March 31, 2003

Miranda in a Daylight Tub

35mm infrared film
About two months ago, I learned that a co-worker of mine had a bathroom with a claw-footed bathtub below a window. Thinking back to the bathroom sessions in the fall of 2001, I immediately asked if it might be possible to work with a model in the space. My friend said it wouldn't be a problem, and when I asked Miranda if she had time to model, she was immediately keen. But as these things go, it was more then six weeks later before the three schedules came together to permit me to access the space.

The space turned out to be very different from what I'd envisioned - there was a perfectly positioned window above the tub, but it was too high up to give the reflections I'd hoped for in the water. The light coming in the window was absolutely beautiful, however, so I began the session with her standing in the tub; the late afternoon light raked across Miranda's torso giving a wonderful glow from behind. We had a translucent cloth in place of a shower curtain and the first images of the session were made using that as a foil. This is atypical of my work in two ways; first, the model using an element of the environment as a "prop" is uncommon and second, the images were more "romantic" in feel then my usual work. I am not sure where this approach is heading, but I do know I like the initial experiments, and plan to continue to push the approach.
35mm infrared film
Once we'd finished working with the window and curtain, we filled the bath and I started to work with Miranda in the bathtub proper. I had hoped that the window could be reflected in the water, to give some highlight and form to the figure in the water, but apart from photographing from directly above, there was almost no way to see the window in the water. As a result, much of the water imagery was top-down, limiting some of the possibilities that I'd anticipated.
35mm infrared film
In the end, the bathroom session yielded a number of very striking images, despite the space differing from my expectation and an equipment glitch. I had hoped to work with both 35mm infra-red film and my 8"x10" camera but a crucial part of the view camera was left behind, so I had only the smaller camera. The session didn't suffer for the minimalist approach, but I would like to return to the space with the 8"x10" to see what images could be made.

(On a historical note, this was my last session using infrared film, as I set aside 35mm cameras when i began using Digital SLRs in April 2003; I would eventually return to working with infrared light in 2005).

March 19, 2003

A First-time Studio Session

35mm infrared film
Many of the people I photograph with happen to be photographers; I suspect this is in part due to their attraction to the medium, and also, given my focus on the Nude, their interest and comfort with the subject matter. With Constance, she has an interest in both sides of the equation, and all through the evening we first met, talk moved between discussing the world of photography in general, and the specifics of working with me. In the end, we decided upon a studio session, primarily because of her fascination with the look of 35mm infra-red. Since December, I've had some serious technical difficulties with Kodak HIE, but given Constance's enthusiasm, I thought I would take one last stab at getting the film to perform as it should. We set a time for the session, and just under a week later, reconvened at the studio.
35mm infrared film
One thing that was very different about the session with Constance was that she has several large, prominent tattoos. I generally avoid tattoos in my imagery, as I find them jarring to the flow of the body. It isn't that the models I often work with have no tattoos, more that I just have become very good at avoiding them. With Constance, however, there was no way to avoid the tattoos, so I just decided to not worry about them. The vast majority of the images we made show the ink-work, and with the portraits, I don't think there is any loss to the power of the image - they are portraits of the woman, after all.
8"x10" film
The only images that I really worked hard to keep the tattoos out of were a series of images I made with the 8"x10" camera. These came out of some sketches I did with the 35mm camera, working with a single light high and to the side of Constance. I decided to keep the focus clearly on her face, so I threw the rest of her body out of focus using a severe lens tilt, and kept her tattoos invisible through careful positioning, and placement of her hair.

March 12, 2003

Frozen Light

Digital original
I walked into my office, and saw this window right in front of me, glowing with a magical light, as the neighbour's light shone through the frost. Whatever one might say about single pane windows in a cold climate, the certainly make for great photos!

March 02, 2003

A Pregnancy Session

Digital original
Directly after the session with L_ and Elisabeth, I had arranged to work with Christina, a new model. The session was to take place in my own apartment, revisiting the small bedroom where so much of my indoor work has been produced over the last couple of years. I have known Christina for several years through her sister, Victoria, but this was my first time working with her as a figure model; the purpose of the session was to begin to document her pregnancy. Just like the work made with Aurora last fall, the images of Christina would focus on the last four months. The gift of being able to work with her is a hard one to describe; pregnant models are uncommon, and coming so close to my work with Aurora, it permits me the opportunity to continue building on my pregnancy imagery.
6x7 cm film
Christina was somewhat nervous about modeling initially. It wasn't that she had any doubts about wanting to have the photos made, more that she was nervous about taking the first step. She'd asked Victoria to come along for the company but there was a scheduling conflict, so Christina came alone. Once we began working, however, she relaxed and became much more comfortable. Because of the small bedroom we worked in, almost all the poses were either lying or sitting on the bed, which was both natural and restful for Christina, both of which only helped her confidence with the session.
6x7 cm film
The greatest frustration of the session was the same as I felt with most of the other pregnant models - a sense of loss for missing the first stages of the pregnancy. It is a wonderful gift to be permitted to work with Christina while she moves through her first pregnancy, but I can't help think of how rich the series would be if it moved from pre-pregnancy, through all the stages of gestation, through to portraits of mother and child afterwards.

L_ & Elisabeth Indoors

Digital original
After the success of the images made on New Year's Day, I was keen to return to L_, Elisabeth and Krista's apartment once the days were brighter, and see what the possibilities were with the 8"x10" camera. Two months later, I thought the details had been worked out, and I ventured back to the apartment. Unfortunately, while L_ and Elisabeth were available to model, communication broke down with Krista, so as opposed to a revisiting of the New Year's Day session, I changed the plans to a two-model session.

Fortunately, while the three model sessions plans had to be modified, the other factor, the weather, was in my favour. I couldn't have asked for better light, with the sky filled with light clouds that let the sun shine through intermittently.
Digital original
When I first worked with colour transparency film, starting in March 2000, I quickly fell in love with Fuji's Astia, a beautiful film specifically designed for skin-tones. When Fuji pulled the product from the Canadian market in 2002, I was at a loss, for no other colour transparency film gave me the tones that Astia provided. With this image, however, I see hope in the digital medium, as it took very little effort to match the skin-tone of L_ and Elisabeth. I hope this indicates that I will not be leaving colour photography behind, as more and more products are swept away by the inevitable digital tide.

The rest of the session was spent working alternately with a digital camera I was testing and my view camera. Working between these two very different tools emphasized two things; first how different the working process can be, depending on the equipment being used, and how little the tools being used mattered to the success of their use, as long as the relative strengths and weaknesses can be used to advantage.
8"x10" film
With the smaller digital camera, I could sketch quickly, making images that had potential, without expending limited resources (I can only take a dozen or so sheets of 8"x10" film per session), and then bring the larger, slower view camera into play when a particularly striking image was in the making. This is much the way I work with infra-red film, but added the element of colour, which is normally not a medium I work in. The dance between the digital camera and the 8"x10" was one that worked surprisingly well, with a great number of images being made as possibilities, and a select few compositions being created with the film camera.