FOREVER TOGETHER: Celebrating All Souls

For the third year in a row, I have been dreaming up ideas for our fantasy-themed shoot, one where we let loose and where limits and “inside-the-box” thinking are not welcome. I had a book full of ideas for this year, but with the launch of our new site, time kept creeping up on us, making most of them a little difficult to execute. Oh well, there’s always next year.

I didn’t want to have this year pass by without a nod to magic however, so I dug into one of my simpler ideas and decided to pay tribute to Hanal Pixan (Haan- ahl Pee-shan), as we call it in my family town of Mérida, Yucatán; otherwise known as Day of The Dead. We love Halloween too however, and love the idea of dressing up for a fun cause. So today, it is all about color and All Souls. Willow and I decked out in non-toxic kid paint, and sought out a foggy morning in our little town of Petaluma (our town is a big fan of Day of the Dead by the way!). It was only later that I realized however, that one of the reasons I love our Day of the Dead tradition, is because of its meaning, that those we love never really leave, and that love and friendship goes beyond this physical life.

We tried a couple of different homemade edible white paint recipes for Willow, but it she found that a little too enticing and kept trying to eat it! So we opted for non-toxic, kid friendly face paint that came off quite easily with a little baby oil and a good bath. Willow was a great sport when we were putting her makeup on and seemed to have a blast running around our location on a foggy morning and getting questioning looks from passers by that didn’t realize she was wearing paint, but thought her coat had some odd patterns at quick glance.

The marigold, or in my tongue, flor de cempasúchil (zem-pah-soo-cheel) is the traditional one we offer our dearly departed on our altars or “ofrendas”. Along with candles, photos of our loved ones and food and drink items they loved completes the altar. For this occasion however, we wanted it to seem like these two old friends who are now united in the “beyond” were taking a stroll together before checkin in on our loved ones back in the living world.

Other than involved makeup and watching the weather for some foggy skies, this themed shoot was relatively simple. I am glad we did it nonetheless, and glad to have had the extra pair of helpful hands from our friend Amy Soper (House of Wee) who was visiting at the time. By the by, if you’d like to see more photos from today and some very cool behind the scenes, make sure you visit Amy’s blog HERE.

Happy Halloween everyone, and Felíz Día de Los Metros!

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