I recently found an old bag of Warhammer figurines at the back of my school's art supply room, and upon enquiry I learned they had belonged to a student from several years before, who had long abandoned them. Opening the bag, I found a bizarre mess of broken soldiers, some missing arms, legs, heads or even an entire torso. However, all were still frozen in action-packed poses such as running, and this sense of motion combined with the damage almost gave the impression that the soldiers were in their throes of death. I decided to develop this idea into a photo shoot, and promptly went outside to collect some flat pieces of mud which had fallen of sports boots. Bringing these in, I created a diorama on a tray, using a black sheet of paper as a nigt-time backdrop. I used a free-standing light to illuminate select areas of the diorama for each shot, so as to give the impression of flashes of lightning, and as a final touch I used a spray bottle to turn the muddy field I had created into a rainy marshland. Ultimately, the aim was to create a dark and emotive shoot in which we share the last moments of soldiers, sci-fi or otherwise, and I feel I was largely successful in creating an atmosphere of genuine despair.