Passages – Madeline Shayne

As We Are: A Passages Story

Let’s play a little game of imagination: Imagine blue is, and always has been, your favorite color. Wherever you go, you find comfort in the blue sky, blue birds, and countless other blue things you see. In fact, you love it so much, you paint your home and every single wall inside it varying shades of blue. You’ve planted blue hydrangeas under your living room window and blue delphiniums along your (blue) picket fence. One day, you are outside tending to your garden when a stranger walks by. You wave, and they wave in return. [...]

By Madeline|2024-04-18T13:05:07-04:00April 7th, 2024|Passages, Passages - The Diary|0 Comments

It’s Time! Diving into the Next Passages Project!

With the Patreon poll wrapped up, I can now officially say the next Passages image I’ll be working on is... “Differences!” I’m particularly excited to get started on this one because, like the most recent thistle-inspired scene and “The Heart Will Break,” this is an idea that has been ruminating in my head for quite a while (over five years, to be exact). But enough introducing…let’s get down to the real meat of this blog post: what the idea is, where it came from, and how I hope to bring it to life! The story I want “Differences” [...]

By Madeline|2021-05-10T10:18:17-04:00April 20th, 2021|Differences, Passages|0 Comments

The Heartbreak Costume

It’s been a mad rush towards the end, but the costume for Heartbreak is finally finished!⁠ After two months of hard work, I can't tell you how absolutely proud (and relieved) I was to bring the gown downstairs and stage it for a little shoot today. All of the effort and frustrations⁠ felt like they were worth every minute of my time spent working on it. While there are a few things that didn't go exactly to plan (I had meant for the skirt to be more tattered and the zipper doesn't like GREAT), I am, overall, EXTREMELY pleased [...]

By Madeline|2020-04-01T21:37:53-04:00April 1st, 2020|Costume Design, Passages|0 Comments

A VERY Overdue Update on Passages (I Know… Finally!)

December. That was the last time I talked about Passages here on the blog. DECEMBER. Five. Months. Ago! It definitely goes without saying that it’s time for another update! And while I don’t have a WHOLE lot to update you on (with things just now starting to wrap up with Green Rider), I do have a few items. Like the fact that I have two images currently in the works and on the drafting table! Two! Woohoo! My working names for them are currently Differences and Thistle, although this will most likely change once I put up my usual “help [...]

By Madeline|2018-05-23T10:12:23-04:00May 16th, 2018|Behind the Scenes, Passages|0 Comments

Passages Update: Distractions, Dyes, and Flower Gowns

A few months ago, I nearly had a crazed outburst at work when I typed in a quick Google search and discovered that flying home was going to cost me about $600. SIX. HUNDRED. DOLLARS. Seriously, I could fly to Bergen Norway for cheaper than that (and yes, I checked). How was it THAT expensive to take a domestic flight home?! Almost jokingly, I thought to myself… it’d probably be cheaper to just drive home. Well, it’s not a joke anymore. I am actually driving home. And while the 21 hours may seem a little daunting, here’s why I actually [...]

By Madeline|2017-12-14T14:42:10-05:00December 14th, 2017|Passages|0 Comments

I’m FINALLY Sharing the Next Scene of “Passages”! Come Look!

It’s been awhile since I talked about Passages, mostly because of the Green Rider project that I currently have in the works, but today I finally have the next set of images from Passages to share with you! While I won’t always be shooting these photos chronologically (as far as the storyline goes), I did just so happen to shoot the Prologue and Scene one back to back, which was kind of nice. It helped me carry over the theme and mood from the first scene into these new images quite well. In the last scene (the Prologue) [...]

By Madeline|2017-09-06T14:34:23-04:00September 6th, 2017|Passages|0 Comments

Losing My Faith During the Climb

I had a completely different post written for today. But yesterday, something told me to write this instead. I kept telling myself that it wasn’t relevant to the news I have to share. I’ve also told myself that I’ve already discussed my frustrations and whined more than enough on this blog. Neither of these arguments, however, could prevent me from feeling like what I had originally prepared was not what I should be sharing today. Recognizing that these promptings to change course have often led to good places, I guess I will stop fighting it. So here I am, 100% [...]

By Madeline|2017-08-31T07:01:21-04:00August 31st, 2017|Announcement, Passages, Personal Thoughts|0 Comments

The Story Has Begun! The First Photos of Passages Are Here!

On the morning of June 22nd, I sat in the middle of the living room floor with my youngest sister, Chloë, getting ready for the most meaningful (and exciting) shoot I had ever done. As I dropped the soft green gown I had spent weeks creating over her head, I felt as if the story I had been waiting to tell had finally begun to come to life. The beginning of Passages was standing in my living room, and for the very first time, I began to feel like all my hard work had been worth it. Once [...]

By Madeline|2017-07-05T14:55:39-04:00July 5th, 2017|Passages|0 Comments

Passages Update: Why I’m Probably Going Insane

Tickets have been purchased! I am flying home next month, which means that Passages will finally, after what has seemed an endless amount of preparation, begin to come to life! I’ll be shooting two, possibly three pieces, and of course, the absolutely insane part of my brain decided I wasn’t completely crazy to try this. Now, the more rational side (the side that enjoys sleeping and exercising and generally having a well balanced life) is slightly regretting that decision. I think it goes without saying that I’ve been working at an almost feverish rate to make sure I get everything [...]

By Madeline|2017-07-10T22:25:08-04:00June 14th, 2017|Behind the Scenes, Passages|0 Comments

New Passages Update! Thistles, Acacia, and Oak Trees

What does Passages and my college “Advanced Statistics for Political Science” class have in common? Research. Hours upon hours of research. So I am being completely honest, and hopefully making my case, when I say I have never researched anything more in my life than I have Passages. While I would have thought this amount of research would have brought me back to the dark days of Pol Sci 328 (statistics really is the worst), the hours spent researching surprisingly hasn’t left me in a near panic state. Rather, over the past month, I have instead felt inspired. WANT [...]

By Madeline|2017-05-22T14:06:14-04:00May 4th, 2017|Behind the Scenes, Passages|0 Comments

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