Lonely

I had planned this shot mentally for some time but couldn’t quite decide on the location for it. I knew it had to look bleak and desolate and had thought of Dartmoor or a hilltop with big views.

When I visited Southerndown on the South Wales coast to shoot another image for my project I realised that the beach was perfect for this shot.

We arrived at exactly the same time as storm Abigail hit the British Isles and although its main front was a long way north of our location, it still managed to give is 45mph winds on an exposed beach. I knew the early afternoon would give us the low tide I needed and I hoped for rain or at least darker skies. In fact, we fortunately got the lot, strong winds, heavy intense hail showers and dark skies.

Erin, the amazing model for the shoot was an absolute star and once we’d completed the other shot, ran to the sea’s edge and stood as requested, facing the oncoming inevitable hail storm. We made this shot and practically ran back to the van (as much to warm us up) just as the heavens opened and we were able to eat our sandwiches in the relative warmth.

The lyric is a clever one; “They’ll call us lonely when we’re really just alone” from Aztec Cameras “Oblivion” single. I believe there is some truth in that. Just because we’re alone at times it doesn’t mean we’re lonely. We may choose to have some ‘me’ time or are more comfortable caring only about ourselves. I guess it also has a much wider meaning for me; we should never judge a book by its cover.

I love this image, its simplicity, its tone and perhaps oddly, its hope.

 

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Kicking Leaves

This shot has sort of been in my mind since I started the lyrics project. It’s simple, effective and all I had to do was wait for the right weather. And there was the problem. The right weather. Fog with leaves on the ground was harder than it sounds. Other issues are the obvious ones, weather right – no model, weather right – park packed as a weekend, model and park time perfect – weather wrong (regularly) etc etc. As it was, the Council were on their little ride on mulchers destroying the leaf fall so we had to turn up, plonk ourselves in their way and go for it! (The kind maintenance man mulched elsewhere for 15 mins!)

The essential elements for this shot, other than the leaves, were, a path preferably with a split ahead, benches, fog and darker light.

Model: Holly

Location: John Coles Park, Chippenham, Wiltshire UK

Lyric: Babylon by David Gray