Thank you all for your votes and great comments - if my shot can be mistaken for a Leo's or Christophe's shot, well, I'm really honoured!
For the first time I entered a shot in the free study with a real hope to be able to win.
I had been thinking of this shot for 1 year. In the summer of 2010 I made a shot in a nice location, something like a pier, and there I thought - Why not placing here someone dressed like the grim reaper? My idea was to shoot it at dawn when no one was there and the light was better. So I got in touch with a friend of mine and asked him if he wanted to be that character. He enthusiastically accepted.
But we had the problem about the dress. My friend Riccardo (the grim reaper) told me that he could get it since a girl he knew wanted to sew it for him.
So the dress was ok and we used it in May to shoot this videoclip (the singer was another guy, Giuliano) that I directed:
//www.youtube.com/watch?v=XJee8o1qlbQ
In the meantime I changed my mind about the place where I wanted to shoot the photo and I didn't want the grim reaper alone: the scene musn't be empty - I wanted something that hit the viewer - I wanted something like a crowd scene. Many movies came to mind to inspire me. I had never seen the army of the undead coming from the water at dawn. The idea impressed me very much.
At the beginning I wanted a real crowd, dozens of people, but I knew it was almost impossible to get it. But I was confident about having at least 10-12 persons, and I've been lucky because it was the perfect number.
Then the first thing that came to my mind was that I had to search for a stunning location, but the rocky beaches are at 60-70 kms from here. No problems about going there, but I knew that it would be hard to carry many people there at dawn.
So I decided that I needed a completely empty one. In my town there are sand beaches but there are also rocky barriers at 50 metres from the coast so I was sure they could spoil the silhouettes, so I chose this other beach at 15 kms from here. This is a beautiful place with an ancient tower used for scientific research... maybe one day I'll use it in a photo :)
And now the biggest problem: people. I knew I have very smart friends, but it wasn't easy to convince them to awake at 4 a.m. in the morning - the gathering was at 5 a.m. under my house. I created an event on Facebook, but I knew it was hard even if some people knew very well and appreciated my photos.
That's why I have to thank Edmondo (he brought 3 people - Ivan, Francesco and Alessia - thank you guys!), Marco (he brought the sickle), my nephew and Giulia, his girlfriend. Mariangela, she's the singer in my metal band Absently. Srecko - no one would say he is a well respected University professor in Croatia. Riccardo - the grim reaper and the one who never refuses a proposal concerning arts. Last but not least my beatiful wife, Loredana - she hates to wake up early in the morning but she did it for me... that's why I love her!
About the shot: the idea was perfectly clear in my mind and I needed very few shots (my letter 'C' entry was just a try before the real shot - Yo_Spiff you were extremely right and you made me laugh a lot with your comment here!). We stayed there until sunrise but the images with the sun, even if they were good, aren't at the same level of this one.
In the end I was very satisfied and we went to have breakfast all together (it was my round to offer a breakfast!). The best part of the story IMHO is that they enjoyed very much their time and asked me for a next time.
Well, I'm a lucky guy!
P.s: with this challenge I almost reached all my goals for 2011 here on DPC!
Statistics
Place: 1 out of 324 Avg (all users): 7.4444 Avg (commenters): 8.6667 Avg (participants): 7.4404 Avg (non-participants): 7.4545 Views since voting: 6529 Views during voting: 296 Votes: 153 Comments: 65 Favorites: 25 (view)
creative talent and friends that appreciate it- WOW!
More often than not, my creative challenges involve me being alone -- so it is so amazing to see that your friends went for this. Congrats! =)
Really well done Alex. I love the story behind the photo. Helps to appreciate the effort that goes into making a shot like this. Winning a FS is incredibly difficult! There are so many good things about the image,it deserved to win for sure!
I'm very happy to see that a photo with a creative concept and a story actually won this one :-) Congratulations! Great idea, great execution, absolutely deserved ribbon.
Fabulous concept image, shot, pose, lighting. I can't wax lyrical about what I think you were trying to (or did) achieve. Walking dead? New arrivals in hell? The image will spark many of those. I like it with out having to decipher it.
Should be front page.
Oh wow! How in the world did you convince so many to pose for you as zombies? :)
Very very nice. Could actually be a movie poster! Wonderful lighting, minimalistic setting and fabulous silhouettes. Love it!
Is this that art display where statues of people stand in the water or did you set all of this up? Either way, this is fantastically photographed in every single way. The reaper adds drama, the silhouettes add drama, the lighting adds drama. Just everything is perfect in my opinion. A 10 and a fav from me. I hope you do well!
Dawn of the dead
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