Before the cold set in I wanted to do one more outdoor conceptualized shoot, and had the perfect model (with a theater background), with the perfect wardrobe ready to go (and the DIY floral crown)! One of my favorite kind of concept stories are ones that have some kind of meaning behind them. I think when doing this kind of work you should never start photographing without some kind of plan behind what you want to talk abut visually. The series concept is “Princess in the Abandoned Tower”, and lucky for us we have an abandoned tower to use in our availability. Brenton Point in Newport has a rich history from the Gilded Age of society, one of my favorite time periods to read about (I’m a huge book nerd). When looking around the estate “The Bells” it’s easy to imagine a stunning manor house by the sea, unfortunately it also suffered a fire in 1960 and was mostly demolished. Left standing today is the lookout tower (that you can climb to the top of for stunning ocean view) and the charred remains of the carriage house, horse stalls and all. Unfortunately is has also been vandalized by graffiti (not everyone adheres to “Take only pictures, leave only footprints” as most urban explorers do) but it is still one of my favorite places to photograph. When I first became interested in photography back a few years ago, this was one of the first places I explored. I love reading about history and was always a fan of the subject in school, so historical sites with an air of mystery sound like something straight out of one of my favorite fiction novels.
Alicia Heaney 