September 02, 2002

Fern Returns to North River

After a break for lunch, we headed up the LaHave river, to find another space in which to work. Several had been suggested, but each in turn was revealed to be occupied (it was, after all, the Labour Day weekend). In the end, we opted to return to North River, where Fern and I had had our first outdoor session almost a month before.
8"x10" film
Luck was with us, and we found the space abandoned. Rather then walk far up the river to the place we'd had such success in before, I opted to work lower on the river, where the slowly moving water was meandering between the bare, softly shaped rocks. By this time the high cloud had burned off, and the light was harder and more direct. This was a double-edged sword, as it gave more definition to the dark rocks, and Fern's pale body, but at the same time, it made the exposure and development a little more tricky.
8"x10" film
Because there was little water in the river, much of the imagery I made worked with Fern posing in the rocks and foliage on the riverbed; I would have preferred to work with a more active river, but a dry August pretty much ruled that out. Towards the end of the session, we did manage to work with some water, overflowing from a broad, smooth-surfaced pool. Created late in the afternoon, the image of Fern in the water is darker then many of my water nudes; the sun was low in the sky, and as opposed to reflecting a bright blue sky, the water was dark and mysterious, with only a little highlight appearing on the other side of Fern's body - quite beautiful.
4"x10" film
In contrast to the morning session, I worked exclusively with the 8"x10" at North River; the difference was striking, but not unexpected. Making twelve images in four hours was a refreshing change from the morning's hectic pace; Fern was more then patient with the slower approach - given the warmth of the afternoon, she was just as content to hang out and wait for an image to come to fruition as she was to model continually, as she had in the morning session.

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