NaturalBornKillers (GCDD)

Obviously a film reference to massacring, mayhem-creating, self-married movie murderers...*drumroll*... Mickey and Mallory Knox!

Mickey: I realized my true calling in life.
Wayne Gale: What's that?
Mickey: Shit, man, I'm a natural born killer.
- Natural Born Killers
Director: Oliver Stone
Screenplay: Oliver Stone, Dave Veloz, Richard Rutowski
Story: Quentin Tarantino

I actually wanted to name this photo differently. I wanted to make a reference to Mickey's and Mallory's wedding scene when they stand on the bridge and Mallory says:

'I do. 'Til you and I die, and die, and die again. 'Til death do us part.'

But that would have been too long and I don't believe in shortening up quotes.

Anyways, creating this shot took much more work than expected and actually took three days, four mirrors, three lights and a hell of a lot of other self-made items I really wanted the focus to be very, very soft, I wanted pale colours and I wanted reflections! I went back and forth between highlighting the ring or highlighting the gun, but not to be corny, I say love (=the ring) triumphs over violence (=the gun) in this movie. I mean, yeah, Mickey and Mallory murder their way through America and kill people for all the right and wrong reasons (the poor Native American who just wanted to help but Mickey killed him because he was so disoriented because of his nightmare ) but in the end they break out of prison (..yes, leaving a blood bath XD), they are reunited and the ending credits show them in a van with kids...so I would say love has won in this case. And hence the ring was more important and hence the gun, while still recognizable, is not sharp.

Generally, I wanted it to have a bit of a dream-like, soft quality, because Oliver Stone uses such a crazy, psychedelic style in that movie it often seems absurd, surreal, dream-like (especially the panels in the background referencing to so many different things/movies etc). I didn't want to make it as surreal and absurd as the movie, but I wanted a soft, dream-like quality, especially because I find that when passion, love, emotions of any kind are strongly involved the vision tends to get a bit hazy and we act on impulse rather than by logic. So the focus is deliberately not really sharp, it's supposed to reflect our biased eyes when under the influence of love, lust, passion, rage etc.

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This is Part IV of my new series 'Gold is Cold, Diamonds are Dead'

The entire series is going to have a very soft feel about it, so I will intentionally adjust my camera so there will be more intentional blur in it than there are in my other works.

The series' theme is of course inspired by the J'adore Dior perfume ad lines:

'Gold is cold, Diamonds are dead, a Limousine is a car, don’t pretend, feel what’s real.'

The other photos of the series so far:





Equipment: Olympus E-510; 14-54mm zuiko lens



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