Miranda Posing in a Ruin

Digital original

After the session with Constance, I was enthusiastically looking forward to a new season of working outdoors. Even before the weather had turned warm enough to work outdoors, I'd made plans with a visiting photographer, Jean-Francois from Montreal, to show him part of the province on the last Sunday in April. He'd asked if it might be possible for a model to accompany us, and after discussing the possibilities with Miranda, the plans were finalized. There was only one wild-card factor remaining, however - the weather; Sunday dawned with steady rain and intermittent fog, a typical Nova Scotian Spring day. We decided to keep to the plans however, hoping it would prove warm enough to do at least some indoor images.

About the only sheltered space I could think of to work in was at Spion Copp, a small out-fort that once overlooked Halifax Harbour. By the time we reached the space, the rain had slacked off to a light drizzle, but it was still to wet to work outdoors. I wasn't even sure if it was warm enough to work, but Miranda was willing to try and we began. Though we had only the light coming through the windows, I kept my working ISO to 100 (the lowest setting on the EOS 10D) to ensure the best image quality. This necessitated using a tripod, but as this is my preferred way of working, it wasn't an issue.

Digital original

Though the light was low, it had a wonderful directional quality because of the broad, high windows and we spent the whole session working with that. Miranda's hair has grown pretty long over the winter, and it was great to have this additional element to add to the images, either trailing over her torso or tumbling down behind her shoulders.

Digital original

Because of the chill in the air, this was a perfect session to work with the new digital SLR. I could work fast enough for Miranda not to get too chilled during the poses, yet get the image quality and performance I have always sought.