Only a handful of people know the story behind “THAT photo”. This is the photo that landed a police officer at my door at 10 o’clock at night. I have never posted this photo anywhere online and I stuffed it in a drawer on a hard drive to be forgotten about. “THAT” photo was taken way back in 2014. I am finally secure enough with my work and social media to share it!
It was titled “From the Deep”. I am a huge horror movie fan, I love them all and my inspiration came from the Friday the 13th franchise and The Shining. I planned out my shot, gathered my props, sourced out the location, got permission from my kids to do the shoot and we headed out on a warm, July evening. I had chosen a local lake to do the shoot at and I had chosen to head out close to 7pm with the intention that most families were no longer at the lake but rather at home getting kids ready for bed. To my horror (no pun intended) when we arrived at the lake, there were still a handful of families hanging out. I decided to do the shoot anyway even though I was self conscious about shooting with an audience.
This image was shot as a composite image. For my non photographer followers, that means that I shot a series of images and then cut and paste elements from each image to create the final shot. I only had one rope, one pillow case and one dress so each kid was shot separately. I was really drawn to the twins in The Shining and I needed identical looks for each kid.
My husband and my girls waded out into the lake. Both girls had their bathing suits on and my husband was within arms reach of the girls at all times, even thought they were both really strong swimmers. He threw the dress and the pillow case on the first daughter, loosely laid the rope around her neck and took two or three shots. Then repeated the same on the second daughter. Took a few shots. The entire shoot lasted a whopping 10 minutes. As soon as were done, the girls swam and played in the lake for over an hour and my husband and I chatted with a few families on the shore.
Once the sun went down and the bugs came out we walked to the car and headed home. We put the girls to bed and I just sat down at my computer to see how I was going to process my image. We had been home a little over an hour when there was a knock at the door. I opened the door and my heart sank. It was a cop and he wanted to know if I had been at the lake this evening. My first response was “Are you freaking kidding me?!?!”. Now my friends and acquaintances will know that “freaking” was not the word I actually used but since I like to keep my blog family friendly we are going with freaking.
Someone had reported that I was putting a noose around my child’s neck and he had to follow up. I was horrified. Shocked. And suddenly angry. The person who reported me had to have been there for the shoot and then watch me walk to the car so they could have gotten my licence plate number. Somehow they chose to ignore that we were all laughing and playing together in the water and on the shore for OVER an hour. And honestly, if I was going to abuse my children I would not go to the trouble of taking them to a public lake. I would probably just stay home for that.
Anyway, long story short, the cop stood awkwardly in my living not really sure what to make of why he was there. I showed him the images and I drug my sleepy kids from their beds to prove that there were indeed ok and loved. He shrugged his shoulders and was perplexed that someone would report me and not just walk up and ask what we were doing. And then he left.
I put the kids back to bed and poured a stiff drink. I was sick over what had just happened even though I knew I had not done anything that would harm my children. I always ask permission of my children when creating dark pieces and I respect their wishes. I almost deleted the entire file but my husband talked me out of it. I finished the edit and tucked it away on a hard drive never to see the light of day again.
Until now. Four years later. I am a different artist now then I was then. I have grown. I have become more confident in my work. I create these images to fuel my own creativity and some people may love it, some people my hate it and that is ok. It was not created for them. It was created for me.
The sad thing is, I stopped creating these images for about three years. I guess the point of this post is do not let someone’s opinion deter you from doing or creating what you love because there will always be someone who hates your work and someone who loves your work. That will never change. Ever. Just keep on creating.
And to all you haters out there – your opinions are now wasted on me and I just want to give you a big hug!!
Corrie Lindroos Photography
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