Tanya's First Session

In what will forever seem like the epitome of irony, a couple of months after I moved away from Moncton, I was contacted by Tanya, who was interested in working with me, in the city in which she lived...Moncton. Fortunately for both of us, I was still doing some teaching in the city, and the next time I was in town, the two of us met, talked through the process, and agreed to work together.

Digital infrared original

While I would always prefer to work in landscape, celebrating the great outdoors, there is little as beautiful as window light for a classic portrait. Tanya is one of the most enthusiastic models I have had the chance to work with; she has a fabulous comfort in front of the camera, and more than enough patience to permit me to get just what I am looking for in an image!

Digital original, 7 frame stitch

Tanya and I began the session with her on a couch, but instead of covering it with white sheets, as has been my norm, I decided to work with it as is; the contrast between Tanya's warm skin, and the slightly cool fabric around her was really pleasing.

For a first session, our first together, I let Tanya direct the flow and pace; as it turned out however, she was already quite familiar with my work from viewing it online, and was more than keen to have me suggest poses and settings to work with.

The biggest surprise of the session was how much stitching I did; normally during a first session I am a little hesitant to focus so much on technique, but Tanya really took to modeling, and was an absolute pleasure to work with, so I made the most of the session, and pushed many of the compositions to the max (the largest stitch was 25 frames).

Digital original

I sometimes thing the best images are made with most simple of approaches - window light, a clean wall, and a comfortable, confident subject. Nothing more is required! Over the three hours we worked together, I made a large number of portraits, but this, made in the last minutes of the session, is by far my favorite.