When Jade and I started talking about her bird, the Mallard immediately made sense. Partly because of the color. That incredible iridescent green against her vibrant red hair was just too good to resist.
But the more I learned about Mallards, the more fitting the choice became. They are adaptable birds—equally capable of making a home in wild wetlands or right alongside us in the middle of a city. And throughout their lives, their feathers change. There are seasons when the brilliant colors appear and seasons when they become quieter. Becoming isn’t always one dramatic transformation.
Sometimes we become ourselves feather by feather.
How We Met
Jade came into my life through Facebook Marketplace. I had posted looking for a creative roommate and included photos of my Dash-Dyed work. Something about all that color caught her attention.
She moved in, and since then I’ve had the privilege of watching her own creative practice grow. More sewing. More experimenting. More figuring out which pigments, silhouettes, and combinations actually feel like her.
That’s something I love about Dash-Dyeing.
Finding your colors takes time.
You experiment. You make weird things.
You surprise yourself.
Eventually, you find your rhythm.
Jade and I also connected over some of the more complicated parts of being human—the pain of feeling misunderstood and trying to make sense of experiences that aren’t always easy to put into words.
For me, art became a language for those feelings.
It’s been beautiful watching Jade discover more of that language for herself.
Who She Is
At 26, Jade is actively becoming the woman she’s always wanted to be. She’s currently studying cosmetology at Empire Beauty School and documenting her journey at @jadedhairnails (follow along). Before cosmetology, she studied ecology and wildlife restoration in college and worked in food delivery.
But put someone’s hands in hers and give her a palette of color? She lights up.
Hair.
Nails.
Bright pigments.
Transformation.
Color is becoming part of how Jade cares for people.
She’s also exploring what pride means to her as a trans woman—not as one finished destination, but as something she gets to discover each day as her outward life becomes more aligned with the person she has always known herself to be.
And she does it with a surprising amount of laughter.
Why the Mallard
Mallards are familiar birds, but familiarity can make us forget how extraordinary they actually look. The male Mallard carries an iridescent emerald head, a bright yellow bill, a crisp white collar, a rich chestnut breast, and flashes of brilliant blue hidden within the wings. They’re also incredibly adaptable. Mallards make homes in marshes, lakes, ponds, rivers, city parks, farms, and even temporary wetlands. They have learned how to flourish across wildly different landscapes.
But my favorite connection is transformation. Male Mallards don’t wear that iconic emerald plumage all year. After breeding season, they molt their flight feathers and temporarily lose their ability to fly. During this vulnerable period, their bodies shift into subtler eclipse plumage before their more recognizable colors return.
There’s something beautiful about a creature whose appearance isn’t fixed. Whose feathers change. Whose ability to fly temporarily disappears. Who moves through vulnerability… and eventually takes flight again.
The Look
We built Jade’s look around the unmistakable palette of the male Mallard.
A Brazil Nut rayon wrap became her skirt.
A Cerulean Blue rayon jersey top brought in the brilliant blue hidden within a Mallard’s wings.
A long Brazil Nut rayon scarf gave us movement and draping.
Another Brazil Nut square framed her neck.
Then came the star:
Emerald green.
An Emerald rayon scarf wrapped into her bright red hair created that unmistakable Mallard flash.
White and yellow rayon bracelets added little references to the bird’s white collar and yellow bill.
The combination was regal.
Earthy brown.
Electric blue.
Emerald green.
Bright yellow.
And that incredible red hair.
The Session
Because Jade and I are roommates, we see each other constantly. Kitchen conversations. Studio experiments. Passing each other on the stairs.
But intentionally setting aside a morning to create together felt different.
We chose the morning light and drove around the corner to Huff Park. And for some reason, driving her there dressed in all those flowing fabrics made me feel like one of the mice in Cinderella taking her to the ball. Like: Okay girl. Let’s go see who you’re becoming.
We wandered into the wetlands. And almost immediately, the story got even better. We came across a group of people actively restoring the wetland by removing invasive cattails. Jade had done similar restoration work while studying ecology. So there she stood… dressed as a Mallard… in the middle of a wetland… chatting with people about wetland restoration. Of course.
Color Connection
The Mallard carries a surprisingly complex palette.
Emerald Green → transformation, growth, visibility, becoming
Green is alive. It speaks to new growth and the courage to keep changing.
Brazil Nut Brown → grounding, stability, earth, home
A reminder that transformation needs somewhere safe to land.
Cerulean Blue → expression, imagination, openness
A flash of unexpected color—the part of ourselves that becomes visible when we move.
Yellow → optimism, curiosity, play
Bright and impossible to ignore.
White → clarity, possibility, space for something new
These colors feel like a life in motion.
Grounded enough to know where you’ve been. Bright enough to imagine somewhere new.
Taking Flight
The morning was overwhelmingly beautiful. Wind. Clouds. Wetlands. Fabric moving everywhere.
Jade had been in color guard when she was younger, and the moment I handed her the large scarf, her body remembered what to do. She threw it into the wind. It opened behind her.
And suddenly—wings.
There were moments when she looked like she was genuinely taking flight. Then she’d stand completely still, neck held high, wrapped in deep Brazil Nut and Emerald.
Regal.
Strong.
Proud.
And then she’d laugh.
That’s Jade.
Becoming
I’ve photographed a lot of people in this project who are somewhere between who they were and who they’re becoming.
Maybe that’s all of us.
But I feel it particularly strongly with Jade. She’s learning a new craft. Building a creative practice. Exploring her style. Caring for the people around her. Learning her colors. Becoming more comfortable occupying her own body. And figuring out what kind of woman she wants to be.
None of that happens overnight. Maybe we’re not supposed to arrive fully formed. Maybe we’re allowed to molt. To experiment. To change colors. To spend a season figuring things out.
And when the wind finally catches us—to open our wings and see what happens. Jade is still becoming. And from where I’m standing, she’s already taking flight.
Join the Flock
These Power Portraits aren’t about pretending to be birds.
They’re about using birds, color, movement, and portraiture as another language for understanding ourselves.
Who are you right now?
What colors are calling you?
And what might be waiting underneath the feathers you’re ready to shed?
Let’s find your bird.
