Last week we had an amazing photo shoot with Darrien Land Photography, a new aspiring photographer ready to take on any project with her camera, and let’s just say she really surprised us with her natural gift for this passion!
We had the pleasure of seeing Darrien’s about a year ago, after a fire performance for a Tribal Belly dance show she had been the photographer for, and when the pictures came out in as quickly as two days turnaround time we were blown away by what she was able to capture especially with the typically high-contrast bursts from the fire breathers. Each photo was pure gold – full detail of the flames as they emerge from out of the mouths of our fire breathers as if the breathers were holding still and steady for her when they had no idea she was even taking photos until after the show. The group knew we had to give her an opportunity for another chance to photograph us – and we decided to raise the bar a little.
Our costume designer and performer Heather Phoi started imagining and creating new stilt costumes For the three stilt walkers that would be displayed in Darrien’s new shoot – 3 imaginary animals: A Princess Bird, a Zebracorn (Unicorn and Zebra Hybrid) and a Skizzard (a Sky Lizard) The goal of these costumes was to rely on a vibrant single color scheme that would mesh well with each other while still standing strong and powerful individually.
After a few days of tirelessly creative sewing and building these designs, we were ready to meet with our photographer in a remote park location just a few miles away from Groovolution Entertainment’s headquarters in West Palm Beach, Florida.
Darrien displayed such enthusiasm and passion in her work. The hot Florida sun beating down on us this scorching June afternoon seemed to mean nothing to her as she dove into the ground for upward angled shots and even jumped onto ledges to get the best shot she could go for. We walked around everywhere, climbed every hill and jumped over every ledge despite stilt walking being a challenge in these various areas the experienced performers seemed to glide over every obstacle effortlessly.
By the end of the day, sweaty and wearing smiles brighter than the Florida sun, the photo shoot was over – and in a couple days the images came to life! We can’t wait to work with Darrien Land Photography again and are proud to show Heather Phoi’s imaginary animal stilt walking creations!