Shot of the Month
Kindra Nikole draws on musical inspiration to evoke a dreamlike vision of a goddess
Kindra Nikole draws on music inspiration to evoke a dreamlike vision of a goddess
The idea for this image first came to me while listening to Dead Can Dance’s 2012 album Anastasis. The track ‘Return of the She-King’ (which I named this piece after) evoked a vision of a goddess gliding across an ethereal plane, and has stuck with me ever since. It evolved into this image – an astral goddess, empowered, bold and decidedly feminine, with a ring of flowers orbiting her as she steps into the future.
I captured the shot in the Pacific Northwest during low tide and sunset – I’d planned out the day and timing of the shoot using local tide charts. My
aim was to get a glassy, mirrorlike surface for the setting. I’d also foraged for local flowers the day of the shoot alongside my friend and assistant for the day, Kari-Lise Alexander. It’s important to me to capture as much in-camera as possible, especially for ethereal concepts. The model, Anjelika Frye, is a friend of mine, and is an absolute dream to work with. She embodied the vision of this goddess who’d been living in my head for six long years so beautifully.
I shot this using my new Sony A7R III, plus a lens adapter that allows me to use my one and only lens: a Nikkor 50mm f/1.2, which I love for the crispness and creaminess it provides. I expanded the image by shooting not only the model but also the environment surrounding her.
I then stitched all of the photos
I’d shot together in Photoshop, creating one massive image.
My hope is that people will feel both rooted in our world and as though they’re dipping their toes in some other world, some in-between place, when they look at my work.
This idea is how I came to the title of my recently exhibited body of work, from which this image comes: The Liminal.