Some Velvet Morning

Some Velvet Morning ©2019 -  The background image in this montage was captured in the area of Phillipsburg NJ shortly before crossing into Pennsylvania. While driving along, this lake caught my eye due to the hundreds of snow geese surrounding it or floating on it. Snow geese don’t like to travel without the company of another dozen or two and can form flocks of several hundred thousand, especially when flying south for the winter. They mate for life and at winter’s end fly north to their breeding grounds on the Arctic tundra. The great expanse of white feathers reminded me of a  beautiful black and white Paint horse I photographed near Pottersville NJ who would fit nicely walking along among the geese. The terms “paint” and “pinto” are sometimes both used to describe Paint horses but “Paint” is the breed and “Pinto” is actually the coloring. So, all Paints are Pintos (any spotted horse) but not all Pintos are Paints. The lady from my vintage photo collection was in reality looking down and reading what seemed to be a letter. So to insert her interactively into the composition, I removed the letter and photographed my own hand in the position needed to have her holding gently onto the horse’s mane as they strolled along the shore. To add a sense of mystery, I placed a young gentleman (also from my vintage photo collection) in the sunlight streaming through the trees across the lake. A small murder of crows was added flying from him to accompany the young lady and her menagerie.The final composition and lighting inspired the title “Some Velvet Morning”, a song written by Lee Hazlewood and originally performed as a duet with Nancy Sinatra in 1967. Hazlewood confessed he did not really know what the lyrics mean but that he was inspired by Greek mythology. The lyrics consist of the male part describing a mysterious, powerful woman named Phaedra, who “gave” him life and made it “end”. The male part alternates with the female who identifies herself as Phaedra and speaks over ethereal music about beautiful nature imagery and the secrets held by an unknown collective “us”.  So there I will leave the story or meaning to the interpretation of the viewer.