Have you ever regretted not documenting something?
Maybe it was that one time you forgot your camera, or that one time you saved all of your tickets from trips to foreign lands, only to misplace them somewhere. Eventually you forget the memories entirely. You forget where you placed all those souvenirs, and eventually they disappear, never to be seen again.
When I finished Daughters of the King, the entirety of what I had spent the last three years creating was scattered across various blog posts, website pages, and costume trunks. I felt almost like someone who had misplaced their memories. In fact, at times, I felt that the only evidence this series had ever existed now lay hidden within the depths of my website and the costume trunk sitting in the corner of my living room. Out of sight, and quickly slipping out of mind.
As I thought about it, it began to seem pretty remarkable how quickly three years of work could almost disappear. As if nothing had ever happened. I just couldn’t let this be true.
And so I decided to create something that would, at least in some small way, keep the story that I had created alive. At the beginning of the year, I once again pulled out all my costumes, all my props, and all my sketches from their hiding places, carefully photographing each piece, compiling every blog post, and collecting each web page, placing it all in one book.
To look through this book, to remember all the beautiful young women I met and the valuable lessons I learned, has been a wonderful way of keeping my accomplishment from feeling like it has disappeared entirely. Like a yearbook of sorts, I have loved reading through all of my favorite stories and memories that were collected as I crafted my costumes, explored new locations, and got to know new people.
Whenever I pick up a camera, or a new idea comes to me, my next thought is to always wonder “how can than this be an inspiration to others?” How can what I have learned and what I have created help others who are following behind me on this journey? Art is a powerful thing that can change people’s lives. The stories within Alex Stoddard’s images had this effect on me. Walking down a path with an end destination of a job with the United States government, the work of a 17 year old boy opened up a divergence in the road to which I gravitated. While a job with the United States government isn’t something I’ve ruled out entirely and it certainly isn’t anything I look down open, I feel grateful every day for the passion and fire that conceptual photography brings to my life, and for the love of which Daughters of the King helped foster for the past three years.
– An excerpt from my book, Daughters of the King.
Originally I made this book for myself, to look back on and remember the combined effort of three years of passion and persistence. However, after thinking it through I have realized that I am not the only one who waited three years to see this project through. You did too. And because of this, I have decided to offer this book for sale.
If you were touched, at least in some small way, by the work that went into this series, grab yourself a copy!
And if you haven’t already, when you sign up for my mailing list, I am giving away free bookmark templates of my Daughters of the King series this month only. I will only be offering these through the end of the month, so sign up now!
Leave A Comment