A window into Cathy’s mind

People say that their best ideas come to them in their sleep. I reserve the right to say
whether or not my adventures with a certain well known doll called Barbie are my
best, however, she is certainly the most fun to date. I woke up thinking originally
that I would use her to poke fun at the World of Celebrities. There has been a degree of
this, but she has also crossed over into the World of Art and Literature.

My first image is based on Adam and Eve, and I think that you can see that this is a very
basic starting point, using only artificial ivy to clothe her.

Following on from that Barbie went to the Oscars wearing a dress of bubble wrap and
Mozzarella cheese instead of the famous meat dress worn by Lady Gaga. I have to admit that glueing grated cheese onto mozzarella was interesting, resulting in a reasonably large amount being blown around the kitchen as I tried to dry it with the hairdryer.

Moving on from her visit to the Oscars, Barbie ventured into the world of art, appearing on a very windy Morecambe beach as the Birth of Venus or Birth of Barbie.

She has gone from being the Flake girl lying on the lawn, holding chocolate in her hand to my more adventurous idea with her sitting on a wrecking ball a la Miley Cyrus.

More recently I have taken ideas from items which caught my attention. I think I saw an
image of Lilliput on a poster in Manchester which caused my creative juices to flow. As I
am starting to become more confident with her and my abilities I am happy to take the
time to work out how I am going to stage these pictures. Barbie in Lilliput took about six
weeks to think through, rejecting and refining ideas during this time. The lawn had to be
freshly mown to be able to see the pin heads as the stakes for the thread to be tied
around. I love the idea of a little boy eating a burger whilst sitting on a bench with his dog looking at Barbie pegged out. I also think that it gives scale to the image.

Finally, she has given into her artistic vent, and her inner Mondrian

I have more ideas for Barbie and I would like to think that she is giving me confidence to
take better photographs at the same time indulging in my inner sense of fun.
I hope that this sparks other members to have a play. As long as you enjoy it and it
makes you happy, give it a go.

If you are interested in following Barbie on her adventures, you can follow her at
cashcanian23 on Instagram.

Thank You Cathy for the Guest Blog it made me smile. If any other members wish to take inspiration from Cathy and write a guest blog about their own photography, we would love to read them.