Lilly Returns to the Studio (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

I have a love-hate relationship with studio photography. With the arrival of the warm spring weather, and the ability to work outdoors, I had expected to set aside studio work, and focus on the outdoor imagery. But a chance to work again with Lilly, who was unable to model during the day, was too good to pass up.

6x12 cm transparency film

With the image above, I was drawn to the very rich play of tones on Lilly's body, and felt that the colour of the skin added more to the sense of landscape than it detracted. I did make the image on black and white film as well, but find the colour photo much closer to my intent. The body as landscape is a popular approach in the studio, but one I have not used often in the past. The other two images here rely much more a play on light and shade than the colour image, and as such, were produced in monochrome.

4"x5" film

An added serendipity of the session was that I realized that what I had been working toward with the defocus images had been achieved and for all intents and purposes, constituted a finished body of work. I made several images with Lilly in this style but, upon viewing the results of the session, realized that I preferred the more traditionally focused images. While I know the defocus elements will appear again and again in my work, the initial period of discovery and exploration is completed.