Elizabeth comes to Visit

An ironies of moving to New Brunswick in 2003 is that it put me closer to Elisabeth, who had moved to the province earlier the same year, and yet I only ended up working with her only twice since then, as she lived in the exact opposite direction to that which I normally travel when renting a car.

Digital infrared original

This being the case, when I heard that Elisabeth was planning to move to the USA, I immediately got in touch, and together we managed to schedule a final session shortly before her departure. After a couple of attempts, we finally managed to be in the same place at the same time, and set down to work.

Digital infrared original, 16 frame stitch

While we had focused the session plans on working with the wading pool, I did want to make sure I got some portrait images out of the session. Because her hair would get wet in the pool, we began with the portraits, taking a cue from a session with Kylie and working in the kitchen with the window light and a single chair.

The session went perfectly, with soft, directional light provided by the deck doors, and Elisabeth's usually captivating gaze providing the focus of the images. For the first time in months, I found myself working quite deliberately in colour, drawn to the delicate tones of her hair and pale skin. That being said, I did make the majority of images with the infrared camera, still definitely preferring its more evocative palette.

Digital original, 14 frame stitch

With the knowledge that this would be our last session for some time, I felt a definite pressure to produce some really strong images, to serve as a book end for our work together since Elisabeth first modeled for me in 2002. I am not sure if it was because Elisabeth and have such a good rapport, or because all the pieces (light, mood, pose) came together by sheer chance, but the results from the portrait portion of our afternoon together are among the strongest portraits Elisabeth and I have produced - I could not have hoped for better results!