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Following the test shoot I did ( read the blog post here) it was time to try and create the images I actaully wanted to create the images I had in my head.

 I had to think about what i wanted the models to wear from dresses to accessories. This was important as every detial i put into the set brings with it its own symbolism and its own connotations.

I wanted the dresses to be relatively modest. Both women are tied to sexual acts; for Lilith she was branded a seductress; Medusa, in Ovid's Metamorphoses, he describes Medusa as a beautiful mortal women, Posiedon saw her and desired her and so he had her in Athena's temple. She is then cursed by Athena, her beauty taken, her hair turned to snakes and given a fatal gaze. I wanted my representation of the characters to own these sexualised versions of themselves in respone to the male gaze. The male gaze is the way women are presented; through a straight males perpective, often hypersexualised. There are many ways you can responed to this including approaching it from the opposite angle and having women essentially covered up and stripping them of anything remotely provocative. For my images I really wanted a 'look if you dare' sort of attitude, I felt like this would tie in extremely well with Medusa, as looking at her provides immediate consequences. I love the idea of women owning their sexuality, a statement of this is my body and I'm choosing how you see it.

For the colour of the dresses, I had Lilith in Black as this symbolises power and strength as well as authority. Lilith had shown her power by leaving the garden of Edan after refusing to submit to her husband.

For Medusa I decided to go with a green dress. This is because the snakes that replaced her hair were said to be green. As i went with a Gold snake headpiece, I thought I'd incorporate that association through her clothing instead.

When it came to choosing props and accessories, i wanted them to be relevant to the characters. Medusa was the easist to put together. As she is a Gorgon withsnakes for hair, I felt that snakes would be the most appropriate thing to dress her with. I wanted quite elegant pieces, but i also chose a clunkier bracelet that is more like something that would have been worn in Ancient Greece. Her headpiece, when it arrived was a dull, brown colour.I had wanted a gold colour as this is often associated with divinity and power. Monsters within greek mythology, were also seen as some sort of devine power, having been born by the Gods and being more powerful than mortals. I could argue that green would be more relavent as its symbollic of rebirth, and in Ovid's Metamorphoses, she was reborn from woman to Gorgan, but I wanted her snakes to show this devine sort of energy as they are a source of power for her.

For this shoot, we went out into the woods from 7.30pm to 9.30 pm. I wanted to go around sunset time to create some dramatic lighting. Looking back however, I think I may have gone out a little too late as most of the scenery disappears into the dark of the night which is a shame. I really liked the idea of staging within the images, I wanted it almost to be set up as studio in the woods and I feel I achieved this, especially within the image on the right. I wanted it this way as whilst I am looking at mythological women, they represent the very real strugle of women within a patriarchal society and so this provides a disconnect to the fantasy aspects and brings you more into the reality of the situation.