set decorating

I've found some interesting photos and I've been playing around with them to see if any ideas gel.
This photo shows the colorful flags that I think will be good for adding the bright, festive tone. They also would be very useful for perspective. I could have them draping from foreground to background, with an extreme size difference. That would help describe the space that the figures are in, how close or how far back they are.

The structure of the building is a bit too block-y - the dark ached doorway is intriguing - but the rest would read only as a solid mass. (Guess I should expect mass from church!)

How about the shapes below for structures? They're quite complicated. I do want to keep in mind
that I will be constructing this from fabric.

Looking back at the photo I posted the other day, I see a part that captures my eye. I like the simplicity of the structures in the background, and they remind me of the church structure above. The attached crosses I could take out: what if I replaced them with keys, maybe the old fashioned skeleton keys? I like the color palette that is in this area also - have to keep this in mind.

The cemetery
Hari Polansky, 2008


 

Googling around, I found some pictures of bank safes.  I have in my head that it's a visual I want to use, but just how will they fit in? They're symbolically interesting, but not too visually dynamic. They have to "read" as a safe and not just some clunky boxes, otherwise the symbolism won't work. Substituting a bank safe for cemetery vault is what I'm after. 

OK. This is getting complicated and I haven't even got any people in here yet!  I've started collecting some good ones, but we'll have to get to that tomorrow.