As many of you have guessed, the shot I was staging with this doll in this alpine pool of water, was Ophelia, by John Everett Millais!
This artist and this painting have always influenced my own work, with elements of it occasionally sneaking into my dolls and photos. Perhaps you’ve picked up on it in my nature shots.
I’ve been wanting to create my own Ophelia for a long time, and then while on a hike about a year ago, I saw this perfect little shallow pool in a marsh not far from the trail, and knew right away that one day I would immerse a doll into that clear water, and make my own Ophelia.
The setting was so perfect, it was dreamy! There was just the right type of sloping bank and vegetation going right up to and into the water; the scale of the setting to the doll was correct, and so was the depth of the marsh.
All the conditions I was seeking, were met in this one beautiful little spot, and finding it helped me create my own Ophelia. Do you think I succeeded in capturing the aesthetic of the painting, and which picture do you think captures it better 1 or 2?
Ophelia by John Everett Millais (1851–52)