At the beginning of the year I made a rather vague reference to wanting to create a book of short stories, poems, and wonders told through photos. If you've been following my work I believe the short story part should be fairly obvious (e.g. The Murder Ballad), but I figured I should give a bit more information as to exactly what I mean by poems.
In essence what this series will intend to do is incorporate many of the devices found in poetry into photography- metaphor, allusion, symbolism, etc. I've been studying a bit of Spanish poetry this past year (Just graduated with my B.A. in Spanish woooo!) and was fascinated to find out how much meaning could be packed into a small poem. Even the seemingly obvious ones had a few secrets.
Since this is the first one I'm uploading I thought it might be a good idea to give a bit of a breakdown of how and why it came to be what it is so that you could see more or less how this series works.
For this image I wanted to create something based around the central concept of silence. When I was thinking of the proper character for this theme my first thought was to the myth of Philomela. You can read up on the whole myth here, but basically she was raped and had her tongue cut out so she couldn't tell anyone and was eventually turned into a swallow (that is, in the earliest versions of the myth. More commonly in later versions it's a nightingale, but I think the swallow makes more sense since it never actually sings, just twitters). In order to identify her I wanted to make her embody a swallow. I like the idea of having her dressed in a realistic way that was able to incorporate the characteristics of the bird, so I decided to make a dress (not bad for my first try, eh?). There are of course a variety of types of swallows, but I ended up choosing to use the barn swallow because of its red throat which would allow me to incorporate the blood coming from her mouth.
The blood aspect was done for a few reasons. First off, obviously, to reference the tongue being cut out. Secondly, I wanted to incorporate some relation to Shakespeare's Lavinia from "Titus Andronicus" as much of her character was drawn from the myth of Philomela. This is probably one of my favorite Shakespeare plays, primarily due to a movie version of it directed by Julie Taymor, which is amazing. There is a very powerful scene in the movie (here's a clip, the scene starts around 2:10, caution- very very emotional) in which, after having been raped, had her tongue cut out aaand her hands cut off, Lavinia opens her mouth and blood pours out. The setting of the photo amid all the dead branches was also partly inspired by the sticks she wears instead of hands. Also this photo is specifically a part of a series of poems that I shot incorporating blood, where the blood is a symbol for all the potential stories that circulate through everyone. In this case, as her tongue is cut out, her stories and ability to tell them leave her.
The flowers in the photo are dried white roses. In the Victorian language of flowers white roses were meant to represent silence, purity, and other similar things. I used dried flowers to show that while the white, silent color remained but the life and purity had been removed. I positioned the flowers where they are because I wanted to suggest the idea that the flowers were growing out of/because of her. Their shriveled silence, is a product of her tortured silence, a product of her assault.
The title is also intended to further the silence in the piece. Although the name Philomela means "lover of fruit" it is often mistranslated to "Lover of song" (Philo is the root for "lover"). Even though it's wrong I think the "Lover of song" translation is more fitting with the myth. It was in keeping with this false translation that I removed the end of her name in the title, thus, in addition to simply referencing the central character of the pieces, I also superimpose the central concept by silencing her song.
I want to end this post with a quote from my poetry professor that has really stuck with me and I believe really speaks to the importance of good art, and that it can have a value beyond just being something interesting to look at. I went something like this: "When confronted with poetry, people tend to back away and think that they can't possibly understand it because they don't know everything about all the references- about this myth, or the history of this event, or the symbology in that culture, or the author's biography - that they have to know all this before they go into a poem. But the fact is, it's the complete opposite. Poetry should be a starting point from which you branch out and investigate and learn about everything it contains." p.s. Since we're on the subject of swallows here's a photo of a tree swallow I took about 4 years ago.
A couple of weeks ago my best friend Rachel (whom you may recognize from the Raven shoot I did last year) approached me about doing some head shots for self-promotion. She's studying entertainment management and will likely be doing some pretty awesome things next year in film promotion. At the moment though she's works on some local music promotion and wanted some photos to reflect a bit of the "rocker" vibe. She offered me cupcakes, so of course I accepted, on the condition though that she let me turn the the shoot into a chance for me to experiment with a bit of fashion. She had no choice but to agree, so I got Alyssa (who's modeled for me quite a bit) in on the deal and we had an adventure. I really have no plans of going into any sort of fashion photography, but I really wanted do just play around with it a little bit and at least have some little bit of experience if I were ever to need to do at some point. Also photo adventures of any sort are usually fun.
As you can see, our first journey out we kept things classy down town. However once we got back to my apartment for a styling change we ended up going wild. Alyssa had a Restoration style dress with a corset and bustle on loan from the theatre department and I couldn't pass up the opportunity to use it in a photo some how. For the most part I let the girls go to town with the styling and gave just a bit of creative input, such as the pseudo-eye-of-Horus on Rachel. For the locations we explored the train tracks behind my apartment and a small stone building in the park near by that the internet tells me was possibly a bear cage during an attempt to build a zoo about a century ago.
In all this shoot was great fun, and I actually ended up seeing a lot of improvement in everyone really. As with each time I shoot some one else I got more comfortable with directing my models, I played around with free-lensing a bit more and got some decent shots for once, and I managed to get shots in single frames instead of compulsively expanding every single shot. I was actually very proud of Rachel and how much more comfortable she got in front of the camera. The basis of our friendship lies in our incredible talent of struggling and being awkward, and let's just say that there are some pretty incredible out takes from the beginning of the adventure. But by the end she was working it like a pro and able to get into character. Which is good because she'll be the subject for a shot I'll be doing later today!
I'm so excited to finally reveal the complete Murder Ballad project. I shot this photo story over the summer and have been holding on to the photos until I had a proper computer to edit them on. While this story really steps away from my usual fantasy filled photos, it served as a great way for me to work on and explore story telling through photos. Part of my primary goal in creating this series was to construct and photograph a story that could be told solely through the photos, without need for descriptions or titles. For the purpose of this blog post, which is intended to reveal the complete process behind story, I've decided to name and describe them. As you will soon read this was based on a series of old folk songs, which can be a bit of an acquired taste, and if you feel so inclined to listen to some of the ballads that inspired it you can listen to this YouTube playlist
The Inspiration-(Prepare for old folk music and a bit of a history lesson) This summer I was exploring some songs a friend had given me a few years ago, and really got into listening to Abigail Washburn. In watching an interview with her she mentioned that Doc Watson was basically the one who got her into folk music, so I gave him a listen. After listening to a few songs, I noticed a rather old looking black and white clip in the recommended videos on the sidebar of YouTube. Being a connoisseur of old things, I decided to give it a view. It was a video of Hedy West playing "Little Sadie," which she described in her introduction to the song as "one of the many American murder ballads."
Hearing that, I instantly became curious, found a Wikipedia article, and got to creating a playlist on Spotify. Eventually I became obsessed. Within the collection I began noticing some thematic similarities between some of the songs and identified about 6 or 7 different songs about young girls being attacked by their lovers. What caught my attention even further was that I was able to find many of the songs sung by at least four other artists and each one sang the song differently; either changing a few words or completely different versions telling the exact same story. The changing of words could be explained by the fact that all these songs were passed on through generations, some even being hundreds of years old brought over by settlers from the UK, and preserved in the mountains of Appalachia (seriously the history is fascinating, here's a Wikipedia article). After researching "Omie Wise" a bit, I came to find out that the reason for the completely different versions was that the story (and as I came to find out, most all of the stories) was based on an actual murder and the songs had been written in memorial of the events. In love with the story telling power of these songs, their legacy, and their oral tradition I decided I wanted to do a complete photo-story based off of the ballads.
The Planning- Once I had decided to the story I immediately knew exactly what sort of styling I wanted. My brain jumped right to these two photos by Sarah Ann Loreth and David Talley:
And luckily for me I was going to have the opportunity to meet and shoot with them at the MidWest Flickr Gathering in Indiana. I sent them a message via Facebook, warning them that I would be using them and set about researching, listening, and planning.
By the time I arrived at MidWest I had a fairly good idea of what I wanted to do, but knew that I would have to adapt to the location and props available. The meetup took place on the incredible Ethan Coverstone's farm which was the perfect setting for the story with golden fields, a river, and a small cabin.
Conceptualizing by candle light (thanks to Evan Walsh)
While plotting out the story I had two hard decisions to make- the weapon and the motive. For the weapon I had choose between the lover beating her, drowning her, stabbing her and shooting her . I ended up choosing to shoot her into the water since shooting someone is easier to capture and more clear on camera, and having her in the water would give me a way to have her body discovered as described in "Omie Wise." The motivation was probably the hardest part of the entire story as many of the songs leave it unclear. "Banks of the Ohio" give the line "I killed the girl I love you see, because she would not marry me" but I felt this would shorten the story a bit and the song gives the impression that the murder was not premeditated. The motive I ended up using is actually very subtly suggested in "Omie Wise" which I didn't even notice until reading more about the actually story- "Have mercy on my baby and spare me my life, I'll go home as a beggar and never be your wife." He got her pregnant to avoid having to "bring her some money and other fine things" as the result of a Bastardy case, he killed her.
Once I had a general story line figured out I set about location scouting and around the farm and sketching out angles and everything.
Working out story line
Sketching out the story
Luckily I had access to all the costumes and props I needed at the meet up except for one. The gun. And as it turns out WalMart only sold neon orange toy guns. Good thing they also sell spray paint.
The Shooting- Once I had everything planned out it was of course time to start shooting. Except for the 8th shot "And I stuck my pistol right under my head" everything was shot in real time. I kidnaped David and Sarah one evening just as the sun was starting to set, dragging along Shane and Grace to assist, and set up and shot the first seven shots with in under an hour.
The next day I got up early to shoot in morning light with Jacob and Evan. I shot the three cabin scenes later that morning with the help of David, Chelsea, and Josh and finally shooting the final photo that afternoon with Gurbir, Sarah, Shane, Gilly and various others helping and waiting for something to go horribly wrong.
The Photos- Alright now finally for the photos and some description of each!
I'll tell you a story, I'll tell you no lies, I'll tell you the story of Little Omie Wise
As you'll see I ended up drawing largely on the story of Omie Wise for the story, and generally refer the the young girl as Omie. I debated between various ways of putting across the idea that she was pregnant and that that was the reason for many of the ensuing events. I owe Casey Maxwell a big thanks for letting me bounce ideas off her as for how to convey this. I ultimately decided to insert it in a subtle manner just as the song does.
He told her to meet him at Adams' spring, he'd bring her some money and other fine things
This was another hard element to decide on. I wanted to figure out how to show that she was meeting him and it would later become evident that he was luring her astray. I eventually rejected the idea of using a photograph of a letter and decided that her running to him would work well, especially once the next scene came about.
We'll go and get married and no one will know
This light was perfect. I figured a proposal would be the best way to make it obvious that the pregnancy was out of wedlock and hoped that the order of events would be a signal that something was off about the events.
Go along with me, before we get married some pleasure to seek
The purpose of this shot was to put in an important transition in the mood of the story. I wanted a clear contrast between the happy and bright setting of the field and the dark setting of the river bank. I also wanted to show some uneasiness in the characters. He's leading the way, nearly dragging her off, and she glances back beginning to question the way things are playing out.
John Lewis, John Lewis will you tell me your mind. Do you intend to marry me or to leave me behind
Here I really wanted to quote from the line "will you tell me your mind" that I've actually found in a couple of different songs. I found that in a number of the songs the victim has a moment of doubt and questioning of her lovers motives. It also provided an opportunity to position the two so that he could eventually shoot her and to create the final bit of suspense before revealing his true intentions.
I went out last night and I made my round, I met Little Sadie and I shot her down
The main climax. I wanted to create a very dramatic moment in which it's revealed what he is hiding behind his back, he shoots her, and she falls back into the water. Shane Black gets double kudos for jumping in the water and holding Sarah up as she fell. Not being allowed to stain the dress with fake blood, I actually set up a mini-studio once I was home to shoot the bullet wound which was a challenge to composite in. I actually debated whether or not I should even include the wound and it felt a bit more gruesome and in a way modern (if that makes any sense) to be in a folk tale, but I eventually decided that I wanted to go for realism and it served to clarify the photo.
Down on the banks of the Ohio
Too many of the songs give reference to the girl drowning for me to not include it somehow. I wanted to give her death some finality and also provide a link to her body's ultimate discovery. Shooting this was probably my biggest "is this real life?" moment of the entire meet-up. Sarah has long been a huge inspiration to me and shooting her in dirty water (something she's kind of known for) was unreal.
I went back home and I went to bed, said I stuck my pistol right under my head
In "Little Sadie" which this photo quotes from, the placing of the pistol under his head is passed over and never plays any importance in the story, but I saw it as a perfect opportunity for the murderer's discovery. I'm actually very proud of how I pulled this photo off. There's no way there would have been enough light at night after the murder, so I had to take it out of sequence. The problem with shooting during the day though was that there were very obvious reflections in the the window. So I used a technique I discovered way back during day 57 of my 365 and used a black sheet behind me to black out all reflections. And with another sheet over the other window I was able to create night!
Two boys went a fishin' one fine summers day, and saw little Omie's body go floatin' away
Here I directly took reference for "Little Omie" for the perfect discovery of the body. I decided to take a subtle approach to showing the body and instead used the hat to imply that she was floating down the river.
The very next day, at half past four, the sherif walked right to my door
The primary purpose of this photo was to introduce the character of the sheriff so that his appearance in the next photo made sense. It's a rather simple shot but really works to show that something is about to go down.
If it hadn't been for Sheriff Greyson, I 'd be in Tennessee
This is the only scene in the series that I entirely invented. Where all the other photos draw upon events described in the ballads I created this scene as a way to wrap the plot up. I wanted a confrontation between the murderer and the sheriff, and to make it clear that he had been found out. The gun that had been hidden under the pillow provided the perfect give away. Even though I had planned this out, I for some reason didn't originally plan to shoot it as I didn't feel like I would be able to pull off as it seemed a bit complicated. However after shooting the two other scenes at the cabin I asked David and Josh if they had time for me to try something out and it ended up working perfectly.
Hang your head Tom Dooley
Even though I was the one who shot and edited this photo, it still make me uncomfortable, which is why I love it. I really wanted this photo to be simple and powerful. I absolutely had to end the series with the reference to Tom Dooley, probably the best known song out of the collection. On my way back from the Gathering I met up with my mom, dad, grandma and great aunt and uncle in Illinois and explained this series to them. I provided Tom Dooley as an example of the songs I was using and they all knew it. But they were all stunned to realize how dark of a story the ballad actually is. I to quote "hang your head Tom Dooley, hang your head and cry, you killed little Laurie Foster and now you're bound to die" for them to believe me. David gets super extra kudos for letting me almost actually kill him a couple of times while shooting this.
It's so unbelievable to finally have this series done. I owe a huge thanks to all my models and assistants and everyone who attended the Midwest gathering for helping me out and supporting me as I worked on this story.
As many of you likely know, I completed a 365 project this past year, taking a photo every day for a year. During the year (and four months) it took me to complete it grew in my knowledge and of my camera, editing, lighting, angles, and pretty much everything. The one area it expecially pushed me in was my ability to create something new everyday, drawing on my surroundings and doing what ever was possible at the time.
While the project was amazing at for developing my skills and ability to think on my feet and most importantly, forcing me to get out and actually take photos, the one thing that was left wanting was the time to thouroughly develop ideas. I was very excited to complete the project so that I would be able to put the time and effort into creating and planning. The truth however, is that I'm a horrible procrastinator and haven't been doing that as much as I'd like. And that's why I'm starting a new 365 project.
This won't be the same type of photo-a-day project though. The goal of this project is to do something everyday that works toward builing my photography- shooting, editing, sketching out a concept, builing a prop, location scouting, doing research on an idea, reading something relevant, working on building my photography business, etc. I want to push myself to develop and I know myself enough to know that I won't do that if I can put it off. To have some sort of accountability I'll be posting my work for the day over on my new Tumblr.
I figure that since I'm starting this with the new year I might as well make some goals. I've never really been one to make goals for myself other than to do the best I could, but since I feel I need some direction I'll set just a couple general ones that I can add to and edit as I go along. Since I'm setting this up so free I need some sort of guidelines to push me.
Goals
Complete a book of short stories, poems, and wonders told through photos.
Exhibit in at least 3 galleries
Have at least 5 photos on book/album/etc. covers
