December 09, 2002

A First Session with Kim

As I mention above, apart from the work with Aurora, not too much has happened photographically speaking this fall - all my attention was focused upon taking full advantage of the opportunity Aurora had so kindly provided to me. The fact that I was distracted by domestic realities (trying to sell my house) only made the decision to focus upon Aurora, to the exclusion of other models, easier.
6x7 cm film
With the release of the "Revealing Beauty" documentary in November, however, my work was placed before a new audience, and with that came a number of people interested in working with me. As Aurora's due date looms, and things begin to semi-settle down on the house side of things, I was more then interested in the possibilities that new models might offer.

Kim contacted me after seeing the video, having become very engaged with the ideas and possibilities represented by my work. We met and discussed working together, and a week later, met again to begin making some images. We worked in my living room, where I used white sheets to create a light, luminous space for her to model in. I worked between all three camera formats, concentrating on medium format, but bringing the 35mm infra-red and 8"x10" camera into play as was appropriate.
6x7 cm film
As much as I realize the inherent benefits of long term collaborations with models, such as the relationship I have with Victoria, there is an equal advantage to a first session with a new model. The total unknown that hangs in the air as a first session with a new model begins is almost magical - there is just no way to anticipate how a model will interact with myself, and what images will come out of the first session.

Because of Kim's long and svelte figure, many of the images I made had strongly emphasized diagonals, both because the aspect ratio of the cameras I was using was too box-like for the images, and because the diagonal compositions created an increased tension within the frame. With my outdoor work, I seldom skew the horizon, preferring to let the images flow be generated by the lines of the landscape, but with indoor images, it is so easy to influence how an image flows by simply tilting the camera.
Digital original
By the end of the session, Kim and I had produced a number of very successful images, ranging from delicate, engaging portraits to beautiful bodyscapes focusing on the lines and flows of her hips and legs. About the only real frustration with the session lay in the time of year, and the reality that it will be months before Kim and I will be able to work within the environment that I most enjoy, the great outdoors.

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