Madame Troubles

Ok, so I'm running around like a mad man trying to get everything ready to go for NY Toy Fair this weekend. I've reached a point in my preparations, where there is nothing else really to do, but nervous energy won't let me stop inventing new tasks (hence the ePostcard). I do this for almost every work trip I ever go on, and you'd think that I'd remember to simply prepare to take it as it comes and let go.

Take this image for example. It's part of a photo series for FDQ/Madame Alexander I played around with over my drive back home for the holidays. I'm extremely happy with it, as is the client, but I never thought that I'd be shooting anything close to it when I woke that day. I had grand plans of driving from Memphis to El Reno, Oklahoma by sunset. There used to be this awesome Route 66 era motel called the Big 8, and I had it in my mind that it would be the perfect location for a golden hour image of the Madame Alexander doll Jadde Lee.

I got on the road early in Memphis and pushed it hard through Arkansas and past Oklahoma City. There had been dark skies and killer wind for most of the drive, but the sky was amazing and the light was perfect as I pulled into El Reno. A quick right off the interstate, another right onto old Route 66, and...the Big 8 had become nothing but an abandoned shell of it's former glory!

So I was left with my grand plans shot, my dog in the passenger seat looking pissed after a long day of driving without frisbee breaks, and the thought of "ok, now what?" I headed out of town on old Route 66 in the hopes of at least finding a nice place to play with the dog and stretch my legs before the light was gone. I ended up on the edge of a beautiful grassland plain with the wind howling and the light looking as you see in the picture.

I grabbed Jadde, did some quick styling, and ended up with a shot that is far better than what I had in my head when I set off that morning. If the Big 8 had been there, I never would have got it. So call it whatever you want, but I feel fortunate that things happened the way they did and that I was able to let go and take things as they came.

Now let's see if I can do the same with the week ahead.

Brian McCarty

P.S. Be looking for the complete Madame Alexander roadtrip series in the next issue of Fashion Doll Quarterly. Oh, and don't forget to enter the Drunk Tank Giveaway for a print of the Mullet Heads character Artimus (AKA "the Carney") in a TN drunk tank!

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