Alexandra & Liam in Moncton I

Alexandra and Liam arrived from Halifax the night after I worked with Jane on the start of a cross-continent adventure. After our first session last fall, we'd planned on working together again, but given that we live more than 300km apart, it took a while for this to come to pass.

Digital infrared original, 16 frame stitch

I set up the living room exactly as I had for the work with Jane, again deciding to focus more on composition and pose than lighting. The grand irony of the situation was where I felt frustrated and let down by the studio images of Jane, I felt engaged and inspired by the same approach with Alexandra and Liam. The addition of the second model made all the difference in terms of how the session evolved for me.

Digital infrared original, 13 frame stitch

Having seen the image I made with Jane the night before, I initially used many of the same approaches (shallow depth of field, close compositions) with Alexandra and Liam. Very quickly, however, I reverted to my more traditional approach to working with a couple indoors, focusing instead on the larger composition of interwoven bodies. I did keep the shallow depth of field, as I have become quite enamoured with the softness it lends to bodies as they go out of focus, but the tighter compositions I found so pleasing with the images of Jane just looked confusing with so many anonymous body parts.

Digital infrared original

As has become my modus operendi, as the session progressed, I found myself making numerous multi-frame stitches, wanting to create the most detailed, high resolution results. A distinct advantage of working the way I do is that I try hard to make sure the models are comfortable before I start working with a pose, so if it took 16-20 frames before the images is completed, the models are usually fine with that approach.

Digital infrared original

The contrast between working indoors with a couple and a single model is impossible to overstate; all through the session with Alexandra and Liam, poses would unfold in front of me, simply from the interaction of the two models. The comfort and affection that the two models have for each other is palpable and at the core of all the photographs we made during this session.