Beside You

“Even if you were upside-down,
I would be beside you.
And your world were a strange thing found,
I would be beside you.
In my symbolised world I’m a beautiful girl.
In my house on the hill there is room for you still.

When there’s nothing but dark and sound,
I will be beside you.
When there’s nothing but the long way ‘round,
I will be beside you.
In my simplified world, we’re a boy and a girl.
In my house on the hill there is room for you still.

I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.
(I’ll be everywhere you go…)
I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.
In my symbolised world I’m a beautiful girl.
In my house on the hill there is room for you still.

When there’s nothing but roaring sound,
I will be beside you.
When there’s nothing but the long drop down,
I will be beside you.
When your fears are a swarm in the hive of your mind,
When the tears of your love and your loss are entwined...

(I’ll be everywhere you go…)
I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.
(I’ll be everywhere you go…)
I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.
In my symbolised world I’m a beautiful girl.
In my house on the hill there is room for you still.

I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.
I’ll be everywhere you go,
You go, you go.”

[ Beside You – Phildel ]

Fifth work from The Disappearance Of The Girl.
Beside You was one of the first concepts I came up with. Not only is the music video visually striking, but the lyrics are also so surreal they are actually quite intuitive to put into an image. Ever since I shot with Luisa on the Scala dei Giganti in Trieste, people have kept telling me they were reminded of Escher’s work, Relativity. So I said, Escher it is: it fits perfectly with the upside-down theme, and I also recently watched the movie Upside Down, which was visually inspiring even though the storytelling was a bit of a let down. Besides, it was only fitting that Luisa and I come full circle and shoot there together again. The only thing I had to do was a quick inspection of the location to be 100% sure my idea was feasible, and… yes, it was!

While planning the photo, I decided to give two major nods to the music video, which are the poppies in Luisa’s hair and the butterfly. The latter is also meant to be a messenger symbolising the closeness even in such a surreal situation: no matter the circumstances, she will find a way to let him know she’s beside him, even if as frail as a butterfly. Also, I think it visually represents the delicacy of the melody and arrangement of the song, as does the bright sunlight.

To tell the truth, this was the most challenging work of the series. Not only because, while I was shooting, I had to visualise the upside-down background in my head, be in it and shoot the photo with Luisa accordingly both in terms of light and perspective, but also because the postproduction was massive. As a perfectionist, among the takes I had with Luisa I picked the one with a gust of wind that ruffles her hair which, while being more difficult to blend, was the best one because it would underline the motion of the butterfly. My graphic tablet helped a lot with the process. And of course, I had to pull out the same trick I used for Inverted Mirrors Of Decay and Sad Cypress for my own hair. This photo was the reason why I waited not to be busy at all before working on this series, as well as the last one to be finished, but the final result exceeded my highest expectations! It’s particularly rewarding because it allowed me to apply a lot of knowledge I’ve gained through experience, during my whole growth as a photographer. Until some time ago, I would have thought of such an idea as unfaisable, but there it is, directly from my mind.