By the Willow, with Anne Ida Helmer Photography

I had the honor and pleasure of being photographed by professional photographer and photography teacher Anne Ida Helmer from Berlin.

We spent the whole day preparing and set to work in the evening, as the blue hour descended. Our meeting happened to coincide with the dark of the moon. The location is an old hollow willow tree close to the river. I refrained from a complex ritual set-up and instead focused on the act itself, burning Incense of Lilith and pouring libation of self-made pomegranate vodka for the spirits of the place. Whether we nurtured invisible specters or mainly ourselves – the religious aspect of occult ritual work is part of the complex topic explored by Anne in her ongoing series “Gravis” and “Krura“.

Anne’s website: http://www.anneidahelmer.de/

Images © Anne Ida Helmer 2017. All rights reserved. You may not copy, save or reproduce these images without the expressed written consent of the artist.

Tags: Anne Ida Helmer, blue hour, dresden, Elbe, gnarly tree, hollow tree, old tree, photography, portrait, rituals, river, spirituality, willow tree