Circe Invidiosa - The Irony

You may know the story behind the JW Waterhouse painting Circe Invidiosa, if not let me cut to the chase.

The sorceress (Circe) is furious (Glaucus has refused to become Circe's lover) and decides to take revenge, not on Glaucus, whom she decides she loves, but on the innocent Scylla. Circe Invidiosa (jealous Circe) prepares a terrible potion and pours it in the grotto where Scylla goes to bathe. As soon as Scylla steps into the pool, the 'water around her groin erupts with yelping monsters'. Seven dogs' heads rise snarling out of the sea. Scylla screams and tries to slap them away. But every blow causes her pain because they are part of her. Her lower limbs have become horrible man-eating dogs.

I was using the JW Waterhouse painting as inspiration for my own photographs.  I mixed up a batch of lemon-lime Kool-Aid, representing the potion whipped up by Circe, which was poured into the pond that was teaming with life.  Life ranging from large frogs and goldfish to invisible microbes feeding on animal and plant wastes.  In the course of the photography session, I fell into the stream of pond water and cut my elbow.  Not much blood exited the wound but a threshold was created.  Mana, the model, and I finished the session wet and having the odor of the pond emanating from our bodies.

As I worked the next day, I felt hot.  I was constantly drinking water, as if to put out the fire.  I didn't have access to a thermometer but I was sure I had a fever.  My elbow as quite swollen and the area from my elbow to my wrist was warm, really warm.  I knew I had a bacterial infection.  Experience!  I took some anti-inflammatory pills before bed.  I needed to seek professional medical attention the next day.  I just finished the ten day supply of antibiotics.

So there I was photographing the scene in which a sorceress is poisoning a pond so that monsters will replace the lower half of an unsuspecting female foe when she baths in the water.  Contrastingly, I had a model pour unsweetened Kool-Aid, some people may call poison, into the water of a pond.  I then cut myself when I fell into the pond water, monsters then entered my body and began to poison my blood.

Ironic, wouldn't you say?