Persephone in Oregon

This is the story of Persephone, who arrives in primeval Oregon from the sea, blue-haired and naked in the late afternoon of a New Moon. Here she finds an Eden-like country of great ferns and grasses, waterfalls, rivers, and giant forest trees -- but no flowers, no animals, no people. 

This book of fine-art photographs follows Persephone through the seasons, as she travels across Oregon on Lunar and Solar time tables, visiting and staying in strange and mythical locations known to very few people ever, and rarely indicating any human presence to this time. 

As with her Grecian namesake and forebear, Persephone first lives in a beautiful and peaceful nature, ultimately eats a forbidden fruit, becomes personally responsible for widespread misery and death, spends several months in Hell, and becomes obsessed with spring flowers and the seasons of the year. In common with her biblical counterpart, Eve, she also encounters a Talking Snake who gives her unsettling and life-changing information. 

This modern allegory is told in words and images that stay true to both Greek and Christian mythologies and to the generally unknown ethereal and beautiful Oregon landscapes that illustrate this story of Persephone.

Each picture is intended to tell a story; each series of pictures (“pinax”) is also intended to tell a story; all of the pictures together (“pinakes”) tell an entirely different story. It depends on who is viewing the images, when and where, as to what the stories are.

Persephone’s story is told in text and in an illustrative series of digital fine art photographs created by the authors in a number of esoteric, mystical, and beautiful locations in Oregon. The photographs were taken over the course of an entire year, during all seasons, from the first day of summer 2015 to late spring 2016.  

A Nikon D-7000 digital camera, 50 mm Nikon lens, Bogen 3411 tripod, and natural light were used to capture all images. Several photos were slightly cropped with PhotoShop to remove a dust spot on the upper margin and all photos were (very) slightly re-sized to make their dimensions more uniform for display. No photos were adjusted for light, color, or focus, or altered or enhanced in any other manner. What you see is, so close as possible, exactly what the camera produced, albeit scaled down from their original 11-inch x 17-inch, 300 dpi (dots per inch) size.

Text and photographs by Bob Zybach and McKenzie Peters