Living with Faeries by Anita Mason

Is she ‘away with the fairies’ I can hear you saying (some people who know me well with probably say 'yes'). I have never been one to do ‘ordinary’, so perhaps that has something to do with it.

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I never dreamt, some ten years ago, how such a little addition to my artistic alternative in the studio, would actually change my whole business. At that time I was focusing more on what was expected of me by the clients, and what was in vogue for child and family portraiture – not being brave enough to make any changes, play it safe, I thought. I will mention at this point that at the time, digital had arrived and was going to stay, and was frightening the life out of me, particularly listening to the digital jargon from my technically-minded photographer friends – how on earth would I ever get my head around this technology? This was not my forte – I’m a creative! As I felt lost and slightly stupid, I had to believe that I could master this hurdle, one I’m sure quite a few people had to get over.

The whole concept really evolved from my love of painting, gardening, floristry, sewing and general craft-making. My poor long-suffering husband has had to live with a house and garage ('what garage?' he will say) full of my photography, arts and crafts. Now, even he is involved in my fairy business. I never thought I would see the day!

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The largest part of my business has always been the ‘baby watch-megrow’ Cherub scheme, which I have utilised to expand my client base. I can truly say that I am still photographing some of my babies 17 years later. It is from these customers that I started the concept of The Fairy Experience. ‘From little acorns’, as the saying goes.

What is The Fairy Experience? Having searched fairy websites for some three years now, I was disheartened by the cute, kitsch, glitzy images I have seen. Superimposing children with blank expressions, to look like fairies, was not for me – their pictures are taken on a blank background and then Photoshopped onto various flowers and woodland scenes. I wanted the children to experience the whole fairy scenario.

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How many little (and big) girls dream of being a real fairy? The look of excitement when they are faced with a rack of delightful costumes, wings and headdresses to choose from. This is something I am extremely fussy about – the design and colour coordination of the outfits – many are hand-made by me. I started with one small elf outfit, not thinking that parents would want their little chaps photographed as an elf – how wrong I was. They will certainly get mileage out of those pictures on his wedding day!

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