Inspiration
Ready for a story and what the finished piece will represent?
In Norse mythology, the Helm of Awe, also known as the Aegishjalmur, is a magical symbol that is said to have the power to protect the wearer from harm. The symbol is often depicted as a series of eight arms radiating out from a central point, with a dot or circle in the middle. The Helm of Awe was thought to have been used by warriors as a talisman or amulet to protect them in battle.
The helm originated from the story of Sigurd. Fafnir had been a dwarf who became consumed by his greed for gold. He eventually transformed into a dragon in order to better guard his hoard of treasure. Fafnir was said to be invulnerable, except for one spot on his body where a leaf had fallen while he was in dragon form.
According to the saga, Sigurd was able to slay Fafnir by using the Helm of Awe to protect himself from the dragon's breath. The Helm of Awe was said to have been one of the most powerful symbols of protection in Norse mythology, and was believed to be able to protect the wearer from all forms of harm.
The Norse sigil for the helm inspired this light painting. The sigil is made from 8 tridents, but I've replaced the three pronged trident heads with horned dragon skulls to better tie in to the saga of Sigurd and Fafnir.
Set Up
The photograph was be achieved without Photoshop editing. The camera ran in bulb mode for a 1,152 second exposure. The camera settings were F5.6 and ISO100.
The camera was mounted on a gimbal, then swung through the 360 degree vertical axis with exposures taken at set intervals. Multiple exposures in a single photograph achieved using the camera's lens cap (lens cap off to allow in light, then back on before the next rotation). The angles worked out using a camera phone app and fine tuned with a digital protractor, with the phone mounted on the camera's hot shoe. Individual exposures are in 3 second bursts. In total, 26 exposures. 8 at 45 degrees for the dragon tridents, and 18 at 20 degrees for the fire circle centre.
Component pieces: The dragon head is a resin skull, with UV paint added by myself to put life into it. Three colours of UV paint. Orange and pink, were rough mixed with a toothpick and painted on, then a red overlay applied as a second coat. I wanted to create an effect in the dragons mouth and in ridges on its head resembling fire under UV light. As ever, UV face paints hate sticking to anything, but it's easy to wash off so you can reuse the subject. The whole skull got a very watered down white paint UV wash. A metal plate was apoxied to the skull for a mounting plate.
The dragons eyes were initially painted with UV light but I didn't like the result. I then filled the sockets with photographer's blacktac and shone lasers into them to give a "spark" of life, but still not enough. Finally, glass eyeballs gave a result I was happy with.
For UV lighting I used two Vansky torches on separate light stands.
Additional elements include the shaft of the trident which is made from Light Painting Paradise's etched acrylic rod with a spiral of EL wire (phosphor coated wire which glows when an electric current is run through it) wrapped around the rod to give a double helix effect. Three bars of multi-coloured EL wire run across the shaft. The rod itself is lit with a Sofirn torch, with a red gel added for colour. The centre core of the sigil is created using a rectangle of plexiglass lit with a Magilight with a fire stencil overlay.
Subjects are arranged using magic arms and clamps on a lighting tripod.
Anecdote
The symbolism of Fafnir and the Helm of Awe has endured in popular culture and been referenced in various forms of media including film, books and computer games. Tolkein's dragon villain 'Smaug' in The Hobbit is very much in the tradition of Fafnir.
In The Vikings series, one of Ragnar Lodbrok's sons was named Sigurd due to a deformity in one pupil which looked like a serpent (Sigurd Snake in the Eye). Tying into my Northumbrian home, legendary sources say Sigurd and his brothers blood-eagled Aella, King of Northumbria.
To Norwegian friend Rune Bjornsen, photographer and fellow descendant of Harald Fine Hair, who warned me "...according to Egil Skallagrimsson, get it wrong when you make this sigil and you're screwed", does it pass? If not, I'll see you next at Gimle.
Egil was a 10th Century Icelandic Viking Age chieftain, war poet, sorcerer, runic scholar, baresark and warrior, coincidentally shipwrecked off the coast of Northumbria where I live. The King and Queen of Northumbria had earlier been chased out of Norway by him. I wouldn't want to upset Egil!
If you're a fan of the TV series The Vikings (with a Norwegian Forest Cat named Floki you can probably guess I am), Egil wrote the original wording for the chants retranslated and amended for the TV show. This was his original wording recorded in Egil's Saga handed down orally before finally being written down in 13th Century.
"Thus spake my mother
That for me they would buy
A barque and fair oars
To go away with vikings.
Stand up in the stern,
Steer an expensive vessel,
Hold course for a haven,
Hew down a man and another."
My Mother Told Me
The Vikings version of that chant, which I might have been humming as I was fiddling about with the camera.
Dedication
30 years ago, I was on a holiday in Scotland (Orchardton for the friends who were with me) when I met a Swedish woman who was convinced I was the reincarnation of a Norse mage who'd one day raise a dragon from the soil (I've no idea what she'd taken). While I think it highly unlikely her visions were prophetic, I can at least be reassured I've raised the Helm to protect me if I ever slip into the delusion of thinking fiction and illusion are truth ;)
Rob, Fran, Jeremy, Hazel, Rowan, Holly and Lumpus (Amber wasn't with us yet), this one's for you in memory of that holiday, and the awesome Norwegians and Sami who I shared a Lavvo with, on vodka, on reindeer hides, for some memorable evenings.
A big thank you to the talented light painter/photographer Robert D'Angelo and Jason D Page of Light Painting Brushes for sharing techniques on rotation light painting.