INK Focus - Decaying with the speed of spring by James Perolls

How long has this project been in the making and how did the team come together?

Reina and I started working on this project in early 2022. We’d been talking for a while about doing something that focused on narrative, something that would merge our worlds in a meaningful way. In my previous book projects, I’ve explored fictional stories centered around relationships with friends and family but I was starting to feel a pull toward something more introspective; something that captured the disorienting feeling of being disconnected from yourself.

Reina was drawn to that idea too so we started exchanging thoughts and visual references, leaning into a fairytale-inspired aesthetic. At first I had considered working with a male model for the story but when Reina and I shared the concept with our mutual friend Xiaoqiao, she immediately felt drawn to it. She had a lot of ideas about how the scenes could unfold and was excited to take on the different characters. It just immediately felt like the perfect fit. It was similar with PeiHsin who did the illustrations. She was drawn to the themes we were exploring and the visual direction we were working towards. The team came together in a way that felt really organic, with a shared connection to the concept, the mood and a mutual appreciation for a certain kind of visual storytelling.

The project has a cinematic quality — can you explain how you structured and conceptualised the work to create that feeling?

When I storyboarded the project I approached it a bit like a film, with a clear narrative arc: beginning, rising tension and conclusion, where each page acts like its own unique scene. Many of these scenes are framed in wide shots, giving space to explore the interactions between the protagonist and the different versions of herself. I wanted the scenes to breathe, allowing room for the viewer to feel what’s happening in the moment. The photographs in the project focus on the external world while the illustrations delve into the protagonist’s thoughts, emotions and inner anxieties. My hope is that the viewer can engage with the book in a way that allows them to piece together the narrative, noticing how each page subtly builds the story. I want viewers to connect through their own experiences, finding personal meaning along the way.

Can you tell us a little more about the choice of the location? It appears to almost serve as a character in of itself.

I wanted to use locations that felt a bit anonymous and set in the past, with house interiors that leaned towards a slightly Victorian aesthetic. I also wanted spacious landscapes devoid of modern elements to help develop the feeling of the character being alone in this world with these versions of herself. It took quite a while to find the right locations for the story. The house in particular was a crucial and integral part of the story and took the longest to find. I looked through all the location rental websites, Airbnbs, cottage rentals, etc., but was really struggling to find what I had in mind.

Funnily enough I came across the house we ended up using on a website advertising horse stables. I called the owners, who at first, were understandably a bit apprehensive, but I went to meet them and explained my idea for the project. Fortunately, they were super lovely and completely on board. They were incredibly kind and hosted our small team for two days while we shot all the scenes involving the house. There was no additional set design added to the house aside from the book Xiaoqiao writes in; most of the items are antiques collected by the owners and the paintings on the walls in the photographs were all painted by one of the owners too! The outdoor shots in nature were taken in various gardens and locations throughout the British countryside.

What’s your process for planning scenes and compositions?

For most of my work, I create small sketches to help with storyboarding and to share with the team on the day, making sure we’re all aligned on the goal. The sketches are usually simple stick figures, basic and a bit childlike, which often makes people laugh, but they’re enough to get the idea across. I usually have a clear visual in mind of what I want to achieve, so I plan ahead to work out how people will be positioned and interact within the frame.

I pay close attention to subtle nuances like facial expressions, eye direction, and body language, always considering how these small details influence the relationships between characters in the scene. I tend to be very specific when setting up shots, often discussing the moment with the subject and having them act it out, sometimes giving them something to do. Xiaoqiao in particular was amazing at this. There are a few scenes in this project that are very expressive, showing a wide range of emotions which she was excellent at conveying.

Analog wouldn’t be the typical medium to work in when creating a project of this nature, can you give us a little more insight into the technical side of how you executed the pictures and your decision making process here to not shoot digitally?

For this project I used a mixture of 4x5 large format and medium format film. I've always appreciated the quality and feel of film as well as the psychological effect it has, forcing me to slow down and be more decisive with compositions, especially when working with large format. Shooting on film for a project like this and then creating composites was actually a lot of fun. I found myself getting quite mathematical, calculating the distances and working out how depth of field would affect each shot to keep everything consistent. Shooting this way was actually quite therapeutic.

Most of the images were shot on a tripod with a few photos taken of each scene that were then composited together in post-production. The indoor and outdoor shots were all done with natural light, using a reflector and a polyboard, no studio lighting or anything fancy. The night shots were lit with a flashgun. For the scenes that involved more than one version of Xiaoqiao, we had to do an outfit change and a hairstyle change within the same shot, so each one took a bit of time. The unpredictable British weather was a bit of a challenge too, especially with moving clouds on bright days which meant we had to wait for clouds to clear so the lighting would match with the previous shots for consistency.

The post-production requirement for this would appear to be key in realising your vision, has it featured this heavily in your work previously? How do you view retouching as a tool in your creative lexicon?

In my personal work up until now, retouching has generally been fairly minimal in terms of how much is altered within my images, mainly to remove obvious distractions in the background or tidy up minor details like clothing. I regularly work with retouchers to make these changes. I like things to feel natural and as close as possible to how they were when I shot the image, so I’m careful not to adjust too much. For this project, I knew post-production would be more integral, especially with the need to composite frames and manage my colourblindness.

Since I can’t always detect subtle shifts in hue, tone or colour balance, trying to do the compositing myself would have been too risky, things wouldn’t align properly. Post-production wasn’t just a finishing touch, it was essential to getting the look and feel I envisioned for this project. I feel really fortunate to have had the support of a talented retouching team on this project who were key in helping with the technical side, especially compositing and ensuring colour consistency. Their attention to detail was vital in making sure everything came together as planned.

How does being colourblind affect your colour grading process?

My colourblindness is quite severe which makes colour grading a complex challenge as I’m unable to fully discern the exact colours I’m working with. Still, I prefer to handle the colour grading myself in the post production process. I typically double-check the colours with someone else at the end of the process to confirm the hues I've used. Occasionally, a subtle adjustment might be necessary, but more often than not, no changes are needed. It can be tricky checking the colours in my work with someone else because I’m not aiming for technical accuracy, it's more about conveying a certain feeling.

People perceive colour in personal ways, what one person sees as warm, subtle or inviting, another might find excessive or contrived. There’s no exact right or wrong way to use colour, just a range of responses shaped by personal experience and preference. Finding the right balance between instinct, intention and feedback is definitely a challenge but it’s an important part of the process. Creating mood through colour is a unique process for me, especially since being colourblind adds an extra layer of complexity and a slightly different way of experiencing visual work. I consciously focus on the emotional tone of an image when adjusting colour even if I cannot always perceive it the same way others do. It is disorienting at times not knowing exactly what colours are in my images as I edit them. I often return to a photo I thought was finished, only to realise something feels off until I get a second opinion and some confirmation about the colour choices I’ve made. If I start to overthink it I sometimes send a screenshot to my mum for her input, just to get her trusted perspective haha.

The poem at the end by Xiaoqiao subverts ones expectations, it feels almost like you are breaking the 4th wall - giving a voice to a subject that throughout the scope of the work has been voiceless. Can you tell us a little more about this?

The poem by Xiaoqiao is written from the perspective of the characters she played, weaving together their voices with her own reflections on the central theme of facing different parts of ourselves. Xiaoqiao was closely involved from the beginning, helping shape the concept, suggesting interactions within the scenes, writing the poem, playing every character and also contributing pieces from her own wardrobe for the styling. Her creative presence added a lot. The title ‘Decaying with the speed of spring’ comes from a line in her poem which she wrote after we had finished the photography. I’d been searching for the right title for a while and that line just stayed with me. It felt like the perfect fit, a poetic reflection of both the concept and the emotional journey of the project, and a full-circle moment to incorporate a line from someone who played such a significant role.