Preview: Mirroring the Pre-Raphaelites

The anachronisms of the lady in pseudo-renaissance dress reading in an Victorian/Edwardian room almost blew the mind of the Designer when he saw the photos, though I suppose thinking back to how Jane Morris and her friends used to swan about their Victorian houses in pseudo-medieval splendour, it has a strangeness that I rather like.

Which could arguably be said to be the theme of the day since there are also heavy inspirations from Waterhouse's painting, Miranda - the Tempest (the 1916 one, not this earlier Miranda). We did joke that the river Wear, picturesque in its own right, isn't quite the stormy sea and the Prince Bishop (our local river cruiser) probably isn't up for sinking in the name of painting re-enactment. 

So I'm really rather glad we didn't succumb to the temptation to simply do the photos in the garden. And the Archaeologist (my lovely model of the day) needed to go to Palace Green Library anyway. 

We were in Durham Castle for the most part and there were three outfits in total, though the various layers got their own photos. The steampunk tailcoat of the previous post appears again (apparently with the power of making anyone feel significantly more dashing than they felt before), but in dark blue. There are some plans to do some of the black as well but I think we're running out of ideas of how to make the next set more different.

We brought some of the swords and they were duly twirled, as were braids and daggers. There was the reprimanding of impertinent bollards and dodging passer-bys. The Archaeologist even duelled a small child holding a stick when playfully challenged (and died a very dramatic death).

Grey overcast days have delayed these photos for almost half a week and it all seems to spite me as it was now too bright. Most of the photos turned out utterly sun-drenched and we seemed to be battling overexposure. I had wanted some shots with the castle keep in view, but between the bright sunlight and the camera's auto-adjustments, the castle was nowhere to be seen (see under the cut). Looking at the photos now, it's tempting to attribute some form of science fiction cloaking ability to the keep (after all, it's not as old as it looks).

More photos in the days to come and the disappearing castle under the cut.

Durham's extraordinarily stealthy castle. Must write to them to complain about that misfiring cloaking device off.