Tarot Cards Photo Shoot

Finally, the photos from our summer Tarot Cards themed photo shoot are here. It was a lot of fun and I'm very happy that I can share the photos here with you.

My first costume was The Star

Source

It's the 17th card of the Major Arcana. It tends to show a naked woman kneeling next to a pond or a river and pouring out water from two jugs. There is usually one or more stars above the woman.
 

In divination, The Star signifies spirituality, hope, inspiration and serenity.



I had my own interpretation of the card and was very much inspired by the beautiful Hedy Lamarr and her star dress. More on that here. I picked a really lovely spot next to a small fountain with the bay behind me. However, the day was very windy and my hair lost most of the curl and the dress was a little hard to manage. Still, I am quite happy with how the photos turned out.

For my second costume, my friend and I went for Two of Cups

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It's a card of the Minor Arcana. It usually depicts a man and a woman standing face to face and holding cups as if they are toasting each other.

Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot

In divination, The Two of Cups means relationship, attraction, unified love and bonds of friendship.

We decided to create two shield maiden characters, who are drinking from goblets at the end of a long day's fighting.

I am particularly proud of my tunic which I made from a bed sheet and then embroidered. I used my woven belt that I had bought during a Times & Epochs historical reenactment festival in Moscow a few years back. The gold medallion was something I'd found at a thrift store and the sheep skin vest was a souvenir from Greece. My friend made her tunic out of a dark blue crimped material and trimmed it with faux fur. She's wearing an old Kalevala necklace and a pair of men's boots she'd picked up at the Opera flea market.        

I still wish we had more time to work on the costumes. And the weather was a little grey and indifferent. I have learnt a valuable lesson, though, if you use body glitter, be prepared to find specks of it everywhere for the rest of your life.

 
Photos by Salomon Marttila 

Retro Photo Session with Shipr

My aunt gave me a wonderful birthday present - a photo session with the retro studio "ШИПР" (Pronounced shipr). These guys are amazing. It's a studio in Moscow where they take pictures using equipment from the early 20th century.

There is no photoshopping involved. Instead, you have a very old camera and a makeshift dark room. They develop the photos right in front of you, in dishes full of chemicals. You can also see them at festivals doing street photography and you can hire them to do events.

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My sister took the pictures of the process. I had two outfits, one that was more 1950s and the other a very 1940s look.

Outfit notes:

Dress - Olivia Rogue 

Gloves - thrifted 

Shoes - Miss L Fire
Stockings - H&M

Outfit notes:
Blouse - Collectif
Trousers - Indiska, from a few years ago
Shoes - Keds

The photo record of the process by Maria K.

The results were delightful! I feel just like an actress from the Golden Age of Hollywood.

 

Moscow Goes Vintage - Flea Market at the Museum of Moscow History

I'm back after a long summer break with some fun pics to share with you. As always, I spent part of the summer in Moscow and had the pleasure of attending a couple really great events.

One of them was the Flea Market at the Museum of History of Moscow (unfortunately their page is only in Russian, so I'm linking to their wiki). Moscow doesn't seem to be as big on vintage and second hand as, say, Helsinki, but it's clearly getting there. It was very crowded.

My sister's friends have a vintage photo studio ШИПР (pronounced 'shipr') and they often attend events like this one with their old-timey camera.

And they don't just take your picture, you can also get to see how it's developed. Hint, it involves dipping the photo paper into many different liquids.    

But the results are quite stunning. 

I have to say, I love the look and feel of the photo. Unfortunately,the camera is very sensitive to movement. The slight blur on our skirts is a tiniest gust of wind. 

Since I got all dressed up just to take this photo, I will do the obligatory outfit run-down. (Every other blogger is  doing it, so I want to do it, too)   

  

Dress: '90s masquerading as '40s 

Shoes: borrowed from my grandma

Earrings & necklace: '60s vintage (a gift from my grandma)

My partner in this photo is a lovely statue of an early 20th century flaneur. The gentleman is very sharp dresser and quite clearly out and about to see and be seen. I feel like we make a very good pair.  

There were a lot of lovely dresses at the market, but I couldn't find anything that would really be my style (nothing within my price range, at least). But I did find a few things: 

 

A book on household management from 1958 proved to be a treasure trove of recipes, dress patterns and useful advice about cleaning fabrics, embroidering and gardening. I tried a recipe for beef stroganoff and love, love, LOVED  it!     

My other find was this cute little box of cake mascara, probably from the 1960s. I really want to start collecting vintage make-up and this is the first item for my collection. 

I got so inspired by my exposure to all this Soviet vintage, I felt I wanted one more thing. So I got a bottle of Moscou Rouge (aka Krasnaya Moskva) perfume. I am so in love with its scent. It very, very strong and so it has to be dealt out with a lot of care, but it has a strange otherworldly mystique to it. It reminds me of something past and half-forgotten. If you like vintage scents, I can't recommend it enough.             

Pre-Raphaelite Summer Photo Shoot

Last summer some friends of mine and I thought it would be fun to go out and do some random photo shoot. The subject matter was chosen, and we decided to take inspiration from Pre-Raphaelite paintings. Good thing we're all from a theater group, so putting on costumes and going out in public was very natural for us. The photos were all taken by our good friend from KUVALIBRE photo blog.  

Some painting we tried to recreate as faithfully as possible.  

Ophelia by John William Waterhouse, 1889 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

Romeo and Juliet by Ford Madox Brown, 1870 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

Olivia by Edmund Blair Leighton, 1888 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

Beata Beatrix by Dante Gabriel Rossetti, 1864-1870 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

The Little Foot Page by Eleanor Fortescue-Brickdale, 1905 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

The Vale of Rest by John Everett Millais,1858-9 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

April Love by Arthur Hughes, 1855-6 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

With others we took some artistic liberties.  

The Mirror of Venus by Edward Burne-Jones, 1875 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

The Beloved or The Bride by Dante Gabriel Rossetti,1865-66 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

I am half-sick of shadows, said the Lady of Shalott by John William Waterhouse, 1915 (Source)

via KUVALIBRE

And, of course, we took some photos of 'stunners', which I think the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood would have approved. 

via KUVALIBRE

via KUVALIBRE

via KUVALIBRE

There were so many photos that I had to leave out quite a few. But you can see them all here. 

Please remember, these pictures do not belong to me, and if you would like to re-post them make sure to credit the photographer: KUVALIBRE.