Ingrid in a River (Ingramport, Nova Scotia)

In 1996 I began my exploration of water nudes with Kris in the Canaan River. Two years later, in July 1998, I returned and made some very successful images with Lilly. A month later, however, in August, the formerly beneficent river god claimed my 4"x5" Wista in a tragic accident (to me, at least...the camera toppled over in midstream). Needless to say, I have a love-hate relationship with Canaan River.

4"x5" film

All that being said, on the way home from Gold River, Ingrid and I stopped to work for an hour, hoping that the change of location would provoke more images in the short time before we had to head back to the city. The Canaan River was suffering from the same lack of rain that had lowered the Gold River; I've never seen it so low and to say that the water was moving risks an accusation of hyperbole.

4"x5" film

Just as I discovered with Victoria and Megan that two models in the same space begin reflecting one another, it has become apparent that two similar spaces with the same model become almost interchangeable. Had the weather, or the water level, been different, the two rivers would have been night and day but, as it was, apart from my memory, there is nothing to separate the two session in the work itself.

Ingrid at a Rapids (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

The Spring and summer to date have been very dry and the water levels in the rivers have continued to fall. The first time we worked in the Gold River rapids, the flow of water was quite strong and all three models had to struggle to maintain poses in the rushing water; Miles nearly got swept down stream while posing for the most striking image of the day. A month later, the water level was down by three feet and the flow of the river had slackened considerably.

4"x5" film

It was a hot day, with blinding sun and a clear blue sky; Ingrid was quite enthusiastic to do water nudes and I was fairly confident I could tame the contrast inherent in direct sunlight enough to make the resulting images work By over-exposing the film and then compensating in the processing, I maintained shadow detail while keeping the highlights in check.. Given the reduced speed of the water, I knew that I'd be able to pose Ingrid in such a way that she wouldn't be battered by the water enough to blur her figure, but I'd be able to get a lovely blur in the water around her.

35mm infrared film

The distinction in an image between one quarter and a full second can be stunning. A quarter second exposure, such as the one to the left, maintains distinction in the river's flow, while blurring out the froth and bubbles below the rapid itself. A full second, to the right, renders everything as an almost smoky stream. In this image, the water flow was too strong for Ingrid to keep still during the exposure but the overall effect is very pleasing, with her body melding with the maelstrom below her. The most extreme water blur exposure, four seconds or more, makes everything look like it's in a low level fog, and creates a very difficult situation for the model in regards to staying still.

4"x5" film

After this session, upon reflection I realized how much the river's personality had changed from my first work there. In some ways, this is my favourite session at the Gold River, with strong water blur and poses that dealt with the direct sunlight well.

Miles and Ingrid Model on Rocks (Polly's Cove, Nova Scotia)

35mm infrared film

Because of the geographic position of Nova Scotia, much of her ocean-facing coastline is glacial plane. These broad expanses of granite cascade down to the ocean, and are strewn with a mixture of boulders, scrub and stunted trees. A distinctly inhospitable landscape, these glacial planes have been a favourite place of mine to work since 1993.

On this day, Miles, Ingrid and I didn't have much time, so we decided to stick with a route we knew and walked down to a rock cove where we'd worked last year. The day was sunny and bright, not my favourite photography weather but optimal for working with infra-red.

35mm infrared film

As we walked, following the path to the shore, we passed under a high cliff which both Miles and I instantly agreed had image making potential. We clambered up the rocks and began working with the pale wisps of cloud which I knew would turn black on film. It was only at the very end of the images we made on the cliff that the image above was composed. I seldom frame an entire landscape though I use a very wide angle lens (19mm) when I work with infra-red. The open vista looking down to the sea worked very well with the flow of Miles' shoulder and back and the low line of fog delineated the ocean from the sky.

4"x5" film

When we arrived at the cove, the sunlight pretty much obliterated working anywhere but under the sheer rock faces. The first image I made of Ingrid below the rock was an attempt to convey the massiveness of the cliffs at Polly Cove and, while I am pleased with the image, I still feel it falls short of conveying the space. The final image of the session was made when Ingrid moved into the crevasse to the right. Sunlight filtered down behind her in a narrow shaft along the crevice, producing a subtle side lighting to the left, while the flat front lighting gave a wonderful roundness to her figure, in a manner similar to Edward Weston's dancing nudes produced in 1927. One of the best ways to learn how light works is to see how others have mastered it and apply their technique to your vision.

Victoria at Fort McNab (McNab's Island, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

It always amazes me how much a space can influence different models. In 1998 I worked with Megan in Fort McNab, and just over a year later, I returned with Victoria and produced work with a similar tone and approach. I didn't intend to mirror the work with Megan, nor was it consciously in mind while I worked, but looking at the two set of images, I find it impossible to deny the influence the space had on the images.

The strongest image of the day was made in a space that I'd discovered with Megan in 1998, but was unable to work in at the time as the sun was in the wrong position. With Victoria however, the light was right, and we could make the images I'd been thinking of for a year. In the space of about 10 minutes, we exposed 10 sheets of 4"x5" film, with most of them relying simply on available light.

4"x5" film

I was concerned that the contrast from the single overhead light source would be too high, and so for the image to the left, I used the small pop-up flash in my Canon EOS Rebel 2000 to fill in the shadows by firing it manually during the one second exposure on the 4"x5" camera. This worked wonderfully, with the low-powered flash filling in the shadows, while leaving the sense of the natural light intact. The other negatives work in a different way, but I prefer the one displayed here, as it give a better sense of the space in which we worked.

The final image displayed here was produced shortly after we finished in the arched room. The sunlight was coming almost directly down, a situation I usually avoid working in. The reflections off the whitewashed steps and walls filled the shadows enough to make the image work, however. Victoria's simple pose, with the aversion of her head, makes an image which for me has a distinct Latin feel to it; something that would be better set in Mexico or Spain than in a military fort in Nova Scotia.

4"x5" film

The combination of the Nude with architecture is something that keep reappearing in my imagery. I seldom work with conventional building spaces, finding that they date images too much; there's nothing like seeing a 1960's chair in the background to fix in time the work of Richard Avedon. In the same light, setting the Nude on the worn concrete and beaten architecture of the military ruins around Halifax gives them a timelessness that is hard to replicate in other, less decrepit spaces.

Ingrid at the Killdevils (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

6x12 cm film

Gold River, between the rapids, Killdevils and Cumberland, has proved to be a rich hunting ground for images. The wide variety of riverscape, combined with the differences in the river's water levels from week to week has lead to a very diverse set of images over a short period of time (earlier work on Gold River can be found here). The more I work with water, the more malleable I find it, realizing that its ability to both reflect and transmit light is its real beauty, as much as I love its movement. On this day, because of the lack of rain, Gold River was slow moving, and instead of working in the same space as before, we moved down river, to a broad, open section.

4"x5" film

There, as opposed to working with the movement of the water, I concentrated on the reflections and distortions which were present, using the pale green water grass under the surface as a counterpoint to Ingrid's pale body. The subtle distortions of the body below the water, combined with the dark, mysterious quality to the river made the water images from this session quite different from my other water work.

4"x5" film

After we finished up working in the water, Ingrid took a walk downstream. Returning five minutes later, she asked me to come with her; she'd found a small patch of white flowers which she wanted to work with. Though it doesn't come out well on the web, the image to the right is the flower nude - one of my favourite "land nudes" this year. The wonderful sweeping motions of Ingrid's arms, torso and legs makes the image work well within the frame, and the high resolution of the 4"x5" negative shows the tiny white flowers in exquisite detail. The delicacy and quite quality of the image as a whole lead to exactly the result I was hoping for.