Behind the Scenes of Fairy Tales by Rosie Hardy

What REALLY went on with those characters behind closed doors!

A talented, young photographer named Rosie Hardy, has done a wonderful job at relating fairy tale scenarios to real life issues that don't usually have a happy ending.

Her unusual self-portrait set of 'behind the scenes' fairy tale photos on flickr are not your usual dreamy visions, or even stylized goth versions of the fairy tale heroines. No. These girls just might be your next door neighbors, girls you went to school with, your cousins, your aunts, your sisters and maybe even your mothers - and their tales all have a sobering side to them.

In posting her photos Rosie has thoughtfully added statistics about social issues, addictions and other problems our fairy tale characters could relate to. It'll make you rethink those familiar stories from a modern and relevant perspective. Instead of just posting the photos I'm giving you screen captures so you can see the connections she's made (and perhaps entice you to check out the rest for yourself).

The issues are not always comfortable to consider but I feel like applauding the wonderful job Rosie did on these. Talk about showing how the tales can be relevant to today!

Check out the rest of her 'behind the scenes' fairy tales set HERE and see more of her photography HERE.

Home Depot's Self Sufficient Fairy Tale Femmes

There's a new advertising campaign for Home Depot to promote their new 'Do-It-Herself' Clinic, the idea being to encourage women to take basic home improvement classes, and it's a nice twist on the usual fairy tale damsel-in-distress advertisers normally use. The designer, Sarah Riddle, has these femmes being truly self-sufficient.

From Trendhunter Magazine:

The campaign features reworked fairytales in which the heroine did a little DIY home improvement to thwart the bad guys. There’s Little Red Riding Hood, who’s just installed locks to keep out the Big Bad Wolf; Rapunzel, who successfully made her own ladder to escape; and Little Bo Peep, who put up a fence to keep her sheep where they belong. Fantastic work!

The direct mailer 'invitation' has a little story about a needy girl who finds her answer by helping herself (thanks to Home Depot of course) ......and the posters show fairy tale heroines taking charge of their situations and looking very smug as a result.This gets a 'bravo' from my book. I do like the combination of urban fantasy meets fairy tale - it's a very satisfying combo.

You can see more of Sarah Riddle's ad campaign work here.