A devoted dad has transformed his three-year-old daughter into Wonder Woman – with an out-of-this world photo shoot and costume.
Comic book fan and commercial photographer Josh Rossi, 31, celebrated Nellee’s third birthday by transforming her into the DC Comics heroine.
Creative Josh made his daughter’s dreams come true by editing the photos to make her look like she’s fighting in an epic battle scene, complete with a sword and shield.
During the six-hour photo shoot his wonder girl wore a specially handmade Wonder Woman costume and had her make up done professionally.
Based in Josh’s home town of Salt Lake City, the shoot involved five assistants on set – including Josh’s pregnant 29-year-old wife, Roxana.
The group hoisted Nellee above their heads, blew wind into her hair and helped her with props to achieve the special shots.
Now a father-of-two, Josh spent weeks editing his studio shots by layering them over his own incredible backdrops to give the illusion that she’s fighting in battle scenes.
He said: “I love superheros – but I wanted my girl to be more unique than just superwoman or cat woman because she has a really strong personality.
“I remembered the Batman vs Superman movie where at the end Wonder Woman comes out and she destroys the monster that neither of the guys can defeat.
“So she’s more powerful than both of them combined and that’s the moment that I was certain that’s who I wanted my daughter to be – she’s a very powerful woman.
“This represents her at the best.”
Adorable Nellee would spend hours rehearsing her favourite poses before her big day.
Her father added: “I say she’s the obsessed one, but secretly I’m the obsessed one and I got her into it.
“She had to practice for the role so we had her watch the Wonder Woman trailer over and over again and she absolutely loved it .
“She started acting out everything and making the faces and the poses and everything, she’s definitely obsessed with it now!
“She loves acting, she acts out everything and goes to dance classes. So we’ll see whether she wants to pursue it.
“As soon as she put the costume on she was in the zone, the poses were great. She wasn’t hungry or crying, she was literally so into it.
“It’s like her dream.
“It’s expensive to create the perfect look but it’s totally worth it.
“The whole shoot took about six hours. We had to do hair and make up, and then it was 3 and a half hours for the actual photo shoot.
“I thought I was only going to need two assistants but we ended up using the make up lady and her husband and my wife – it was five in total for one of the shots.
“My wife was just as involved in this as I was. She was heavily pregnant at the time so obviously she couldn’t do too much but she really helped out on the shoot.
“It took me about two and a half weeks to edit the photos. We’d just had a newborn so it was really insane.
“I would just put in 3/4 hours a day, each image takes about 8-12 hours.
“I usually turn the pictures into birthday invitations, but as her birthday’s passed we’ll probably hang them on the wall!
Josh’s wacky shoots happen every year to celebrate Nellee’s birthday and last year she stared as Mulan in an epic kung-fu style shoot.
He added: “Some people thought I was crazy when I said I was going to do a Wonder Woman shoot – until they see the photos.
“We love watching The Flash and lots of Marvel and DC Comics movies, but I’m probably the most obsessed.
“When I was young I used to be obsessed with comic books and I used to be obsessed with comic book art and I always wanted to be a comic book artist.
“I had a cool portfolio when I was younger, but then I dropped it.
“Now I’m back into photography I have an opportunity to pursue it.
“I shoot all the background stuff as well, for example if I go abroad I’ll always shoot stuff I think will make a cool back drop to one of my photos.
“The fire behind Nellee comes from a picture I took of a flame blower in Canada. So I shot all that stuff and then just put it back together.
“The one where she’s holding the electric whiplash is in a warehouse in New York.
“I have lots of ideas for the future – it’s just finding the time to create it.”
Josh has been a photographer for ten years and a commercial photographer for five years, his work can be found on his Instagram channel @joshrossiphoto.
