Amnesia - Part I
The concept came to me when as I keep researching and studying Helmut Newton and his contradictory work; I keep thinking what may I do that is contradictory and yet fits within the boundaries of Saudi Arabia’s conservative society …
So, this theme was to be multiple contradictions:
1- The outfit would be from a lingerie brand, Victoria’s Secret was the choice
2- The location would be the middle of the desert
3- The compositions would have elements that are not common to find in the middle of the desert … and here I chose the balloons I so love to use
4- The model would be all done up as if about to go out for a formal dinner, hair, makeup, high heeled shoes, nails, the whole set-up
My go-to model for this concept was Abeer, who confined to like it and wanting to pull it …
Orchestrating the day was critical, as three are a number of elements that are not so good in the outdoors environment:
The makeup can easily run, if it gets too hot
The weather can easily turn against us, sand storms are all too common, as is unpredictable rain at this time of the year
The balloons could pop if they come into touch with anything coarse
So, we needed to plan everything well, keeping in mind that the drive to the location is a good 2 hours, and a further 1 hour to set things up upon arriving.
The itinerary for the day:
9am meet up
9:30 to 11:30 doing hair and makeup
11:30 to 12:30 have an early lunch, then pack the SUV
12:30 to 2:30pm drive to location
2:30 to 3:30 set-up “camp”
3:30 to 5:30 shooting
5:30 to 6 pack everything into SUV
6 to 8 drive back
Expected arrival back at home would be between 8 and 9pm
Well, everything went according to plan, with the one small glitch, we ran out of helium for the balloons! This meant we couldn’t have the number of balloons we wanted, nor could we do one of the concepts. Basically, we had to cut short the number of concepts.
Nevertheless, we got the shot I was aiming for, and the day went as soothly as planned.
One interesting thrill happened while we were there … when we arrived, there was a hiking group who had gone up Graffiti rock for a hike. Clearly they had seen us during the photoshoot, and saw that Abeer was wearing a pyjama and with them pink balloons. So, upon us leaving, I had a bet with Abeer that she’d go to the group and ask them for something trivial … but she had to be in her pyjama outfit. The bet was for SAR 10 (about £2) … she won the bet!
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