Queen of the Underworld: Embodying Persephone
The Queen of the Underworld, goddess Persephone, is a powerful figure in Greek mythology embodying duality as the goddess of spring. She represents life, death, and rebirth—a reflection of nature’s cycles. Persephone’s story speaks of transformation, as she spends half the year in the Underworld with Hades and the other half in the world above, bringing forth spring. This myth was the inspiration behind my recent fantasy photoshoot, where I sought to capture both the light and dark sides of Persephone. When my client approached me with this concept, I was excited to explore this duality. I have worked with this client in the past and understood her well, and knew this was a perfect concept to explore with her.
Styling the goddess
For this shoot, I leaned into elegant and ethereal styling. We went with natural hair styling, enhancing with a variety of crowns and hair cuffs around her curls by her face. I was excited for an opportunity to design a draped gown look. I had been wanting to design a look with draping for a while now, and this was the perfect opportunity. I bought some beautiful, flowing fabric and draped it on a mannequin, fixing it together with pins and chording to evoke the drapery of ancient goddesses and bring depth to her regal persona.
The result was beautiful, natural, and perfectly authentic to the vibe of the session. I decided to bring an array of crowns for the session. Flowers were also a big part of the concept, along with symbolic props like pomegranates, skulls, and bones, —all essential to Persephone’s mythos. For the final touch, we played with a blind mask designed with pomegranates and leaves from an amazing artist I love online, and bare feet to ground the look in ancient, natural beauty.
The Perfect Location: Lake Toho
We shot this session at Lake Toho, a place I’ve come to love for its versatility. This location has allowed me to capture various scenes over an abundance of sessions, with opportunities for shooting on grass, sand, and in the water. The lake’s changing landscape was the perfect backdrop to tell Persephone’s story—from her light, spring-like presence in the natural world to her darker, queenly role as twilight set in.
Although we didn’t use it this time, nearby Runnymede Conservation provides even more diversity for shoots. Its oak-filled Florida woods create a mystical, earthy atmosphere that’s ideal for fantasy sessions and family sessions alike. I use their close proximity to one another to sometimes move locations in the middle of a session, and offer incredible variety and Florida landscape to my clients with ease.
Honoring Both Sides of The Queen of the Underworld Persephone
To reflect Persephone’s dual nature, we planned the shoot to evolve alongside the day. We began under a brilliant blue sky, where the light and airy tones of spring were captured perfectly.
As the sun dipped lower, we transitioned into a more dramatic, shadowy look, with the makeup darkening to show the Queen of the Underworld, Persephone’s, role. This gave the photoshoot an incredible visual narrative, honoring both sides of the goddess.
Throughout the shoot, I paused between shots to make sure every detail—from the hair to draping, posing and the positioning of the props—was flawless. I take my time to make sure my lighting is just right as well.
A key element in making this transition seamless was my portable studio setup, which I bring on location. This setup includes high-quality lighting equipment that I can easily transport and position wherever needed, ensuring consistent, flattering light no matter the environment.
It allows me to control every aspect of the scene, even when shooting outdoors, which gives me the flexibility to adapt to changing conditions—like the shift from daylight to twilight. I’m able to adjust the intensity and direction of the lighting to enhance each shot, ensuring that my client always looks their best, whether we’re capturing soft, natural light or dramatic, shadow-filled moments.
This setup really sets me apart, as many local photographers rely solely on natural light, which can be unpredictable. By bringing this level of control with me, I can achieve a studio-quality result anywhere we go, making each photoshoot location a truly high end and custom-built set.
This extra attention to lighting made a huge difference in the final images and helped us fully capture both the light and dark aspects of Persephone’s story.
The Final Touch: Retouching
After the session, my client chose her favorite photos for retouching and ended up loving them so much, she decided to purchase even more! I love when that happens, I take pride in making photographs my clients love so much they decide to add on to their packages.
After her selection I began my retouching, which I meticulously retouched each image to enhance its beauty.
From refining skin and hair to correcting distortion and cleaning up the background, every detail is polished to perfection. I also use advanced color grading and light enhancement to bring depth, vibrancy, and a magical finish to each photograph.
Bringing a Myth to Life
Overall, this Persephone-themed photoshoot was a dream to create. It allowed me to blend my love for creativity, mythology, and photography into a session that was both enchanting and meaningful. The results were portraits that truly felt like works of art. session you had with attractive people or people where you can see the love and happiness on their faces beaming out in your pics.
What kind of session would you want for your own myth-inspired photoshoot? Comment or send me a message—I’d love to help bring your vision to life!
