The Dubai Chronicles

Monday, August 07, 2006

c a s t o r . a n d . p o l l u x

shutter speed: 2 secs, aperture: f/6.3, iso: 200, focal length: 50mm, wb: auto, af-s nikkor 18-70mm dx, kaiser 67mm uv filter, tripod mount, manual focus

castor (or kastor) and pollux (sometimes called polydeuces) were the twin sons of leda and the brothers of helen of troy and clytemnestra. they are known as the gemini, latin for twins.

they are called the dioscuri (dios kouroi), meaning the "sons of zeus", although the story of their parentage is confused, as it is for their sisters helen and clytemnestra. the best known story is that zeus disguised himself as a swan and seduced leda. thus leda's children are frequently said to have hatched from two eggs that she then produced. by many accounts, however, leda's mortal husband tyndareus could also have fathered some of the children. which children are thus mortal and which half-immortal is not consistent among accounts, nor is which child hatched from which egg. castor and polydeuces are sometimes both mortal, sometimes both divine. one consistent point is that if only one of them is immortal, it is polydeuces. in homer's iliad, helen looks down from the walls of troy and wonders why she does not see her brothers among the achaeans. the narrator remarks that they are both already dead and buried back in their homeland of lacedaemon, thus suggesting that at this early point in the development of the legend, both were mortal.

castor and polydeuces abducted and married phoebe and hilaeira, the daughters of leucippus. in return, idas and lynceus, nephews of leucippus (or rival suitors), killed castor. polydeuces was granted immortality by zeus, and further persuaded zeus to share his gift with castor. (in some accounts, only polydeuces was fathered by zeus, while leda and her husband tyndareus conceived castor. this explains why only polydeuces was granted immortality.) accordingly, the two spend alternate days as gods on olympus and as deceased mortals in hades.

source: wikipedia

doing self-portraits is hard specially when there's no one to assist you in focusing. using a tripod, i put a dummy pillow, focused on it and put a mark where would i be posing. source of light was on the right side of the subject using flourescent lighting covered with white fabric to soften. set on a remote setting, i made a few shots of each profile, front and side views. since the lighting was low, the shutter speed was longer and i was obliged not to breathe and move for few seconds to avoid blur. after choosing the best poses, i merged the two using photoshop with minimal pp work.

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