Dancing with your Ghost

A difficult concept from inspiration to results.

A red balloon. A theatrical draped background with thick throw blankets. Candlesticks, a leather globe, and three old thick books. The set looked like it would work.

The concept didn’t. In fact, I really wasn’t sure that it would work. The idea came while I was listening to James Cordon describing his life philosophy and of life after his U.S. late night talk show ended. He described how he wanted to have that experience of the show but he knew there would always be an end and when that happened, it would be okay. If you can’t let something go “you become a kid with a balloon”.

Maybe this is the meaning behind a famous piece, “Girl with Balloon” by stealth graffiti artist Banksy. I loved the visual description and mixing those two ideas with a painterly style series of images. The model, Ashlyn Miles, became the subject and she sent me a song she thought would work with the concept when she released a post on Instagram. The song was “Dancing with your ghost” by Sasha Sloan.

The song is hauntingly beautiful and the words moved me. I kept playing it when I edited the set to keep me on track. What I had not foreseen was a feeling of loss that emerged in the black and white edits. I had initially imaged it with dominant reds and a softness typical of a painterly style. Here they turned out.

You love the balloon and you hold on to it, you are not going to let it go. It is so perfect and it holds all your attention.

You don’t want to lose it, so you tie it around your wrist. It’s yours wherever you go it and will float along with you faithfully.

But over time, the magic fades, it doesn’t float so high but you keep it tied tight because you know what it was and could be again.

You feel drained and start looking at it differently and all the lightness becomes a weight tugging at your wrist.

Accepting things have changed is wretched and no matter how hard you try and lift it up, it won’t make you feel that way anymore.

Now it ends up being dragged around because it’s still tied to your wrist.

“Rome, by all means Rome”

This was me trying to express some deep experiences and knowing the beauty of letting go but the ghosts seem to hang on. The memories have duality both by making me smile yet knowing the shadows are lingering. I think the beauty lies in the acceptance that life must have light and shadow and they will live together. One literally cannot exist with out the other. You can always be attached to something yet not have it tied to you. You can let it go and know it will always live on somewhere inside. Forever wrapped around your heart.

I must express my gratitude to Ashlyn Miles, the model for playing the part like a method actor. Her expressions really make the images work and to me, I think the images go beyond model photography and have an artistic intent and she made that work.

Thanks for your time and I am going to post another series in a couple weeks that’s causing me to question my style.