Photographer Kelly Sweda has graciously shared this post with us.

I was nearly finished compiling the images I’d planned to share in this month’s 11-on-11 post {a personal project I’ve been working on all year} when this series unexpectedly fell into my lap it feels, and ended up stealing my heart. I’d been gifted this dress for my daughter Francesca from the gorgeous Australian line, Children of the Tribe, in exchange for a few shots of her in it.

Photographing the dress had been on my mind for weeks, and of course I could find no time, so on a whim last week I picked up my grubby little child up from school, tossed her dirty clothes onto the floor of my car, unbraided her hair, fished a bow from my purse and slid her into the dress, which I’d grabbed on my lunch hour earlier.

You must see where this is going. I was quasi-flustered/quasi-stressed and jittery as I always am when shooting for someone, particularly someone halfway around the world. But then we got there and {here comes the cliche} it aaaaaaaaaaallll just melted away.

We spent an hour “dexploring” the half-dry lake bed, grasses and reeds and delicate, green plants that are somehow growing happily from the deep cracks in the eroded ground, which is literally hard—no, harder—than cement. Last year nearly every shot from this series would have been well under water; it felt eerily apocalyptic and kind of like paradise all at once.

We went through all the old bread I’d stockpiled in my freezer. Ducks ate from Franny’s hands and the swan that typically charges you while hissing remained calmer than I’d ever seen him. I was recharged by a change in scenery and the unexpected pleasure of some new favorite images coming when I least expected them.