Lisa on McNab's Island

This session was a relatively short one, placed in the middle of an afternoon of sailing around Halifax Harbour. When I first started photographing the Nude, McNabs Island was one of my most common locations, as it was isolated, and easy to get to (as I had access to a boat and didn't know how to drive a car). Over the years though, I've visited it with less and less frequency, so the chance to work on it with Lisa was a double bonus - another session with a keen model, and a chance to work on the island.

Digital infrared original

The day was bright, so I decided to walk to the breakwater, in hopes of finding some shade to work in (most of my work on McNabs has been created with models posing in the various forts on the island, but with the time restrictions on the session, that was a little farther than we had time to go to). The walk to the breakwater proved how long it had been since I'd last visited, as part of the shore had been washed out by Hurricane Juan in 2003, forcing us to walk through a tidal stream to get to the breakwater.

Digital infrared original

Once we started working, the day proved to be near perfect; there were enough high clouds that shade was available, if infrequently, and the high clouds provided a perfect sky for working in infrared. Occasionally for some poses we found ourselves waiting for a cloud to move between us and the sun, or the reverse, but for the most part, we were able to work quite fluidly for almost an hour, before deciding to return to the boat and sail home.

Digital infrared original, 27 frame stitch

As we were walking back to the wharf, I found myself pondering on how different things were with this session from much earlier ones on the island. Then, I'd felt almost a sense of panic, not knowing where I wanted to work, what kind of images I'd be making, or what to expect in general. With years of working however, many of those questions had faded to a whisper, or disappeared altogether. I seldom worry about where to work, and never even both to anticipate what kind of images I'll be making, having long since learned that I prefer to discover possibilities as they present themselves, as opposed to forcing them artificially into existence.