Mermaids in Traverse City: Photos of a Mermaid in the Night
What do Mermaids Look Like? A Photo Shoot in the Darkness
What do you think of when you think of mermaids? Do you think of some pretty little mermaid sun-bathing on the rocks of a tropical island? Well... I'm a very different kind of mermaid. I live near Traverse City, Michigan... which is about as far from a tropical island as you can get! And as for the sun? Well, the sun kind of packs up and leaves quickly around these parts. I'm not your typical mermaid. I'm a "play-in-the-rain-in-the-middle-of-the-night-with-dark-lipstick-on" kinda mergal. Which is EXACTLY what I did back in October of 2017.
Near the end of October, Todd L. Church, a professional photographer from the Lansing area, approached me about doing a photo shoot. Originally, we discussed taking pictures. Simply taking pictures... Mermaid pictures on the beach. Simple! But then... Northern Michigan decided to mess with our plans. The forecast showed nothing but rain, rain, and more rain (which continued on for weeks)!
So, we got creative.
Todd wanted to experiment with rain photography and asked me if I would be okay being out in the elements. It was the night before my first big event at work (which I was super nervous about) but, mermaiding is life, and I figured that opportunities to work with such a great artist don't come about very often... So I agreed to do the shoot.
Rain Photography: Bringing the Magic to Life
My dad is my merwrangler (A.K.A. the super strong guy who carries me around and does everything I can't... like helping to keep professional lighting from blowing into the lake!), so he drove me to the beach location where Todd and I were scheduled to meet. I got into my costume and then he plopped me down on to the sand. It was misting out, it was dark and it was cooooold! When we first started taking photos, the rain wasn't quite "rain" yet. It was more of a chilly shapeless mist. And darn it! We wanted a storm!!!!
The Lady of the Lake: Professional Mermaids are scattered all across the world. Although most live in oceans and seas, this mermaid calls the Great Lakes of Northern Michigan her home. This picture was taken in Traverse City, Michigan.
Photo by: Todd L. Church Photography, Model: Mermaid Phantom of www.themagiccrafter.com
We kept taking pictures in the hope that the storm would pick up (which it finally did) and we were able to capture some pretty unique mermaid images, which are the ones with the weird looking "magic" all around me. (If you zoom into the pictures, you can actually see the shape of each individual raindrop, which is very neat!!)
Pictures of Mermaid Phantom in the Rain
Although my feet were SUPER sore, and we were all a bit chilled (and a bit dirty) the night was a success and I loved every moment of it. I am so thankful for both my photographer and my father for making this memorable time possible. I will never forget my first professional mermaid photo shoot, and hope to do more work with Todd in the future. (If you're in or around the Traverse City or Lansing areas and are in need of some professional photography work, I highly recommend that you visit: https://www.tlchurchphotography.com/ He is awesome!)
Thanks for reading and for taking a look at these mermaid photos. See? Traverse City, Michigan really is magical!
XOXO- Mermaid Phantom
