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Dreams:

 

Art Galleries always provide inspiration for photographers whatever the subject matter.

One day, I found myself viewing Sir John Millais’s ‘Ophelia’ at Tate Britain.

 

Ophelia willingly drowns herself after the murder of her father at the hands of her lover.

The painting's power to hold you is immense. The sense of detachment, hopelessness,

and lack of struggle leading to her inevitable death so contrary to our age.  It is a

haunting image and yet it is the romantic image of love, death, and despair from the

Victorian era. It took Millais months to paint but I wondered how this image might

be recreated photographically.

 

How do you capture all those emotions in a fraction of a second? Weeks of planning,

one ‘willing’ Model, a make-up artist and crew in waterproof boots,  one medieval

costume dress, an inflatable garden pool, and four days in the studio to set up and complete.

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I hope my version tells the same story. The production of Ophelia led me on to other

otherworldly images. ‘Dreamscape’ photographed in the Studio through a water table 

and ‘Dark Angel’ hopefully also ask for an emotional explanation. It seems

not everything in an image can be captured in a fraction of a second.