articles/Boudoir/innocenceturned-page2

Innocence Turned - A Journey - part 2 of 1 2 3 4

by Tom Lee Published 06/06/2012

This, of course, is when things got really silly. After the first studio session, I decided to make a video of the remaining sessions, interviews and the final video of the completed images. This also necessitated a voiceover from a celebrated actor to perform the role of storyteller - phew, when I bake something it's never undercooked!

The Studio Sessions The story tells the tale of Princess Illyana as she evolves from a child of privilege, to an avenging warrior. Tortured by doubt and seduced by the sorceress, Freya, she embarks on a journey of discovery, betrayal and redemption.

Neither of my models had ever worked with chromakey before and I was using cutting-edge technology which has only just been released onto the stills photography market (see Imagemaker June-July 2011); this is where the storyboard came into its own.

The photographic background at all times was blank and although I could visualise the final images via the storyboard, the girls had to think more in terms of the shapes they made with their bodies rather than be told what the resulting image would look like.

I wanted to take away some of the 'cartoon' element that so often accompanies this style of imagery, and attempted to create some look of realism without compromising the fantasy element. As such, all the backgrounds, props, stylised clothes and other elements of the composition were sourced from real life.

The result is something that is entirely possible without actually being probable. Many of the background images were shot in Ireland, a country steeped in celtic history.

Videoing took place on the busiest studio day and we managed to pour a quart into a pint pot that day. Anyone who knows my studio will appreciate it's not the biggest, yet we still managed two models, a makeup artist, snake wrangler, two 10-foot Burmese pythons, videographer, yours truly and the most important member, my wife Karen who kept us supplied with copious amounts of food and drink to keep us going.

The storyboard and script evolved throughout the project as ideas changed or images simply fell short of the mark. The concept and final imagery, however, stayed true to the original ideal.

Post Production

The images were reproduced in a cool blue tone, evoking a time in ancient history, rather than colour which seemed to be too modern a medium. As all the images were taken in varying lighting conditions, this also aided the tonal harmony of the compositions. This was achieved primarily using the Nik filters collection which has proved an invaluable addition to my post production workflow.

All the images were produced at A2 size on Epson fine art media through a Stylus Pro 3800 and framed in plain black rims and glass. The story relating to each image is pasted to the back of each print.

• Innocence Turned - A Journey page 1
  
• Innocence Turned - A Journey page 2
  
• Innocence Turned - A Journey page 3
  
• Innocence Turned - A Journey page 4
  

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