It’s weird. But all the best things are.

in more than meets the eye, Random Crap

I’ve been super sick for the past few days but I got my voice back today (much to Victor’s chagrin) and the steroids are kicking in but not really enough to write a real post so instead I’m posting this, which I started writing a long time ago but never finished.  It feels undone and not properly tied together, but in a way that makes sense because “unbalanced and disjointed” is a pretty fair description if we’re doing a realistic portrait of me anyway:

Remember a few months ago when I said I’d share the rest of the photos that my friend amazingly talented friend Brooke Shaden took of me, but then I promptly forgot?

Well, I remembered.  So here they are.

This the first, which I already wrote about here.

thebloggessandbrookeshaden

But here are two more:

small powder

And…

small red dress

I’ll always keep them because they’re ethereal and dark and magical, but really I love them most of all because I can’t look at the pictures without remembering walking barefoot in the swamp while wearing ripped dresses that wouldn’t zip up over my boobs. Or having Brooke douse me in baby powder while my daughter gleefully looked for fireflies and Victor set off smoke bombs.  Or literally falling off that log in the bottom picture while trying to adjust my antler as a baffled hiker walked by.  Also, I now know why people use the phrase “as easy as falling off a log” because it is very easy, if you don’t count the hassle of stitches afterward.

It’s weird.  But then, all the best things are.

179 thoughts on “It’s weird. But all the best things are.”

Read comments below or add one.

  9. Oh my gosh, these photos would make the coolest wall calendar ever! Do people still buy wall calendars anymore? I do. I would buy a shit ton of this calendar. Seriously.

  11. Those are lovely. The one with the red dress and antlers is vaguely Christmas-y, like you’re one of Santa’s reindeer…which doesn’t sound like a compliment, but it totally is.

  16. Okay, read previous post and answered all my questions, primarily “how did you lug that giant birdcage into a swamp?”

    (Victor, Hailey, Maile, Brooke and I all came so we took the birdcage apart and lugged each piece separately. We also carried a suitcase full of dresses and props and equipments and it looked like we were moving in we we were carrying so many things down to the water. ~ Jenny)

  27. Breathtakingly gorgeous. The talented photographer finds a different aspect of you to bring out in each photo. Each is splendidly unique yet all undeniably you. What a treasure!

  30. While they are all super-gorgeous, I think the last one, with the antlers, is so very appropriate for you. You should hang it next to James Garfield!

  31. These are lovely.
    And the description of how they came to be (talcum powder, bewildered hikers, and all) makes them even better.
    clinks tea cup against yours Hope you get to feeling better.

  33. These photos are gorgeous. Remember Glamour shots? I always hated those phony poses and awful makeup and hair so I never got them but I always thought it would be cool to have one nice photo of me. THIS is what I want, These are fantastic! Feel better. <3

  37. Those pictures are pretty awesome. Love the one with the antlers. PS – Sorry you are sick, but I hope you write a post while you are stoned out of your mind on medicine. That would be so amusing.

  42. They are amazing photographs! I had laryngitis in October, for two weeks. When I finally spoke, my husband said, “I missed you.” Not bad after 26 years of marriage.
    I hope you feel better, soon.

  43. Wow. Beautiful! And I don’t think this post is unbalanced and disjointed at all. (Could that mean I am unbalanced and disjointed and don’t know it??)

  46. You’re so beautiful and your friend is extremely talented! I love your antlers by the way lol. Also, feel better soon!! 🙂

  47. I feel like the only picture that is missing is Summer…You’ve got the bluebird of Spring, the Winter Queen and Autumn Goddess. Beautiful pictures, and they will make an amazing set once hung and displayed.

  48. The best part of these pictures is that anyone can look at them and see how beautiful your heart is.

  51. Every time I think I can’t love you any more than I already do, Jenny, you post something beautiful or funny or sad or crazy, or, or, or EVERYthing, and BOOM! More love explosion! You bring so much joy. Thank you.
    Hope you feel better soon!

  59. Jenny, do you know the website The Pondering Pool? These pictures remind me of that a little. . .

  60. There’s a wire missing from the section of the cage right in front of your face. I’m pretty sure you could squeeze out through there if you tried.

  63. I’m really self-conscious about my boobs. And if a dress hadn’t zipped up over said boobs when I was going to have portraits done, it would have strongly affected me. But, my dear, these beautiful pieces of art are a message to me that I need to quit worrying about stuff like that and focus on the beauty that is.

  66. Where in the hell did she get that giant bird cage?!?! Sweet!

    (It’s not quite as big in real life. But it’s larger than you might expect. ~ Jenny)

  71. I don’t think I’m usually an envious person, but I have to admit I’m totally envying your chance to pose for cool, kick-ass pictures like that! I would have them framed all over my house. I would give them as my Christmas gift every year to everybody I know so that I could see them framed all over everybody’s house! They are that awesome :). Magistra13 at yahoo dot com
    Beth

  75. I’d have made Victor chase the fireflies & Little Miss set off the smoke bombs, but that’s just me! Hope you’re feeling better very soon!

  77. Those are lovely and weird and ethereal – and thanks for sharing the memories that make them even more wonderful!

  82. They are stunning!! I agree with the LOTR comments above – you are as beautiful as Arwen!

  86. so there have been these ridiculous adverts popping up on billboards around Halifax. The ol’ advertise on billboards makes sense, look at how many people see them…but it they were really big sellers, you wouldn’t think they’d have to advertise the advertising space, right? Anyway. There was one where there was a guy in a suit trying to log roll like a lumberjack, with the tag line…”as easy as”. And when I drove by it I was like, being a lumberjack is not easy, and neither is log rolling and I know this because I grew up in a small town where we used to have logger’s sport competitions, and even wearing studded boots, guys went flying and doing it in a suit and brogues is stupid. And my husband shrugged and said falling off a log is easy. And I said, that’s not a thing, why would that be a thing?

    Now I know.

  87. Thank you for posting your pictures.
    They evoke a certain sort of sereneness that helps calm my lingering, jagged cough from what I’m assuming is the same awful bronchial, breathing, barking, ungodly, upper, rabid, respiratory infection.
    Yes, I’m overmedicated (meds) and overheated (heating pad affixed to my chest).

  94. I want to know where you got the antlers. How do they stay on your head? And the horns your daughter wore. Will you share where they are from?

    (The deer horns are plastic horns from a japanese lamp. Long story. Hailey’s ram horns I got on amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00IOXLFUY?ie=UTF8&camp=213733&creative=393185&creativeASIN=B00IOXLFUY&linkCode=shr&tag=thebloggess-20&linkId=CP3IJH4AKUTZ5SSG&qid=1415935027&sr=8-1&keywords=ram+horns ~Jenny)

  96. These photos are amazing and stunning, as are you! Also, and this has nothing to do with the pictures, but do you have any advice for family members of those dealing with depression?

    (Be strong. Be kind to yourself and to your family member. Realize you can’t solve everything, but be there for them. ~ Jenny)

  97. Can I tell you how happy I am that someone else can’t zip dresses over her boobs? I thought I was alone in this. In fact, I’m sure designers are not sure we exist as a species (women who have boobs with any heft to them). So here’s to you soul sister. You can’t tell from the pics:).

  98. OMG, I was that hiker who saw you, I thought, Holy Shit, that is so odd…I distinctly remember thinking, I would be wearing Spock ears if I was wearing red on an “unknown planetesqe landscape photo shoot,” and have a token Starship Yeoman handy to be eaten by the otherworldly Alien Sasquatch Four Boobed Polka Dotted Enemy I was beamed down to reason with my pointy eared logic before pulling my photon gun to protect Scotty (because the galaxy really needs a star system federation soldier with a kick arse accent more than Yeoman 1st Class Sniddley). Wait…that totally wasn’t YOUR photo shoot. My mistake, it was a different one. Yours looks equally if not better than the one I described, except you have no photon lasers or plasmic disturbing devices I can see, or do you? I put nothing past your capabilities. Cause that would take it to the next level. Seriously, gorgeous, and seriously, did you have any lasers or Spock ears? Or anyone with a Scottish accent for that matter? What can I say, I’m a visionary.

  99. These pics are beautiful, very artistic. I love the blues in the cage pic. She’s so good!

  100. Your pictures are gorgeous! I’ll have to put “have my picture taken barefoot in the swamp” on my bucket list for sure!

  102. The Twilight movies have been on TV lately. So, obviously, the first thing that came to mind when I saw the last one was how cool it would be to gore some unsuspecting whingey-goth-vampires that happened to be hunting in the forest. How surprised would they be? I imagine…very.

    I would probably watch that movie without hating myself afterward.

  104. easy log falling in front of a biker, and stiches seems a small price for proof of such amazing beauty.

  107. I absolutely love the second photo, but the third one, even before the antler story, feels like it’s you in a visceral way. Maybe it’s the red dress, but the third one is all YOU. (Sorry about the stitches.) Lurve them all.

  109. I need antlers like this for a photoshoot but I don’t know where to get some. We don’t have awesome stores with taxidermy around here.

  112. The white dress one looks like Snow White just woke up and is wondering where the hell her prince is.

  114. I hope you feel better soon. The photos of you are beautiful and I vote for the calendar!! I’m not a big fan of having my photo taken but I also want to add doing photos like these to my bucket list. Thank you for the inspiration! And for sharing your lovely self with all of us.

  118. I mean this in a totally non-creepy way. I would LOVE if you made posters or postcards or something of these gorgeous photos available in your shop. Particularly the middle one. Also the baby powder, smoke bombs, and fireflies required for the shot sound like a ton of fun…although I live somewhere where there aren’t fireflies so I can’t recreate this experience.

  120. I know you shed blood for the antler one, AND you’re wearing a bloodred dress AND antlers that, oddly, kind of suit you (did you want to be like one of your taxidermied animals? It’s SO cool, very nymph of the forest / Maleficent sort of thing) but I like the blue one best. I wish my brain could dream up such magic… Thank you for sharing these with us!!

  121. whoah Jen, you aren’t going to go all ”a model’s work is the hardest in the world, it looks glamorous and lovely fluffy kittens but in reality!!!” are you?????????????????

    oh, bloody fab photos by the way, love and appreciation from grey rainy London (Dr Who country) xxx Maureen

  122. You do realise there is a ghost cat curled around your head in the white one, right? You are pretty much looking him in his eyes (left eye is particularly clear in between the trees) little pointy ears…perhaps his curly ghost tail wafted down to the left… Only you, Jenny, would not only have a ghost cat…but a ghost cat that would sit on your head. Beautiful.

  123. Glad you’re feeling better, thanks for sharing the pics they’re amazing. Your friend is incredibly talented!

  127. These are beautiful! I wouldn’t even recognize you in the middle one with the white face and the dark eyes! You look like a model…yes, you really do. 🙂

  130. You HAVE to print these large, frame them, and hang them in a prominent location!

  131. Oh Jenny, I’m so glad to have found you. Out of all of the craziness on the interwebs, you are my kind of crazy!

  132. If I haf the $, I would totally hire her to fly here and take my portrait (or I’d fly to her). I might actually tolerate my picture and be okay displaying it or using it as my profile pic online.
    If only there were a way for everyone to see themselves this way, it is more than a photo, it is a portrait.
    You’re beautiful inside and out.

  134. Those are simply amazing…and the story that goes along with them makes them even more so

  135. Beautiful, dark, and antlers are always a great addition to any photograph of a beautiful woman in a red dress just before she falls off a log.

  138. Ah, yes–the Great Zipper-Boob Conundrum. We know it well. (And that would be the collective “we” as well as the royal one.)

    Still, these are gorgeous!

  139. Sweet girl, I wonder about the wisdom of posing in antlers in the woods during hunting season.

  140. Can I say jealous? I’m pretty much never jealous, but those pictures are so beautiful and weird and perfect! Maybe someday…did I mention you look amazing in these, because you do!

  141. About the zipper/boob thing…

    It just now occurred to me that this is exactly why lace-up bodices were invented. Why the heck did we give those up??

  143. Okay, you should get sick more often because it obviously affects your memory in a good way. And I cannot believe that birdcage isn’t photoshopped. I am seriously impressed. Besos

  145. These photos are beautiful – Brooke is so talented, and you are a fantastic model! You made me smile when describing the epicness of the shoot – all the funny moments that happened leading up to the shot. I model from time to time, and those moments are what make a shoot memorable and fun. Job well done, thank you for sharing your adventure and these pictures.

    In other news: Feel better soon! Your blog is my all-time favorite (partially because it has CATS, but aside from that: the awesomeness that comes out of your brain is pretty darn brilliant!)

  148. ME TOO on what everybody else said about how absolutely lovely you look (and we know you are on the inside, too!) and how wonderfully creative Brooke the photographer is, too!!

    Hope you are feeling better and that Victor/Hailey/Cats are waiting on you hand and foot (or paw, as applicable)!!!

  149. I like the red dress one best, go figure right? I wish I had a weirdo talented friend who would take pictures like that, they are WONDERFUL!

  150. My God, you look totally HOT in the latest two pics! Of course I mean that in a totally “not a creepy stalker guy” kind of way. Your friend is extremely talented just to think up these sorts of images.

  151. Stunning photos Jenny. I am wondering tho…what the baby powder was for? Was it to make you all sparkly like Twilight?

  152. SO beautiful. And fabulous (in the original sense of the word of being from a fable).

  159. You look beautiful in each of these photos. I agree with Shelley J, the antler one would make a great Christmas card.

  166. I am such a freak…

    My initial thoughts were ‘beautiful…and I love the last one most’ swiftly followed by ‘Did she really need stitches and if so was that before or after the last photograph was taken?’ If the latter – congratulations.

    Great to hear your voice is returning, get well soon. Looking forward to more posts. x

  167. silly me, I was sure those were studio photos, you know, the kind where they PhotoShop you to death–then I realized, hey, this is Jennie Lawson, she DOES stuff like this. Of COURSE she’d wander into swamp and wear antlers, yep.
    the photos, by the way, are indeed striking. and yeah, that would make an awesome calendar, although Im not sure you could live through much more of those LOTR settings…

  179. We used to go fishing and have parties down there. That was in the ‘80s. I remember Mom hiding Easter eggs. My brothers and I found every one of them. My middle brother and I also found out there’s LOTS of poison ivy down there. We missed a week of school.

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