The Mummy of the Masai

Hi, This is one of my favourite photographs. I had taken this Mummy photograph in May, and written about it to one of my friends, so I'll take the short-cut and post it here with a few updated thoughts. Some readers may object to the language.

This mummy photo was not even on my to-do list. But I have had this mask sitting next to my bed for many years since I was attending Ole Miss. For the record, the mask originates from South Africa or Kenya and was given to me as a gift by my father about 20 years ago. It had been above my head where I sleep for many years. The name of the mask is "Masai". As I have always told people "The spirit of the Masai protects me from bad dreams and evil women." The Masai did such a great job in college, that in fact he kept ALL women out of my bed, not just the evil ones. Bad Masai, Bad! Terrifying dreams did occur occasionally. (Laughing).

Back to the photo. So all of a sudden a couple of days ago, I run into the Masai, and immediately yelled "Photo op!" This couldn't be a self portrait. I am too fat and too hairy to be a Mummy. There was no question in my mind that Rajeev was the person for this job. Point blank he refused. I used reverse psychology on him, and told him he was too chicken for the job. That, a $2 bribe and a new Yamaha Trumpet convinced him. I also told him nobody would see his face. He finally agreed. Here's was my skinny specimen with no hair. A bandage wrapped mummy was right out. That was too mainstream and stereotypical, and nobody would know there was a real boy inside. I had to show skin and bone. Take a look at his shoulder bone, ribs and skinny arms!!! Look malnourished, right? This kid eats more than I do.

The eyes too, had to be present. This was not a dead mummy, but a Mummy that came to life as soon as his slumber was disturbed. And then bang, his eyes opened. That is the moment that photo is supposed to be taken, just as the offender opened the coffin earlier having violated the sacredness of the tomb. The lighting had to be perfect, with dark and bright areas. I chose a half lit face to show the mummy coming from the dark underworld to the bright living world.

Rajeev could not have shot this photo of me as a Mummy, as he had to stand over me, point the camera straight down, not use the tripod, not move a muscle and then shoot. The kid can barely control my camera even when it is on the tripod!!! The light had to be coming from where it was or else you would see the shadow from my legs standing over him. The beauty of this shot is that it came out exactly as I envisioned. And it was all done in 3 shots!!!! One shot to check the light and exposure, and by Toutatis, I got it right the first time. By now, Rajeev was pissed off that this heavy mask was on his face and he had to balance it on his nose, as it kept sliding off, Therefore, I couldn't shoot for 15-20 minutes anyway, as he threatened to leave. If he left, no mummy shot ever!!! So I take the second shot. I thought everything was in, but the tip of the mask at the top was cut off. Too bad. Again, I this was shot with a 4 megapixel camera, so no room for error or cropping (I have a 12 MP now). I also had Nisha (very reluctantly) holding a flashlight blasted into his eyes so they were visible, reminding Rajeev every 10 seconds, he was a fool to do this photo shoot. I quickly realized the eyes were not going to show (even without looking at the photo). That means the mummy was going to be dead and useless. Just another photograph shot at the museum. But this mummy had to be alive and come back from the dead, just as I opened the coffin for the first time. Rajeev was ready to leave. I told him, "Fine, take the mask off", so he was comfortable, and then I shot him one more time without the mask with the exact lighting. (you guessed it - so I could photoshop his eyes and the direction of the catchlight in his eyes remained true to the original mummy shot making it more believable. Three shots is all it took. It took minimal amounts of processing, I cloned the eyes, and converted to B&W, as this mummy's casket was opened in the early 1900s when most mummies were discovered and there was no colour film. The casket shadows came from making Rajeev lie down on a pillow in a cardboard box. Neat huh?

What did my lovely wife think? "I cannot believe you are going to do this terrible thing to my poor little innocent baby boy." She saw him lying on the floor and knew what was going on, but she has since refused to look at the photo. "I DON'T want to see it!!!"

Flashback!!! The night before the photo shoot, I also asked Sairah (my wife) if she had any really big gold earrings. She said what for? I said "Well, I just need them for this and that". She showed me a couple; she did not have any that I liked. I asked Rajeev take off his shirt, lie down, wear the mask and see how it fitted. Everything seemed perfect. Then I told Sairah, the gold was to cover his "royal nipples" in case they were visible, since this photo was not about child porn. "YOU ARE NOT GOING TO DO THIS TO MY POOR LITTLE INNOCENT CHILD!!!!" Fortunately, the mask had covered his nipples.

I could go on, but as you see, a seemingly mundane shot takes a great deal of vision and planning to come out the way I want it to. An evil mind at work I suppose. People just don't get it. You are not going to walk into my studio and walk out in 30 seconds with a photograph. BTW, I just found out, Walmart sells a photoshoot, a 8x10 and a bunch of 4x6s for under 8 bucks. It is my intention to not compete with Walmart or Sears. I am deliberately not going to give you a 10 minute photo shoot. That's what Walmart is for. I want to give each person I photograph a legacy shot. A photo that you want to leave for your descendants and children and their children. Good or bad, like them or not, I am fanatically proud of my photos. If you don't find them to be controversial or unique, go elsewhere. There are a lot of great photographers around.

I recently also shot a macro shot of a single "Cheez-It"; let's not even get started about how I took that one, and how much time I spent thinking about it. It wasn't a lot, but it wasn't like bang and we're done. Fortunately, the Cheez-It didn't complain too much about having to sit in one spot, and it became a tasty snack along with a few more of its siblings. I hope you had fun reading this as much as I had writing it. I would love to hear your comments about this one.

Disclaimer: No children were harmed or mutilated in the production of this photo.

Take care.

Capture Your Life & Dictate Your Legacy.