The Tragedies of Shade and Shadow
from concept to realisation
The Tragedies of Shade and Shadow is a series of photographs depicting the personification of Shade and Shadow (the Greek Goddess of Night, Nyx’s horses). This project was a concept collaboration between myself and a friend, and we then invited a passionate photographer to help out with the photoshoot.
Shade and Shadow were created as the bringers of death who have a directly contrasting relationship with one another.
Development of a concept
Character creation
We started out with the basic idea of our own characters. I would portray Shade (the open-chested one), who personifies the quiet submission one feels when death swoops in and takes a life. It is the knowledge that death is ultimate and cannot be avoided, therefore it shouldn’t be. Shadow (the handsome, horned devil) was portrayed by my friend, Elizabeth, and is the personification of the raging obsession with death, the desire to experience it, to bring others to the depths of it, slowly tempting them to join it.
Each of us had worked out character sketches (sadly no longer with us) to visualise this, and came up with a Japanese-inspired look on the Greek mythology-inspired characters. We then headed over to a nearby Japanese thrift store to source our costumes. We found a matching set of yukata, which is a traditional Japanese summer-wear usually worn casually or to summer festivals. We then found accessories to compliment the yukata, but distinctive enough to set us apart. For example, my obi (sash around the waist) was chosen to be a plain gold one due to the simplicity of my yukata as compared to the one my friend wore, which had a more complicated design, and therefore needed an ornately-decorated gold obi to match.
We thought of how to further connect our two characters as two parts of a whole and decided to make the characters to have heterochromia (having two different eye colours), sharing a golden eye on opposite sides. We achived this by ordering three different pairs of contact lenses, one red, one blue and one gold. We then each wore one gold contact in one eye, and another colour in the other eye (Shade has one blue eye, symbolising sadness and hopelessness; Shadow has one red eye, symbolising rage and malice).
Our sketches had also included claw-like hands and a headpiece for which we had to make ourselves. The claws were created just from paper and were painted black with silver and gold distressing over it. Shadow’s horns were made quite simply following HeyPatch’s tutorial on YouTube. The final look was tweaked a bit to create an elongated look, making the character feel more dramatised.
Photoshoot and pose references
After collecting our materials and creating our props, we went on the hunt for a photographer who could fulfil our aesthetic needs. Throughout my cosplay years, I had collected a good amount of photographers in my network. I eventually contacted one who I knew would be interested to photograph something more conceptual rather than “cosplay-like” and unsurprisingly, she agreed! Clarah was an exceptional choice for this particular project, as the chemistry we shared was indisputable.
However, before we commenced with the shooting session, we had to make sure that everyone was on the same page regarding the look and feel we (Elizabeth and myself) wanted to achieve. We compiled a reference document for specific poses to be captured during the shoot and sent it to Clarah a week before the due date. Each panel reflected a concept feel that we wanted to capture, but these were ultimately references only and were not intended to be followed strictly. We allowed and encouraged Clarah to get creative with her shots.
Booking a studio
After securing our photographer, my next step was to look for a suitable studio to carry out the photoshoot. I was in between two studios, but in the end after consulting with Elizabeth, I decided to go with Studio14’s Japanese Garden with Spider Lily themed studio space. We thoroughly enjoyed the look of the space through the images posted on Facebook, and were especially excited when we saw that they had added (faux hand-made) spider lilies to the mix. Sadly, as the studio no longer hosts this theme, the studio is only immortalised in the few photoshoots taken there. Do not fret though, if any of you are interested in booking themed studios, Studio14 constantly updates the themes which they operate, and you can take a look at what their current offers are over on their Facebook page.
Kong, the owner and caretaker of this beautiful studio was very accommodating and helpful during the booking process, answering our relentless questioning about the themes, striking up friendly conversation and showing genuine interest in our shoot. We had booked the Japanese Garden for 2 hours, which cost RM160 altogether. Not bad considering we were booking a themed studio, while also receiving another hour free-of-charge (I told you Kong was accommodating)!
Production day
The photoshoot day came, and we all got ready for our big shoot. Elizabeth and I prepared our makeup and costumes to be brought to the studio; Clarah and her photography assistant (and hubby!) packed extra batteries and lighting equipment. Everyone was excited and couldn’t wait to get to the studio. We reached and put on our makeup and costumes, and so it commenced.
All I can say is that the photoshoot session was a wild success! The references we prepared beforehand was used multiple times throughout the shoot. Clarah, as an experienced photographer knew how and when to direct us to achieve the look we wanted, it was an all round blast! We concluded the shoot sweaty and tired, but with big smiles plastered all over our faces. Our successful shoot yielded many potential new profile pictures, but also gave me a few ideas on the storytelling aspect of it all.
Post-production
Photo-retouching
One condition I had in looking for a photographer was that I wanted full control of the editing phase. This was just so that Elizabeth and myself would be able to set our own tone of voice for the overall outcome. While most photographers usually like to edit their own photos and do not share raws (photos fresh from the camera, unedited), Clarah was not one of them. She was completely happy just taking the photos and leaving the photo editing to us. This was also the reason I was able to receive all the raws right after the shoot. I brought my pen drive and she transferred it all then and there. As you can see, we took a lot of photographs that day.
First, I went through each and every photo, pinpointing the photographs I liked and filtering out the rest. I made this easier on myself by adding tags to the photos– blue for individual photos of Shade (my character), red for individual photos of Shadow (Elizabeth’s character), and yellow for photos of both characters.
After that was done, I then ported these raws over to Photoshop and worked some magic. Most of my working methods were similar across all photographs, so I will demonstrate the process using this photo:
I started with the colour balance of the photographs. As the characters were representations of death, the warm glow of the scene would be a confusing choice. I chose to make everything bluish and cold, like the chilling embrace that death brings.
A quick disclaimer before the next section, I normally do not over-edit the shape of my face as I usually don’t mind the original look of my face. Sure, I could do with a smaller nose and wider set eyes, but this is the face I was born with and I will embrace it. However, as these characters are ideal personifications of a character, I gave myself the liberty to use the ‘liquify’ tool in Photoshop to achieve the look of the character. You can see that I made the nose bridge and jawline slimmer, added larger eyebags and fixed the shape of my wonky lipstick. I also made the shoulders sharper, giving it a more bony look.
Here, all the groundwork has been laid out and I proceeded to putting in the final touches. This included skin smoothing, creating more contrast in the makeup and facial features (darkening eyeliners, eyeshadows, etc.), and brightening the irises. For this, I used the ‘dodge’ and ‘burn’ tool, lightening the highlights and darkening the the shadows. The result is a piercing look that stares into your soul.
After adding a little quote, here is the original photo next to the final outcome. The outcome looks like a drastic change, but this just goes to show that a little goes a long way and if you work smart, you can bend anything to your will (within reason, of course)!
Needless to say, I loved the result of this photo and proceeded to work on the other raws. After editing a few, I suddenly realised: “Hey, I can make a story out of this.”
Story within an image
Solace in Beauty– Shade’s memoir
“What beauty, what beauty is there?
Only the red lily, only the red lily is beauty.
What solace, what solace is there?
Only death, only death is solace.”
Shade is the personification of submission to death, the knowledge that death is ultimate and superior, therefore the story emerged as a poem, written as Shade’s memoir, glorifying the beauty in death.
What beauty, what beauty is there?
Only the red lily, only the red lily is beauty.
When asking what beauty exists within the world, Shade says that only the red lily is beauty. The red lily in this case refers to the red spider lily flower, found in many traditional Japanese depictions. According to Shinto-Buddhism, the spider lily is said to guide the spirits of the dead through samsara (the cycle of rebirth), and is therefore a symbolism for death itself.
What solace, what solace is there?
Only death, only death is solace.
Solace is the feeling of comfort and consolation in times of distress. When Shade asks what solace exists in the world, the answer is only death. Following the belief that to live is to suffer, it seems to Shade that death is the only way of achieving complete comfort, of escaping the pain of reality and living.
Temptation without Light– Shadow’s memoir
“Come forth, children of light, meet me and play.
In darkness, temptation holds, tantalising fruit in display.
Venture into the darkness, though it may seem outlandish.
Come forth, children of day, face me and perish.”
Shadow is the dangerous death, the type that is filled with malice intent. The poem is written in a way that rhymes, to entice those who are greedy and stupidly brave enough to fall into Shadow’s angry embrace.
Come forth, children of light, meet me and play.
In darkness, temptation holds, tantalising fruit in display.
Shadow calls for the children of God, those who have childish innocence to come and engage. The poem references the Greek myth of Tantalus who was punished by the Greek gods to stand in a pool of water for all eternity with delicious looking fruit dangling above him, never being able to eat nor drink. It emphasises the temptation of the gifts Shadow offers.
Venture in the darkness, though it may seem outlandish.
Come forth, children of day, face me and perish.
Shadow is impatient and irate, unable to wait for these “children of day” to come forth, and thus reveals the true intention– to lure the sinless and innocent into becoming their newest victim.
Distribution
I was very proud of this set of photographs of which I, along with my co-conspirators, had worked on for over a month. Back then, I was fairly active in the cosplay community and thus decided to publish it to my cosplay page on Facebook, and my page on the WorldCosplay website (oof… that history is dark).
Although the reach doesn’t seem like much, at the time these interactions were actually 20 times more than usual (I didn’t have much engagement back then, lol)!
Final thoughts
This photoshoot is my favourite personal project to date and although it was done purely for artistry and hold no commercial value, in my heart, the effort expended during the planning, setup, production and post-production phases is priceless. Now, as I get older, I find that I have less time for personal projects, instead, I stress over schoolwork and career choices. Looking back on this project, I can’t help but reminisce over the good-old-days, when attending photoshoots in large groups was perfectly acceptable, when I could spend 12 hours straight editing and retouching my own face, without wanting to stab my computer screen.
Acknowledgments
I would like to give special thanks and acknowledgments to my friend and cosplay partner Elizabeth, who goes by @nox_chii and @nox__art on Instagram, for her support and collaboration effort during the conceptualisation phase of the project; I would also like to thank Clarah, our amazing photographer who is also on Facebook and Instagram, as well as the photography assistants who helped out during the shoot; Kong of Studio14 who had graciously rented out his studio space; and last but not least, myself, for having the sheer willpower to bulldoze through this project.
The full photosets and final outcome have been posted onto my online portfolio.
