This week, as work on the Portraits from a Distant Era series continues, I wanted to highlight one of my favorite collaborators, Rachel Granda-Gluski—a performer and cosplayer with a wealth of talent, experience, and creativity—who has also portrayed characters from fairytale and folklore, often interpreted through different genres.
Rachel and I met randomly at a dinner party in 2013 hosted by veteran cosplayer and performer, Tabitha Burch, though we didn’t do a shoot together until 2109, when we did four projects created by Mary-Kate Arnold in her excellent Fantasy Is Reality sequence. Those projects were Disney Noir; Shakespeare’s Heroines (as D&D Characters); Contemporary Game of Thrones; and Modern Rococo.
Snow White and the 7, Disney Noir
Before “The Hunted Princess” in The People of Light and Shadow, I shot a previous Snow White portrait that was (and still is) one of my favorite portraits. Rachel put together this fantastic, vibrant, technicolor interpretation of a noir style Snow White. As we shot near the pool table, Rachel picked up a red ball to stand in as the fateful apple from the tale. That was when we noticed that the red ball was the “7.”
Ariel, Shakespeare’s Heroines
In this Shakespeare’s Heroines session, Rachel created a costume for Ariel from Shakespeare’s The Tempest, but interpreted as a character class from Dungeons & Dragons (where Ariel was either a sorcerer or arcane trickster). I love the complementary pinks and blues she used in this look, as well as the sea colors in her costume and makeup, from sea green to turquoise to gray to blue.
Cersei (and Joffrey) in Contemporary Game of Thrones
A fun, spontaneous session shot very quickly on a cold winter morning in early 2019 by the lakefront on glorious analog color film. Rachel created a gender-bent modern royal look for her Joffrey opposite Gaby Martineau‘s Cersei Lannister.
Modern Rococo
Modern Rococo was another winter 2019 session that we shot in a small bedroom with a few off camera flashes and some colored gels that went with the pastel hues Rachel wore.
And More…
I’m always astounded when I think of all the time and attention to detail that my friends put into their costumes, and keeping this in mind inspires me to create better images. Rachel Granda-Gluski in particular puts so much thought and work into her outfits and just as much into her poses.
I leave you to admire a previously shared image from a session she helped create called The Sea Is Dark and Full of Sirens, shot just prior to starting The People of Light and Shadow. Rachel is a true pro, and I hope we have the opportunity to do many more projects together.
Next week, if all goes according to plan, we will return to The People of Light and Shadow series with “The Merrow…”
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