Ingrid at Pennant Point

Digital original, 4 frame stitch

My very first session with Ingrid took place at Pennant Point, back in 1998. This day was almost a mirror of that session, with the weather gray and foggy.

We began the session working on the large rocks at the end of a small headland that juts out after the second beach. I'd worked here in 2000 with two models but given that that was a bright and sunny day, we only spent a little time on the rock because it is so close to the walking path and had a much higher chance of having hikers or dog walkers coming across us while we worked. On this day, because of the fog and mist, we could work with far more security so we spent a good hour working with the rock.

8"x10" film

Unlike many sessions by the ocean, the sea was subdued, with slow, rolling waves washing over the bedrock. After working for a time on the large erratic bolder that marks the end of the beach, I asked Ingrid what she thought of trying some images working with the gentle surf of the ocean. She tested the water temperature, and declared she was up for a few water images. Just behind the large erratic, there was a natural vein in the granite bedrock, a shallow depression which cumulated in a sharp break in the stone. The waves curled around the end of the rock, and swept up the depression - it was the perfect place for Ingrid to pose - no chance of her being picked up by the water and carried off but with enough turbulence to give the white highlights and frothy chaos that I am so enamored with. We worked with the space using both the 8"x10" view camera and the digital, but, in the end, the best composition was with the view camera - Ingrid's body literally melds with the sea, blending into the chaos that surrounds her.

8"x10" film

After the water nudes, we moved back onto land (truth be told, the afternoon was so foggy that Ingrid never really dried off after the water images). The rest of the session was quite successful, with us moving from my traditional "nude-in-landscape" images, to my nude portraits and near abstract images.

I seldom mix so many different approaches into a single session, but I think the fact I did on this day is as much a comment on my comfort working with Ingrid, as it was my growing comfort with different approaches used during the same session.