The Carnival Girls was a small project I shot in 2008. I worked on location at a local company in Observatory that manufactures (I think) and rents out these kiddies party rides. They are kitsch and bizarre and totally appealed to me for the theme of this shoot.
I wanted to create images with an ominous element and shooting inside the Kiddies Rides warehouse & workshop was ideal for this. My model, a close friend who I talked into posing for me, was perfect (thank you) and I even sterilised the rides before she sat bare bum on them- good shoot preparation and logistics!
The project was shot on medium format colour film using my twin lens Mamiya C3 and lit with one soft box. I used a collection of props which were nostalgic to me of youth, and school girls at carnivals: handmade flowered masks made with fabric daisies and orchids, satin bows, knee high striped or checkered socks, powdered, teased hair, round pink cheeks and lips (all reminiscent of children’s dolls).
The negatives were scanned and the final three images were giclee printed at 55x55cm in a limited edition of three of each. They were exhibited and sold on exhibition at Exposure Gallery to a German buyer and I’ve not printed the following editions yet.