Kandylane Enchanted Debut! "Enchanted Indigo" (#1, #2, #3)

My world has always been enchanted. From the time I was little, I dreamt in vivid color and concepts. Sometimes, the dreams were dark and disturbing, and sometimes they were bright, colorful and angelic. From golden carriage rides into space to an unknown planet with my deceased sister Kandyse Layne (Inspiration for the name Kandylane Photography & Kandylane Enchanted) to dark and what seemed to sometimes be demonic forces trying to creep into my mind. There has definitely always been a large range of subconscious emotions I seemed to be going through and still go through.

When I hear of terrible things going on around the world or here in Las Vegas, I always tell people, “I live in a world of butterflies and rainbows….I had no idea!” It’s a bubble I think I put myself in so that I can try to keep a positive outlook. I feel the emotions of others so deeply that sometimes I physically hurt when I hear of too many travesties. My mind creates enough false realities on its own to then incorporate what is really going on in the world. I know that I need to keep up; I just don’t like to be inundated. So, I often let the inner workings of my thoughts travel to whimsical, enchanted worlds. I know…I’m sounding a little crazy J

I use to lie awake at night when I was little and talk with my sister, Shelsi (who I almost lost as well) about how cool it would be to design clothes when we grew up. We could wear whatever we had designed and make clothes for models to wear on the runway. Sometimes these talks would take place inside a tent out in the magical back yard where we grew up. We use to set up the tent when our room was too messy to sleep in :’-). Tears fill my eyes in happiness and laughter right now as I travel back in thought to those fanciful times with her. I just wish I could go back and do that again! Wait! Who cares that we’re adults, we should do it again the next time we’re together! ANYWAY, partially designing the wardrobe for this new gallery of enchanted photos will bring to reality another dream I had as a child, finally fulfilling another part of my aspirations.

I have always been a little spirit of nature myself. I even use to eat dirt as a young girl, lol. Gross! That’s where I wanted to be though; up in our tree house or climbing trees, digging in dirt pretending to be a paleontologist and climbing through bushes. We had the best yards and neighborhoods growing up to do so. That same backyard I use to “camp” in had 2 large olive trees with a wood swing hanging from one, a bamboo “forest”, 3 massive palm trees you could see from a freeway that was miles away, century plants and even stairs down to a lower hidden level! It was kind of wild, but talk about a kid’s dream yard! Our front yard was full of juniper bushes and even though we would get covered in some sort of sticky sap and poked by its needles, my friends and I would crawl into them, find a stable clump of branches and set up a fort. Again, it was so magical.  

To this day, I love having my feet in the dirt. I haven’t quite learned how to garden in Las Vegas, but I still try and I love doing it. I love animals too. Sometimes I even pretend to be a dog or cat whisperer, lol. As I’m writing, my cat is sitting on my lap staring up at me and nudging my chin with his nose. I have always felt connected to nature and animals. I’m always in awe and wonder over all of God’s creations. So magnificent! I particularly love creatures of flight. Humming birds, owls, butterflies, dragonflies, etc; they are all so amazing! That is one reason fairies, fowls and mythical things will partly be a theme throughout this enchanted gallery.

Creativity is in my blood, from many generations back with art, music, writing & photography. This project is essentially “letting me spread my wings” and do something that I’ve been dreaming of doing for a long time. Each shoot will be personal in one way or another and will come from many sources of inspiration. This won’t be finished over night either. Each project is time consuming with costume design including homemade wings, alterations, tracking down the perfect location, hair, makeup and of course the actual photo shoot. Almost everything I put together will be used from garage sales, thrift stores or online sources, and a lot of things will be homemade or altered so nothing is ”cookie cutter”. I hope anyone who drops by the blog will take the time to read the stories that go along with the picture so they can fully understand the concept.

My goal is to one day open a gallery of fine art concept and creative portraits and publish books from the series. Please share these as much as you’d like! Pin them, tweet them, share on Facebook, etc.

Enjoy the 1^st 3 pieces to this gallery! You can follow along as I write little bits about how my characters came to be and why they are so personally special to me.

Introducing……

Enchanted Indigo

Entering into a new world

Meditation

Contemplation

My heart is racing right now because I am so anxious to share this. These are the opening 3 pieces to this new Kandylane Enchanted Photography Gallery. Its been in my brain for years now, but the solid hunt for her wardrobe, hair, makeup, flowers, etc. has been in full force for a month now.

Erin, my model is a wonderful friend of mine. She was the first friend (besides family) I had in Las Vegas and we've become so close. I immediately told her that I wanted her to be my first enchanted character and although she was nervous, she said yes!! I couldn't have chosen better. She really was amazing!

Purple and violet have always been 2 of my favorite colors. Some spiritual beliefs describe this color to be the "crown chakra" or the "third eye chakra" connecting our mind and body to spiritual energy around us, to our "higher self" or to God. Through the ages, it has been a color of spiritual wisdom, and enlightenment and it was also a first color that was used in ancient painting because it is so deep and vibrant within the plant and even the underwater world. This color is really a symbol of a new chapter opening up in my life. Heavenly Father has inspired me step by step with this and has opened my eyes to inspirations I never had before.

Brittany Benko, my amazing makeup artist is also one of my best friends. We connect on a spiritual level more than most people in my life. When we get talking about philosophies about spirituality, religion and pretty much just anything, we can talk for HOURS! Having her part of this project has been such a blessing. She has taken some my ideas and turned them into exactly what I wanted. Doesn't surprise me though....our brains seem to be in sync all the time. This makeup was pure art! I loved it!

So these wings were gonna be the death of me. The skirt was actually a dress I found at Goodwill and had my wonderful mother in law alter. The corset was found on www.thefashioncorsetshop.com. Beautiful stuff on there. But those wings were hand made. I had this vision of huge elaborate wings that came way above her head and flowed way down, but making them myself for the first time was a problem, lol. The wire I was using kept caving and I just couldn't figure out how to make them big! I finally broke down and made some small ones and as I was being kind of grouchy to myself about it, a little voice in my head said "These are your training wings. You are only learning how to fly. Be patient." Corny, I know, but my eyes actual filled with tears. I knew that was just what it was gonna be for now and I became really happy about it.

So this morning was fun! None of us really got any sleep. Maybe a tiny cat-nap at midnight, but we started the makeup process at 3am. A few weeks ago, Andrew and I drove up to Mt. Charleston early in the morning to scope out lighting for this shoot and for other future shoots. around 6am I finally found THE spot. Everything about it felt right! SO makeup had to start early because that process plus packing up, driving over and setting up was gonna take a bit. It was just breathtaking. It was cool, calm, quiet (with birds chirping of course) and the sun was just starting to poke through the trees. So heavenly. Just what I wanted.

Below, you will find some behind the scenes pictures from this morning!!

The beginning of the amazing makeup art

Say cheese!

Eye lashes!

Stepping into the new world

Getting down and dirty...literally

Fun one of all 4 of us!

Capturing the birds-eye view of Erin on the ground (2nd picture in series) 

Andrew being a monkey like always! Who needs a ladder?! I should have given him the camera

Andrew trying to steel the thunder and model for us! haha

Erin and Brittany getting a little sneak peak on the drive home