fairytales 1 // river of wailing
July 09, 2014
Here goes part 1 of my Fairytales photo project that I have just announced in my last blog post. I’m super excited with this experiment and already have tons of ideas that I can’t wait to turn them into something real. I’m so glad I decided to start this series and also make it public, focusing on something specific actually keeps me thinking all the time to themes or elements to be incorporated into these photoshoots more than before.
First part of the series is called River of Wailing and portrays the greek goddess Persephone. It all began with another image taken back in October 2013, that I chose to illustrate the legend of the kidnapping of Persephone by Hades for a project at University. When I told the professor my idea and showed him the photo, he told me that my image was more of a ‘before kidnapping’ illustration and that I needed another one, of the ‘after’, the transformation. Oh, well. So I had to chanel my thoughts into this direction and had plenty of other ideas, but all of them different of the final outcome.
In the meanwhile I had planned a photoshoot at an amazing location, a deserted mine with red land and waters, all looking like martian terrain. I didn’t have any specific idea or clothing or details. The only thing I knew was that I wanted to have a photoshoot there. Then I went to a fabric store and, luckily, they had great discounts and so I bought some amazing fabrics for just 0,99€ (not to mention that I returned the next day and bought some more, just to have them for future experiments). The model, Maria, is also a clothes designer and she had this beautiful black body wear designed by herself, which she brought at the photoshoot. And from then on we started to build the idea of the photoshoot, but everything felt into place just when we arrived at the location and started shooting. When I’ve seen the amazing landscape, I knew it was fit for the Persephone idea.
Then there was this red river, from which I inspired myself for the title of the series. The River of Wailing is one of the 5 rivers encircling the world of greek god Hades, the Underworld. Long story short, Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and harvest goddess Demeter – from which we got inspiration for the accessories, a bracelet and a hair tiara with vegetation details, thanks to MUA Gloria for them, and the black body that also has some similar details -. Hades sees her, fells in love with her, kidnaps her and takes her to the Underworld. Then, she’ll be obliged to spend a part of the year with Hades in the Underworld and the other part with her mother.
The photos illustrate Persephone at the conjunction of the two worlds, the one from the surface and the one below, represented by the sky and the trees in the distance respectively the arid land with the red river.
I hope you like the images as much as I do 🙂 Enjoy!
Model: Maria Avila
MUA: Gloria del Hoyo
Assistant: Andra Oana J.
♥