It's like "Trash the Dress" without the dress {New Braunfels photographer}

It rained last week. That alone was enough to earn a 2-inch letter headline across the front page of the newspaper here in New Braunfels. I can't remember the last time it rained. Had it even rained since the new year here? I don't know. Rain is a stranger to us lately and the event troubled our 9-month-old beagle to the point that he turned his nose to the sky and barked and growled for the entire shower. Is he that unfamiliar with the wet stuff coming from the sky that in his short life, he hadn't seen enough of it to understand what it is?

So anyway, the rain brought with it a little mud. It's that mud that sparked an idea in the mind of one of my clients. She e-mailed me with her exciting idea. "I want to be photographed in the mud." Okay, I thought. I love a good trash the dress session -- yeah, only except there would be no dress in this session. Just my client and the mud.

"Great! Let's do it," I said. We secured a remote and private location thanks to one of my wonderful friends and then we met in the morning to get down and dirty.

Photography isn't all glamour and glitz, you see. It was hot and humid and the mud was everywhere. But the results were fantastic. I was so excited to have such a willing client who wasn't afraid to get mud in her hair, mud under her fingernails, and who didn't freak out when a roach decided to join her in the mud -- well she didn't freak out too terribly much. It was a lot of fun and a great way to start my weekend.

Now to clean out my boots and do some laundry.

Lisa On Location Photography

Does spray paint come out of white taffeta? No, it does not. {New Braunfels Trash the Dress Photography}

Today we gather around the computer to mourn the loss of a special friend. This friend has been with me through mud and high water, through grime and slime, it's touched sand, grit and paint and even grazed a dead opossum -- eww! It's traveled with me across Texas and into the Caribbean, but now it hangs on the shower curtain rod in my bathtub, a victim of it's own gosh darn usefullness. We mourn the passing of a once beautiful wedding gown.

My history with this gown spans back a couple of years. A lovely lady used it for her own wedding but did not want it any more. She was clearing out her closet and saw no need to hang onto it so she posted it on Freecycle -- a yahoo group Jayme and I belong to where people can post items they're trying to get rid of or claim items someone else hopes to get rid of, for free. She said she didn't want to give it to just anyone, only those with worthy causes need respond and she would decide to whom she would pass on her beloved wedding gown. We responded with photos of some of our other trash the dress sessions and assured her that this dress would be loved and enjoyed. She loved the idea and gave us her gown.

The lovely gown you see in the photos here is that gown. The trash the dress concept is not new. It's been around a few years and many of the brides I meet love the idea. They'd love to express themselves by posing in their gown in favorite places and doing favorite pastimes, but many of them are a bit squeamish about using their real gowns. Never fear, that's where I step in with my handy supply of wedding gowns. I'm a thrift store fiend. I can sniff out gorgeous gowns like a bloodhound on bologna. I have a closet full. Most of them can be used over and over. Trash the dress doesn't usually mean totally destroy it. Not usually that is. But nothing gets out spray paint. Every now and then an idea like this is simply too good to pass up. I agree to sacrifice some of these gowns and take them down paths from which they can not return. It's not the first gown to be lost to the cause and it won't be the last.

There are others. There will be more trash the dress shoots in our future. Jayme thinks we can tie dye this one and still have fun with it. I agree, but it will no longer be the pristine white wedding gown it once was. It will be reincarnated as another dress that's special in it's own way. And maybe we'll take it with us to the Grand Canyon this summer.




Lisa On Location Photography