I have taken a lot of magical photographs in my time but none are as magical as these. The first image in this blog post is quite possibly the most wonderful photo I have ever taken. But I never expected to take these.

Before our day in the forest, Sparrow mentioned that she was making something but she refused to say what it was just in case it didn't work out (I knew it would because she is a genius and I believe in her, always). She also said that I would love it. She was correct.

You see those wings? She made those. She placed every single feather by hand. BY HAND! Each feather was individually cut and shaped, the wings themselves moved as if the beautiful Nadine had grown them herself, and the light filtered through them in a way that makes me feel all kinds of warm and fuzzy. Sparrow is an artist, a dream-maker and a bloody wonderful human being to boot. I am in awe of her (on an almost permanent basis).

Not only did she create the wings, style, and do the hair and makeup for this shoot but she also enabled these images by propping me up because I have no core muscle strength whatsoever. (I am essentially a newborn lamb. Baaaah!) They were quite precarious to shoot and I am ever thankful that Nadine is a graceful human who does not seem to have balance problems. Picture this: an Elou almost laid on the floor with a Sparrow propping her up for that perfect lens flare angle and a beautifully-styled Nadine leaping overhead. I can only imagine how strange it must have looked.

Lesson: if you're ever worried about looking stupid, do it anyway. Do it for the shot.

The eagle-eyed among you (well, no, not just the eagle-eyed, it's fairly big) will have noticed the sneaky little part one in the title of this blog post. This is only the first part of this shoot and I can't wait to share it with you.