Act One, paper and glue…

It all began with a question, how to photograph The Magician?

For years he had never shown his face publicly and he was not about to start. He loves his anonymity and enjoys being able to walk past his guests waiting for The Study to open, clueless he is who they are there to see. But a good friend was persistent that he should have pictures of himself and not just ones capturing the experience and mysteries of The Study.

Pondering on how this might be possible, perhaps cleverly placed objects or lighting that just failed to illuminate his face properly, The Magician remembered a few years earlier donning a scary halloween rabbit mask for a halloween social media post he helped out on. He decided to do a series of photoshoots with different rabbit masks and planned them all. A paper mask in his Study, an LED mask at night and more.

The first shoot was with the Paper Mask. 3+ hours of cutting and gluing plus standing at the fabric counter of a Walmart for over an hour (30 mins after they closed) waiting for someone to cut the fabric to use as eyes, the mask was ready.

That same friend connected him with an incredible photographer Alex S and the first iconic shoot took place. He loved that one picture they captured told the entire story of what you would experience during The Secret Sessions.

At the time The Magician was performing The Secret Sessions, an intimate version of The Magician’s Study after its return from closure during COVID.

Once the shoot was completed, the mask was put away safely. It was not worn again until a notable traveler influencer, @VegasStarFish, attending on the 1 year anniversary of The Secret Sessions, convincing The Magician to do something he had never done before. Film inside The Magician’s Study! He was again wore his mask so she could capture his experience.

This would be the first time in the 6 years of performing The Magician’s Study that he would allow this to happen. Up until that point it was purely retellings of the experiences on travel blogs and boards. The Magician loved that it was a secret underground experience only a few would discover, creating an incredible memory they would never forget.

However 48 hours after that video went viral, The Magician had over 10,000 RSVP’s requesting to attend but the codeword had been discovered and shared, The Magician’s Study was now sold out for the next 4 months!

The Magician continued to perform The Secret Sessions but didn’t realise his guests were expecting him to be in his mask. His new identity and image had been born but he knew his guests deserved better than an arts and crafts project…

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The Foam Mask