Bianca's Last Session of 2014 (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Digital infrared original, 3 image composite

It isn't often that I can definitively say a session is the "last one", but in this case, as Bianca was heading for another country four days after this session, there's little doubt this will be her last session with me in 2014 (she is hoping to be back in Nova Scotia in 2015, so my fingers are crossed for more work to be made in the coming year).

As an outdoor session was not an option, we headed to the apartment of a friend of hers, which promised a bay window and lots of light. After making a whole series of images exploring motion (Bianca has a dance background), I made three of her working with the window, with the intent to assemble them into a single image; in the end, two of the three worked perfectly (the ones of Bianca against the side window), and while the third, of her standing in the centre, fell short, a later image of her bending forward and touching the floor was ideal to complete the final composition.

Digital infrared original, 3 image exposure blend

After working with a dramatic low point of view and infrared at length, before setting aside the widow all together, I made some colour photographs of Bianca against the morning light. I still feel clumsy when it comes to photographing in colour, but the brilliant, luminous window provided such rich light for Bianca's figure, and gave such lovely soft skin tones that I just had to leave the image in colour.

Digital original

The end of the session was spent working with Bianca in front of an old fireplace; the front of it was covered with black-painted wrought iron, and provided a rich background to set Bianca's body against. I was pleased with the results, but in many ways feel I only scratched the surface of what could be done with the fireplace, and hope to have the chance to return to continue the exploration.