Summer Shoot

During the summer it's usually at least a little bit warmer than during the winter here in Sweden. So this time of the year it feels completely ok to do photo shoots with less clothes on than three layers of fur coats. One sunny day I got together with photographer Peter Nilsson to do a shoot, and here is the result!

Photo: Peter Nilsson

New Website

If you follow me on Facebook or Instagram you might already know this. But for you others I just wanted to say I have finally taken the time to create my own website! One place where I have my modeling portfolio (uncensored), burlesque pics and videos, a bit about myself and how to get in contact. Many people has asked me where they can see my photos and videos, and if I have an official website, and well, now I do! I used Wix to create it, and it was really easy and fun to put it all together!

For those interested, here's the link: http://meadowspearls.wix.com/missmeadows

Take Me To Church!

I hope you're all enjoying the summer, and that the weather isn't too bad for you, wherever you live in this world! Here in Sweden it's been far too cold to resemble summer so far, but now it's finally starting to look a bit better! I'm right now on a three week vacation from my "normal" part-time job, which means I have time to work with other things, and managed to book four photo shoots. Why rest when you can be creative? Haha! Still trying to relax a bit, read a few books, and see some neglected friends though. So if I only do two - instead of my normal three - blog posts a week sometimes it's just because I need some rest, and time to do other things, for a few weeks. Y'all shouldn't be inside reading blogs during the summer anyway! Haha! But thank you so much for reading mine! If no one read it, there wouldn't be any reason for me spending so much time writing it you know...

So today I have a wonderful video for you! The video is made to Hozier's Take Me To Church, is directed by David LaChapelle, and features Ukrainian born ballet dancer Sergei Polunin. This man isn't just an amazing ballet dancer, he's also a tattooed ballet dancer! This isn't something you see so often, as tattoos aren't that popular in the ballet world. It wasn't until I broke myself and realized I would never be able to have a "real" dance career, that I started getting my own tattoos. So, here it is. Enjoy!

PS. This dancer can take me to church any time! Hehe...

Burlesque Ballet Shoot

I've done several shoots with photographer Charlotte Hall. We've always done our shoots outside though, so we decided to go indoors for once, to do a burlesque ballet session! The result is a mix of classic ballet pictures, and a few that goes more towards my burlesque occupation. Voilà!

Photo: Charlotte Hall

Radioactive Camera...

Last May I did a shoot with photographer Jan Persson. He always use several different cameras during our photo sessions, and I've already shown you the Polaroids from this shoot. If you want to see those, go here! But that day Jan also used a Graflex camera from the 50s, with a Kodak Aero Ektar lens. These lenses are slightly radioactive (but not harmfully so), and were used during WWII in reconnaissance missions. They were originally made for military purposes by Kodak, who sold them to the US ministry of defense for around 800 USD a piece - which was also what a Chevrolet would have cost in those days...

I love getting the opportunity to stand in front of cool old cameras like this one! You have to stand very still during the process of just taking one picture though! Otherwise it gets blurry. Here are the photos Jan took of me with that radioactive old thing. Haha!

PS. A fallen tree makes a great ballet barre! 

Photo: Jan Persson

Moonlight Sonata

I can't believe it's already a month since I performed at the 4th International Stockholm Burlesque Festival! Wonderful events like this sort of linger on in your body and mind for some time afterwards... Every act was filmed, and as I just received my video, here it comes! I did my Moonlight Sonata act, to the beautiful piece by the same name, by Beethoven - but here remixed by E. S. Posthumus. I managed to slip on something on the floor once, but when I saw it on the video, it looked like a much smaller slip than it felt. Haha!

Photo: John Paul Bichard

Sven Boqvist - Paris & Cote d'Azur 1957

About a year ago I did a blog post called The Penn Pals (you can read it here). This is a project by photographer and Photoshop wizard Pelle Piano, in which he created a fake book based on newly found photographs taken by the fake photographer Sven Boqvist in 1955. Several made up persons were featured in the book, and I got the pleasure of posing as the imaginary ballerina Tatiana Baronova - sister of Irina Baronova, who actually was a real ballerina back in the day.

Now Mr Piano has created a new book - Paris & Cote d´Azur - with more of Sven Boqvist´s photos. This time the story takes place at the Cannes Film Festival that took place in 1957. Here Sven meets both old and new friends who end up in front of his camera - one of them being Tatiana, who he's a bit infatuated by... This meant I got to portray this fictional ballerina again. The shoot took place in Pelle Piano's studio, against a blue screen. Before this Pelle had been to France and photographed the backgrounds he then inserted me in. And here is the result!

The Wall Dance.

At Versailles.

Sven and Tatiana at a museum.

Weird to see my back without a tattoo...

While in Paris Tatiana was also painted by a famous artist, as you can see in the pic above. For more info about The Penn Pals, and this new project Paris & Cote d´Azure, please go here!

Photo: Pelle Piano

The Unchanging World Of Ballet

One thing I love about ballet is that this art form has been standing still in time for such a long time. Of course new, modern works are created all the time, and the demands on ballet dancers to be more agile, stronger, fitter, and have better technique grow all the time. But basically it has stayed the same since it first evolved. We still do the same barre exercises, pirouettes and stretches ballet dancers have always done. And in five hundred years from now, we will probably still get up in the morning and start doing our pliés to warm up. Among all the fast changes going on in the world today, I think it feels reassuring some things will never change too much...

In 1936 photographer Alfred Eisenstaedt did a shoot for LIFE Magazine's December issue of that year. It featured New York's School of American Ballet, and except for the girls having different hair styles and a bit softer bodies than today's ballet dancers, everything looks a lot the same as the dance studios of 2014!

Source

Vadim Stein

As I love both dance and photography, I simply love the work of Vadim Stein! And I think you might too... Stein was born in Ukraine, but now works as a photographer, sculptor, and stage designer in St. Petersburg. Here are some of his amazing sculpture-like dance photos!

For more, check out Vadim Stein's Facebook page!

Source

Polaroids In The Forest

I love shooting with Jan Persson! Not only is he a very good photographer, but he also liks to experiment with his arsenal of cameras from different ages. For the pictures below we got together in the woods to see what we could do with his Polaroid. I love how the colors turned out! The two black and white photos were taken with an old camera from the 40s, that were used to take pictures from planes during WWII. With that one you have to stand really still! As my face got a bit blurry in one of them I obviously didn't stand still enough. My bad... Anyway - here is the result!