Persephone's Midwinter Dream

Added 1644211400 by Randall Hobbet.

It seems the inimitable Raphaella is no longer on PP, but I'm sure she's well remembered by many. I was fortunate to work with her several times while I was living in Oslo in 2013. This image was a prelude to a studio shoot taken on a mid-February day near dawn at Huk Park where this Henry Moore monolith sculpture is installed at a prominent point overlooking the Oslo Fjord. When I first visited the park I was inspired by a vision of "Andromeda" from the Greek myth, a sacrifice to the Sea Monster. Later, the wintry scene also evoked Persephone to me, escaping briefly to mourn her Hadean winter exile. Though morning comes late in Oslo that time of year it was a Sunday morning and most natives were rising later or staying 'koselig' in their homes, except for a few dedicated runners or dog-walkers. This was very early in my fine art photography pursuits and it was actually my first outdoor nude shoot. It was brief, planned carefully to minimize the time Raphaella was unclothed, moving rapidly around the sculpture and taking bracketed shots (tough shooting on snow!) while Raphaelle shifted her position and her clothes, deposited on the backside of the sculpture. Our choreography (poses and movement) took only 90 seconds or so, and I had an insulated foam pad for her to stand on and hand warmers for afterwards, then coffee. From there we went to a studio to shoot and I'll upload some images from that later.