The Cloudy Journey
Building Ideas with The Cloud
I was first inspired to explore clouds in photography by the work of the Dutch artist Berndnaut Smilde. But as I tried to test his techniques, which prominently relied upon water vapour and big smoke machines, I realised they were not feasible to control in my conditions.
The smoke machine I owned wasn’t a big enough output and the space I was testing it in were to small, also the locations I wanted to create clouds in were outside where wind and temperature couldn’t be controlled.
Not to be deterred, I turned to teddy-bear stuffing. Using this to create my clouds, I conducted a shoot inspired by Neverland. Inspired by the the end scene where Peter takes Captains Hook boat back to NeverLand covered in pixie dust. I didn’t want to commit to buying a large about if teddy bears styuffing, so I used what I had , a teddy bear ! I did re stuff him after.
But I knew this simple material had more potential. So I bought 10kg of the stuff for £30.
Drawing upon its beautiful, ethereal qualities, I used the clouds to build a music video set, create miniature worlds, and transform ordinary local environments into magical outdoor sets for my fantasy photography. By continuously re-imagining my ‘clouds’, I came to lots of different outcomes; one idea inspired a variety of projects.
In between use I stuff it into a dress bag and it lives under my bed.
Model : Sian Boult ( @alphra_)