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A Few More Behind the Scenes

7/19/2023

the Wood Shop

After Baron was finally on his way home, I wanted to show the passing of time by having a baby shower. And that meant gifts. Sure, I could use the same old props I always do, but I thought it would be nice to make some specially to be the gifts. And where would someone make some toys, but in a wood-shop. So I had to put one together...

I gathered all the props, furniture, and unfinished projects I though might be in a wood shop. I also gathered lots of bits of wood, and containers of tiny nails from Jan's workshop.

I sculpted one dragon pull toy from Apoxy, and the second using wooden beads attached to a wooden body...

It was just a small set, taking up barely half the dining room table.

I even had a bowl of sawdust to sprinkle around to add that extra touch of realism

the Baby Shower

Now, baby showers aren't exactly the most interesting thing to photograph. It's just a bunch of women sitting in a circle while the guest(s) of honour opens their gifts. So, I had to make the gifts the interesting focus of the shower.

I had been really inspired to make several gifts for the baby dragons, including a set of tiny bibs....

Then it was time to shoot the actual shower. I took out all the medieval ladies that were Naomi's friends, and all the elves who were Saphira's friends, and posed them all seated around the room.

Then I'd focus on the details,

and change the poses while working my way through the opening of the various gifts...

Willie & Winston Visit

After Baron gets home, I had Willie and Winston come for a visit. It was one of the last sets of photos I took for the story. I was in the middle of taking photos, when Jan snapped a photo...

More Behind the Scenes

7/18/2023

A Second Attack

Back when I took the very first photos of Baron after his attack in the snow in early January, I only shot a few photos, and avoided showing much of his face. But after starting to put the story together I decided I needed more photos with Baron and Rex talking, including close-ups of Baron, and photos with Rex looking at and talking to Fenwick.

It had been two months since I'd taken those first photos, and I would need a similar looking snowfall, but it was already March, so I needed to take advantage of the first decent snowfall. So I posed Baron and Rex as closely as possible to their poses in the first photos taken two months ago, and brought them back outside in the snow. I still had the jar with 'blood' coloured paint, and poured some in the snow....

But it was really wet snow this time, and the 'blood' seeped into it almost immediately, and kept spreading. I was mostly just shooting closeups this time, as well as some photos with Rex talking to Fenwick, but the blood in the snow would still show, and that was definitely going to be a problem for any kind of continuity. So I ended up having to photoshop the background so the photos would match the original set of photos. I had to photoshop all the 'blood' in the same places, and add extra snow....

Before

After

Dominic's Wig

I was in the process of shooting the scene where Lawrence and Monica are breaking the news about Baron to Miho and Naomi, and then Dominic comes in....

I had never been all that happy with his commercial wig, and decided this was as good a time as any to do something about it. So I spent two days making him a 'salt & pepper' wig, suitable for an older noble...

Then I had to do a complete reshoot of the entire scene...

First shoot with commercial wig....

Reshoot with new wig...

the Birthday Party

I had wanted to throw Judith and Fay a birthday party for a while, and thought it would be something to show the passing of time between when Baron left, and when he was injured, so set up the party scene in Rex and Bianca's castle interior.

Birthday parties can get rather boring if they are always the same old thing, so I thought of using balloons as a highlight.

So I'd pose all the dolls for a particular scene, then take close-up photos at the doll's eye level...

Behind the Scenes of New Beginnings

7/17/2023

This story would never have happened if it wasn't for a series of unfortunate events, starting with the damage to Baron's Faceup, and then the awful repaint by Iplehouse. It would be months before I would be able to get another artist to paint him again, and I came to realize that my Baron would never look the same again, and got the idea to do a story explaining why he'd end up looking different. I decided that Baron was going to be injured in an attack, and after he eventually recovered, and his bandages came off, he would look different. So I got out my pastels and water colour pencil crayons and tried to make the awful Iplehouse faceup look more like his original makeup. And I added lots of 'cuts and bruises'.

the Attack

The very first photos to be shot were of Baron lying wounded in the snow after the attack...

I used red paint for the 'blood' in the snow, but there would have been way more blood after such a battle scene, and there was no way I was going to risk staining the dolls or their clothes, so all the rest - bloody hands, hair, and armour - was added afterwards in Photoshop.

Then I added his bandages, and took photos for when he'd eventually return home. I needed an exterior that could pass for the outside of his castle, and thought of using the brick fireplace. I added the styrofoam arches, and I had a believable castle exterior...

Then I took the photos while sitting down on a bench, with the two knights at my eye level...

Riding in a Blizzard

I needed photos of Rex and Baron riding home in the snow, and thought doing it in an actual blizzard a few weeks later, might be worth the effort. But it was snowing so crazy hard that Jan had to hold an umbrella just to protect my camera lens....

But there's nothing like some real falling snow to add that extra touch of realism....

Saying Good-bye

I realized that I needed to start the story with photos of Baron leaving on his annual winter patrol, but he still had his 'attack' faceup. I wasn't going to wipe it off since there was no way I'd be able to reproduce it again afterwards.

So I photographed all the scenes with him either from the back, or from above, and always with the left side of his face showing since it had the least 'scars'.

Owen & Kyle

I also needed some photos of Kyle and Owen heading out in the snow, so took them to one of my favourite nearby spots...

Lawrence's Office

Several scenes took place in Lawrence's office, which was set up on the dining room table...

I had just finished shooting the scene where Winston delivers the bad news....

Then that same day, after taking photos of Owen and Kyle in the snow, I needed to put them somewhere so their boots could dry off, so laid them on the edge of the table. Then it hit me just how funny the scene looked, so I had to take a photo....

Eight Months

7/16/2023

A few months had passed, Baron had healed from his injuries, and Naomi's pregnancy had progressed without incident. She was now eight months along, and getting very uncomfortable....

"How are you feeling?"

"Would you like a back rub?"

"Maybe later. Right now I just need to sit down."

But she still wasn't very comfortable...

Baron did his best to make her as comfortable as possible...

He was becoming expert at looking after Naomi. "Would you like some tea?"

After all, she had cared for him during his recovery,

and now it was his turn to look after her.

They were both looking forward to becoming parents.

"It won't be too much longer now."

Behind the Scene

7/15/2023

Just a few Behind the Scene photos from our Maritime Adventure.

With both of us getting older, and developing shaky hands, it's always better to support the dolls while they are standing or leaning on something. Like the railing of the new observation deck railings at the Peggy's Cove lighthouse.

Then the dolls are standing straight, and the right height to each other...

I really wanted to take some photos in the little park in the St. Lawrence at St. Roche-des-Aulnais. But it was raining. So I set up the scene inside on the RV table, so I'd know exactly how I wanted the scene set up as soon as it stopped raining outside...

I was working on a salad for our own dinner while we waited...

Then when it stopped raining we quickly took everything outside and I set it all up again on the picnic table and I took the photos...

I had to work fast since the next thunderstorm was already rumbling in the distance, heading our way. It was already starting to rain again as Jan gathered up the last doll and props.

Lobster Picnic

7/14/2023

We had severe thunderstorms that evening, through the night, and the next morning, and the weather forecast for the following week was awful, so we gave up and decided to just go home. Then after driving up the Trans Canada all day, my little family finally had their lobster dinner between thunderstorms along the St. Lawrence River in St. Roche-des-Aulnais, Quebec.

Bonnie rolled up her sleeves, ready to tackle her lobster...

Jamie wasn't keen on lobster, and had opted for fish sticks instead,

and he was watching Bonnie deal with her lobster.

"There's also a cherry pie for dessert..."

"I love your cherry pies."

Jude kept watching his daughter struggle with her lobster...

"How are you doing with that thing?"

"I'm doing fine, thanks. I just don't like it looking at me."

Jamie decided to share some of his dinner with the pups....

They were nicely done, and all cleaned up by the time the next thunderstorm rolled in.

That night we drove into the dark in the torrential rain, through construction, passed Quebec City, and spent the night at a truck stop. Next morning we continued in the pouring rain passed Montreal. The rain finally stopped when we crossed the border into Ontario, but it was very hot and humid, with orange, hazy skies from all the wildfire smoke. Later that afternoon, it was finally good to be home after the 'non-trip' that had fought us right from the very beginning.
Maybe we'll try again next year.

the Big Lobster

7/13/2023

We continued along the New Brunswick shoreline, and there were lupins blooming everywhere...

In late afternoon we arrived in Shediac, and stopped at the town Information Centre..

It was still extremely windy...

The kids wanted to have their picture taken with the giant lobster...

"It's dinner time. How about some lobster?"

Cape Tormentine

7/12/2023

Following along the coast of the Northumberland Strait in New Brunswick, we stopped at Cape Tormentine, the site of the old ferry docks to Prince Edward Island, which were abandoned after the completion of the Confederation Bridge....

"The tide is out, and it looks like a good place to dig for clams."

So they got out their pails and shovels

But Grace was having difficulty with the strong winds...

In the distance they could see vehicles crossing the Confederation Bridge to Prince Edward Island.

It's the longest bridge in the world over ice-covered water, and spans the 12.9 KM (8 mile) Abegweit Passage across the Northumberland Strait between New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.

Baie Verte

7/11/2023

Heading north in Nova Scotia to the Northumberland Strait, we crossed into New Brunswick, and stopped in a park in Baie Verte to let Bonnie, Jamie and the pups stretch their legs...

the Bay of Fundy

7/10/2023

We decided to start our journey home by visiting some of our other favourite places in Nova Scotia, and drove across the middle of the province (in the rain) to the north shore along the Bay of Fundy, to Hall's Harbour.

The Bay of Fundy has the highest tides in the world, with two high and two low tides every twenty four hours. The water levels drop or rise twelve meters four times a day.

The boats in the harbour end up sitting on the ocean floor at low tide,

but when we arrived the tide was already starting to come back in...

The docks and the boats float up and down with the tides....

It was too wet to take the dolls out for photos, so we continued northward along the Fundy shore...

...to Burntcoat head, where one can make their way down to the ocean floor around the island just offshore. But it was raining, and the tide was coming in, so we didn't venture down the muddy steps...