Lymari Models Indoors (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

As with Bili and Joe, Lymari came up to Nova Scotia for a brief visit, but was more then happy to model before she returned to the sunny climes of Boston (she and two others had driven up through a snow-storm). When she had visited the previous summer it was more then warm enough for us to work outdoors, but with the temperatures outside below freezing, we opted for an indoor "white room" session.

35mm negative

Taking a cue from my successes with Trav and Miranda, I began the session working with a fast portrait lens, and narrow depth of field. The day wasn't as bright as it had been the previous day, which limited me to working exclusively on a tripod - a surprising limitation, given how much light the f/1.2 lens let in. This made the whole session a little less spontaneous, but tightened up some of the compositions, and permitted me a little more freedom to play with lines and form.

35mm negative

Where my other work this year has focused upon the bodies of lovers entwined, the session with Lymari became as much about her eyes as her body. While I did continuously return to making images that focused solely upon her body as form, it was the portraits which stayed in my mind's eye when the session was completed.

8"x10" film

I am somewhat tortured about portraiture; it has always been an area of imaging that has drawn me, and yet I am not sure what place it should hold, in the larger scale of my work. In a general sense, a portrait is most effective when the viewer knows the subject, but with many of the portraits I have produced (the nude portraits), they seem to be quite engaging even to total strangers. I suspect this lies in the complexity of a Nude Portrait, but I also wonder