Content Warning: This shoot is actually surprisingly not needing as much content warning. The second part of the shoot will contain some NSFW imagery of a non-sexual nature, but this part does not. General themes and aesthetics of witchcraft, as well as some play with fire, non-human skulls, and some pretty great vibes.
Introducing our team for this shoot:
Jacob Forsyth-Davies - Me, Photographer, director, editor
Natalie Rashid - Second in command, prop carrier, fixer of makeup and hair
Maja Tokar - Model, Spring
Nikita Doncheva - Model, Summer
Nina Willms - Model, Autumn
Megan Roberts - Model, Winter
Notable thanks also go to Giulia and Rachel for lending some of the props used, Jenny for being an understudy, and to the general community for being supportive and lovely.
Visually, a lot of inspiration also comes from some of the wonderful Tarot decks I have seen from friends over the years, and from a handful of talented photographers and artists whose work I admire, including: Marieke Captures, Daria Bilyk, Katrin Blackwater, and many others.
After weeks of hoarding props from friends and charity shops, planning out costumes, and preparing ideas, the six of us bundled into a taxi heading towards Wallaces Cave, in Roslin Glen. Arriving at the side of the road, we pulled out several backpacks, Ikea bags, costume bundles, and camera bags, and set off for the mildly treacherous 40 or so minute walk into the depths of the forest.
After a good amount of walking, sliding, singing, and nearly falling over, we arrived just above Wallaces Cave, and set up camp, to start getting ready for the shoot, putting on costumes and makeup, while Nat and I scoped out the area, looking for different location and shot ideas.
We started with a brief exercise of sitting together and a guided meditation, to settle into the character, and the movement, headspace, and actions they would have, in the perception of the models. Like a lot of my models guidance, this comes from character work within the Beltane Fire Society community, and leading people in finding authentic and consistent character embodiment.
As we started out, it took a while to get into the flow of it (Aside from Megan, who immediately jumped into the movement), but even some of these early shots are really promising. Instead of focusing on building specific poses, keeping a flow of movement and change keeps things fresh, and allows for really novel poses to come out of it.
As it started to get more comfortable, and everyone seemed pretty in the zone, we introduced the use of props, particully the mirror, which I have seen used in a lot of photography recently. Sometimes it can come across a bit like a gimmick, but I wanted to play with it, and see what could be done, and it also made me realise again how much effort can go into even the most '10 Photography Hacks You Need to Know!' work, as shooting with a mirror is tricky.
After all this, a quick snack break! I had everything timed down to about 15 minutes, to make sure we got through as much as we could, while still having room for creative ideas. It's very easy to let time slip away and quickly end up at 6pm with only a handful of good shots, and the organisation ahead of time really comes in handy in my experience.
After the break, we started to work on more posed, put together shots, with increasing use of the absolute hoard of props we brought out into the area, matching the prop to the characterisation of each season and aesthetic in some way.
Having shot a lot above Wallaces cave, we ventured further down, to a narrow path closer to the cave, to work with some more ritual looking work, using arms to draw on visual aesthetics I have seen used a lot in fire performance and visual performance, as well as some Pinterest research.