Cassandra, Nova Scotia XIII (Long Island, Nova Scotia)

Of all the places I was to work with Cassandra, this was the furthest a field, at the end of a long drive that went more then half the length of the province. It was also the most anticipated, and least known space, being a waterfall I had good directions to, and yet had never visited.

35mm infrared film

Fortunately for all, the directions were incredibly accurate, and without a single wrong turn, we found ourselves at the falls; way at the top of the falls. At the top of a very steep, very slippery, very very treacherous set of falls. Never one to be daunted by the dangerous (or possibly egregiously stupid), we began the session by doing some exploratory images of Cassandra at the top of the falls. We then proceeded, with great care, to move the 20 or so meters down the near sheer rock-face, to a small flat area in the falls, which held great potential for images. This was, of course, with my 4"x5" view camera, and a nude Cassandra.

4"x5" film

As it turned out, while the hazardous climb down was successful, the waterfall was almost impossible to photograph; there was almost no safe place to set up the tripod, and even less space to stand. In the end, while we did make some images half-way down the falls, the strongest images of the day were made back at the top, before we packed up and left for the day.

4"x5" film

The final photographs were less "Nudes" and more portraits; Cassandra was still wet from the waterfall, and I made a short series of her with tangled, dishevelled hair; the thin lines of water blurring in the background contrasting nicely with the Cassandra's pale skin, while the dark mass on the right forms a great mirror to the shadowed face looking in the same direction. The general convention for a portrait is that the subject should have eye contact with the viewer, but in this case, the image is stronger for the lack thereof.