Downtown Calhoun took it to the streets early in June when Andy Baxter and Hanna Dean, co-owners of the baxter|dean studio on Wall Street, packed up some lights, camera and action, then headed to New York with three models and a trunk full of fashion. Local photographer Andy Baxter brought it all back home, and the resulting collection of edgy photographs will be displayed at the Harris Arts Center during the baxter|dean gallery show opening on Friday, June 22, 2012.

The three models, Carly Curtis, Molly Palmer and Taylor Palmer, claimed Times Square for more than two hours on Saturday, June 02. A rising senior at Calhoun High School, Carly Curtis is the daughter of Dana and Rodney Curtis. Molly and Taylor Palmer, also students at Calhoun High School, are the daughters of Cindy and Tommy Palmer.

Each girl was modeling professionally styled outfits assembled and donated by Penny Mitchum, owner of The Fitting Room. Mitchum has worked with Baxter and Dean on other projects, including the baxter|dean runway show in late April.

The models also wore clothing from their own wardrobes, including outfits from The Biddy Boutique, owned by Jennifer Dudley, who also partnered on the April runway show.

“It was such an exciting night and the energy from the crowd turned a routine shoot into a real adventure with the camera. The crowd became so engaged in the shoot that we had to relocate several times,” Baxter explained.

“That might sound odd to many people, but the best way to explain what I mean is that it was the like being at a really great party. Nobody can explain why sometimes a perfectly planned party flops and a badly planned one turns out great…..it’s just energy. I know that’s crazy, right? Like I’m such an artist,” he continued, laughing at himself. “New Yorkers were actually stepping into our shoot, photographing the activity and asking questions about our project.”

Dean and Baxter, accompanied by partner photographer Chris Hardin and his wife, the models and their mothers stayed at New York’s Muse Hotel, which is named for the nine Greek mythological muses believed to inspire specific art forms. Sessions were held at Times Square, Central Park, the Brooklyn Bridge and throughout the city’s subway system. All of those locations, with the Times Square shoot receiving priority, will be included in the gallery show.

Dean did the makeup for all the shoots but the group travelled without a hair stylist and therefore used a New York salon for that element of the models’ preparation. They chose a salon called The Dry Barn, where the stylists work only with hair dryers and do not use any other tools but produces a wide variety of styles, both straight and sleek or wild and curly, as evidenced in the photographs.Andy Baxter Photography, baxer|dean studio, Biddy Boutique and The Fitting Room are all active members of the Gordon County Chamber of Commerce.