Behind Knights on Patrol

I wanted to photograph Rex and Baron on their horses in as many different places as I could so it would look like they were actually 'travelling'.  On one of our drives just to the north of us, I'd spotted a bend on a quiet road in the country where there were huge snow banks from the snow plow after the last big snowstorm. So We took Rex and Baron there, and I posed them on their horses on top of the snow bank....

With the dolls raised up on a snow bank, it was easier to take photos of them at their eye level, since I definitely didn't want to get down in the snow....

I had painted the griffin on one side of an old pennant, which was originally made decades ago for a Joan of Arc figure. I never throw out anything since you never know when it might come in handy.  I made a pocket on one end to hold a dowel, and it was first used in the scene above. ​

​But it was windy, and it was obvious that I'd need to paint the same griffin on the other side as well....so I did.

​I'd also noticed another promising spot maybe two miles from home where there was a trail into the 'woods' in a hydro corridor. ​So, after another lovely snowfall with the snow sitting nicely on all the branches, we took Rex and Baron there.

​There were two huge concrete barriers laid beside each other across the head of the trail to discourage motorized vehicles.  I made my way through the deep snow in the ditch, and posed the knights on top of the snow-covered barriers.

Then I bent down to take their photos straight at their eye level. The snow on top of the concrete blended in nicely with the snow on the trail behind them....

Then before packing them back in the car, I took another photo from the other side of the road....

Many of the shots, especially the ones where they came across some people and other characters, were all shot in our upper garden after a fresh snowfall on three separate occasions....(note the different amounts of the snow on the bushes behind them)

They were great, and I was really happy with them, but I never took any behind the scene shots.  It was usually very cold, and my bare hands were hurting, so everything got cleaned up quickly and taken back inside.

Meanwhile I had the main room in Miho's castle set up on the dining room table for scenes with Naomi.  I always print out a photo of every unpopulated room setting (like this one) and file them in a binder so I know exactly what furniture and props go in each room. It makes it so much easier the next time I need that same set again...

Back at the Castle

Once the main room had been set up, it was time for the doll and whatever props that were needed....

I even had several REAL miniature cyclamen plants to put in the sunny window....

the Ice Falls

I had several 'travelling' scenes with Rex and Baron already, but I was really hoping for some more.  But it all depended on the weather, which had been like a roller coaster all winter; lots of snow, but followed by either a deep freeze way too cold for doll photos, or a warming spell when much of the snow would melt.  I liked it best after a fresh snowfall when it  stayed in the branches of the trees, but then it also couldn't be windy, or it would all blow out. I already had several scenes with that kind of snow, and really wanted something different...and unique.

I'd been thinking of going up north on a day trip, to take some photos of my knights with an ice falls. A few hours north of us lies the Canadian Shield, where the major roads and highways have been blasted through the granite hills.  In winter the groundwater spills over the edges of the rock cuts and freezes into amazing, giant icicle formations. Of course most are along major roads and highways, where one obviously can't stop, but we know of one place where there's a road that was blasted through the rock, right beside, but separate from, the main highway. It goes to a camp and boat access, both closed in winter, so there's no traffic at all. So we can just park at the side of the road and leisurely take doll photos there. We discovered it several years ago, and have been back to take doll photos there three times over the years.

​So we decided to make a day trip out of it, and we were not disappointed. ​The ice formations were amazing....

The rock wall faces west and gets lots of sun, so the snowbanks at the base were not very high this year....

We had brought along a shovel, so I made a nice flat area on top of the snowbank to pose the horses on....

...then photographed my two knights at their eye level....

..and remembered to take plenty of close-ups. ​It was then that I realized I'd forgotten to bring their pennant. I had been so busy packing stuff to bring with us that I totally forgot their flag. I was very disappointed  but it was what it was. Oh well, no one noticed when I posted the photos on my Blog, and if they had I would just have said the icy mountain pass was so treacherous to traverse, that they needed both hands on the reins.

After taking a series of photos with the blue ice behind them, the guys and horses went back in their boxes  back in the car to move up the road to a new location.  I'd also brought a second set of dolls and horses for photos for another story...and they were all lined up in the back of the car.....

We moved up the road a bit to a new location with green ice formations in the background....

The snowbanks here were even lower so I ended up having to sit down on the pavement to take the photos....

 Being stuck on the ground, I'd have to ask Jan to make any adjustments....

It was a very cold day with a high of -12C that day, but it wasn't too bad in the sun. I hadn't noticed that the icicles were dripping from above, and when I went to put Rex back in his box, I noticed that the right side of his cloak (nearest the ice) had gotten wet from the dripping icicles high above, and it was frozen stiff as a board. So I had to remove it to let it thaw and dry.  Both horses had what I thought were 'water drops' all over their right sides, but when I went to dry them off with a towel, I couldn't because they were frozen solid. So they had to lay out on towels so the ice could melt.

I'd also taken along Kassia and Prince Adrian (in his cat form) for some photos with ice and snow, and took a few photos of them...

After having finished taking photos, we started on our way towards home along a favourite back-country road with the hopes of taking some more photos of the snow and ice. But we encountered an icy spot on the road, and the car slipped off the road into a deep snow-filled ditch.  Well, there was no way to get out of that without a tow-truck, so Jan, who was able to get out his side of the car, made the call to the CAA. They said they were very busy and it would take a while.  Thankfully I'd brought along extra food, and I had my iPad, since with the car on a steep slant into the deep snow there was no way for me to get out.  So I played games on my iPad for the three hours it took the truck to arrive.  Thankfully we weren't hurt, and the car wasn't damaged, and we could just continue on our way, but the sun had set, we'd missed the sunset, it was pitch dark, and there would be no more photos that day.