Tne Unseelie Queen

Model: Luna Nikita

Assistant: Tenna V. Olesen Photography/Costume: Sabrina Nielsen

"The Unseelie Queen"

"The Darkness Within"

"Follow Her to the Darkest Part of the Forest"

"She Pulled the Night Around Her"

"In the Secret Garden"

For a while I've been wanting to a darker take on the Faerie queen, who I've portrayed a few times now. She is of course clothed in black lace and crimson crystals. She carries the wings of a crow on her shoulders, because she no longer has her own. Her dark powers are consuming her, so much that they seep through her entire soul. That is why her dress is torn and she has what looks like blood on her dress. Luna, with her full lips and cat like eyes, I thought, was perfect for the role.

I created the costume using black lace, tulle and silk organza. The dress is embellished with red Swarovski crystal and black glass beads. I also used the beads on the collar in an asymmetrical and random pattern - I didn't want this to be perfectly spot on symmetrical, because I wanted to show that she is coming apart at the seams, in a way...

It's no secret that I love flowers and I've tried to make good use of all of the beautiful flowers which've bloomed throughout May this year. We did this shoot in the same garden that we did the shoot with Amanda two weeks earlier. It was interesting to see how some of the flowers had already withered in that short time and how new ones had come out. As I'm writing this, I've just done another shoot in this garden, two weeks after this shoot with Luna and all of the flowers you see in the photos were gone and new ones were in bloom. I'm amazed at how quickly it changes and reminded how to appreciate the beauty of nature while I can.

I'm very pleased with the outcome of this shoot - and completely in love with how Luna looks in the purple flowers. I'm so happy we used them for the shoot. I wanted to show how this character moves through the garden, like she is restless and in despair; Dark magic rolling off her in waves and lingering around her.

This was the first time I worked with Luna, she was so lovely, and I think it went well. I was perhaps not as cheerful and present as I usually am. My grandmother on my father's side had passed away the day before, so of course my heart and my mind were heavy with the loss. She almost made it to become 94 years, but after a long hard year of problems with her hip and multiple surgeries, she passed on. My grandmother was such an incredibly strong woman, who had such a hard life. I really admired her strength and her ability to overcome obstacles she faced in life. She was without a doubt the most stubborn woman to ever have lived - a trait that has become a family trait. I definitely like to think that I get my own stubbornness and strong will from her; That innate feeling of wanting to do everything yourself in our way and to not be a burden on anyone else. That was her thing...

So at first I felt a bit distracted, I didn't tell the girls, but once we were in the garden, shooting, I forgot for a while and just enjoyed doing what I love most <3