Miranda's First Solo Session (Herring Cove, Nova Scotia)

This session would have been of Trav and Miranda together but an emergency appendectomy put Trav out of commission for several weeks. Miranda was more then keen to model alone, however, so we headed to the coast to see what images could be found.

6x9 cm film

The day began under a cloudless blue sky, and threatened to be a real scorcher. With this in mind, I chose a section of the coast that was facing directly away from the sun; it was likely to be cooler there, and I knew that the light in the shade would be beautiful and soft, lacking the high contrast and angular quality of the direct sunlight. My decision proved wise, as the day continued to be bright and sunny, and the temperatures rose, but in the shade it stayed comfortable and the light was just perfect.

8"x10" film

Most of the granite rocks we worked with were different from the smooth, worn plains further down the coast. In contrast, almost the whole of this coastline was made of rugged, broken stone, with long, angular cracks. These provided a wonderful setting against which to place the body, with the contrast between the highly textured rocks and the smooth skin of Miranda's body accentuated by the graphic breaks in the rocks. While the colour of the rocks was highly complimentary to Miranda's skin colour, most of the images we made were created using my 8"x10" camera, taking full advantage of the rich tonal scale and high detail of the large negative.

8"X10" FILM

One of my biggest concerns when contemplating the shift from the lighter three kilogram 4"x5" camera to the heaver nine kilogram 8"x10" camera was whether I could use it to make the same kind of image. In 1998, I had worked for a session with an 8"x10" camera on the underside of a railway bridge, so I had some idea that it wouldn't be an impediment, but I was still unsure. The above portrait, with only Miranda's eyelashes and a few freckles in sharp focus made the decision to take the 8"x10" camera on this session pay off.