lyrics project

Isobel
Artist: Dido
Song: Isobel
Album: No Angel
Model: Tinkerbella
Location: Sutton Benger, Wiltshire UK

I don’t like this shot but I’m very proud of it and appreciate its meaning and sentiment.

I’ve no idea if the thought to take your own life is something everyone has at some point but I know I’ve had it twice. Neither time did it last too long but it was scary. Instinct makes us cling to life whatever the circumstances but when the thought hits you and the chips are down, it becomes apparent how easy it is to end it all. Life is precious and fragile.

I’ve only known one person who took their own life and he hung himself in the woods behind his home. He was a work colleague and I didn’t know him well personally. I worked with him for many years however and his long-term partner had left him, moved out and set about re-building her life. She was a sweet, quiet girl and the rumour was he wasn’t the easiest or safest person to live with. He changed afterwards, became awkward and angry at work but after a few years seemed to be settling, at least his work life, back down. Then he had a strange time, was warned for his behaviour and was eventually dismissed for ‘misconduct’. He’d turned to drink I think. A few months later I learned of his suicide. It shocked and upset me and still does. It’s a reminder we never really know anyone, not totally. His desperation to go through with such a terrible process doesn’t bear thought. I only hope his pain stopped and his family and friends have found a way to live with his end.

The song itself is a gentle one but darker than the others on the album. I’m not totally sure it’s even about suicide but I know it’s about someone in deep trouble and trauma. The lines are poignant and written to a friend. “By the tree in Ennis where we used to hang around” was the lyric that made me interpret the shot this way and I believe, has a double meaning.

I asked Tink if she was ok shooting such material and she really wanted to do the shoot. She understood the depth of the image and gave her all to make it work. We attempted other styles to portray death but this one contained the poignancy I was after. There’s no dignity in death. I’d known about the tree for years and it has an eerie feel about it. It’s in the middle of a crop field and is itself completely dead and has been for decades. Its towering lifeless limbs remain, reaching for the sky. However, it still supports life, with the trunk totally covered with thick, healthy ivy and its base surrounded by flowers and the farmers crop. It stands over life like a giant protector.

It remains to me, a testament to life…..and death.

Isobel
Artist: Dido
Song: Isobel
Album: No Angel
Model: Tinkerbella
Location: Sutton Benger, Wiltshire UK

I don’t like this shot but I’m very proud of it and appreciate its meaning and sentiment.

I’ve no idea if the thought to take your own life is something everyone has at some point but I know I’ve had it twice. Neither time did it last too long but it was scary. Instinct makes us cling to life whatever the circumstances but when the thought hits you and the chips are down, it becomes apparent how easy it is to end it all. Life is precious and fragile.

I’ve only known one person who took their own life and he hung himself in the woods behind his home. He was a work colleague and I didn’t know him well personally. I worked with him for many years however and his long-term partner had left him, moved out and set about re-building her life. She was a sweet, quiet girl and the rumour was he wasn’t the easiest or safest person to live with. He changed afterwards, became awkward and angry at work but after a few years seemed to be settling, at least his work life, back down. Then he had a strange time, was warned for his behaviour and was eventually dismissed for ‘misconduct’. He’d turned to drink I think. A few months later I learned of his suicide. It shocked and upset me and still does. It’s a reminder we never really know anyone, not totally. His desperation to go through with such a terrible process doesn’t bear thought. I only hope his pain stopped and his family and friends have found a way to live with his end.

The song itself is a gentle one but darker than the others on the album. I’m not totally sure it’s even about suicide but I know it’s about someone in deep trouble and trauma. The lines are poignant and written to a friend. “By the tree in Ennis where we used to hang around” was the lyric that made me interpret the shot this way and I believe, has a double meaning.

I asked Tink if she was ok shooting such material and she really wanted to do the shoot. She understood the depth of the image and gave her all to make it work. We attempted other styles to portray death but this one contained the poignancy I was after. There’s no dignity in death. I’d known about the tree for years and it has an eerie feel about it. It’s in the middle of a crop field and is itself completely dead and has been for decades. Its towering lifeless limbs remain, reaching for the sky. However, it still supports life, with the trunk totally covered with thick, healthy ivy and its base surrounded by flowers and the farmers crop. It stands over life like a giant protector.

It remains to me, a testament to life…..and death.