October 31, 2000

Randi's First Studio Session (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Randi's introduction to modeling in the studio was a real test of her mettle; for reasons well beyond my control, the heat had been turned off in the studio I have access to and, though the day was relatively mild, it took all of Randi's dedication and enthusiasm to carry her through the two hours we worked with only space-heaters for warmth.
35mm infrared film
The session, like much of my work in the studio, was only loosely directed. We went in with the dual intention of continuing Randi's familiarization with the studio environment (she'd assisted twice before, once with nudes), and my work with the mirror. Beyond that, there really were no ideas in mind when we began, and, as usually, I started the session producing some nude portraits of Randi, a method I use with pretty much every model when I begin working with them in the studio.
4"x5" film
The results were mixed; most of the portraits I made had an odd expression on Randi's face - this was a bit confounding, as the portraits we'd done outdoors have been quite successful to date. Oh the whole, I'll count the portraits as a starting point, and leave them be. In stark contrast to the portraits, however, were a series of infrared images I made of Randi's torso, working as she moved to the music in the studio. The strongest image of these I've posted here as strong example of the advantages of a small, hand-held camera for capturing a fleeting gesture.
4"x5" film
The close of the session was spent working on more mirror nudes; with my show being printed in the next couple of weeks, it was last session with the mirror (the REAL last session) before all the work for the show was selected. As Randi had been assisting me in the darkroom, she was already familiar with the series, but it was interesting how she brought her knowledge of the work to the studio, and let it influence her posing. While she had little sense of what my camera was framing, Randi propelled the work forward by working hard to strike poses that weren't represented in the earlier mirror images. On the whole, the mirror work was the highlight of the session, with several striking images being created; unlike earlier sessions, I concentrated on large format images, and just used 35mm as an after-thought.

October 27, 2000

Randi in An Autumn Forest (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

The last outdoor session of 2000 was spent just outside of Halifax, in the woods near a lake. We chose an outcrop of lichen-covered granite, both because it provided interesting settings to pose against, and because it permitted us to work with the angular autumnal light.
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Like the second outdoor session, Randi and I focused upon images that reflected the landscape. After two sessions, she's beginning to get a sense of what I am after when I give directions, and generally speaking, we're getting faster at making an image come together.

In some ways, this session felt a little desperate - the air was cool, and I actually didn't expect Randi to model for long, if at all. Once we began however, she insisted it was comfortable enough, and we proceeded to explore the space.
4"x5" film
In some ways, choosing to work on such a small plateau of rock was a real restriction to the work as a whole. By the same token, restrictions breeds innovation, and well before we ran out of idea, Randi had grown too cold, and we had to depart. The early and most evident images came from playing the body off against the rocks, exploring the crevasses and breaks in the broad stone. Towards the end of the session, however, Randi suggested a series of poses against a thin tree beside the rocks - the resulting image, above on the left, speaks strongly to me of Mapplethorpe, an American photographer from the 1970's and 1980's who made a series of studio nudes with particularly strong and powerful models. While this image has a different tone and setting, it certainly comes from that same place of confidence and power in the model.
4"x5" film
Overall, the three outdoor sessions with Randi were a great way to draw my outdoor work for the year to a close. Her dedication and thick skin permitted me to make a number of very strong images, and push my work further in several directions, than I would have otherwise. I hope to continue working with her occasionally over the winter, and in the coming year.

October 24, 2000

Randi in Autumn Light (Halifx, Nova Scotia)

6x9 cm film
Every time I manage to get out and work with Randi, I feel I am snatching a missed opportunity from fate, and turning it around. I usually don't do many session outdoors after the first of September, and working this late in the year, and with a new model to boot, is a real luxury. The first session with Randi was so late in the year that I had thought it would be the last outdoor session of the year; I was wrong. Our second session proved to be more focused, more comfortable, and best of all, warmer.
35mm infrared film
 It is really frustrating to learn that the best light for outdoor figure work in Nova Scotia is present only this late in the year. Randi and I worked for almost three hours, beginning just after noon, and all through that time, wonderful low raking light flowed across the landscape, providing rich modeling of both the land and body. The quality of the light was really rich too, providing crisp, defined highlights to everything it touched, but not so harsh as to black out any shadows in the same image. Practically every photograph we made worked explicitly with the angular light, either using it as rim lighting for the figure, or to set it against the landscape in some way.
35mm infrared film
This session was really focused on making images, where the first time Randi had modeled, it was really all about giving her an experience of the process. This time however, everything was dedicated to the process itself, and the change was evident in the work. The biggest frustration now is knowing that the good weather can't last forever, and eventually, I'll have to retreat from the winter light indoors, to studio, candles, or afternoon light.

October 23, 2000

A Cello and Claire (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

35mm infrared film
Almost since I first met Claire, she and I talked of doing a photo session that incorporated her cello; the mixture of the body and instrument seemed only logical, but it took until the fall for us to finally put together a session (to be honest, we could have done it earlier, but as the weather was good enough for outdoor work, we took advantage of it while it lasted). The session was hampered by cool weather (the studio was unheated) but was really encouraging all the same. The flow between the body and the cello was less obvious than I had thought, but yielded some really stunning combinations that surprised me even more when I saw the images on film the next day. Sometimes the results exceed the expectations.
35mm transparency film
I almost never work with props in my images (though one could argue the mirror is a prop), but in this case, I approached the work with enthusiasm and interest - the possibilities seemed to great to be ignored. Surprisingly, however, most of my pre-conceived ideas went out the window when we actually started working; the cello was so different from what I'd expected.
35mm transparency film
The first poses we tried worked with contrasting the flow of the body to the lines of the instrument - using strong back lighting to light Claire's hip and the side of the cello. From these, we moved on to play with the mirroring of the body, framing hips, breasts and shoulders against the body of the cello. Overall, the results were frustrating, even with the strong successes. The studio was too cool to permit really detailed set-up for the images, and as much of a trooper as Claire was, well before we'd exhausted the possibilities, she was too cold to continue. I hope to revisit the cello and Claire in the studio again, but it will be with more time, and more heat.

October 18, 2000

Randi Posed at a River (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

Once it is past the first of September in Nova Scotia, it is always a crap-shoot as to whether it will be warm enough to work with a model outdoors. I suspect that this session will be my last figure session outdoors for this year, which in some ways, makes it a sad occasion. What makes up for it though, is the strength of the images I made, and the fact that it's hopefully the beginning of a working relationship with a new model.
35mm transparency film
I've known Randi for a couple of years, but she moved away a year ago, so it was a surprise to receive a call from her in September, saying she was returning to Halifax, and asking if I would take her on as an apprentice. Since I'd first met her, I'd wanted to ask her to model, and seeing as her interest in photography was partially oriented towards the Nude, I thought it appropriate to ask her if she'd model for me. I also pointed out that besides being of benefit to me, having some experience on the other side of the camera never hurts - it gives you a better degree of sensitivity to the model's role in the process. Randi responded that she hadn't thought of that, and wasn't sure - she'd let me know though.
35mm infrared film
Since then, we've pretty much done all darkroom work, so when it looked like we had a good day coming up, we made our plans. At that time, Randi indicated that she might model if the weather was warm enough, but as the forecast for the day was only fair, I was expecting it to be a rocks and water day. I was pleasantly mistaken.

While we began the day with both of us photographing, exploring the rocks and water at Gold River, we both weren't feeling particularly into it, and eventually, began doing some figure work. The early images were straightforward, with Randi perched by a rock, looking at the camera, but very quickly Randi became more comfortable in front of the camera, and we moved onto more involved images, working the pose into the landscape, as opposed to her just being in it.
35mm infrared film
The last set of images we made were created on a steep shale hill, above the river - the strong angle of the hill made for a couple of really interesting settings to work in, and while we did not get to work with all the possibilities present because of the cool weather, what we did make was really pleasing, both on the 35mm (infrared) and the 4"x5" cameras. Because of the cool weather, I worked as fast as I could, starting each set of images with the 35mm camera, to make sure I knew which angle and lens worked best, and then translating that image to the 4"x5", to make the final image or two, before we changed the space and pose. The system worked well, giving us a surprisingly number of images for the length of time Randi modeled.

October 03, 2000

Rocks & Water (St Margaret's Bay and Blue Rocks, Nova Scotia)

I came to working with water late - it was only after working with photography for eight years that I first made my water nudes, and it was Joy's poetry that opened my eyes to other possibilities, leading to the Laetitia images.
6x9 transparency film
On this day, the chance to guide Peter along the south shore of Nova Scotia was coupled with the opportunity to spend the day photographing the waterways inland from the coast where I normally work. This river, which feeds directly into St Margaret's Bay, is one of the most striking water spaces I have ever come across. The lake which the waterway feed off was as still as glass, but then it flowed through a narrow gap, under the road, turning swiftly into rapids and small falls. The smooth flow of the water towards the bay was wonderful to work with, creating smooth, even ripples in the water. Because I was primarily acting as tour guide, I'd left my 4"x5" at home, and instead was working with my smaller Fuji 6x9 rangefinder. This was a very different way for me to work (the camera has a fixed lens, limiting the angle of view to one the equivalent to a 28mm lens on a 35mm camera). The final results though, were more than pleasing, with some very interesting interpretations of what was, to the naked eye, a small and limited space.
6x9 cm film
When we moved onto Blue Rocks, I again focused on rocks and water, but this time it was tidal pools, as opposed to the moving water of a river. What really drew me to the pools was less the water, and more the reflection of the afternoon sky. The day, up to now, had been overcast, and it was only in the late afternoon that the sun was finally breaking through the clouds, and providing some contrast to the scene. By carefully waiting for the right moment, when the sun was behind clouds, but still very present in the scene, I was able to make a well balanced exposure - with more cloud cover, the clouds would have been too dark, and with less, they would have been brilliant white against the properly exposed rocks.
6x9 cm film
At the end of the day, I was left with a really surprising group of images. Because I have limited time and resources, I tend to focus on the Nude, when I have the opportunity, with the logic that on days where there are no models, there will be rocks and water and stuff. This day bore that truth out, but also provoked the question - if I took more time to work with other subjects (as opposed to working with models whenever I have the chance) how different would my work become, given time to experiment and grow?

October 02, 2000

Clair Models by the Ocean (Peggy's Cove, Nova Scotia)

Peggy's Cove is Nova Scotia's most popular tourist site; the white lighthouse on its point is the best known lighthouse in Canada, and probably has several million photos made of it every year by visitors from around the work. Almost regardless of the season, the huge granite rocks that surround Peggy's cove are always scattered with tourists, clambering around on the rocks, or watching the waves crash upon them. Not an ideal space to have a figure session perhaps, but after our trip to the area in July of this year, both Joy and I were convinced it could be done, and that the incredible beauty of the rocks and water were more than worth the effort. I discussed the plan with Claire, and she was more than interested, agreeing with us that with people keeping a watch on the tourists, and a good sense of timing, anything was possible.
4"x5" film
As with the previous trip to Peggy's Cove, this day's work was facilitated by a visitor from Europe, Peter, who had come to explore Nova Scotia for a couple of weeks. Claire was fine with the extra person coming along, and agreed that having another person to spot for curious passers-by was a good idea.
4"x5" film
It turned out that our guess was right, and that it was reasonably easy to work on the rocks; Claire and I set the poses up with her clothed, and would then tweak them after she disrobed. I had a strange sense of déjá vu from the Alberta Project, where I frequently worked with Victoria while Annie watched for people. Once or twice there were close calls, with people coming over rocks a little too close for comfort, but on the whole, the session went off without a hitch.
6x9 cm film
The interesting thing, as always to me, was the results. The constant possibility of interruption, having three additional people at the session, and the simple fact that the air was chill, necessitating that the poses be kept short to keep the model happy and warm, all added up to distractions from the process. I managed to get some more than decent images, with a particularly good portrait, and great water-rock nude among them, but those that didn't work REALLY didn't work, which is unusual for me. Usually I'll get a good number of pleasing images from a session, with one or two that succeed wonderfully. From this day, however, with the exception of perhaps four, all the images had serious flaws, ranging from the pose, the composition, to everything combined. At a loss for other explanations, I really have to put this result down to the distractions that abounded, and to the stress of the setting. While I'd work again at Peggy's Cove without hesitation, I do think some forethought into the planning would pay off (a warmer day, earlier or later, and perhaps, starting off further down the shoreline would help).