The Queen of Staves- an independent woman who knows what she wants and takes it at will. Courageous, powerful, confident, and experienced, she rules with strength and wisdom.

Queen of Staves 1.2

The Queen is one of those cards that Steph and I disagree on- it’s funny how sometimes we disagree on the execution, and sometimes we disagree on the outcome. In this case, we were both completely on board for ballroom dance, we both loved her dress, we both thought the columned area at the end of Lake Merritt was great, and the outcome… Stephanie loves, and I am so-so.

Queen of Staves 2.2

This second shot is probably my favorite. I like the fact that the Queen has an escort, because I think the Staves are very much about the passion and joy of life, and for the Queen, I think it makes sense that she derive some of that from the company of others. She is enjoying herself while being lovely and dancing, but she needs a partner in order to dance the steps she prefers. I like in this image that she’s off-guard and happy, rather than the lovely, but more posed, nature of some of the other images.

Queen of Staves 3.3

I do like the use of some of the columns, but technically speaking, this was a hard batch of photos to edit. It was very bright in the sun, and very dark in the shadows. There were a ton of people walking around, many of whom were interested in what we were doing, which is lovely, but also distracting. It was windy. I had to edit out a lot of skyscrapers and chains and various cars. I can do these things, but I prefer not to- I always worry that it leaves the photo looking overly manipulated, and of course, it takes a long time.

Queen of Staves 4.2

I do think that the images are decent enough- I like how warm they came out, and our extra, Alan, did a terrific job being gallant and handsome and not stealing the spotlight. It’s always interesting working with extra folks- some, like Alan, immediately understand what their role is to be. Some are enthusiastic, but have a harder time getting quite exactly what I want them to do. All of our extras have been great sports about the pushing and prodding and general objectification that goes on. All of them have given me great photos.

Queen of Staves 5.1

The Staves have been a suit that I have particularly enjoyed shooting- we have now, at the time of this writing, shot a fair number of the next suit (the chalices), and they are going perfectly well. I know Stephanie likes them because they’ve been very pretty. But I enjoyed the challenge of the staves- the motion, the action; the attempt to imbue energy into a static art form.

Queen of Staves 6.2

Stephanie’s take can be found here, as well as the full Flickr set here.