Theme 8: The Siren's Lure - 31 Days of Halloween Series

While Minnesota is home, I love collaborating with people all over who want to explore something different when it comes to portraits. Especially when it comes to fantasy, storytelling, and stepping outside of comfort zones.

This Mermaid Siren session came together after a proessional model reached out wanting to expand her portfolio. From what I saw, most of her past work consisted of more traditional headshot portraits, and she shared that she really wanted to try something more creative, something that challenged her and allowed her to explore a new side of herself. That alone made me excited to collaborate.

I’ve explored the darker, eerie side of the mermaid siren in the past, but this time I wanted to shift gears completely. Instead of leaning into the haunting or unsettling, I wanted to focus on the Siren's captivating beauty. Still powerful, still otherworldly, but softer and more enchanting. I knew going into this that I wanted to go above and beyond, incorporating prosthetics, a mermaid tail, and more experimentation.

Makeup artist Jess Bonnema of Jessi B Artistry, based in Minneapolis, Minnesota, collaborated with me on this session. As we began sourcing materials, I invested in movie-quality prosthetics from Carnimals and Mud SFX, both found on Etsy which we used on the models face. At that point, I realized pretty quickly that this theme was going to demand a much bigger budget than originally planned. Instead of purchasing additional mermaid scale prosthetics for her body, I pivoted and used scale looking tattoos from Mermaid Tats, which ended up being a great budget friendly alternative.

Since I had already committed to high-quality prosthetics, I decided I was okay putting in extra Photoshop work to help elevate other elements. I purchased a mermaid tail from Fin Fun Mermaid Tails, intentionally choosing one that matched the darker blue tones I wanted in the makeup and overall color palette.

Once the model was confirmed and I knew her size, I sent her several wardrobe options at different price points so she could choose what felt right for her. She ended up purchasing a shell style mermaid top.

I’ll be honest, I wasn’t sure how the bright white shells and top were going to look against the colorful makeup and tail. (Especially since I didn’t see it on her until the day of the shoot!) But once everything came together, it worked beautifully.

We applied makeup over the prosthetics to help blend them further into the skin. While it did require quite a bit of editing to clean up where the prosthetics met the skin, the quality difference between these and cheaper options was night and day. If you’re ever bringing a fantasy or Halloween look to life, I highly recommend investing in quality materials, it truly shows and it easier to work with.

This was also Jess’s first time ever applying prosthetics, which added another layer of trial and error to the day. But honestly, that’s part of the beauty of art. We both work well under pressure, and there’s something really special about figuring things out in real time and trusting the process.

Before the model was fully styled, my brain was already spinning with other ideas! I pulled out an old crown, elf ears, and some vintage fishnet material. In my previous mermaid siren session, the fishnet was just a prop, but this time, I wanted to turn it into a shawl. I ended up super-gluing shells I’ve collected over the years onto it, finally giving them a purpose. I love DIYing and going in without a plan and letting something evolve naturally.

That part of the session makes me especially proud. Not just as a photographer, but as a creative. Using my hands, building something from scratch, and being able to say "I made that" hits differently.

I also really wanted to incorporate webbing or fin-like gloves for her hands. Unfortunately, everything I found looked too cheap or the colors didn’t quite match, and at the time this session was photographed, AI and advanced editing tools weren’t what they are today. I didn’t want to risk the look falling apart in post production .

I did try professional swimmer finger gloves meant to help people swim faster. They came in black and were… painfully tight. Like, break your fingers off tight. I’m pretty sure I accidentally ordered children’s sizes. The model couldn’t even get them on, and I didn’t want her breaking a nail, so we pivoted...again.

We tried creating a webbing effect by gluing holographic film to her palms using eyelash glue. If you’ve ever been on a beach, you can probably imagine how sand and water reacted to that idea. It didn’t last long, and eventually we scrapped it entirely.

And you know what? That’s okay.

I’m still incredibly proud of these images. If I hadn’t told you that story, you never would’ve known something was “missing.” That alone is a reminder not to be so hard on yourself when things don’t go according to plan. Most of the time, those hiccups are completely insignificant in the final result.