Love You ’til Death | Mountain Lake Lodge Photography
Happy Halloween! Please join us for our story-telling photography session at Mountain Lake Lodge where we join Dani and Jordan on the barren lake bed for some spooky fun.
Wilt thou go with me sweet maid
Say maiden wilt thou go with me
Through the valley depths of shade
Of night and dark obscurity
Where the path hath lost its way
Where the sun forgets the day
Where there’s nor life nor light to see
Sweet maiden wilt thou go with me
Where stones will turn to flooding streams,
Where plains will rise like ocean waves,
Where life will fade like visioned dreams
And mountains darken into caves.
Say maiden wilt thou go with me
Through this sad non-identity
Where parents live and are forgot
And sisters live and know us not
Say maiden wilt thou go with me
In this strange death of life to be
To live in death and be the same
Without this life, or home, or name
At once to be, and not to be
That was, and is not – yet to see
Things pass like shadows – and the sky
Above, below, around us lie
The land of shadows wilt thou trace
And look – nor know each other’s face
The present mixed with reasons gone
And past, and present all as one
Say maiden can thy life be led
To join the living to the dead
Then trace thy footsteps on with me
We’re wed to one eternity
“AN INVITE TO ETERNITY” BY JOHN CLARE (1793-1864)
There is so much imagery in these photos.
The entire session is inspired first by Nosferatu, for where would Vampire lore be if not for the original. Everything in this session bleeds out of that original story.
Most of the props used in this session were created or altered by Dani, who went for a late 1800s feel – old vampires stuck in tradition and the old ways. Most of the pieces pay homage to Bram Stoker’s Dracula.
Jordan’s pocket watch with its charms (handmade by our model Dani), hearkens back to the timelessness of the love between two eternal souls. The charms attached to the watch, a vial of blood, a container of earth, and a battleaxe, should immediately be recognizable by anyone familiar with vampire lore. The watch also symbolizes Vlad’s dedication to Mina, the vial of blood given from one soul to the other in a pledge of eternal trust and sacrifice, the earth from “the homeland” where the creatures became what they now are, and the axe – as the original Vlad the Impaler was a warrior. Dani wore a matching axe on her cameo necklace, which itself reflected when Vlad saw the cameo of Mina.
His grey top hat and round sunglasses are a direct nod to the “See me now” scene in Dracula, while his overcoat, military styled and utilitarian, is something much more personal – an old warrior embracing the familiar and practical.
Dani’s hair is a nod to when Mina meets with Vlad and they discuss his homeland. A woman of the 1800s would never wear her hair even partially down unless she was in an intimate setting at home. This lends itself to the assumption that she is a person outside of time and reflects that she knows she is with her soulmate whom she trusts deeply and intimately.
Her finger armor is not only a nod to Lestat’s device in Interview with a Vampire, but a perfect device for a vicious vampire to drain her victims and puncture arteries in style – the perfect combination of function and flair.
Her removable collar is in line with 1800s fashion, but is also so very practical for a vampire attempting to hide their mark.
The colors the two of them are wearing are a direct reflection back to a previous session we did with Jordan and Dani, and their entire ensemble gives a very “What We Do in the Shadows” vibe.
Their masquerade masks, other than being absolutely incredible (and made by Higgins Creek are so true to form for a vampire – for how is the everynight life of a vampire anything more than a masquerade, a creature pretending to be what it’s not in order to pass undetected. They are also symbolic of Vampire the Masquerade.
“I have crossed oceans of time to find you…”
— Dracula
There is no quote that better encapsulates the beauty and romance of this session. Two ancient creatures, frozen in time. A love raw, eternal, dedicated, and perhaps even a little feral.
