Text and photography by Steve Parke

A Queen in the Forest: Capturing the Magic of My 87-Year-Old Mother

I’ve photographed countless people in my decadeslong career—including the artist Prince, over many years as his art director at Paisley Park, and numerous models for Faerie Magazine, now Enchanted Living, as photographer and photo editor. (I believe at this point I’m up to sixteen covers!) But when I learned the theme for this issue, I proposed doing what might be my most epic photo shoot yet: one with my very own mother, Joyce Parke, eighty-seven years old and a queen if there ever was one, straight down to her mismatched earrings.

Many moons ago she and my dad plucked up a red-haired baby that needed a family (yes, I’m adopted!), and she was the best mother she could have possibly been to me, always treating me as no less than her firstborn. She has a gigantic heart and is accepting of everyone she meets; in fact, she’ll usually send new friends a handwritten card through the mail if she spends more than two hours with them. She’ll tell them about the weather, the latest murder mystery she’s watching, and how sadistic her new weight trainer at the gym was (or wasn’t) that day. My mother’s letters are famous.

Embracing the Magic: A Deep-Forest, Witchy Queen Photoshoot

Here was a way to give something back to her.

I wanted the opportunity to show her in a queenly light, which is the way she should be shown, of course, but as a deep-forest, witchy kind of queen, because that’s her style. Just take a look at her ability to fit more tchotchkes in one square inch than any law of physics should allow, or watch her side-eye when she says something hilarious and you’re not sure if you heard her correctly. (You did.)

My wife, Kim, and I came up with her outfit, centered on the glorious red velvet cloak she’s wearing, and I did her makeup myself, having watched her do it throughout my childhood. I set my sights on the fairground at the Maryland Renaissance Festival, a place I’ve loved and worked at since my teenage years. And then my mother posed flawlessly for a couple of hours, remarking on how exhausting modelling seems as a potential profession. I don’t think she has any idea how many people a third of her age get just as tired under the same circumstances.

I think she has a big career ahead of her. Don’t you?

Find Steve Parke’s portfolio, prints, and publications at steveparke.com.