I Channeled My Inner Rihanna

📸 Photographer: Andrew Wilkinson — "Green Crowed Wall" in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

📸 Photographer: Andrew Wilkinson — "Dark Queen" in Parkersburg, West Virginia.

“Never forget what you are, for surely the world will not. Make it your strength. Then it can never be your weakness. Armour yourself in it, and it will never be used to hurt you.”

-George R.R. Martin, A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1)

I've been really bored lately around my hometown and so I decided to do a photo shoot for fun with my friend, Andrew Wilkinson. It was my first ever photo shoot and I say it was a success. I took inspiration from Rihanna. I thought she is one of the most strongest females out there with a lot to say and no fucks saying it. I felt we got really Gothic and almost Vogue like.

This photo was taken in Parkersburg , West Virginia in downtown by the Blennerhassett Island ferry port, under the bridge. It was cold, brisk from the cold front of the water. I think we were just really winging it. Andrew, being a drag queen and often practicing posing, was super helpful in what I needed to do with my hands. He has a really great eye and even better direction. I've never been a model.

We trekked along the pathway of the tall 20+ ft cement wall along the water to find a good spot. With tons of graffiti sprinkled everywhere. Mainly stuff that said "I love Maryann and Joe, together forever," it was dreary and kind of nice. It was eerie in the sense that you would wonder if any of the people were even together who wrote on the walls or not, or even alive. Finally we reached a wall that was worn away; showing mineral composites and mold, moss growth, creating just a beautiful blend of yellow, white, and green.

Stopping and debating on how we would reach the corner without sinking into the mud from the floods of the water from weeks before. We found a small area of mud dry from the breeze and hard to walk, stepping in the grass at an incline, posing in all awkward ways. I understood how models felt, contouring their bodies and holding them, was not an easy job. We stood freezing and loving every moment though, shaking every time a crow flew from above, out of the home they created in the cement walls. It was truly beautiful.

I feel this isn't the last of my photography/ model adventure with my friend and I really hope it is not the last. He really captured the beauty, I wasn't sure I fully had. What do you think?

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