And now, a call to action. I'm in the very early stages of negotiating a joint steampunk costume-and-photoshoot project with a friend of mine - and I mean VERY early, to the point where I'm thinking in terms of the spring or summer of 2014 for actually taking the pictures. However, if this goes ahead, I see it as being a lot of fun. I imagine the results as being very earth-toned, relying on stripes and ruffles, stockings and short jackets, decorative brass accents, hats with veils, and perhaps a bit of copper pipe here and there– for the steam, you know…
I'm a big fan of environmental photography for things like this - I think it would be a huge tragedy to invest a great deal of time and effort in evoking the alternate history of the British Empire in the form of a costume, only to document it in front of an eight foot roll of white seamless paper in a studio. So, I open this up to those blog readers who live in the Greater Vancouver region: where should we go to photograph the eventual results, if any?*
I realize that the nature of the costume will play a part in the choice of a location. An intrepid aviatrix would call for a completely different situation than a daring explorer, scientific detective, or corset-clad assassin. But let's not limit things at this stage, let's start by casting as wide a net as possible - where are the best rivets, girders, gears, locomotives, and arcane engines in the Lower Mainland?
Oh, and just for the record, I don't think that we're going to take the route of creating a steampunk courtesan's costume. Very little challenge to that, in my mind that just means adding goggles and subtracting clothing, which would make for a completely different photoshoot. Certainly interesting in its own way, but not what we're after.
- Sid
* See above re: VERY early stages. Life is full of change, and the whole thing may fall through. Don't worry, if something does come of this, I do plan to post the results here, with the permission of my collaborator.