This image is titled Orpheus & Eurydice from the series Mythology: Chaos & Creation.
In brief, the Greek story is about loosing a loved one - in this case, Orhpeus. Eurydice was bit by a snake and died in the Underworld with Hades. Orpheus, depressed, convinced Hades to retrieve his wife from the underworld because he played a song. Hades agreed, but under one condition. He could NOT turn back and look at her until both were out of the underworld. Unfortunately Orpheus jumped the gun and looked at his wife go back into the underworld.
That is the story in a nutshell.
When I created these images a year ago, I was nervous and I didn't have a clue what I was doing. If you look back in my blog from May - June 2009, you will see I was doing light paintings. For those interested in gear and technical info, here is an excerpt from my thesis
"I use a Canon 40D, a 15mm Fisheye 2.8, two Canon 430EXII flashes, one Vivitar 2800 Flash, a maglite, a pocket-sized LED light, and CyberSync Transmitters.
Two impact light stands are used in conjuncture with the two flash units-sometimes with color gels attached to them.
During Advanced Color Printing and my travels out west, I experimented with color flashes and long night exposures. After trial and error, the ideal settings were at f/5.6 at ISO 100. The distance of the flash from the camera at these settings was determined to be 15 feet at full power. The exposure time would typically be at least two minutes. While the shutter was open, I would frantically set off the flash by hand while swapping out the color gels as I go. When these steps were completed, the maglite would be used to make light shapes and highlight objects. In order for me to perfect my light paintings, more time was needed. Then I concluded I could merge multiple layers in Photoshop CS4 to merge the final image. Pre-production and post-production, I never cropped out an image because I wanted to give purpose to all that is integrated in the photograph.
Literary works from Joseph Campbell have also helped inspire my images. Without reading The Power of Myth, my understanding of the myth and its’ significance on the modern would not be possible."
Now mind you, you don't necessarily need the exact equipment I have. Staying focused on technical matters gets in the way of creating images!
back to the write up
Originally this was titled, Untitled #11, but later decided to appropriately name each photo. For the remainder of this I will refer to this photo as Untitled #11.
Untitled #11 seems to be the viewers’ choice. In Untitled #11 (Figure 3.6), I employed numerous symbols in order to recreate the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice. I referenced Michelangelo’s painting of the Sistine Chapel in Rome, Italy depicts similar formal qualities. The guitar and the white light leaking out from Orpheus represented his role as a musician while the highlighted dress hanging from the wall was alone to symbolize loss. The tripod was accidentally kicked numerous times throughout production, but was able to manage to retain all of the objects for the final composition.
Before I started photographing, I previsualized the image in my head on the final result. Each image was an experience that dealt with different challenges whether it was technical or legal. You can expect to see new work improving on my thesis as well as skateboarding at night in the near future...
