Megan's First Session (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

I have not done any studio photography since December 1995. This was more because of lack of access than lack of interest.

Megan is a co-worked of a friend, and knew of my photography through him. She expressed interest in working with me, and after meeting and going over my work, we set a time to do some photos. Both of us would rather work on outdoor nudes, but given the weather outside (our first session took place only a week after the major ice storm that put most of Quebec and Maine in the dark), we decided that could wait until we could walk outdoors without risk of frostbite and went into the studio.

35mm transparency film

This was the first time I'd used studio flash in over two years, but it came back swiftly, and very soon the consideration was what to image, not how to light it. Megan has done a fair bit of self-portraiture in the studio and was thus comfortable being in front of the camera; Even though this was our first session working together, it went surprisingly well.

6x12 cm film

By far the nicest element of working with Megan was that she is comfortable with her face being in the images. Most of the models I have worked with in the past have been reticent about being identifiable in the images. There is something incredibly powerful about a confidant portrait of a person standing (or sitting for that matter) completely nude and looking directly at the viewer. These kinds of images are very different from my outdoor nudes, but no less compelling or beautiful.

6x12 cm film

The session as a whole was very successful. I made some very strong images on infra-red film, and began a relationship with a new model. I hope that in the coming weeks and months, Megan and I can do more work, eventually working our way outdoors.