Monique & Miles at Dawson Brook

The most unexpected session yet this summer was today's work with Monique. After working with me numerous times indoors and out last spring, Monique had moved to Upper Canada , so I didn't expect to have the chance to work with her again. As luck would have it however, she was visiting
Halifax on the same weekend as I was, and we managed to set up a time for working together.

Digital infrared original, 3 frame stitch

The day was a cool and overcast, so we opted to head inland to work, hoping for warm enough water at Dawson's Brook to facilitate working there (I seem to have something of a curse, when it comes to Dawson's Brook and sunlight – almost every session I have spent there was bright and sunny – the hardest lighting conditions under which to photograph).

As it turned out, Dawson 's Brook was a perfect choice, with the water bearable (calling it warm would be an overstatement, and make light of Monique and ultimately Miles' dedication and perseverance) and the light soft and even, filtering through the canopy of trees overhead. We started the session with Monique posing along side the waterfall, keeping her out of the water for the most part. I set up my camera with a six stop (64x) neutral density filter to ensure the exposures were long enough to blur the water, and with most of the images, made multiple exposure stitches to gain both more resolution to the final images, and a wider angle of view to the images (the space we were working in was somewhat cramped and hard to work in, even with a 12mm wide angle lens (this has the same angle of view as an 18mm lens on a 35mm camera).

Digital infrared original

After we finished working on the waterfall, Monique moved down into the shallow basin at the bottom of the falls, and after some cajoling, Miles dove into the water as well, spending perhaps ten minutes posing with Monique. Some of the images we made were carefully posed, while others, like the one here, were more spontaneous, playing on the simple interaction between the models, as opposed to my direction from the shoreline.

Digital infrared original, 6 frame stitch

For the remainder of the session, we worked out way downstream, photographing Monique against the backdrop of the river, and ultimately on a ten metre cliff overlooking a river-bend. For such an unexpected session, it was a great pleasure to be able to work with Monique again, especially with such a striking location, and perfect light.