Electric Heights

“Electric heights,
I’m a dizzy spell away from getting close to you.
I was alive
With the things I never really thought that you could do.
Can’t compromise:
When I think about the chance, I had to make it work.
I wanna die
From the ways I never really thought that it would hurt.

But now I’m begging you for something
That I thought I’d never want.
Tears me to the ground,
This is the apex of your hunt.

I prayed I’d have something that you’d still need,
I’d have something that you’d still want,
But now, finding you gone, I see
I was alive.

I was alive
But there were too many flags on the sand,
Too many eyes,
I never really thought that you would be my man.
Electric heights,
I’m a dizzy spell away from getting close to you.
I wanna die
From the things I never really thought that you could do.

Sight before sound, and I’m left there, oh.
Sight before sound, and I’m left there, oh,
Begging you, needing to,
Begging you, needing to…

I prayed I’d have something that you’d still need,
I’d have something that you’d still want,
Oh, now finding you gone, I see
I was alive.”

[ Electric Heights – Phildel ]

In my entry for Storm Song, the second photo from the other project, I wrote that it was quite a quick concept to come up with. Well, nothing like the second song from this album, Electric Heights, which was a much tougher one to crack. I perceive the song as quite sexual and intimate in nature, in a way that I didn’t think would work well with only one model, and that I wouldn’t be comfortable acting in a supporting capacity. As a result, this was one of the two photos I hadn’t written down by the time I sent the final notes to Luisa, so she was the one to come up with concept instead. She suggested a quite literal interpretation of the title, with herself atop a height of some sort and lightning in the sky. By this point, weather forecasts were already precise enough to consistently signal clouds on at least one day while she was here, so it was a viable concept and I decided to go with it.

While pondering possible locations, I immediately thought of this modern-looking stairway which I’ve been wanting to use in some photo for a long time: I thought it’s fit well with the posh, synthpop-ish sound of the song. On a side note, the top of it is the place where I shot both works of my Wandering Stars project, as around sunset or late afternoon it has a perfectly and mostly unobstructed back light that’s easy to work with; I’ve also shot another photo from this project there.

The photo is actually a composite because I thought the lights on the sides of the stairs would look cool and add to the concept but, of course, were switched off during the day. I thus went back and shot them separately at night from the same perspective, and then overimposed them on the original image. As I imagined, the final effect loos quite cool. I also drew the lightnings with my tablet because we don’t have many thunderstorms here, so what was I to do about it?

As for the styling, Luisa’s beautiful Trussardi dress with shiny diamond prints was the natural choice to further evoke something sparkly and electric.

So here it is, Electric Heights. It wasn’t an easy concept to pull off and I tried to make up for that with strong visuals. I hope you enjoy it!