Hesperides Shoot Planning

The Hesperides, in Greek mythology, were thought to be the nymph-goddesses of the evenings and golden afternoon light. I think that they will be great additions to my project as it has kind of evolved from being about the stars to forces such as light - forces that are intangible and yet so beautiful. 

My research on the Hesperides can be found here.

For this shoot, I have chosen to take inspiration from the oil painting Garden of the Hesperides by Albert Herter (1898). While the painting isn't very well known, from my research I found this to be most intimately beautiful, and drew me in much more than the others. As Alain de Botton suggested, we are drawn to art that offers something that we already do not possess - I believe that in this painting it is serenity and calmness. 

I did consider having a more well known painting as my basis for the photographs, such as The Garden of the Hesperides by Edward Burne-Jones (1869), as this would have caused that sense of familiarity that we found in the works of Annie Leibovich, where she creates an image that is both strange and familiar to us. However, I concluded that this was not strong enough of a reason to not go with what I feel more connected to.

Garden of the Hesperides by Albert Herter (1898). 

This painting is different to the others I've used as visual references before, as there is more than one figure, and all of the figures need to be present in the photograph in order for it to be as effective as it can be. 

There are a few way I can achieve this; firstly, by using 3 different models including myself, and having us all interact with each other in one frame. This would be the easier option, however, I'm not sure if it would have the same effect with having two other faces in the image, especially when presenting and all of the other photographs use my face. The second option is to do that, but then paste my face on to the body doubles in order to try and keep continuity to the project, but have the ease of being able to interact the actual bodies with each other easier at the shooting stage. The third option is to take multiple exposures of myself in these three different positions, and then composite them together to create one. The only issue with this is my experience with photoshop compositing is limited. I could hire an editor if I had the money, but I do not.
I think my plan is to try all three, with priority from 3rd to 1st. I will take two other models with me and start by taking exposures of us all together. I will then move my head in different ways in order to try to be able to effectively attempt to use those faces on the bodies of the models if my final plan doesn't work, which is to take multiple exposures of myself and then later merge them.

Location

Based on the painting above, I need to find a beach location with a tree, where you can see the shore clearly. The image will be very much made to look like it's in Britain, with the north sea that is close to me. I do have the option of editing the colour to match the painting more accurately, however I feel that keeping it naturally English will work well with the other hints of reality within my photos.  Perhaps Walberswick beach would be a good option, as it's far more quiet than a lot of other surrounding beaches. There are trees nearby, also. However, I would have to go out physically and scout the location, which I cannot do right now due to shielding and Covid. 

Physical Appearances 

As there are three Hesperides in this painting, I have to think about each of their appearances. I'm not so worried about the face and the hair, as this is what makes them self-portraits to me. Skin colour also doesn't matter to me, however, my skin is already very pale and so will match the painting without even trying. This leaves costume.

The Hesperis in the middle has the most elaborate costume design of the three. She wears an almost duotone top which flows with ease, helping this feeling of tranquillity. For this, I have chosen a very light sheer silk fabric in baby pink. The light-reflecting properties of the silk will allow for many highlights to show, which I hope I can then add a yellow tone to in order to give it that pink/yellow sheen. As for the skirt, this also seems to be sort of duo-chrome, in a black and gold sense, but this time with a pattern. I have chosen a black fabric with gold detailing on it. I hope that I can make something similar to what is seen in the painting with these materials. For the hair, I will keep my own hair but do it up in a similar design with a piece of peach ribbon. 

The second Hesperis, who lays her head upon the middle one's head, seems to wear a dress of green and gold, however, it's far less visible and therefore to me can be interpreted with more leeway from the original. I would love to get a dress that is very similar as the colours reflect royalty, nature and class. Depending on budget, I have picked out two options. It's likely that I will be keeping this Hesperis in the shade, however, and perhaps even darkening this part of the image in post-production. What was important to me in finding the dress was that it cover her shoulders and looked classy and fluid. I would edit the image to be a bit more yellow-toned overall, but if the dress still didn't look the right tone, this is an easy fix with the hue and saturation tool in photoshop. 

 The third Hesperis wears a dress of brown and gold, with a teal scarf wrapped over her arm. I wanted my image to reflect this, and so I would have her in a long, flowy dress in those colours. Her shoulders I the painting are bare, so I would adjust the dress to match this. While the beading is not present, I feel like the shape, the colour and the bow works well to be clearly inspired by the painting. I think overall, all of these colours will work really well together in order to create a harmonious, earthy image.

The Dragon

One of the hardest parts of attempting to do a Hesperides shoot is working out how I can incorporate the dragon. The dragon helps the Hesperides protect Hera's tree of golden apples, and so is key to the narrative. Ideally, I want the dragon to bring more a feeling of escapism, however realistically I will most likely have to leave out the dragon for many reasons. Even if I were to borrow a snake, it wouldn't be quite as big or as glorious as the one in the painting. Herter painted the dragon a beautiful reflective emerald green and dark blue colour. I fear if I attempt to make one it will look too fake, and to buy a realistic one is far out of my budget. 

Equipment

For this shoot I will use the same equipment as the previous ones. The Nikon d810, paired with a 24-70mm lens. The lighting in this is mostly natural and so if I need extra lighting I will use the  Nikon speedlights as usual, only diffused heavily too keep that natural feeling. It's likely that this will be needed due to being under a tree, however it depends where the sun is. A tripod is more essential here than other shoots, as I am going to be trying to merge multiple images together to create one. Also because of this, a remote trigger is going to be ideal so I don't have to touch the camera as much, which could risk moving the camera accidentally.

Props

The main prop in this image will be the golden apples. To make these, I plan on simply buying apples and painting them this green/gold colour. This metallic paint should replicate the colour of those within the painting well, but if not the colours can be adjusted within photoshop. As discussed previously, I prefer having my props correct in hand rather than all edited in afterwards as this offers greater escapism for me. However, for the apples on the tree, this may have to be the case, or it could weigh down the branches too much. To achieve this, I will just take a few images of the apples in different positions, and paste them into the image, and correct lighting etc.

Overall, I think this shoot will turn out really well, however there are a lot of variables that cannot be chosen between until I am in the moment of shooting and editing. Worst case scenario is that I have to reshoot with the lessons from the first shoot to help guide me.
The Hesperides in this image project a feeling of calmness and beauty and I hope I can translate that into photography.