Ingrid and I mark 19 Years (Prospect, Nova Scotia)

This session marked two mile-stones; it took place a little over 19 years after Ingrid and I first worked together (our first session was in 1998), and it was Ingrid's first time modeling since her cancer diagnosis and subsequent mastectomy. Even before her surgery, we'd discussed continuing to work together after she recovered, and this session was the first chance we had to resume our collaboration

Though it was forecast to be a hot and sunny day in Halifax, Ingrid and I headed for the coast, to Prospect. Ingrid and I had only worked here once before, so there was a wealth of potential to be explored, as she encountered a landscape I knew well with fresh eyes. An added bonus was we arrived to find the coast shrouded in fog, which was far preferable to sunshine for photography.

Digital infrared original

We began the session with a set of images focused on Ingrid set against the breaking waves below her, but it was the second set, made in infrared, of Ingrid posing in a shallow crevasse on a black granite rock face that really caught my eye. The infrared made the figure practically glow, and the dark granite had just enough texture and detail to keep the image from becoming too harsh.

Digital original, 2 frame stitch

Though it has been over a year since we last worked together (in Ireland), we quickly found our creative stride, and increasingly over the session, images presented themselves to us quite spontaneously. The above image, made about half-way through the session was one of these - Ingrid was shifting her pose, moving from lying on her stomach to a back-on pose, when she reached up - the the line from her hand to her shoulder, hip and into the leg revealed itself. I asked her to recreate the movement, and hold it as I made a set of images.

Digital infrared original

By far the most challenging images of the session were the last set, which were all focused on a small waterpool Ingrid came across, and asked to pose beside. Her initial idea was to set her body against the black rock on the right side of the pool...but she quickly discovered that rock was VERY slipper, so opted to pose upon the granite on the left side of the water...which left me very gently walking over the slippery, black rock to find the angle to photograph from.

The beauty of the rock pool became otherworldly when photographed in infrared - the bright green algae at the edges shifted into a ghostly white, and the black rock upon which I carefully moved dropped to a near dead black, which all contrasted perfectly with the delicate highlights of Ingrid's figure on the rock above the pool.

About the only hitch in the session was a minor technical one - I only had one tripod mount between my two cameras (one colour, and one infrared), so rather than using my usual approach of switching between the two cameras as need-be, I opted to switch between the cameras only when Ingrid and I changed our locations - essentially dedicating one camera to each pose, without real consideration of whether the colour or infrared was actually benefiting the results.