Floods

“Through the years we’ve travelled, you and me,
Through the seasons, solar systems.
I’ve never kept such faithful company,
I always knew you’d go the distance.

Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.

You became a colour I could see,
Flashing through each pure emotion.
You became the mark of what it means
To say a prayer with pure devotion.

Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.
Bring your flood to me, my friend, I need you.”

[ Floods – Phildel ]

Floods presented me with a little series of challenges ever since I started conceptualising it. First of all, it’s the third song in the album with a sea-oriented metaphor, which required me to think of all three photos simultaneously so that I could make them different. Second, the concepts for Wild Sea and, to a lesser extent, A Great Wave were a bit up in the air until I could have reliable weather forecasts, so that in turn led me to leave Floods open. Third, my original concept required for Luisa to actually be in the water, which in turn required me to schedule it so that it wouldn’t affect the other photos. And finally, when that became unfeasible (for very real and objectively hindering reasons, unlike someone I may think of), I had to rework the concept around that so it’d still make sense (though it made scheduling easier).

With the sea in Wild Sea representing the inner world and the wave in A Great Wave some anxiety or insecurity to be saved from, the flood in Floods represents the affection and support of a friend which the protagonist is longing for. The new concept thus called for Luisa to reach for the incoming water filling a dry-ish patch of rocks, giving a sense of longing for the titular flooding.

Luckily, by this point I was already sure that the weather would cooperate, the sea be wavy enough for the concept to work, and the light be soft enough to give it a pictorial look without sharp patches of light and strong shades.

There were some challenges in positioning Luisa so that she wouldn’t be too uncomfortable (the operational word being “too”), avoid her scratching herself on the rocks, getting wet from the foam and so on, but in the end we pulled it of and Luisa didn’t complain once, unlike certain so-called “professionals”.

Also of note is that both this and the place where we shot A Great Wave are very public and relatively busy beaches (less so since covid, but there were still people here), so I also had to work around people a little, which fortunately I did without having to murder and then hide anyone in postproduction.

Visually, I used a slightly downward-facing perspective so either the sea or the rocks would fill the entire background. I also deliberately left just a hint of rocks at the very edge on top to give a sense of water flooding an enclosure of sorts, as opposed to open sea. I also gave a strong bluish wash to the highlights and a purplish one to the shadows so that the contrast between the sea and the rocks would be heightened.

On a side note, I’m particularly shady on this post because it offered me a direct contrast to that certain thing that happened three years ago, which affected even the photos that we did manage to take. There were setbacks to work around, there were difficulties and uncomfort to pull through, but we were all committed to the project (me, my model, and even my mother who was there to assist us) so we just did it, and we created yet another artwork we are all proud of!
And for that I’m forever thankful to my team. I can actually look at the lyrics of this song and sing them to Luisa for what she did here to help me restore my confidence in teamwork when the photos put us in less than pristinely smooth situations.

A Great Wave

“The Moon is shifting its shape.
I’m under a great wave.
All the sea bearing down on me,
This is where I would stay to breathe.

But your love,
But your love took me out of the water.
But your love, love,
But your love took me out of the water.

Though my veins show through,
Don’t let your blood give up.
There’s more to touching you,
There’s more to this than love.

But your love,
But your love took me out of the water.
But your love, love,
But your love took me out of the water.

Diving deep to the south bed,
Where the light gives up
All the pearls of the dead,
Were they worth more than us?

But your love,
But your love took me out of the water.
But your love, love,
But your love took me out of the water.”

[ A Great Wave – Phildel ]

First of all, a disclaimer: we now live in an age in which cultural sensitivity is finally becoming a thing. At long last, traditionally imperialistic white nations, especially Europeans and white Americans, are being brought to reckoning in regards to the imperialistic exploitation of other cultures (past and, unfortunately, present), and discussing cultural appropriation is an integral and pivotal part of this discourse.

In this context, I wish to clarify that the use of a cheongsam and a youzhisan in the styling of this photo is not meant as orientalistic or appropriative, but as a homage to Phildel’s ancestry, which is partly Chinese. We have a great deal of admiration for Phildel as an artist and as a person, as well as great respect for the Chinese culture that has contributed shaping Phildel’s musical identity and also our collective human heritage, and that’s what was in our minds when we styled this photo. I sincerely do hope we managed to include Chinese aesthetics into our work in a tasteful enough way that our intent has come across clearly.

 

That said, A Great Wave was another of the photos that put me in a bit of a pickle when it came to weather: summers in Alghero tend to have little wind, so we had to exploit that stroke-of-luck “bad” weather day to take this photo.

Conceptually, this is the second of the marine-themed songs, but it differentiates from Wild Sea in that the water, here, is a metaphor for something that’s outside of the protagonist’s inner world and, at that, even overwhelming, while the love of the listener shields them from harm. This is why it was the perfect photo to use the youzhisan, or oil-paper umbrella, as a shield between Luisa and the wave, a visual metaphor for the shielding love in the lyrics.

Aesthetically, I decided to draw a bridge between East Asian aesthetics and a touch of Italian Renaissance, with a big nod to Sandro Botticelli’s Birth of Venus: I chose that location specifically because having someone modelling on top of that pillar would give the work a solemn, mythological, almost sculptural feel.

As for the photo itself, a good magician does not reveal their best trick, but it did take some work an effort to turn out the way it did. I’ll just leave it at that.

Once again, I’d like to reiterate that this work is not meant to be disrespectful, and I hope I did not step onto anybody’s sensitivities. On the contrary, I would like to take this opportunity to express my solidarity to the Chinese and Asian communities who have been facing violence and discrimination across many Western countries, including Italy, especially since the pandemic was misblamed on them. We collectively need to do better so that we can shape a future in which each of our individual cultures becomes part of humanity’s common heritage.

Glide Dog

“Heartbeats racing through my deep sleep,
Heavy as I go.
Skin don’t mean a thing,
Your skin don’t mean a thing, no.

I need more blood than you can pour, love,
More blood than you can pour, love.
I need more pain to remember your name,
More pain to remember your name.

Sharp teeth underneath my coat,
I’m hungry as it goes.
Shark teeth buried in your throat,
We keep it close.

‘Cause I need more blood than you can pour, love,
More blood than you can pour, love.
I need more pain to remember your name,
More pain to remember your name.
Yeah, I’m gonna need real hurt to give this real worth,
Real hurt to give this real worth.
I’m gonna need more blood than you can pour, love,
More blood than you can pour, love.

Cold to describe, I’m dripping in ice
When I glide dog,
Glide dog.

‘Cause I need more blood than you can pour, love,
More blood than you can pour, love.
I need more pain to remember your name,
More pain to remember your name.
Yeah, I’m gonna need real hurt to give this real worth,
Real hurt to give this real worth.
I’m gonna need more blood than you can pour, love,
More blood than you can pour, love.”

[ Glide Dog – Phildel ]

I honestly have no clue what the title of this song even means. Seriously, I’m in the dark. The lyrics, however, are very rich in imagery, and the melody and arrangement have a very distinct sensual undertone which I thought would be a perfect stepping stone for the photo.

 

Given her upbringing, Phildel is no stranger to violent imagery in her lyrics – I mean, look at The Wolf. This time, however, the song felt distinctly intimate and that’s the vibe I wanted my photo to have as well. One of my inspirations was Princess Margaret’s infamous 1959 birthday portrait (and also this later one from 1967) by Tony Armstrong Jones, the one with the dress pulled down so low it almost looks like a nude.

 

So fake nude from the shoulder up it is to conjure the sensuality of the song, and fake blood to evoke the violent imagery. As my theatrical blood is chilling in Trieste (and also running out), I had to make do with homemade one, for which I used blueberry juice as a dye and potato starch as a coagulant (though I might have to revise the formula).

A funny detail, I had my mother pour the “blood” on Luisa’s hand as I shot. The first few attempts didn’t have nearly enough of it to look good, so I kept saying I needed more and damn, did it all sound like the song lyrics in a genuine case of life imitating art (but for art’s sake)!

 

The real reason I went the sensual route with this song, unlike Electric Heights, was that I could easily pull it off with only Luisa modelling for it. I am demanding when I take photos, but I always prioritise my models’ comfort and boundaries, including my own, so I specifically devised this photo in a way that would not feel awkward for either of us.

It’s a lesson I think we all need to remember as artists: a work is always a collaborative effort, so we need to take everyone’s sensibilities into account. It’s a small sacrifice to pay, for when everybody’s at their ease the works produced become even better.

Emblem

“We’ve got the real thing,
Not the emblem,
Not the emblem.
I said those words, yeah,
And I meant them,
I meant them, ooh.

Give me the real thing,
Give me the real thing,
Not the emblem, ooh.
Empty envelopes when,
Empty envelopes when
I send them, ooh.

Keep your promises
And defend them,
Defend them.
Words and choruses,
You transcend them,
Transcend them, ooh.

Keep your diamond rings,
I don’t want anything.
Save your words and cards,
Don’t need paper hearts.

I said, I said
We’ve got the real thing,
We’ve got the real thing,
Not the emblem,
Not the emblem.
We’ve got the real thing,
We’ve got the real thing,
Not the emblem,
Not the emblem.”

[ Emblem – Phildel ]

Emblem is one of those songs that warranted a less-is-more approach: I decided to focus on the keyword in the title and one verse in particular – the second about defending one’s promises – to build the image around. I know in this context the “emblem” was probably meant as the pictorial representation of something as opposed to the actual object (i.e.: love), but I deviated from that to take into account the “coat of arms” meaning of the word and turn it into a shield of sort to evoke the idea of defending one’s promise. As a metaphorical shield I used my mother’s Russian enamel trays, which are very pictorial in decor, and also put one as a halo for good measure, because really, why not?

To contrast with the black trays and Luisa’s matching dark clothing I opted for a light background which ended up feeling a little empty, so I texturised with some old photos of white buildings in Trieste I had taken as backgrounds for a cosplay commission. I chose a part of Trieste’s city hall which was damaged by shells shot by the retreating nazi troops to symbolise that the conflict in the song is coming to an end and the main character is victorious and has saved what she was rooting for.

And yes, that’s pretty much the concept: I took some liberties but aimed again at strong visuals to make up for that.

Wild Sea

“Only I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you leave me.

Speeding down a silent shore,
Something tells me I’ve been here before.
By heart, I know this dark.

Shapes turn to black,
I’d give you back.

Only I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.
I know that I’m hard work,
You know I’ve been so hurt:
Love me like you do.
Yeah, I know you’re easy-going
Just to please me:
Love me like you do.
You know I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.

Speeding down a silent shore,
Something tells me we’ve been here before.
Where we’re going I don’t wanna see,
Everyday you slip away from me.

I’d give you back,
I’d give you that.

Only I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.
I know that I’m hard work,
You know I’ve been so hurt:
Love me like you do.
Yeah, I know you’re easy-going
Just to please me:
Love me like you do.
You know I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.

You are my emblem of gold.
You won’t remember you told me.
You have a right not to know
How good it feels when you hold me.

Ships turning back,
They know I’m a wild sea.
I’ll be lonely till you leave me.

Only I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.
I know that I’m hard work,
You know I’ve been so hurt:
Love me like you do.
Yeah, I know you’re easy-going
Just to please me:
Love me like you do.
You know I’m a wild sea,
Lonely till you hold me:
Love me like you do.”

[ Wild Sea – Phildel ]

Wild Sea is my favourite song from Wave Your Flags. It’s got some fierce competition, but I don’t know, something about it just clicked with me. And as it’s often the case, my favourite song from an album turns out to be the most difficult to adapt into a photo because I tend to raise my expectations about it.

In this case, though, there was a further problem: I imagined this photo with a murky sky, wavy sea and diffuse light, which aren’t exactly easy to come by in Sardinian summer. I kept the concept as vague and open as possible until basically a few days before Luisa’s arrival, all the while keeping a close eye on weather forecast to see if we’d get a chance to work with clouds. Turns out we did get a chance on the second day, which we promptly seized to also take Electric Heights and another one, so I could just go with my original concept without having to bend it out of shape.

A further challenge was Phildel writing three songs with marine metaphors, which meant I had to get creative to make each one different and individual enough. With this one, I decided to put emphasis on “I’m the wild sea” – i.e. the sea as a metaphor of the protagonist’s inner state: I gave Luisa the central spot in the photo, but also let the sea be prominent all around her. I also styled her with that blue lace dress to further emphasise the connection with the sea, and took advantage of any gust of wind that would shake her hair to make it all look more “wild” until I got the shot I wanted.

That’s basically it, I just run with the same metaphor as the lyrics, only making it visual. It’s also noteworthy that Luisa is modelling in the same location where someone else who shall not be named modelled when they came to Sardinia, except Luisa’s level of commitment to our projects and, thus, the final results were on a completely different level. Really, after getting burned so badly last time I was genuinely nervous about that, which is why I decided to exorcise it by shooting in the same location.

Lamb

“Oh my precious lamb, I hear you calling
And offer up my hands to you in healing.
Let my voice resound where your hurts are deepest,
Let my voice resound when yours is weakest.

Fold into my arms, it’s enough.
Fold into my arms, you are loved,
You are loved,
You are loved.

Oh my precious lamb, I hear you crying,
And time will take its time to deliver meaning.
Buried by their lies, but you’re gonna be alright.
Silenced by their words, but you’re gonna be heard.

Fold into my arms, it’s enough.
Fold into my arms, you are loved,
You are loved,
You are loved,
You are loved.

For all those years they put you down,
For all those years without your crown.

Fold into my arms, it’s enough.
Fold into my arms, you are loved,
You are loved,
You are loved,
You are loved.”

[ Lamb – Phildel ]

The fifth photo in the Wave Your Flags series is Lamb, and was one of the easiest to turn from music to image: the idea of a lamb has some sacred connotations and made me immediately think of Baroque paintings, especially Caravaggio, which was the aesthetic I decided to pursue.

In this scenario, Luisa is not the person who’s speaking, but the “lamb”, the one the song is addressed to. This photo could have worked well with two models, but I wanted to reduce as much as possible my involvement in front of the camera, so I decided to imply a metaphysical comforting presence in the form of ray of lights that Luisa is turning towards. I had this colour filter in mind all along so the dramatic but not too sharp lighting would be emphasised, also giving an overall “old canvas” feel to the image. This was also to play to Luisa’s strengths: her features make her just perfect for this kind of classical painting tributes!

To be completely honest, I had forgotten the line in the bridge that talks about a crown: I just decided to include a radial halo because I’d never pass on the chance to put one into a photo! – it just happened to perfectly align with the lyrics too. If we think that the “lamb” is already healing, then she’s already got her crown back.

There was a little miscommunication in regards to the styling between me and Luisa: I thought of a floral garment which was actually a winter coat (totally unviable in the blistering Sardinian summer), while she thought I meant this beautiful flowy dress. In hindsight, this one works better not only because the white and soft fabric gives an immediate association with a lamb, but also because it recalls later Rococo paintings with the pastoral aesthetics popularised by Marie Antoinette, our very first cottagecore queen.

I’m very satisfied with this photo. I think I managed to exploit some visual associations to convey the general mood and meaning of the song. And even putting aside the project, I just love everything about this work.

Oh Love

“Oh love, believe me,
Nothing ever comes to us easy,
The rivers never run up to meet me,
Gotta find your own way down.
And in this cruel storm,
Love, you got my back like a fog horn.
Anything I lack can be reborn
Anytime you come around.

But where do you turn to,
Wandering the streets that have spurned you?
Love, it’s just that nobody’s earned you,
But I will never let you down.

Oh love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

And if you need more,
Just hold out yours hands ‘cause it’s all yours,
Boy, I’d break the dam to be your source
And I’d never let you drown.
But hey, believe me,
Nothing’s worth the love that comes cheaply.
Hold it back or give it up freely
And it will never let you down.

Oh love!
Oh love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

The first to fall against the grain
Must bear the weight and bear the strain
Of everything, that it brings.
And every queen and every king
Looks to the sky when there’s nothing to do –

But you, love, running down my skin like it’s too much,
Never cried about a thing until now but us, us.
Oh love, where do I begin with my hard luck?
The walls are closing in but my head’s up, up, up.

Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh.
Oh love, oh love, oh love, oh.”

[ Oh Love – Phildel ]

Oh Love was another song that gave me a tough time figuring out. I like it a lot, but imagery-wise is kind of all over the place. As a suggestion, Luisa showed me an illustration of a couple on a boat, which is a classic scenario, and I decided to give it my own spin with a boat on a dried field that lies just beneath the fortified walls of Alghero. After all, the song is about a love that takes some effort to work, and what better way to show it than a boat all run aground, but with its “sailors” still stubbornly pointing and looking at the light ahead? Well, okay, the “pointing out” part was more of a spur-of-the-moment thing, in truth I was directing Luisa’s modelling when the shutter closed, but I ended up liking it and using it as the actual pose.

Even with Luisa’s assist and my knowledge of the city smoothing the conceptualisation out, this photo was still kind of stressing me out because we saved it for the last day, I had to rely on my mother’s assistance a lot, and due to time constraints I had to make do with a very strong, direct light. I was nervous because we basically only had that one shot at it and so many things could work against us. In hindsight, I think the strong light helped bring the scene to life, give depth to the background and give the photo a more hopeful, bright mood. In a way, I think Luisa’s and my being tired from all the other shoots but still determined to get things done and get them right somehow bled through into the photo and actually helped us portray the song at its best: we’re this close to letting go, but this thing is so important to us that no, we won’t give it up. That’s the beautiful concept that Phildel shared with her song, and I sincerely hope we made it justice in our photo.

Wave Your Flags

“What do I do? What do I do
Here in the darkness with you, with you?

Sit me down, hold me back before we crash.
Give it up, skin and blood, this is love.
Carry me, lock to key, lightning speed.
Halfway back, wave, wave your flags.

‘Cause it’s speeding up.
Sacrifice yourself for love.
Weightless as the Moon,
I can’t stop this taking off too soon.

What do I do? What do I do
Here in the darkness with you, with you?

Sit me down, hold me back before we crash.
Give it up, skin and blood, this is love.
Carry me, lock to key, lightning speed.
Halfway back, wave, wave your flags.

Have you hid enough,
Camouflaged yourself from love?
Hard to make it stop,
Hard to slow what’s speeding up.

What do I do? What do I do
Here in the darkness with you, with you?

Sit me down, hold me back before we crash.
Give it up, skin and blood, this is love.
Carry me, lock to key, lightning speed.
Halfway back, wave, wave your flags, ah,
Wave your flags, ah,
Wave your flags,
Wave your flags.”

[ Wave Your Flags – Phildel ]

Here we are at the title track of the album, and third photo from the series.

Wave Your Flags is perhaps the photo that was most transformed, in my head, by the decision of taking the series from Trieste to Alghero, due to not having my studio lights and wooden floor. Also, I now realise that I envisioned my original idea as a moving image, the subjects sitting still back-to-back under the “flag” and a cone of light, while the PoV revolves around them, which I don’t know how well would have translated to a still image. Also, while the old idea was more sombre and dark and matched the general tone of the lyrics, in hindsight I prefer the more light, optimistic approach that the titular flag-waving gives off.

One thing I decided to apply to the project in general, and this photo in particular, was to streamline the concepts: rather than trying to include as many images and metaphors from the lyrics as I could, I just decided to give a general impression of them according to the general theme, overall mood of the song, and often the title itself. I like layering the symbolism in my images, but on the one hand sometimes less is more, and on the other I’ve learned to plan according to contingency: I had to squeeze about fifteen photoshoots into a narrow timeframe, each had to be as quick and effortless as possible.

And thus, here is Luisa literally waving her flag in the breeze. Simple, hopefully effective, with a stylish outfit to enhance the general aesthetics and minimal but concrete background to ground the photo in reality.

On a side note, we’re publishing the photos in the same order as a tracklist, and we started last Friday, with Saturday as a gap to allow Luisa to travel back home without having to mind social media. Also, Luisa’s scarf, which we used as the titular flag, just so happened to be blue. And last but not least, Luisa is very, very passionate about football.

This coincidence made it so the photo of Luisa waving her blue flag was released just today, in the wake of Italy’s national team winning the Euro 2020 cup. It has now doubled as a celebration for Luisa and seriously, there could be no amount of foresight that could have made it all click as smoothly as it did!