It Takes a Village & 2.5 Gallons of Milk

 Preferably whole milk...

I've been drawn to a lot of photo shoots and ideas with water as an element lately.  There have been beaches, creeks, an in-ground pool, and now an inflatable baby pool.  I'm not entirely certain why water has become such a muse. The underwater pool shoot started this craze and definitely created a monster.  There's just something very magical about what happens to a body in water.  

An Ophelia-style shot has been on my to do list for years.  I'm afraid its become my white whale.  My logical side admits it's an idea that's been done to death (just look on Pinterest), but my heart yearns to dunk a girl in the nearest stream and throw flowers at her.  For one reason or another, this idea has never made it off of the back burner but finally, the stars aligned!  I had models and thanks to my local big box store, a very large baby pool.

It took some mighty good friends (because I sure don't have well paid minion) to orchestrate my most technically difficult photo shoot to date.  This wasn't really supposed to be all that complicated, but Mother Nature almost always comes to play with her own ideas...  Kathie, my buddy of over 20 years, graciously allowed me to set up the pool in her front yard because we thought we'd found the perfect shady spot.

We decided to set the pool up and fill it the evening before the shoot in hopes that the water would warm up to the ambient temperature overnight. Well - if you fill it, they will come!  By "they" I mean friends and neighbors. We ended up having a hilarious hillbilly pool party!  Notice the drink holders built into the baby pool.  It was meant to be!

The day of the photo shoot ended up being a very bright day and there was no avoiding the game-killing spectral highlights in the water.  There was also no dragging the pool to another location.  Water's heavy yo!  Call me Captain Obvious but we did try it.  Kathie and Kiersten (model and mother of my other 2 models), sprang into action.  They built the craziest impromptu tent/pool cover I've ever seen!  It consisted of 2 porch chairs, 1 pine tree limb, numerous bungie cords, 2 ladders, and an SUV!  I of course, stood around and took pictures.  That's my job right?  Someone had to document the insanity...

With shade installed, we ventured into the pool.

I had seen the idea on Pinterest to add milk to the water to make it look cloudy.  It took much less than I thought it would.

The idea worked as advertised!

I have to thank my village for another wonderfully wacky weekend!  As usual, you rock Kathie, Kiersten, Emma, and Audrey!  And thank you Tenderly for the milk donation and for agreeing to my next water adventure!