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The Faces of Beardsgaard • Frostwood IRL {Video}

March 2, 2017 By //  by The Beardsgaards

 The faces of Beardsgaard series takes you inside the story and the world of each of our products ~ our real live regular clients, cut by the Beardsgaard barbers, groomed by River Peak Apothecary, on location, dressed by stellar clothing brands or fashionably cosplayed. Journey to our realm, nerds.
Real life on the left, full- fantasy on the right

We often say that Beardsgaard is the D&D game to River Peak’s LARP tournament, and that is demonstrated nowehere as fully as these fantastical photo shoots we do sometimes. Usually it’s just Blademaiden, sometimes Beardsmith helping, and one of our clients in front of the camera. Sometimes on location. Once with a horse and horse wrangler.

This time we brought a mini crew, Shopkeep Vinc video documenting, upstairs neighbor Jimmy taking his own photo set on his giant, fancy Mamiya RZ67 ProII (his photos are the on-location images featured in this post, check out more about him at the bottom of the post), and Blademaiden trying to capture on film the written mythology of Frostwood (which you can descend into right here.)

We began the mythological photo shoots with autumn and Hearthstone, but when we set out to bring the inspiration behind Frostwood to life, (our winter beard oil from the house-made line of Beardsgaard), everything seemed to be conspiring against us. Let us tell you the rest of the story.

This is Brian Busch, a client and near-member of the family since he first walked into Beardsgaard. He took one look at the Schorem posters, the empty bottle of Laphroiag on a shelf, heard the strains of Tom Waits on the radio, and declared himself home.

He is also responsible for the illustrations you see on our product packaging, as well as the mural on the wall of our shop that maps out the realm of Beardsgaard. We seem to have an artist theme among our models, don’t we? And really luck out with the good-looking ones. Now on these shoots we generally have good luck and nature cooperates as well as could be hoped. This was not the case this winter, however.

Brian’s designs for our current (and upcoming) River Peak Apothecary products

So here’s everything that went wrong on this shoot. It all started with the fact that snow seems to have disappeared from the midwest in recent years. Frostwood should have snow, right? December got a quick dusting, then nothing in January, and by February Blademaiden was checking forecasts within a 500-mile radius on the daily, but massive schedule coordinations were going to make a road trip really difficult.

And then there were the clothes. We were thrilled to work with Una Mae’s on the Hearthstone shoot and we had a delightful visit to a Chicago menswear boutique that we hope to work with in the future and where we ferociously covet all of their clothing. But as waited too long on snow, the season was nearing spring, and remaining winter pieces were sparse, especially in the superman sizes. Brian is a beefcake of a silver fox, but a sample size he is not.

But on the way back from that jaunt to the city, we discovered the missing piece of the puzzle. Say we were to find snow, would we also be able to locate a patch of dense Nordic forest? The chances were slim. But on the way from Chicago to Batavia, we spotted something we have all known about since childhood and many of us have been to before. Right from the highway.

The Morton Arboretum. It’s a 1,700-acre living museum. Of trees. With sections for various trees of the world. Including a Nordic spruce plot. Right in Lisle. Bingo. We definitely bought a membership because we’re going to be there a lot, for all kinds of reasons. We suggest you make a trip for yourself.

Until then, we invite you to explore more of the story over at River Peak Apothecary, including where you can costume yourself as fantastically as Brian here, because as you can see, the arch mage did find his clothes.


It was extra neat to have two shutterbugs working on this project, one with a very specific mythological vision to create, one getting to be free with the magic all around us in the forest. You can see this place turned into Frostwood in the post on the River Peak blog, and see what our photographer neighbor Jimmy was working with below.

CAMERA:
Mamiya RZ67 ProII

LENSES:
Sekor Z 50mm f/4.5
Sekor Z 110mm f/2.8
Sekor Z 180mm f/4.5

FILMS:
Kodak Portra 400 @ 320
Fuji Provia 400X @ 400

The “behind the scenes”:

Mostly shot on tripod with mirror lock, some handheld. I envisioned a bright and warm environment despite the location being in Frostwood. The pastel colors from the Portra400 work really well for this scene, but the Provia really has its own great look, making the scene feel colder somehow and giving another completely new interpretation! I love the separation that medium-format provides between subject and background in the middle distance, and for headshots the bokeh is lovely. Hope you enjoy!

-Jim Richards @
Irresponsible Imaging

Filed Under: Beards & Facial Hair, Beyond the Barbershop, Blog, Channel Beardsgaard, Hair & Cuts, Products & Grooming, Series Tagged With: Evergreen Terrace, From the Apothecary, Photo Shoots, Pillar, Products, Video

About The Beardsgaards

The Beardsgaards are a pair of mom-and-pop barber nerds with a shared obsession with perfection. We built this old school barbershop to feel like home to everyone who enters beneath the Elvish script above our door. If we and the Gaardian army can give you a better handle on your grooming routine, all the better.

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We built this place for you, to bring you everything you ever dreamed you could find in your friendly neighborhood barbershop, and a stupid amount more. Beardsmith and Blademaiden, the mom and pop founders, invite you to explore the realm.

Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

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Beardsgaard Barbers
The time is nigh, Gaardians. The Realm is coming t The time is nigh, Gaardians. The Realm is coming to you across the ether via our new Twitch channel! Starting tomorrow evening (January 23) at 7:00 pm CST. Join us at www.twitch.tv/beardsgaardbarbers to watch the official Beardsgaard D&D game begin. 

With a mix of staff and shop friends, we will explore the reaches of The Realm, battle monsters, and save...things? Complete with doses of awkward. Be-HOLD-er on to your butts. It's going to be a wild ride!
It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and It’s official everyone! Beard trims are back and open for booking. While we know it’s been months and everyone is looking a bit scruffy please be patient as we try and squeeze all the beard trims we can into the schedule. We’d also like to thank everyone who’s been diligent with keeping our shop a safe and healthy environment. 
If you’re already booked in the schedule we can’t guarantee we can add a beard trim to your service but we can definitely try booking you for a different time to get that beard in. 
{Link to book in bio}
Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some Our news friends at @nbcchicago popped in for some street interviews. You can see what our clients and barbers said at 4pm and 6pm today!
We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher We were deeply saddened by the news of Christopher Tolkien passing a year ago, and still are to this day. Our love of his father and Lord of the Rings is ever present here at Beardsgaard. So tonight we, and hopefully the rest of you, will take a moment to remember one of the greatest authors of all time, his son, and the impact the Tolkien family has had on our lives. 
“The world is indeed full of peril, and in it there are many dark places; but still there is much that is fair, and though in all lands love is now mingled with grief, it grows perhaps the greater.”
-J.R.R. Tolkien
While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids t While we appreciate all the self sufficient kids that come into the shop, we still need an adult with them to sign our liability waiver. We know it’s a bit of a pain but it’s really to appease Phydeoux the shop dragon. He has a hunger for children and waivers, and we’d rather feed him waivers.
You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but do You don’t have to wear it after your cut, but don’t forget your hat. It’s cold outside.
The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soa The product goblin (and the rest of us) think @soapdistillery body oils smell good enough to drink. We promise the oils will make you feel much better if you put them on your outside instead of your inside though.
Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whi Well hello to those with wild beards who heard whispers of moving out of Tier 3 Mitigation! Please pause, we're not there yet. 

This does not apply to the entire state of Illinois, only certain regions. As of now, we are still in Tier 3. We will announce when we have moved to Tier 2 on all of our social media channels as well as our email list, so sit tight until then!

Because knowledge is power, you also can go to http://dph.illinois.gov/regionmetrics?regionID=8 at any time and look at Region 8, which contains Kane County. As of this posting, we are not meeting the metric on hospital bed availability. 

We promise, we want to get everything under your mask looking and feeling great, but we cannot do that until it's safe. Thank you for understanding, and please keep an eye out here, on Instagram or sign up for our email list at the bottom of www.beardsgaardbarbers.com to get updates.
And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you. And you? Do you like the barber shop? We like you.
We may specialize in short, traditionally masculin We may specialize in short, traditionally masculine haircuts, but Beardsgaard has always been a place for everyone; girls, guys, gays, theys - all identities and orientations find acceptance and a barbershop home here. If, however, you are looking for the luscious salon locks that are far less in our barberly skill set, we are the lucky next door neighbors of the incredible @coasthairsalon
Between the two of us, we have heads of every sort covered in spectacular hair, and positive vibes.
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Our Little Slice of Valhalla

In historic downtown Batavia on Route 31 between 1st and Main

117 S Batavia Ave, Batavia, IL 60510

PHONE: ( 630 ) 454 - 4820

EMAIL: shop@beardsgaardbarbers.com

Appointment & Walk-Ins Both!

Parking

Loads of free parking here, both on the street in front of the shop, with an even more substantial parking lot in back.

Current Hours

Closed for Shop Lunch 2-3 pm weekdays, 1-2 pm Saturdays

• Monday - Friday 9 / 8 • Saturday 9 / 5

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For the safety of our staff and clients, we must refuse service to anyone with cold or flu-like symptoms.
Actually there’s a whole list of questions we’re gonna ask you at the door, brace yourself.
Shop closes for lunch weekdays 2-3 PM and Saturdays 1-2 PM
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Beard trims are back! Book Here!
While you’re here, peruse our sibling shop right next door or in the Webs of Inter, River Peak Apothecary!