and if we stuck them far enough in the ground that they would stand on their own, they were too short to have Stephanie stand under a cloth strung on them. By the time we truly figured out that it wasn’t going to work, we’d lost the light.

Four of Staves 3.2

So, we tried again. This time with a better plan. Try a different spot, make braces for the poles (incidentally, wet clumping cat litter makes very effective home-made cement), and shoot again. Stephanie held the poles to keep them from beaning her in the rather strong wind, we shot fast, and I’m not displeased with the results.

Four of Staves 5.1

Stephanie’s account of this shoot is here; the whole collection of pics is always available at our Flickr site, Black Widow Honey.