Conceptual Portraits – Missing in Action

I have begun a new online course on Conceptual Portraits with my two favourite educators Brooke Shaden and Sebastian Michaels. When Brooke was here in June, I was chatting to Brooke with a few Photoshopartistry friends and we said Brooke should really get in contact with Sebastian and do something together. Six months later and they have pretty much a whole new course. So I had been dabbling with a few pieces, mostly older photos reworked with new ideas and then I came up with an idea for working concepts without models, the main character was not even visible. I got really excited and started making notes and plans.

I adore fairytales and I really like twisting them around a bit, so I took inspiration from ALL the fairytales. The Princess or Damsel in Distress is frequently waiting to be saved by a handsome Prince, she is swept off her feet, and they live happily ever after. The thing is in this day and age, not all Princess’s get saved. We need to bring our daughters up to believe in themselves and instead of waiting to be saved, they go off and find fun and adventure and their own happily ever after.

So that is what “M.I.A” is all about. After reading fairytale after fairytale, my Princess removed her robes and crown and left to find her own adventure. She still left the candles burning to help her find her way home, if needed.

Below is a Speed Edit for those who are interested in how this image came to be…