Three Models at a Waterfall

About half-way through the indoor session, the weather began to clear up, and less then an hour later, the sun was shinning, and the models were lobbying hard to relocate to working outdoors. After the session with Monique at the upper falls, I knew where I wanted to go. Not a week before Kylie had asked about water nudes, and while the weather was still too cool for water warm enough for swimming, I knew we could work along-side the water with great success.

Digital original, 4 frame stith

Unlike the first time I worked at the falls, the sun was out when we arrived. Like many other wooded spaces, the sunlight was difficult to work with; the dappled light through the leaves was pleasant enough to look at, but on film and with the digital camera, it presented a contrast problem with was hard to control. The easiest thing was to work around it, and eventually, to wait it out.

Digital original, 2 frame exposure blend, 14 frame stitch

We started working along side the river at the top, trying to make the images when the sun was cloud-covered, but this quickly proved futile.We moved down into the ravine where the falls landed, and worked in the shade provided there. This yielded a number of very strong images.Because we were avoiding the sunshine, they worked more with the rock walls then with the water itself.

The last half-hour of the session was spent waiting for the sun to move off of the top of the waterfall; I didn't want to lose the image to the high contrast inherent in direct sunlight. I'd spend more then ten minutes moving the view camera into place along the steep edge of the ravine, and wanted to make the most of the effort.

Digital original, 22 frame stitch

As it turned out, though both Kylie and Bobbi posed for the final two images of the day, only Kylie's pose worked out (Bobbi was too close to the edge of the image, and was quite distorted by the wide angle lens). Baring that issue, the image met, and even exceeded my hopes and expectations. We'd waited long enough for the light to soften at the top of the falls, but I didn't expect the sun shining through the water to show up so well, or work so beautifully with the lines in the rest of the image. After working with water for almost nine years, I can finally say I made an image of a waterfall that does the location justice.

Three Models Indoors in Moncton

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After the first, short session with Bobbi a week before, both she and I were keen to have another chance to work together. As it would happen, Kylie was considering coming to Moncton to model for a day, and offered to give Bobbi a ride up as well. She had already worked with Miranda, and was quite keen about having a second model on the session. As it would happen, the night before the session, Kylie asked if a friend of hers, Helene, would also be welcome. Helene hadn't modeled before, but was interesting in coming along and perhaps in modeling. I indicated that it wouldn't be a problem and by late morning, the three women had arrived and, after looking at prints and discussing the process with Helene, we started working.

Digital original

The real hope for the day had been to work outdoors, but after a weekend of threatening, it was finally raining, so we had to work indoors. The session had some elements of the New Year's Day session, with Elisabeth, Krista and L_, but in other ways it was very different. For that session, all three of the models knew each other well, and had experience modeling nude. For this session, it was only Bobbi's second time modeling nude, and while Kylie and Helene were good friends, Helene had never modeled nude at all. This made for an interesting dynamic that became in some ways the focus of the session.

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I spent most of the session working with bodyscapes - abstracts formed by the repeating lines of the model's bodies. This is by far the easiest way to make images of three models - with two, I have a tendency to focus on portraits, but with the chaos that three models bring (conversations, jokes and general comradely), it is best to focus on something more abstract, and leave portraits to quieter sessions.

Monique in a Waterfall

The second day with Monique had a lot in common with the first - the forecast called for rain, and the precipitation simply never arrived. We headed out mid morning, hoping to get in as many photos as possible before the rain finally started. By the end of the session, the sun was threatening to come out, and not a single drop was felt.

8"x10" film

Where the previous day was spent working in a place I had scouted out beforehand, this session saw us venturing into the unknown; I had visited Gordon Falls previously with friends, and was suitably impressed by the grandeur of the falls, but given they were directly below the road, they didn't suit my work with the Nude very well. That being said, I suspected that little perseverance and exploration would likely reveal a perfect spot in which to work. I couldn't have been more right!

Not since I first worked at Dawson Brook in 1990 have I seen a space as beautiful as the Upper Falls (I don't know their real name, so that will do for now) - a beautiful upper river with rocks and moss, and then a 7 metre fall with a deep pool at its base, and then shallow water until the second set of falls. The space was rich with spaces to pose upon, and while the sides of the forest around it were steep, with care and effort, it was possible to work on them with the view camera with only a few problems.

Digital original, 2 image shutter speed blend

The light was perfect for the space, overcast and diffused enough to permit some longer exposures - in several cases, as long as four seconds. Because it was still early in the year, the water was too cold for Monique to actually work with water nudes, but we made a variety of images along side the water, with the longer exposures blurring the water as it moved past her.

Digital original

By the end of the afternoon, we had worked from one end of the waterfall to the other, where it dropped down another waterfall to the main river. I had worked through all the film and digital memory I had with me (the digital wallet which I usually use to download my digital images to was out for repair), and was feeling pretty imaged-out. The space was fabulous - overflowing with possibilities, and both Monique and I agreed we could have used twice the time, film and digital memory, and still not exhausted the space's potential.

Monique in the Studio

Every session with Monique in the studio has been of her working with Miranda, so after a full day of photography, a good dinner and some relaxation, I set up my studio flash, and started a short studio session, making the most of the two days of Monique's visit.

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I usually start studio sessions with standing portraits and this was no exception; very quickly, I decided to take another approach, as the standing images seemed a little stiff or posed. I asked Monique to stand how a Monique stands. She experimented a bit, and then moved to working on the floor - as Monique put it, "It is easier to be a Monique naturally when you are hanging out and relaxing...a Monique standing isn't really a Monique."

Digital original

The difference between the earlier images, and those made with Monique lying on the floor is like night and day. When she'd first moved to the floor, I spread out the black background, and changed the position of the light so it provided fairly even illumination of the space Monique would be working in. Where the standing images look poses and artificial, the images we made at floor level were much more natural and spontaneous. For the rest of the session, I responded to Monique's movements and poses, occasionally giving suggestions for slight adjustments, but for the most part simply responding to what unfolded before me.

Digital original

One of my greatest objections to working in the studio is how empty the spaces are; usually studio photography is focused upon making an image, as opposed to discovering or revealing one. With Monique's spontaneity on the floor however, the session quickly shifted from the former, which frustrates me to no end, to the later, where I was simply responding to the model's movement within the space. The session moved at a much faster pace once this change occurred, and overall, I would hazard that the quality of the images also changed, moving from more predictable, posed images to ones which feel far more natural, and "real".

Monique models in Rockport, NB

8"x10" film

Monique was visiting from Halifax for a couple of days of modeling (her last opportunity to work with me before a move to Ontario). While we'd worked the previous weekend with Miranda, the session had been a little brief due to prior commitments on the model's parts, so we hoped the weekend would give us a chance to work at a more measured pace, taking advantage of images as they presented themselves, and working until the session came to a natural conclusion.

8"x10" film

Without a doubt, my favorite portion of the session was working with a steep wall of sandstone, with perfect model-sized crevasses in its surface. Initially I sketched with the digital camera, but once I found the composition that spoke the clearest, I swiftly set up the 8"X10" view camera, and made the image with that.

Digital original

In the end, the session was rain free (we may have felt a dozen drops at one point, but that was all); it was other visitors and the rising tide that drew the session to a close. By that point, I was all out of film (you can only carry so much 8"x10" sheet film at a time) and near the end of the digital resources, so we all agreed that it was time to head home.

Monique Models at Rockport

New Brunswick is like a great undiscovered country to me; though I have driven through it countless times, I have never really taken the time to explore it. I had hoped to have some spaces in mind for photo session by the time spring came, but after working with Ingrid two weeks earlier, my second weekend working with a model in New Brunswick left me a little vague on spaces to work. Once place that had been in mind's eye since last fall was Rockport, where I had photographed an abandoned house.

8"x10" film

Monique was visiting from Halifax for a couple of days of modeling (her last opportunity to work with me before a move to Ontario). While we'd worked the previous weekend with Miranda, the session had been a little brief due to prior commitments on the model's parts, so we hoped the weekend would give us a chance to work at a more measured pace, taking advantage of images as they presented themselves, and working until the session came to a natural conclusion.

8"x10" film

My biggest concern for the work with Monique wasn't the location, it was the weather. Even the morning that we met, there was a forecast of showers and rain, but ever optimistic, we headed out and proposed to work until the weather drove us to the car. We arrived at Rockport at low tide (this is important on the Bay of Fundy, where 10 metre tides are the norm) and quickly started working. Both Monique and I were more than inspired by the landscape, and between the eroded rocks and large pieces of driftwood, we happily worked for over three hours.

The first thing that I realized about Rockport was how different the some was from most of what I was used to in Halifax - even at Burntcoat Head, which lies in Nova Scotia, across the Bay of Fundy, the rock was different - there the sandstone was brick red, while at Rockport there were shades from a light gray through to yellow and brown. Without a doubt, my favorite portion of the session was working with a steep wall of sandstone, with perfect model-sized crevasses in its surface. Initially I sketched with the digital camera, but once I found the composition that spoke the clearest, I swiftly set up the 8"X10" view camera, and made the image with that. This very much reflects my older approach of work with infra-red film to explore a scene and pose and then switching to the larger camera on the images that really seemed strong,

Digital original

In the end, the session was rain free (we may have felt a dozen drops at one point, but that was all); it was other visitors and the rising tide that drew the session to a close. By that point, I was all out of film (you can only carry so much 8"x10" sheet film at a time) and near the end of the digital resources, so we all agreed that it was time to head home.

A Great Afternoon at the Beach!

After the drizzle-filled Sunday, Monday dawned bright and sunny. Jean-Francois, the models and I had tentatively discussed working at Martinique Beach on Monday, but in light of the bright, contrasty light, I suggested moving the session to York Redoubt, but the models rebelled and insisted on the beach; ninety minutes later, we arrived at the ocean, and set to work on the shore.

Digital original, 10 image stitch

I've worked a lot on the back side of Martinique (indeed, a photo of Miranda made here was published as a double-page spread in Popular Photography in 2004), but as it would happen, the wind was blowing onto the back of the beach, so the models and I took to the ocean side for the session, working with the high dunes overlooking the beach.

Because I had to leave for Moncton at 2pm, I knew the session would be short, so I selected one particular dune structure, and mentally mapped out how I wanted to work with it. This reduced the chances of models or me walking through sand that I wanted to be pristine. Miranda and I started working at the bottom of the dune, and then progressed around the back. My initial response to the receding dunes was to use the 150mm wide lens on my 8"x10" camera, but after seeing the image through the lens, I decided to use a portrait lens (450mm) and compress the space. The result, with Miranda's figure places at the bottom of the image, and the large dune towering over her, was more the pleasing.

8"x10" film

After an hour or so of working with Miranda, we set up an image on the crest of a dune, and I realized it would be perfect for a second model. Bobbi had worked with Jean-Francois at the lighting workshop, and accompanied us on the previous day's session, after which we'd had long discussions over dinner about nude modeling. She had expressed interest, but was not certain yet if she wanted to. I turned to her and said "I have the perfect two-model pose, if you would be up for it." Five minutes later, she was modeling for her first nude (it took more then four minutes to finalize the camera position and framing of the image), and a very striking image resulted.

Digital original

The rest of the session was actually quite short - I was working against the clock, given that our rental car had to be returned in Moncton, NB, before the end of the day. After the image with Bobbi and Miranda, I made a small series of portraits of Bobbi, and then hurriedly packed up the equipment for the return trip to New Brunswick. For a short session, the results were extremely pleasing, and even though the beach was quite windy, and none too warm, both models seemed quite happy at the end of it.

Last time Jean-Francois was in Halifax, Miranda and I worked with him in the rain (also my first session using my then new digital SLR - the EOS 10D). Now, 39,000 digital frames later, Jean-Francois was back in Halifax teaching a workshop, and it only seemed fitting for Miranda and I to again spend an afternoon working with him. Unfortunately, the world also thought it would be amusing to repeat the weather, so the day proved to about as wet and cold as the last time. After a brief discussion, however, Miranda was more then willing to give it a go and Monique, who'd never worked with me before outdoors, was keen to come along as well.

8"x10" film

Because of the drizzle and rain, we decided it would be best to work exactly where we'd been a year before, at Spion Copp - with several concrete buildings, the space meant we would work without the models getting wet, and if it really started to pour, we could all take shelter from the worst of the weather.

My initial idea, with Monique and Miranda coming along, was that I could work with one model, while Jean-Francois worked with the other. As it turned out however, after a full day of teaching (he was in Halifax to teach a studio lighting workshop) Jean-Francois seemed just as happy to assist and hang out, so very quickly I took advantage of the presence of two models to make a number of images incorporating them both.

8"x10" film

The advantage of having two models available is when an image that requires a second body presents itself, you can make it; on the other hand, it always worries me that when two models are working with me, and I am making an image with one, the other will feel slighted or undervalued. It can be a delicate dance, working with two models, but both Miranda and Monique get such a pleasure out of modeling that the extra effort it takes to work two models into a pose wasn't a concern.

Digital original, 3 frame stitch

As it turned out, the day only got better, and by the time the session came to a close (as a result of both models having afternoon engagements, not for lack of images to be made) the ground was starting to dry out.

Carol's Pregnancy Continues

Digital Original

The second session of the pregnancy documentary sessions was quite similar to the first, though this time I was prepared for some of the odd qualities of the project.

Digital Original

The first time we'd worked together, I had been quite surprised by the difference of working deliberately on a long term project, and the process of making images in the here-and-now. With this session, both because I could see the subtle changes of the pregnancy, and because I was specifically working to create particular images, I was much better adjusted to the workflow.

Digital Original

Something I learned years ago was never to try to recreate an image - there are time when through technical or personal error, images have been lost, but it is so much of an effort to recreate an image later, and so much of the spontaneity is lost, that it is seldom worth it. With the pregnancy series however, as the whole focus of the process is the repetition of the pose, the time and effort is the focus of the image, not a barrier to it.

Ingrid Models at Hopewell Cape

One of the first things I did after my first visit to Hopewell Rocks was put together a small gallery of images, and send them to Ingrid; I thought she'd find the space intriguing, and perhaps even journey up from Halifax to explore the possibilities. One of the primary motivators in trying to convince her to come up and work with the space was that the rocks are part of a provincial park which opens towards the end of May; if Ingrid wasn't able to come up before then, we wouldn't have a chance to work with the space until the following year. As it happened however, Ingrid was intrigued by the images I sent, and arranged to come up a week after I first visited the rocks. The tide cooperated and we arrived at Hopewell Rocks early in the morning and set to work.

8"x10" film

While the weather was less then ideal - foggy and cool, Ingrid was willing to model. One small benefit of the poor weather was it decreased the chances of coming across other visitors to the rocks. The overcast day was actually preferable to bright sunlight, which would have been too contrasty for the location. Though it looked gray and dull, there was actually plenty of light, and many of my exposures with the 8"x10" camera were made between f/32 and f/45, which ensure maximum sharpness for the images which concentrated on the texture of the rocks, and their contrast with Ingrid's smooth skin.

8"x10" film

Over the four hours we worked on the rocks, we took a couple of breaks to warm Ingrid up, but we were never at loss for locations or poses. In retrospect, I think I focused rather heavily upon the details, making tightly framed compositions, and didn't take advantage of the bizarre landscape as a whole. Ingrid's strength at finding successful poses kept me focused upon her and the local setting, so with the exception of the single image of her lying at the base of one of the "flowerpots" all the compositions I made were about "parts" of the setting, as opposed to the space as a whole.

Digital original, 32 image stitch

Without a doubt, the biggest difficulty with working at Hopewell rocks was the rocks themselves - made or deep red sand-stone and proved very difficult to photograph in black and white. Black and white film is relatively insensitive to red, and therefore, the rocks have a tendency to look too dark - I'd discovered this the week before during my first trip to the Rocks. Because I'd already experienced this problem, I decided to rate the film I was using at E.I. 200, to increase the shadow detail; this wasn't enough however, and as it turned out, the images all had dark, inky shadows; next time, I will expose the film at EI 50, severely reduce the development, and hope for the best.

Ingrid Poses in a Gypsum Tower

During one of my first photo trips to New Brunswick in 2003, I was teaching a black & white photographic workshop. I came across an incredible space - an abandoned concrete structure by the side of the Petitcodiac River which was once used as a gypsum silo. The workshop ended up spending a couple of hours working in the space, and I was just itching to return with a model, to explore the possibilities I could see in my mind's eye.

8"x10" film

My first thought when I saw the building was that the most appropriate model for the space is Ingrid - her love for precarious spaces and dramatic poses instantly made me think of her.Once the weather started warming up, I encouraged Ingrid to come for a visit - my recent visit to Hopewell Rocks was the initial impetus for the proposed visit but the gypsum silos were also on my mind.

The day we had to work at Hillsborough was a good one to be working indoors - it was reasonably warm but the wind was quite high and put a chill in the air. With that in mind, we started with a short pose in a high window (Ingrid's idea, helped out with a sturdy climbing rope) and then we quickly moved to working inside away from the wind, with frequent breaks to let Ingrid warm up.

Digital original

As I suspected, Ingrid was perfect for the space, taking cues from her surroundings for poses, and working with the space. It is always a trick to keep the spontaneity to images made with the view camera, but with Ingrid's patience, we could determine the pose ahead of time and then frame the composition up with the camera, and when all was ready, recreate the pose and make the exposure - usually with a 1/4 to full second exposure!

To some degree, the building was a little limiting to work with; basically it had two interior parts, the base of the silos, which were dominated by large piles of crushed gypsum, and the narrow connecting room, which was open to the sky, some 30 metres above. That being said, between Ingrid and myself we managed to work for well over ninety minutes before we began grasping at straws.

Digital original

The greatest problem with the space turned out not to be the light which was abundant, but the limited spaces for camera positions; several times, images were quite engaging, but I couldn't get the camera in the right place to make what my mind's eye envisioned. Even with extreme wide or moderate long lenses, several photos went unrecorded because the only way to make them would have been to cut a hole in the concrete wall and place the camera outside.

Exploring New Brunswick

Digital original

My second day exploring New Brunswick was spent on the other coast, driving with a couple of other photographer friends and exploring the dunes and coastline of the Northumberland Straight - a flat and featureless landscape that is far more foreign than that of southern New Brunswick. .

Digital original

We spent some time on the Bouchtouche Dunes in the heart of Acadie, which is a protected parkland in the form of a long spit of sand stretching for several miles along the coast. There is more than a mile of boardwalk along the beach, permitting easy access to the first 1/4 of the dunes and giving a higher platform to look at the ocean from. Truth be told, as nice as it was to view the park from the boardwalk, I was far happier walking along the beach, and seeing the wind blow the sand across the shoreline.

Digital original

I hope to someday be able to spend more time there (with or without a model) but the high winds we encountered might prove an issue with the larger camera - just as the blowing sand might prove a problem with the digital. If this space could be used it remains to be seen, but the visit certainly allowed me a chance to enjoy one of the more spectacular sights New Brunswick has to offer.

Gordon Falls / Hopewell Cape, New Brunswick

Given the time of my move to New Brunswick last year (mid-August) and the rush to get the renovations and darkroom finished before the cool weather set in, there was little time to explore our new surroundings. I had hoped to be able to do this over the winter and spring, but May finds the weather getting warm enough for working outdoors, and very little time free for exploratory trips.

8"x10" film

This weekend was a welcome chance to stomp about, so when some friends proposed going to a couple of the better local "scenes" for photography, I took them up on their offer.

Digital original

The morning was spent in the south-east of the province, looking for possible sites along the Bay of Fundy - as it turned out however, the area was socked in with fog, so after a bit, we headed back inland, to look at one of the better known waterfalls - Gordon Falls. I arrived to a sight that was stunning - the road arches over the river on a concrete bridge, and the view from the centre of the river is awe-inspiring. Not a space I could work with models in (far too swift a river for one thing), but certainly something worth photographing.

Digital original

The afternoon was spent exploring one of the most identifiable sites in New Brunswick; Hopewell Cape. Situated near the head of the Bay of Fundy, the flowerpots at Hopewell Cape are soft red sandstone cliffs which are slowly being eroded by the 12+ metre tides that wash over them twice daily - much to a photographer's delight. As it turned out though, the space was a little more challenging then I'd anticipated - all my images ended up under-exposed, due to the dark red hue of the rocks - black and white film is particularly insensitive to reds, so all my images were somewhat under exposed. Something to think about next time...speaking of which, knowing Hopewell Rocks Park officially opens to the public in under a month makes me particularly keen to see if I can arrange for a time when a model, low tide, and daylight all coincide to permit me to work in the space before the tourists arrive in bus-loads.