Miriam: A Serialized Interview with Brian Pera -- Part Three of Five

Yesterdays two winners, chosen using random.org, are Fernando and Zazie! Get in touch with me at the e-mail to the left and I'll send your prize packages posthaste!




“For me, serialization means a story keeps on deepening and expanding over time.” -- Brian Pera, Writer and Director 

“Woman’s Picture,” the film, is a beginning. Filmmaker Brian Pera plans to continue exploring these characters in an open-ended series of short, web-based films over the next ten years or so. 


The segments, while at first view may seem unrelated as stories, do relate on “subterranean levels of mood and theme,” according to Pera. This is a process he likens to perfumes from a long established house like Chanel. Compare two of them, and the differences are obvious. But, when looking at the line through time, the differences become more muted, while the parallels become more apparent, and more complex.


Visit the other participating blogs for different angles. They’re listed at the end of this (and subsequent) posts. And stop by Evelyn Avenue  for all sorts of interesting stuff. “Miriam,” which is to be released in early October, will be sold there, and through Lucky Scent. 




Andy Tauer has provided a very generous allotment of sample prize packages for the drawing, too. Details appear at the end of this post.


Pera has also done a fascinating series of short films in which women talk about their memories of perfumes, loved ones and the links between them. Look for "Melissa" here on Saturday, September 17th.


It seemed appropriate to serialize this interview, which was conducted online, as well. So it is appearing over a five day period.




Question 3: Which Miriam does the completed, real-life perfume “Miriam” represent to you? 


Pera: “The Miriam perfume is amazing to me.  I think Andy based it on the character and her world, as well as on Ann Magnuson's performance, but also on the things I'd written about my grandmother's perfume, and losing it, and how that felt.  So it's like another creative mind was there with me when that bottle of perfume shattered. Andy rescued it in a way by paying it homage.  The perfume he created isn't the same as my grandmother's was, but it doesn't need to be.  


What matters is that, based on this story I filmed -- which is grounded in real experience for me -- he created a new memory. That helps me deal with the fact that my grandmother's perfume, and my grandmother, are gone.  In a way, they're not gone now.  They live on in Miriam - in someone's appreciation for and understanding of what this person and her fragrance represented to me, the same way that Ann's performance memorializes them.  As far as how the Miriam perfume relates to the character in the film, it's replaced any perfume I might have imagined while we were shooting the piece.  For me, it's become the fragrance Miriam's mother wore, and when I smell it I feel like I might be a little closer to sharing in its importance to her, something that only exists in smell, way outside of words.  


By the time we filmed ROSE, the film which revisits Miriam and her mother, which takes place several years earlier, I imagined that the perfume we were all talking about was the one Andy's created.  So it was a nice creative exchange that way - my work inspiring him, and his inspiring mine.  The “Miriam” this fragrance represents to me is the one who values the past and lives with it both comfortably and uncomfortably, trying to reconcile it with the realities of the present.  The perfume is dreamy and strong like her, a space for the imagination.  It embodies her respect for people and places and the continuum of history and feeling they exist within.”




Visit the other participating blogs for more exploration of “Woman’s Picture,” reviews and short films in which women talk about their memories of perfumes. Links appear at the end of this post.




 The drawing: Each day, I’ll pick two winners at random from that day’s comments, who will each win a package from Tauer Perfumes. This includes a sample of the fragrance “Miriam” and a sneak-preview DVD version of the “Miriam” short film, which opens in October. I’ll announce the names of the previous day’s winners with each day’s post.


Previous winners of the “Miriam” package won’t be eligible to win again until the drawing for the Grand Prize, a purse-sized sprayer of “Miriam,” which all commenters are eligible to win. That random drawing will be held at the end of the five-day series, and announced at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, Sept. 19th. 


All winners must contact me with postal details at the email listed to the left, by midnight US Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, Sept. 30th. Otherwise, I’ll do a random drawing to select alternates.




Other participating blogs are:

Perfume Shrine   

 Persolaise

Perfume Smellin Things

Perfume Posse


Photo by Andy Tauer.

Miriam: A Serialized Interview with Brian Pera -- Part Two of Five

Yesterday's 2 winners are Ewik and  CC Douglas! Get in touch with me at the email to the left and I'll send out your prize packages posthaste! (Winners chosen using random.org)

“For me, serialization means a story keeps on deepening and expanding over time.” -- Brian Pera, Writer and Director 

“Woman’s Picture,” the film, is a beginning. Filmmaker Brian Pera plans to continue exploring these characters in an open-ended series of short, web-based films over the next ten years or so. 

The segments, while at first view may seem unrelated as stories, do relate on “subterranean levels of mood and theme,” according to Pera. This is a process he likens to perfumes from a long established house like Chanel. Compare two of them, and the differences are obvious. But, when looking at the line through time, the differences become more muted, while the parallels become more apparent, and more complex.

Visit the other participating blogs for different angles. They’re listed at the end of this (and subsequent) posts. And stop by Evelyn Avenue  for all sorts of interesting stuff. “Miriam,” which is to be released in early October, will be sold there, and through Lucky Scent. 

Andy Tauer has provided a very generous allotment of sample prize packages for the drawing, too. Details appear at the end of this post.

Pera has also done a fascinating series of short films in which women talk about their memories of perfumes, loved ones and the links between them. Look for "Melissa" here on Saturday, September 17^th.

It seemed appropriate to serialize this interview, which was conducted online, as well. So it is appearing over a five day period.

Question 2:

“When you originally imagined Miriam’s mother’s perfume, what was it like?”

Pera: “In the film, Miriam keeps her mother's unnamed signature perfume off to the side of her vanity, in a crystal decant it must have originally come in.  It's like a shrine there, and she has a ritual around it.  People who love perfume will recognize that ritual and I think relate to it pretty strongly.  Dressing the set, I put a tray nearby on the vanity with a variety of perfumes I selected from my own collection, all of them things I imagined Miriam would have inherited from her mother.  All those bottles are pretty full, which indicates that her mother didn't wear them much, whereas her mother's signature perfume is almost empty.  It's special.  

Those other perfumes I put out were clues, pointing to what Miriam's mother's perfume might smell like, a combination of fragrances that would have been released around the same time.  They give her mother's unnamed perfume some kind of context for the viewer, showing where it situates itself in time.  I don't remember all of these perfumes I set out but I think they included Miss Balmain, Bal a Versailles, and Balenciaga Le Dix, some of my favorites.

All those perfumes represent a bygone era and signify how temporary things are. But, at the same time, because Miriam has kept them, we see how we can make things last, carrying the past forward with us.  At the same time, I feel like Miriam's mother's signature perfume does something none of the others can, together or separately - which is why both women have revered it and kept it separate.  Somehow, Miriam and her mother made a strong personal connection with this fragrance, and I'm fascinated by that.  What endows one fragrance with those emotional properties, and not another?  How does a fragrance speak to us that way, cutting right to who we are and how we feel about things?  Miriam and her mother have a relationship with this fragrance which is like a relationship with a person.  It's definitely a relationship with each other, through this perfume.  For me that shows how huge a fragrance can be, how powerful and unique.

The perfume I had in mind as Miriam's mother's perfume while writing the script was Youth Dew by Estee Lauder.  I liked the idea of Estee Lauder because I'm fascinated by that brand and what it means to women in America, the way it has bonded mothers and daughters in this realm of fantasy and luxury and ideas of everyday American femininity over the years, and the way that's a shared fantasy, similar to the way Miriam shares her fantasy world of perfection with her viewers.  However, once I smelled Andy's version of Miriam, I couldn't picture anything else on the vanity there.”

Visit the other participating blogs for more exploration of “Woman’s Picture,” reviews and short films in which women talk about their memories of perfumes. Links appear at the end of this post.

 The drawing: Each day, I’ll pick two winners at random from that day’s comments, who will each win a package from Tauer Perfumes. This includes a sample of the fragrance “Miriam” and a sneak-preview DVD version of the “Miriam” short film, which opens in October. I’ll announce the names of the previous day’s winners with each day’s post.

Previous winners of the “Miriam” package won’t be eligible to win again until the drawing for the Grand Prize, a purse-sized sprayer of “Miriam,” which all commenters are eligible to win. That random drawing will be held at the end of the five-day series, and announced at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, Sept. 19^th. 

All winners must contact me with postal details at the email listed to the left, by midnight US Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, Sept. 30^th. Otherwise, I’ll do a random drawing to select alternates.

Other participating blogs are:

Perfume Shrine   

 Persolaise

Perfume Smellin Things

Perfume Posse

Photo by Andy Tauer.

Miriam: A Serialized Interview with Brian Pera

“For me, serialization means a story keeps on deepening and expanding over time.” -- Brian Pera, Writer and Director 


“Woman’s Picture,” the film, is a beginning. Filmmaker Brian Pera plans to continue exploring these characters in an open-ended series of short, web-based films over the next ten years or so. 


The segments, while at first view may seem unrelated as stories, do relate on “subterranean levels of mood and theme,” according to Pera. This is a process he likens to perfumes from a long established house like Chanel. Compare two of them, and the differences are obvious. But, when looking at the line through time, the differences become more muted, while the parallels become more apparent, and more complex.


It seemed appropriate to serialize this interview, which was conducted online, as well. So it will appear over a five day period.


Visit the other participating blogs for different angles. They’re listed at the end of this (and subsequent) posts. And stop by Evelyn Avenue  for all sorts of interesting stuff. “Miriam,” which is to be released in early October, will be sold there, and through Lucky Scent. 


Andy Tauer has provided a very generous allotment of sample prize packages for the drawing, too. Details appear at the end of this post.


Pera has also done a fascinating series of short films in which women talk about their memories of perfumes, loved ones and the links between them. Look for "Melissa" here on Saturday, September 17th.




The first question:


“What was the fragrance’s development, the process of collaboration with Andy Tauer, like?”


Brian: “Andy and his work represent for me, in a way very few people do, what it means to be truly independent now.  Indie and independent are words which are used very loosely these days, but Andy sets an example which really clarifies what those terms essentially need to mean for me.  I feel a real kinship with his creative philosophy and practice and that's the reason I approached him in the first place.  It's the way I'd like to make films, not just now but always: following my own instincts, doing much of it myself, getting my hands dirty, making things, producing them, in a meaningful way which feels hand crafted and sincere rather than hyped and distorted by a thousand intermediaries.  It requires a strange admixture of humility and confidence, and I hope I'm moving toward that equilibrium as successfully as he has.


Andy read the screenplay and said yes, which shocked me.  I expected him to say no.  I felt I needed to ask and get it out of the way, and once he said no I could move on to others.  But he said yes, and away we went.  From the beginning he showed a lot of trust in me and faith in what I wanted to accomplish.  He started working on the fragrance very soon after he said yes.  He saw a first cut of the first three Woman's Picture short films, including MIRIAM.  We exchanged many letters discussing Miriam and her influences, relating it to our own experiences.  He told me pretty early on what direction he was considering going in.  We then talked about that, and I think he made a few modifications, as did I, and we moved on from there.  


I think the creative process is both singular and universal, and I found that while the art of perfumery is obviously a lot different than filmmaking, the practices share many of the same struggles, challenges, and inspirations.  In one of the essays he wrote on perfumery, Edmond Roudnitska talked about imagination and the way it works - by association, by organization of accumulated influences and inspirations.  It means being open.  "The most insignificant detail - occasionally even one that is alien to the field of perfumes - can trigger a first association of ideas, which can entail another such association..." and so on, and all those associations graft themselves onto an initial idea like base notes and modifiers in a perfume. 


 That's filmmaking, too, really.  So when Andy and I talk about combining the arts of perfume and film I think we're not just talking about the result but the process, the engagement; as artists we're both inspired by each other's creative world to make something new, and our imaginations work alongside each other, producing some third piece of art which exists in the mind of the smeller and viewer, who relates these things for herself.  


Collaborations are pleasurable to me and I feel very comfortable with them, but few have been this rewarding and gratifying.  I think everyone who knows Andy's work knows something of Andy - that's the kind of artist he is, a very personal one.  I can tell you that's sincere and real.  He's a uniquely committed individual and I consider myself more than lucky to have engaged in this with someone so creatively generous and fearless.” 

The drawing: Each day, I’ll pick two winners at random from that day’s comments, who will each win a package from Tauer Perfumes. This includes a sample of the fragrance “Miriam” and a DVD package with excerpts from "Woman's Picture," a bonus 15 minute short from the movie, and related short films from Evelyn Avenue, and the “Miriam” short film, which opens in Los Angeles in October. I’ll announce the names of the previous day’s winners with each day’s post.

Previous winners of the “Miriam” package won’t be eligible to win again until the drawing for the Grand Prize, a purse-sized sprayer of “Miriam,” which all commenters are eligible to win. That random drawing will be held at the end of the five-day series, and announced at 9:00 a.m. US Eastern Daylight Time, Monday, Sept. 19th. 


All winners must contact me with postal details at the email listed to the left, by midnight US Eastern Daylight Time, Friday, Sept. 30th. Otherwise, I’ll do a random drawing to select alternates.


Visit the other participating blogs for more exploration of “Woman’s Picture,” reviews and links to the other short films from Evelyn Avenue in which women talk about their memories of perfumes.


Perfume Shrine  (post up now)
 Persolaise (post up now)
Perfume Smellin Things (September 21)
Perfume Posse (October 5)


Photo by Andy Tauer.

Coming Attractions: "Woman's Picture," featuring "Miriam"

A Five-Part Interview with "Woman's Picture" writer and director Brian Pera, and a generous daily drawing of "Miriam" samples, courtesy of Andy Tauer!

Beginning Wednesday, Sept. 14 and wrapping up (with a Grand Prize drawing) on Sunday, September 18.

Pentachords, from Andy Tauer -- a samples drawing

In an interview Andy Tauer gave recently, he talks candidly about these new fragrances, and how they came about. The central issue was a difficulty he was having working with iris roots in the development of a previous fragrance. Since that’s one of his favorite and most-used notes, he had a problem to solve.

He wondered, he says, if.  If a scent could be reduced to its fundamentals while still being harmonious. If the classic pyramid structure could be transcended in a way that would still leave room for development. If he could come up with a series based on these ideas that would work; what to call it, how to describe it. If stepping onto an alternate path for a time would fit with his developing brand. 

Near the end of the interview he speaks of how he came to the decision to do this. New roads; the creative process itself in which nothing is ever really “finished,” but can always be better, which is well-known to any artist. And the knowledge that a new road leads to discovery of all sorts of other new aspects that can be applied to one’s new work, and as tweaks (which are hard to resist) to one’s older work. 

The battle of Natural vs. Synthetics goes on, of course; Tauer’s previous work has mixed them in quite complex formulas. These fragrances, the Pentachords, are made from synthetic molecules. The intellectual and creative challenge he gave himself -- construct 3 perfumes using only 5 ingredients each-- meant that every ingredient had to perform every function expected of a perfume. Using the molecules was part of the solution. The other part was using the most interesting molecules, ones that evolve on skin as naturals do, in harmony with one another. He tried a number of synthetics, most notably a variation Irone Alpha -- as expensive as rose absolute -- before finding the right ones.

These words are a joy to write. Not many perfumers would ever consider revealing their own artistic processes, much less their dilemmas. This speaks to perfumery as art, in a way we’d all love to see more of...ok, already, what do they smell like?

There are three, the series named after the five-note diatonic scale, the individual fragrances named after the colors they evoked to Tauer.

“Verdant” is a green (are you surprised?) After the initial leafy burst, it reminds me of walking into a humidor. There is tobacco here, making this very different from most “green” scents, with their usual trinity of galbanum/vetiver/violet leaf. Tauer fans will recognize a bit of spice, too, along with the hints of galbanum and leather. It’s not sweet, nor is it sharp. It’s a great masculine and a distinctively different feminine.

“Auburn” is a Tauer through and through. It’s a bit like his "Orange Star," with its fruity-not-bitter orange, a bit of honey and lily like his "Zeta," and a dash of L’air du Desert Marocain (just a dash) in there too. Lately I’ve been exploring the world of mixology, in which cocktails are constructed much like perfumes. I’d love to see how a flavorist would approach these notes.

“White,” my personal favorite, has been described in terms of snow and silvery violet, but to me it opens with rich, foody vanilla, then a strong violet aspect and a base of ambroxan (or one of the other myriad names which describe synthetic ambergris) and some white-woody musk. Try as I might, I can’t see this cold; it’s divinity, an old-fashioned kind of white candy my grandmother made. The violet, which is the aforementioned irone alpha, does shift and glimmer. (Most ionones render me asnomic to practically everything else in the fragrance; this doesn’t.) All this being said, “White” is a cool-weather fragrance, which I plan to wear when our weather cools (if it ever does).

And these last. The “White” in particular lasted, even on me, all day.

These fragrances won’t be released worldwide until mid-September. At the moment, they’re only available at Campo Marzio, in Rome. Be the first of your friends...leave a comment, any comment, by midnight,  August 7, US Eastern Daylight time. I’ll do a random drawing and send the winner the pictured set of generous carded samples.

To watch the interview with Andy Tauer, go here.

Full disclosure: The sample sets were set to me by Tauer Perfumes.

Winners of ZETA samples from Tauer Perfumes

The winners of the three ZETA samples (chosen using random.org) from Tauer Perfumes are:

Alicia at cleis
oloiuqui
flavourfanatic

Please get in touch with me at olfractarama at att dot net with your postal addresses and I'll get these out to you double quick!

(Normally there would be a post here; however, my MAC's hard drive fried yesterday and it's in the shop; back next week with a regular entry.)

Congratulations winners, and thanks to Andy Tauer!

She's as sweet as...a sample drawing

I have trouble asking for freebies. This particularly applies to perfume samples. Usually I just suck it up and order them like everybody else. Not free, but guilt-free, if I don’t like it. 

I’ve always ordered and paid for my samples from Tauer Perfumes, because I believe that a niche perfumer of Andy Tauer’s reputation probably gets a zillion requests for free samples. I’ve never wanted to be one of Those People. Weird timidity? Maybe. Anyway, I dutifully ordered a sample of the new Zeta, behind the curve as usual, and got four samples and a nice note saying “just e-mail us next time” and so I guess I’m on their radar. 

This is my favorite Tauer of all, so far, and I’m not just saying that. For some odd reason I started thinking the song “Tupelo Honey,” by Van Morrison. Odd association, since this is not a honey fragrance. But who knows where these associations come from? I try to accept them, never suppress them, ride them like a surfer rides a wave. The song, a favorite of mine, is playing in my head right now.

I haven’t loved all the Tauer fragrances. With some of them, mostly the earlier ones, I’ve wished the perfumer had used a slightly lighter hand with the “Tauerade,” that incensey resinous thang in the base. But I can also see a brand developing here. A link between in all the perfumes. That’s smart. Admirable.

“Zeta” is lighter on the Tauerade than any of the other fragrances I’ve tried. It’s there, but just a whisper, just enough. This perfume shows, more than anything, the perfumer’s increasing skill. Subtle is tough.

 I’ve been messing around with oils and absolutes, making ambient scents, realizing how difficult this art is, how expensive the good natural ingredients are (and how cheap, therefore tempting, the synthetics are). My mother used to say that if you want to see how a dress is constructed, learn to sew and make a dress. It’s true. Make a dress -- not that my efforts have been anything but laughable --  and you’ll never look at readymade clothing the same way again. 

The notes in “Zeta” have, of course, been discussed already, in all the major perfume blogs, so I’m not going to get into long discourse about them. The fragrance opens with citrus, but it’s not sharp; it’s a little orange-y. Then it slides seamlessly into the florals, led by our old friend orange blossom -- which can be as heavy as an anvil but here is uplifting -- how did he do that? -- and neroli, the slightly different take on orange. 

I’ve only smelled linden trees in bloom once, while walking down Linden Drive in in Beverly Hills during their bloom. I don’t remember the scent specifically, only that it was beautiful. I lingered next to my car, breathing it in, until the inevitable Parking Police approached and I had to flee. The linden here is subtle, arranged with a rose called “honey yellow,” a trace of vanilla and then, after awhile, a bit of orris, then the suggestion of the Taurade base.

Some of the Tauer scents have  been brilliant conceptually, but not always completely wearable except by those with enough knowledge to appreciate the ingredients and the perfumer’s artistry. “Lonestar Memories” comes to mind as an example. Zeta, which Tauer calls “an ode to summer,” is completely accessible, and could be worn by anyone who just wants to smell good. In the modern perfume marketplace, this scent is reasonably priced, too, at around $150 U.S. Dollars for 50 mls. 

So am I tempted to keep my other three  samples? Yes! Am I going to? No! I’m going to give them away to three lucky commenters. Step right up: the drawing, for generous spray samples, ends a week from today, which is to say Tuesday, May 16^th, at 9 a.m. Eastern U.S. Daylight Time, at which time I will pick the three winners.

Good luck, everybody!








Full Disclosure time:  I bought my sample and received the three extras from Tauer Perfumes. 


Leave a comment to enter the drawing for a generous spray sample of Zeta. The three winners will be chosen using random.org.






Rainbow-in-hand photograph by Pat Borow, all rights reserved.

Scatterings

Finally beginning to plow through the cigar box full of samples. My testing procedure: Two drops of the fragrance on a strip of watercolor paper. (Watercolor paper is far superior to the premade strips usually used. It’s designed to hold particles of pigment, forever. It holds perfume molecules for weeks, and allows you to really evaluate the base notes.) Concurrently, apply to skin. Sniff skin/paper alternately.

My skin burns through a scent at least twice as fast as paper, and sometimes the scents are completely different, especially in niche/artisan fragrances. (I know, I know, this isn’t exactly what you’d call news, is it.)

Anyway, here are a few, grabbed blind from the cigar box:

Coze (Parfumerie General ): Opens with a slight tang and a little confusion. A green note, or is it something else? (Offically, this is built around a seed oil exclusive to PG, Canapa Sativa. Maybe that’s it.) Then it becomes what so many of the niche scents become now: woody.  A little research reveals wood, coffee, pepper, smoke, a little cocoa. I smell the wood; coffee wouldn’t have occurred to me; no pepper, no smoke, so far. It smells like many other niche scents I’ve tried.

However, on my skin this opens very differently. A nutty warmth. Wood right away. There’s the pepper, and I think it’s black pepper.

After a few hours (blotter only) I can smell the coffee. It reminds me of the coffee note in Ineke's Field Notes from Paris. There’s a little bit of cocoa, too. The next morning, what’s left on the paper is a slightly musky wood. A nice scent, nothing wrong with it, but nothing really new, either. Perfumer: Pierre Guillaume.

Orange Star (Tauer Perfumes): Opens on paper a little soapy, and more like orange soda than orange blossom. The fruitiness continues on: orange orange orange. 

Howevah: This is why perfumes must be tested on skin. It’s very different. The bases come up much faster, and they’re needed. In this race, skin wins; the fruity orange, which is a little off-putting to me, fades much more quickly as the resins bloom into a recognizable Tauer fragrance.

I think we need a holiday perfume to replace Caron’s Nuit Noel, the old war horse that has held this role for decades. This could be the one. It reminds me of a pomander, with all the orange and spices. 

Hmmmm….(a quick perusal of Perfume Shrine's review reveals that the idea came from a soap Tauer makes and gives to his friends at Christmas -- I didn’t know this, honest! My nose must be improving, some. “Official” notes include a “fresh citrus accord” lemon grass, orange flower, an ambergris base, tonka and vanilla. There are spices in there too, though, hence the pomander comparison.

The next day, on the blotter, the spices and ambergris note persist, with a hint of orange blossom. This is where Orange Star really, uh, shines. Perfumer: Andy Tauer.

L’Ombre Fauve (Parfumerie General, Private Collection): Roughly translated: “brown wild beast.” On paper: This one reminds me a bit of Shalimar, but it’s not nearly so polite. What rough beast -- very well-named.

On skin: an odd opening, some more-bitter-than-usual citrus, over in a flash.  Morphs almost immediately into a chocolately incense-y amber underlaid with animalics, most notably an in-your-face musk. Woods, vanilla. Patchouli, definitely. A Shalimar/Habanita for the new millennium. Dries down heavy patchouli. 

The next day, on paper, it’s all vanilla and that heavy, slightly catty musk -- I’m wondering; is it real, a real animal musk? Is that possible?

A quick visit to the website; to gain access to the “Private Collection” area, one has to submit a username and password (which doesn’t actually get submitted, so you’re locked out, SoL. If this isn’t a broken link, then it’s just silly; who do I have to know to...never mind.) 

Very limited distribution. A fall/winter scent, imho. Perfumer: Pierre Guillaume.

Coming soon: Agent Provocateur (what a surprise!) and Parfums di Nicolai’s Eau Turquoise. And, finally, Nuit de Tubereuse.

Full disclosure: I bought these samples from LuckyScent.


photo © Sazykin, used under license from Dreamstime.com.