Lillie syracuse is a singer, songwriter, sound worker, and music organizer based in Brevard, North Carolina.
The two of us connected through the Asheville Open Folk community. Lillie hosts a weekly songwriter’s showcase series at the DFR Lounge in Brevard—formerly at the Cedar Mountain Canteen, where she invited me to play a show this past March. We traded off playing songs in a lovely listening room environment (you can see a cover we did together, along with musician Alice Bradley, here, from that evening).
When Lillie invited me to do a photo session with her this past May, I was delighted that we could collaborate visually as well as musically. We chose to photograph on the Blue Ridge Parkway at golden hour, when the mountain laurel was in full bloom. Together we collaborated on a vision, but I was especially excited that Lillie trusted my lead. Once we chose the time and place, we followed the light and went with the flow. I loved being able to play with the light and shadows as the sun slipped away.
I was also delighted that Lillie wanted to shoot with film in addition to digital, so we added medium format (including some double exposures) and Polaroid into the mix. I particularly enjoy the complimentary green and purple tones in these photos, and I’m very happy with how they turned out! Lillie shared these words about our time together:
“I so deeply enjoyed my session with Rita. She is an absolutely lovely human and it is an honor to know and create with her! I loved working with her and found such deep value in our time together.”
I also deeply enjoyed our session, and I love the photos we created together. Hoping for more collaborations to come!
