Birthday Witches with Deana Vazquez

In June 2025, we wandered into the woods with a coven of witches to celebrate the birthday of Deana Vazquez.

For the past four years, my friend Deana has hired me to do a special birthday shoot with her and a group of friends, in which they dress up in costumes and venture to a location where they play characters and enact scenes.

We did our first birthday shoot at LaBagh Woods in 2022.

In 2023, Deana did a pirates and mermaids party on the shores of Lake Michigan.

In 2024, we did our first studio shoot, which involved characters with lunar themes.

Select portraits from Deana’s previous birthday shoots.

This year, the theme was witches. LaBagh Woods offers plenty of scenic backdrops for photography, and it’s an easy location to visit that allows for a lot of freedom and some amount of privacy, apart from hikers and other visitors to the park, who are often as courteous as they are curious about the costumed characters being photographed.

Photography

This time, I brought my own light, which I fitted with a gridded softbox and mounted on a portable stand, held by John Kidd, while Tim Harmon carried the rest of my gear, remarking, “I dumped all my build points into maxing out my carry capacity.” I dragooned those poor guys into service, and they did a splendid job.

I also brought some smoke bombs for effect.

Having brought our own light, we could focus on each subject, helping them stand out in every image.

Spooky Witches

In one sequence, I slowed down the shutter speed while John Kidd moved the light around our subject, and I manually fired the flash at different intervals. This created some freaky effects.

We photographed through golden hour into blue hour, and then we stopped when the sun went down and we were no longer able to see what we were doing.

Another Year of Fantastical Fun

I’m grateful once again to Deana for inviting me to her birthday festivities. I love being there to capture it every year. This year, it was awesome to return to LaBagh Woods and try some new things I’ve learned since the last time I photographed there.

Thanks to all the witches and to John and Tim once again for carrying my stuff.

And finally, the biggest and best birthday wish to Deana for throwing this party every year. Having an album of memories for your special day is, in my opinion, the best way to celebrate.

costume

steven Latest posts

Steven Townshend is a fine art/portrait photographer and writer with a background in theatre, written narrative, and award-winning game design. As a young artist, Steven toured the US and Canada performing in Shakespeare companies while journaling their moments on paper and film. In his transition from stage to page, Steven continued to work as a theatre photographer, capturing dramatic scenes while incorporating elements of costume, makeup, and theatrical lighting in his work. Drawn to stories set in other times and places, Steven creates works through which fellow dreamers and time travelers might examine their own humanity or find familiar comfort in the reflections of the people and places of a distant era.