Photographer creates series about Jersey myths and legends

Monday 05 June 2017

Photographer Danny Richardson has created a series of photographs inspired by three Jersey myths and legends, after seeing a local artist's stamps on folklore.

To give flesh to nine eerie visions, the photographer enlisted the help of several other local creatives, among them brave models that agreed to shoot in ice-cold waters.

Mr Richardson, who has been photographing around the Island for the past seven years, says he likes to create conceptional images that create stories. He explained that ideas came flowing after he saw Nick Parlett's series of stamps at the end of last year. The six stamps illustrate stories such as the Fairies of St Brelade’s Church, William and the Sea Sprite, The Witches of Rocqueberg and The Ghostly Bride of Waterworks Valley.

He told Express: "My imagination instantly started racing with ideas and from that moment my mind was set on completing my own photographic series. I’d been wanting to do something with a local twist that was reflective of my style of creative portraiture and conceptual imagery and this ticked so many boxes. There were stories of dragons, witches, fairies and more – and I saw it as an opportunity to indulge the nostalgic ‘Dungeons and Dragons’ watching little boy I used to be."

The project took months of research and the first step was to choose which legends to explore. Mr Richardson decided to settle on three stories and aimed to create three different shots for each. He first enlisted the help of make-up artist Eva Miere, with whom he had worked previously. The two met with Gilles de Bois, author of 'Jersey Folklore & Superstitions Volumes 1 & 2’, who provided "a wealth of information" on the various myths and legends that make Jersey’s history.

The photographer explained that the first story to capture his imagination was The Lady & The Lake. "It's not one of the better known legends but that was part of the appeal along with the visuals that instantly came to mind and the feeling that I could conceivably put together the shoot as I imagined. The story is of a reluctant bride who, in order to avoid an arranged marriage, drowns herself on her wedding day... she returns to haunt the lake, enticing young men to their deaths."

For his second shoot, Mr Richardson decided to work on the story of La Cocagne. He explains: "It was another lesser known story, but again my mind was racing wth possibilities. The first story had been quite dark so I felt I wanted to add some magical feeling to the next, even if it would also have a dark and sinister side. It's a story parents used to tell their children to warn them against staying out late on their own. They'd tell them that an evil fairy used to hide under bridges, waiting to lure them with magical concoctions, which if they consumed, they'd be unable to return to the mortal world with their parents."

The photographer then decided to finish his series on a popular story and chose one of Jersey's most famous, The Witches of Rocqueberg. The legend says that Hubert, a young man, once walked towards Rocqueberg Point, where he fell asleep. When he awoke the rock had been replaced by a magic wood where three beautiful girls were dancing around the trees. Upon returning home, he told his fiancée Madeleine about what had happened and she warned him not to again. He did anyway and Madeleine followed him and saw three ugly old witches instead of beautiful girls. The witches then vanished and Hubert fell unconscious. 

Mr Richardson explained the creative process as a deconstruction. "I had to try and imagine what I wanted the picture to look like and then deconstruct it so see how we could go there, what elements were needed and who I could work with."

He enlisted the help of people he had worked with previously, either while shooting weddings or on previous projects. Thus, Anna Trigg provided a wedding dress and Clara from Wild Thyme produced floral arrangements for the first shoot. Aran Clarke from The White Shell Co. created the headpiece and wings for the Cocagne character, while Jersey Heritage provided the costume for the child. A fire breather, drone operator Chris Brookes, and a series of models, including a very brave Andreia-who posed in an ice-cold lake like Ophelia- were also involved in the project. Videographer Callum Thorne also jumped on the creative bandwagon and provided behind the scenes footage of the shootings.

While all nine images are available on his website and 'The Lady & The Lake' photographs were shown at the Arts Centre as part of an exhibition on Myths & Legends, Mr Richardson is working on an exhibition showing the whole series in one place. He explains: "We would be showing all images as well as the behind the scenes footage and the props. I am hoping to get there soon but it takes a bit of time."

In the meantime, he will be thinking about his next series and possibly explore more legends. "It takes a lot of time and effort and I am relying on a lot of people who give their time for free, I can't ask too much. I would love to do more on the legends, I already have a couple of ideas but it is all about making them happen. There is a few things in the pipelines, but nothing set in stone."