Help me stage some photographs of a very mischievious paper butterfly!

December 11, 2009 8:35 AM

What kind of mischievious situations could a paper butterfly find himself in? Ideas requested for a photo shoot.

A friend of mine sent me a paper butterfly, who has a decidedly mischievious nature. I would like to take a series of pictures documenting his misadventures (to delight and amuse my friend), but I'm sorely lacking in ideas.

Said butterfly is approximately 6 inches wide by 4 inches high. Anything that will cause the slightest harm to mon beau papillon is completely off limits, although the appearance of imminent danger is certainly a plus.

I'd like to keep the staging as simple as possible, using common household objects and situations, but I might go the extra mile for a particularly ingenious shot.

Thanks for any and all suggestions!

posted by malocchio to media & arts (35 answers total)

What if it had landed on a piece of paper half way through a shredder. Put a paper through the shredder and shut it off or unplug it when it is half through, then pose your butterfly on it. You might have to rig it up a little, but if you pose it right it won't show in your picture.
posted by TooFewShoes at 8:39 AM on December 11, 2009

A paper butterfly should definitely stay as far away from candles as possible.
posted by paanta at 8:40 AM on December 11, 2009

Perching upon Walt Whitman's finger (or that of a lookalike).
posted by oinopaponton at 8:42 AM on December 11, 2009

A kitten would of course try to reach up to a fluttering paper butterfly!
posted by misha at 8:42 AM on December 11, 2009

A brutish looking child with a scowl and a net?
Anything that holds any special meaning for you in your friend? Looking at a photo of you two?
posted by esereth at 8:44 AM on December 11, 2009

On the front grill of a vehicle....
posted by labwench at 8:45 AM on December 11, 2009

Gas stove burner, recycling bin, stapler, paper praying mantis, 5 year old kid with a crayon. (On preview, damn beaten to the kid thing)
posted by syntheticfaith at 8:46 AM on December 11, 2009

Do you know anyone with one of those bug zapper lights?
posted by dr. boludo at 8:47 AM on December 11, 2009

Or misguidedly trying to drink nectar out of some of those godawful fake plastic flowers.
posted by dr. boludo at 8:48 AM on December 11, 2009

Caught in the roll of toilet paper, and a hand is reaching out ...
posted by Midnight Skulker at 8:48 AM on December 11, 2009

One more: get a brown paper lunch bag, blow into it while holding it around your mouth. That, a tipped-over spray can of Raid, and the butterfly scattered on the floor. Butterfly equivalent of kids huffing gasoline.
posted by dr. boludo at 8:51 AM on December 11, 2009

Heee....these are all fabulous! I knew this was the right place to ask!
posted by malocchio at 8:53 AM on December 11, 2009

Ominous rain clouds, rain.
posted by R. Mutt at 8:56 AM on December 11, 2009

A tryst with a Post-it® Moth would be fraught with peril.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:00 AM on December 11, 2009

Looking up pictures/video of butterflies mating on the computer.

"Reading" a copy of Lolita (Nabokov was a keen lepidopterist).
posted by tomcooke at 9:04 AM on December 11, 2009

I came in to suggest that he land in butter or paint then track it all over you paperwork or keyboard, but it seems a little tame now that I've read everyone else's ideas.
posted by SLC Mom at 9:11 AM on December 11, 2009

One flap of its wings create a paper hurricane in China.
posted by kuujjuarapik at 9:20 AM on December 11, 2009

Sitting on the mouse, it's wings illuminated by the cold blue glow of the computer screen, where it is watching porn (human porn, or you know, cocoons or stamens and pistils)
posted by Askr at 9:22 AM on December 11, 2009

Ray Bradbury might have a few ideas.

"Upon returning to the present, Eckels notices subtle changes. English words are now spelled strangely, people and buildings are different, and, worst of all, Deutscher has won the election instead of Keith. Looking through the mud on his boots, Eckels finds a crushed butterfly, whose death was apparently the cause of the changes."
posted by MuffinMan at 9:32 AM on December 11, 2009

Going to a somewhat surreal place, a meadow of scissors-plants seems like fairly hostile territory for a paper butterfly.
posted by davejay at 9:44 AM on December 11, 2009 [2 favorites]

Flying through a porn shot? That depends on the person you'd be sending the photos to though, I suppose.
posted by elder18 at 10:06 AM on December 11, 2009

Man, so many awesome ideas! (I'll hand out the "best answers" after I've finished the shoot - all that grey is going to make this thread difficult to read!)

This is going to bring immense joy and light to someone who gets very little sunlight at this time of year. Thank you all for the suggestions...you guys rock!
posted by malocchio at 10:17 AM on December 11, 2009

Zhuangzi? Perhaps your butterfly can dream that he's a man?
posted by jenkinsEar at 10:33 AM on December 11, 2009 [1 favorite]

An origami folding class? Sitting atop the desk of a writer with writer's block and a bunch of wadded papers? Trying to rescue an insect with a limb reaching out from a Roach Motel? Navigating between cans of Raid?
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 10:51 AM on December 11, 2009

Surprising someone in the shower.
Drinking someone's fruity drink.
Lifting the lid of a cookie jar to sneak a cookie.
Laying unconscious next to a couple of empty beer bottles, wine glasses or a bottle of booze.
posted by onhazier at 10:55 AM on December 11, 2009

Said butterfly could be captured in a photo looking at butterfly porn on a computer monitor.
posted by torquemaniac at 11:07 AM on December 11, 2009

Maybe photoshopping it into the video where Obama swats the fly.
posted by dances_with_sneetches at 11:25 AM on December 11, 2009

Lifting a woman's skirt, like in an old Gil Elvgren cheesecake painting.
posted by adamrice at 11:33 AM on December 11, 2009

Zhuangzi? Perhaps your butterfly can dream that he's a man?

jenkinsEar, that could very well be the perfect context for the entire project!
posted by malocchio at 11:40 AM on December 11, 2009

Flying through a treacherous field of flypaper rolls, all peppered with dead bugs (like that sea mine scene in Finding Nemo (I think that's what I'm remembering)).
posted by SixteenTons at 11:41 AM on December 11, 2009

Perched inside the toilet bowl as a [tastefully angled] butt prepares to sit (pants around the ankles, thigh and butt profile...you get the idea).

Ooh! He's in there because it has one of those clip-in bowl deoderizers...shaped like a flower!
posted by SixteenTons at 11:44 AM on December 11, 2009

Fans. Very dangerous.

Mixing it up with a moth.
posted by IndigoJones at 1:11 PM on December 11, 2009

Recently shown widely on the internet, probably on youtube: real butterflies trying to fly in zero gravity. I imagine, in zero gravity, your paper butterfly floating around serenely while the real ones lurch and crash. Ok, that sounds like a movie, not a photograph; say, next to some astronauts in outer space.
posted by londongeezer at 2:05 PM on December 11, 2009

Hah...I'm loving everyone's ideas, even the ones that might be a little too difficult for me to pull off.

I'll take the pictures over the next couple of weeks, and post a Flickr set when complete!
posted by malocchio at 4:01 PM on December 11, 2009

Playing "Rock, Paper, Scissors?" Butterfly covers rock, rock beats scissors, scissors cuts butterfly ... oh no!
posted by delayed-reaction android at 3:48 AM on December 12, 2009