Vanessa on the Barrens (Polly's Cove, Nova Scotia)

Digital infrared original, 3 image exposure blend

Vanessa came to my work through a mutual friend, and as soon as a day came along that worked for both of us, we headed out to my favorite Nova Scotian space to work in - the glacial barrens. The first successful composition, above, was made with one of the largest erratics in the area, and took full advantage of the exposure blending I have become so enamored with lately.

Digital original

It is hard to represent a session like this accurately in the blog format - I saved 115 images from the day's work, and only display three here. Vanessa and I made some really lovely image all through the afternoon, with her previous modeling experience blended with my persona aesthetic perfectly! The above photograph, one of dozens we made working in the ocean, is just magical with the sky reflected in the concentric circles around Vanessa.

Digital original

As we were walking back to the car, I kept looking for one more space to photograph in - for most of the session I'd concentrated on more dramatic images focused on the body in landscape, but I felt I hadn't made a really solid portrait of Vanessa yet. As it happened, a rock beside the path we were on was perfectly situated for the afternoon light to make a series of portraits, the best of which is above.