The same location as the Songs of Distant Earth shoot and with the same model, but a different occasion, different layout, different feel. This doesn't bear directly on the plot of the eponymous story, but rather aiming to capture the feeling. She's dressed vintage, wearing an RAF pilot's jacket. There were some outtakes involving mirror shades, which do look rather captivating thanks to the reflections of the polka dot umbrella, but ultimately you lose the human element so i decided to go with this version instead, where the eyes are much more expressive. The limited colour palette, the polka dots and general 50s style combined with a tense and perhaps melancholy mood combine to evoke some of the apocalyptic fear crossed with nostalgic longing that permeated the 1950s scifi scene, underneath the thin veil of technology worship. Here the fact she's not looking at the dish is significant. Obviously the umbrella is intended to mimic the shape of the dish, and in a way parody it. The hub of the spokes provides a balance to the image that's intended to catch the eye, lead it down the pole, and bring it back towards the base of the dish from where we return to our initial entry point into the image, being set loose in the sky and naturally being drawn towards the model's eyes.
It's actually possible to get very close to the radio telescope in the background, but the shot becomes less balanced as we look up at the model more, and after a while the dish starts to lose feeling in exchange for the drama of getting close up, so in the end i settled for a shot from further away.
This was also the only half hour of the day when it DIDN'T rain, although i was desperately hoping at the time it would for the sake of the shot.
Outtake:
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Interesting combination of a literal interpretation of the title and a suggestion of the story line with the background and her expression. Voted earlier.
Nailed it - I believe. Looks like a still from a sci-fi movie. Excellently done. Though, I think you could have brought up the hilights some, just to get rid of more of the blue sky and bring up her skin tones a bit more. But that's just a guess. Very nice, especially for basic.
I think I would have also leaned toward not using a patterned umbrella... but I'm glad you didn't. The pattern draws the eye upward into her face.
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