It was one of those hot humid evenings in Lancaster City where the nasty asian tiger stripe mosquitos are almost as thick as the air. I convinced a few of my friends who live around the neighborhood to join me for a little creative photo shoot. We scavenged our backyards for whatever struck our fancy. I gathered a combination of hydrangea flowers, ferns, hosta leaves, English ivy, black eyed susans and other random weeds I found growing around the yard. My friend Drea found inspiration in her vegetable garden. Because we live in an area of the city known as Cabbage Hill, I decided I must include some cabbage. It was a tricky matter, but I managed to get a few purple cabbage leaves to stay put in a flower crown.  

My initial vision for this shoot was to photograph these ladies in various backyards and alleyways around the neighborhood. I love the idea of keeping it simple and creating with what you have right in front of you. Creating art right in your own backyard if you will. I wanted a free-spirited, wild, bohemian vibe. I liked the idea of juxtaposing these beautiful wild backyard garden bouquets with the textures found in crumbling walls and weathered buildings. However, in most of these photographs I realized it's kind of hard to tell that we are in the city since there is so much green. Some of these could possibly even pass for a forest location.

I foresee future photo sessions around the neighborhood that show more of the urban landscape. I want to portray the quirks and beauty to be found in this historic neighborhood, along with the 'unpretty' we see in trashy streets and neglected properties. I hope my portraits will put a unique spin on the places we might pass by everyday and not think twice about. So while I didn't quite accomplish my original vision for this shoot, we certainly made some beautiful images in our own backyards!