In the Spring of 1963, twenty one year old photographer Melvin Sokolsky shot this iconic Bubble photo series for Harper’s Bazaar.
Sokolsky was inspired by a re-occurring dream he had after becoming entranced by Hieronymous Bosch’s ‘The Garden of Delights’ painting. In the dream, Sokolsky said he could see himself floating inside a bubble across beatuiful landscapes. He decided he would use this idea for the photo shoot. It took ten days to produce a bubble, made out of Plexiglass and aircraft aluminum to look like a Faberge Egg. Sokolsky says he began to have doubts to whether he could recreate pictures on film that reflected the images in his mind’s eye.
The bubble was suspended off the ground by hinged rings so it could easily swing open for Sokolsky's model, Simone d’Aillencourt. It was extremely challenging for the crew to position the telescopic crane at each location around Paris and later New York. At one point, while shooting on the Seine river, the bubble actually submurged in the water, ruining an expensive pair of designer shoes. Though it was no easy task, Sokolosky managed to pull off his dream, without the use of modern day conveniences such as photoshop. The result is a series of unbelievable images that have an eerily surreal beauty.