Image of the Day - The Prow of the Slave Ship Elissa

This is actually a companion piece to another piece done several months back. The original concept for the first piece was the haunting presence of a dead Maori slave that haunted the slave ship Elissa. In my minds eye the Elissa was a cursed ship with more than just the presence of the dead. Here is the figurehead at the prow of the Elissa, her head stretched in pain and agony. She is as much a spirit of the dead as the ghosts who haunt her.  I've included the original piece at the end of this post.

For history on the above piece, the woman was a model I photographed years ago. She was actually reclining on an antique couch when I shot the original photo. This one was one of the rare occasions where I used no body paint on the model. This particular photo stood out because I accidentally inverted it and took note how much the pose looked like the prow of a ship. The ship itself in the background is a tall ship photographed here at the Port of New Orleans a few years ago. By combining the two as I did with the original piece (below), I was able to bring the new piece into sync with the older.