Grief Part 2

Grief Part 2 is one image from a series that I am working on looking at grief, loss, despare, it is the first in the series. As with most of my work there is a story, it this case it is one of loss.

This shoot was interesting for me on two levels, it was an xtention of the set building idea, creating my enviro, rather than finding it and it was the first time I used an actor as talent. I wanted the mother to cry, to really cry, after all this is more a portrait of emotion than anything else. It was quite a different shoot for that reason, for the actor to get "into" character she needed time, she needed quiet...we played Nick Cave and Leonard Cohen all morning. The studio has a somber feel to it. From my POV the way I controlled the shoot was different too, I felt a lot more like a director than a photographer.

The images below stat with the finished shot, and continue to the set building and shoot day shots....I don't have my initial sketch scanned but I'll try to post it later some time.

This image was also entered in the Olive Cotton Award and will be exhibited there this year.