Krista at Long Beach

I haven't worked with a lot of beaches over the history of my visual exploration of the Nude, for a number of reasons. Primarily, it is because beaches tend to be crowded, though the risk to equipment from sand cannot be over-emphasized as well.

8"x10" film

With this in mind, it was with some trepidation and we set out for Sandy Beach on this warm, sunny day.  Fortunately, Krista was willing to take the chance that the session would NOT be a beach and water one, so we set out to see what could be created.

35mm infrared original

Rather then beginning to work with Krista right in the water, I opted to try some images in the dunes; I haven't had much chance to work with sand, and the dunes on the beach were much larger then the others I have worked with in the past in Nova Scotia. After working with a couple of possible poses with the smaller 35mm camera, Krista and I finally came across a pose that really came together, with her arching back over a dune, and a cloud filled sky above her. That setting, combined with the soft light of a cloud-covered sun and a orange filter lead to one of the most striking dune images I have made to date.

6x9 cm negative

Once we had worked through a number of poses on the dunes, we moved to the back-side of the beach (where the people were not) and began to work with water-nudes. Unlike the open, ocean-size of the beach, the back had still water, lightly rippled by the afternoon wind. This provided me with the opportunity to work with Krista in the shallows near the shore. In fact, over the hour that we worked in the water Krista moved perhaps three meters from her original position - this was not because we were searching for a better location, but because of the falling tide - Krista had to keep shifting to keep the water depth at the right point.

35mm infrared film

The greatest pleasure of the afternoon working with Krista was the pacing; working between the 8"x10" and 35mm cameras gave me the best of both worlds - the freedom of movement of the smaller camera, and the precise control and rich detail of the larger one. I would never begrudge the role of the Mamiya RB in my work, perfect as it is for short sessions on a limited time-scale, but the pleasure of taking the time that large format work demands for the images that are called for is a great experience.