Elvin Majesty
It is that time of the year when one starts to look back and reflect on the year. This image certainly sparked many such reflections for me.
Last year was incredibly heart breaking for me and so it was even more important than ever before to set a few goals for this year that would focus on something positive – something perhaps a bit indulgent and that would feed my soul. Photography and the process of creating, especially expressing myself through conceptual fine art images, has been so healing and given me so much fulfilment that it was this that I wanted to hold onto. So I put a lot of focus on my goals for photography and started to think very differently about what journey I want to follow with it…
I decided on the following photography goals for this year:
To host an exhibition of my conceptual fine art work.
To work more with models and to involve them in my conceptual work.
To collaborate with other artists.
At that point I had only done self-portraits to create my conceptual images. This was mostly because so much of my work and inspiration is autobiographical. However, I had started working more with models over the last few years, so I was curious to mix things up a bit and try something different by pushing myself in other directions.
My models are usually my close friends and so it is always sure to be a fun adventure when heading out for a shoot. I am very honoured that so many of my friends have been part of this journey with me, both as models and when they join me as assistants. Thank you for allowing me to capture your stories, emotions and concepts. There are many stories waiting to be revealed…
Close up details of my beautiful friend and model...
The concept for this image, which will belong in a series of images, was envisioned much earlier this year when two friends and I had headed into this valley so that I could do some climbing photography for another project. While we were hiking to the climbing area, we came across a section of the valley that had circles of burnt tree stumps. It felt kind of eerie and I loved the mood. Immediately my model and I started plotting the concept for this series and we made plans to visit this area later again in the year.
By February this year I had achieved all my three of my photography goals and then some... Far more than I ever could have imagined. The energy and momentum just kept going and I am so grateful for all the experiences and for those that touched my life along the way. Oh so much more is being planned for next year… I hope you will all join me on my journey <3
I created a small video of all the stages while editing this image. I hope you enjoy :)
