Miranda Returns to the Bathtub

6x7 cm film

The second candle session with Miranda was much like the first. As a way to inject some variation into the session, we began the session with a smaller candle, that didn't need a holder. Because this had a broader base then the taller candle stick, we could sit it directly upon Miranda's body, which moved the light source very close to her body, which in turn made it easier to include the candle flame in the image. The first successful image uses the glimmer of the candle in the water to define the lower reflection of Miranda's hip in the bath water, while the pure white glow of the well-lit tub and back wall helped separate her hip in the other direction.

6x7 cm film

During our first session, every image we'd made worked with Miranda lying in the water, but for this session, we explored some of the possibilities offered by her sitting; the specular highlights of the water running off her body struck me as quite beautiful. The obvious problem with this approach was that the longer exposures required by working with a single candle presented some problems with Miranda keeping still. Fortunately, she could push her back into the wall of the bathtub behind her, and keep steady that way. The narrow focus required by the image was quite suitable for the image; Miranda's hand and the candle just a little soft, and the water drops on her face and breast are in sharp focus.

6x7 cm film

The final images of the session worked with the reflections in the water, similar to the work at the end of our previous session. Again, I was frustrated by my inability to get the camera low enough (the edge of the bath was in the way), which make me even more interested in eventually pursuing the idea of building a space in which to do studio-nudes in water; the reflective possibilities pull me back to the Simulacra work, while the visual possibilities of water on skin are self-evident.

Another Session with Elisabeth

6x7 cm film

Elisabeth's comfort with the camera was crucial for the session. Probably the hardest pose to ask of a model is to simply stand in an empty space and gaze directly at the camera. It takes a great deal of poise and confidence to make such a setting work, for the first half of this session, that's how we worked; with the flat frontal lighting and the strength of Elisabeth's gaze.

6x7 cm film

All the sessions to date with Elisabeth have been working with her posing on beds, lying down below the windows and deck doors. In order to make some images with a different flow to them, I opted to work with her standing before the white sheets, with the light coming from behind the camera. This changed the lighting from edge and rim lighting to a flatter, more frontal lighting. While I don't use this approach often, I do like the quality it lends to the Nude, giving pronounced, soft shadows to both edges of the figure, and lending an almost surreal quality to the images as a whole.

8"x10" film

The session finished up with a total change in setting; the afternoon's light was soft and diffused, so I set up a black-backdrop right beside the window, and asked Elisabeth to model right by the large double-doors. The results took full advantage of the contrast between the light, and the black background. So much of my indoor work for the past couple of years has revolved around the Nude on white background that the stark contrast of the figure on the black field is quite striking to my eyes. I am not sure if this will provoke an entire new body of work of indoor images against black, but it certainly ended a session of engaging images on a high note.

A Natural Light Session

6x7 cm film

My first session with Natasha was in the studio, though a good portion of that session was actually spent working with the available light that came through a door. For this session, Natasha and I worked in my living room, with the diffused light through our double-deck door. Unlike the studio, however, we had a pull-out bed to work on that provided a broader variety of poses for Natasha to explore.

6x7 cm film

For this session, while I had the Mamiya RB set up and in use, most of my attention was focused upon the 8"x10" view camera; the diffused light through the sheet was more then enough to work with, and the success of the images I'd made with Natasha three weeks earlier made me want to explore the possibilities natural light offered. Also, Natasha was interested to see how the two approaches differed; she was pleased with the studio images, but agreed with me that the studio seemed a less then perfect setting. As it turned out Natasha was much more comfortable in the available light setting, though I suspect this was a much a reaction to approaching the session as an experienced model as it was to the space in itself.

8"x10" film

On the whole, the session flowed well; often I explored the possibilities of a given pose with the Mamiya, using the lighter camera to discover the angle or perspective that worked, refining the pose and composition, and then setting up the view camera to make the final exposure. This is very similar approach to how I have traditionally used 35mm infra-red film outdoors, and it seemed like a natural evolution to take that tactic to my indoor work. The precision and planning necessary to make an image with the 8"x10" camera is something that I revel in, and it was wonderful to have the time and patience granted by Natasha to work at the pace such an approach demands.

A Session with Elizabeth

8"x10" film

 When a day is as bright and luminous as this afternoon was, the opportunity to work with the 8"x10" camera is seized instantly. For all the demands and limitations the larger, heavier camera places on my working process, I simply see better with the larger camera, finding the most fluid tool to express myself with. Elisabeth hadn't work with me and the 8"x10" camera before, but because we'd made numerous successful images the first and second time she modeled, I had little concern about the longer poses the large format camera would require.

8"x10" film

 With the small space we were working in, the limited number of exposures that the 8"x10" camera permits also worked well; we began the session concentrating on portraits, and then moved to bodyscapes and more abstract images. Where often with smaller formats, the pressure in a session is to come up with ever more poses and compositions to record, with the twelve negatives per session with the 8"x10", it is more a case of making the most of what limited images can be found.

8"x10" film

When we'd made our dozen exposures, Elisabeth and I brought the session to a close. The natural flow of things, between the slower camera, and more considered poses, seemed to pay of with a number of striking poses in all three styles - pseudo-abstract bodyscapes, nude portraits, and more traditional figure images. I am fully aware that more images would have been recorded if I'd used the smaller, lighter Mamiya RB, but I seriously doubt that any better images would have been made. That, and the extra fidelity that the 8"x10" negatives provide left me with a great feeling of joy after the session - the singular pleasure of making such a striking series of images.M

A Second New Year's Session

6x7 cm film

The second half of the afternoon was spent working with Krista and her partner, Greg. The winter afternoon's light was fading, but the opportunity to work with a couple was not to be passed up, so I changed to higher speed film and set about seeing what would come to pass.

6x7 cm film

Usually I avoid high-speed films, preferring the more delicate tonality of fine-grained, slow speed films. That being said, I still would rather make the images that need making then refuse to photograph with high-speed film, which is coarser and less detailed then I prefer. If I'd had the choice, I would have loved to have worked with my preferred slow-speed films, and captured the details I am used to realizing, but the light being what it was, I reached into the camera back, and brought out the Delta 3200 (in 120 format).

6x7 cm film

Though Greg had never modeled nude before (let alone met me previously), the session went well - I have always held that indoor sessions with couples generate their own energy, and it was certainly true of this afternoon. While I wasn't familiar with Greg, my previous work with Krista laid the groundwork for a level of comfort with her that was picked up by Greg and which flowed through the images of the session.

A New Year Begins

6x7 cm film

New Year's Day was planned to begin with a photo session working in my front room with Krista but, after a mid-morning call, the venue was shifted to her apartment. It was unclear if Krista would actually be home in time to model so L_, her roommate, proposed that if Krista didn't make it in time, she and Elisabeth could model together, and if Krista did arrive, all three of the roommates could model. In the end, all three were available when I arrived, and with little preamble, we started working.

6x7 cm film

The fact that the light was coming from behind the models and flooding across the bed on which they worked pretty much limited us to poses lying on the bed. With most of the images produced, I worked looking across the lines of the model's bodies, the repetition of breasts, stomachs and hips. I'm usually pretty critical of the "compare and contrast" approach to photography, but in this case, it was pretty much the only viable approach.

I've only worked a couple of times with three models at the same time, and found it quite a challenging dynamic to work in. The visual complexity that is inherent in having so many bodies in a composition at a time is difficult to overcome. The most obvious solution is to create images that involve repetition and contrast to create a flow through the composition.

6x7 cm film

We finished up with a couple of sitting portraits, with the three models together against a white sheet. It was difficult to find a pose that worked all three models into the same image, but after some experimentation and shuffling of bodies, we closed the session with a portrait of the three of them together.7