The Evolving Beauty Patron Site is Launched

Due to ever increasing traffic, I have split the original Evolving Beauty into two sites; the Showcase site, and the Patron site. The showcase site features 100 images, while the patron’s site provides access to 1,300 images.

(The Patron site was discontinued in 2008)

A Short Road Trip

It was positive happenstance that my move to New Brunswick came at the close of the summer; by the time my new darkroom was finished, and the house settled down, the leaves had mostly left the trees, and any chance of working outdoors with models had passed. That being said, the chance to go for an exploratory drive to seek out spaces to work in next year also presented the possibility of photographing whatever presented itself.

8"x10" film

I seldom plan what and where I am going to photograph, but given how much of my work focused on the Nude, it is usually a given that, regardless of the session, the primary subject of my images will be the body. Today however, that wasn't an option, so I left myself open to whatever came my way, and so it was that during our drive along a rural highway, I spotted a graveyard by the side of the road, and proposed it be our first stop of the trip. I have always been enamoured with graveyards, and what I glimpsed from the road turned out to be more the appropriate, with several beautifully carved tombstones to work with. The direct sunlight, which normally I abhore, was quite nice to work with, due to its low winter angle - it provided the perfect light to pull out the detail and texture of the stones.

8"x10" film

After leaving the graveyard, we continued to drive towards our intended destination - the Fundy coast an hour or so from Moncton. By far my favorite places to photograph are the coastal spaces within 30 minutes of Halifax, so with the relocation to Moncton, my first hope is to find similar spaces on the coast near my new home (though with the coast about 45 minutes away, it is not quite as convenient.

8"x10" film

While my eyes were focused on finding coastal spaces to work, when we came over a hill crest and were faces with a dramatic view of a long abandoned, weathered house, I knew we had to stop. Just like graveyards, I have had a long affinity for abandoned buildings, so the space called out to me. In some ways, the building was disappointing to work with; the floors inside had collaped, meaning that working inside the building was not an option but it still presented more than enough possibilities from the outside to occupy my ground-glass for the better part of forty minutes.

Rusty!

Since the summer of 2000, my work has almost exclusively been focused upon the Nude; this isn't for lack of interest in working with other subjects but more a result of the combination of available models and limited photographic time. With more time, or fewer models, I would be able to expand on my other photography but if the choice is between working with a model, or photographing something else, I will almost always opt for the model (the only exception would be choosing to work with architectural subjects while traveling, as I did in 2000).

Digital original

With my move to Moncton, I have shifted from a place where I had established, long-running friendships with enthusiastic and keen models to a new city where I have few contacts and even fewer resources to draw upon for finding new models. The expectation is that over time, as I become more familiar with Moncton and the surrounding areas, I will find both models and settings to work in, but for the time being I will take advantage of the situation to work with other subjects.

Digital original

One of the first projects inspired by the relocation to Moncton is a digital creation for our new house. On the main floor, there is a triangular cut-though to the stairs (you can see this in the image of us moving the enlarger), which just cries out for a triangular image on the wall behind. I haven't a specific composition in mind yet but I know it will combine the body with architecture, so I am on the hunt for images to use in this creation (I am thinking of something similar in style to Temple of My Desire, though it will not have doors).

Digital original

While Moncton does not have forts, it does have a fair amount of industrial space; with these spaces comes abandoned machinery, rusted metal, and rich visual possibilities. Though the year is getting colder, I took advantage of a bright day to head up to an old rock-quarry and photograph some abandoned machinery. Rather then document the machinery itself, I was more interested in creating images of elements of the metal; images that could later be incorporated into the digital composition for the house.

As much of what I was looking to record was colour and texture, choosing to work with the digital camera was a natural. I expect these images, and others like them, to form the background to the final composition, so the lower resolution of the digital camera is less of an issue.

An Indoor Session

One of the hardest things to leave behind in Halifax was all the locations I was so familiar with, especially for working indoors in the winter. I have no doubt that I will be able to find striking and vibrant landscape setting for the Nude in New Brunswick but, as much as I love the new house we've moved into, I am painfully aware of how little photography space it has, compared to where I lived in Halifax.

All that being said, you do what you must, and as the days get shorter, and the temperatures begin to drop, all my image-making moves indoors, as much for my sensitivity to cold, as for the models'. While there is nothing like the large deck doors I worked with in Halifax, the new house does has a smaller glass doors in the corner of the kitchen which provide some light to work with.

Digital original

The main focus of Lindsay's interest in modeling is for water nudes; an avid swimmer, he responded quite strongly to my water images but the time of year being what it is, we had to start working elsewhere - indoors in the warm. I often feel with a new model, starting with an indoor session is never bad, as it helps introduce the model to the process with the most comfortable surroundings.

Digital original

Given that it was a first session, the results were very pleasing. With a swimmer's muscle tone, Lindsay's body had very subtle but distinct musculature, which was lovely to work with - the soft white backlighting would catch the edge of a muscle or line and gently set if off against the body before and behind.

Digital original

One unexpected element of the session, was the decision to work against the wall, as well as on the white sheets. This originated in the work I'd produced a year earlier with Aurora, setting her against the light coloured walls of her apartment. The subtle contrast between the lighter and darker part of the body, set against the light gray were surprising and engaging. With the pale gray I had painted the kitchen, I was able to continue this approach with great success. After the strength of this first session, I very much look forward to seeing what Lindsay and I can produce once the warm weather returns and we can begin working with rivers and the ocean.

A First Session

By the time the year turns to October, working outdoors becomes somewhat dicey - the weather can turn quite cold quickly, so every session I can squeeze out of the fall is seen as a gift. Nicole and I had initially hoped to work together a week earlier, but Hurricane Juan roared through Nova Scotia that weekend, effectively paralyzing the province for several days and forcing us to reschedule. Fortunately, the weather cooperated, and the next week we were able to meet up and actually get out to work together before the weather grew too cold.

8"x10" film

When we were discussing where Nicole would like to model, she immediately suggested a coastal setting - being from Europe, she wanted images that were distinctly Nova Scotia, and something with the rocks and water of the Atlantic Coast spoke most directly to her. So we headed to Herring Cove, close enough to take advantage of the couple of hours we had to work together, yet right on the ocean. The day was just warm enough to be workable, but between poses, Nicole was more than happy to throw on a sweater in an effort to keep comfortable.

Interestingly enough, the longer we worked, the less the air temperature was an issue (Victoria mentions in the Revealing Beauty video that she feels the body became acclimatized to cooler temperatures during an outdoor session) , and the images happened with a little more fluidity. We made a couple of images that specifically worked with the body in contrast to the ocean, bit the images that I feel are the most successful are the images where her body is set against the strong, angular rocks that line the edge of Halifax Harbour.

8"x10" film

Every time I have a first session with a new model, there is a great unfolding - before the session, everything is uncertain; I have no idea how the model will respond to the process or how they will respond to the space. Some models take time to grow comfortable with the process, while others (experienced and not) seem immediately comfortable with the experience, and seem immediately at home. With Nicole, however, because of the cool weather, we worked out the compositions and poses with her clothed first and then quickly refined the poses and framing when she had disrobed. This put such an emphasis on the physics of making the images with the minimum amount of discomfort for the model that there seemed no time to worry about the response of the model to working with me.

Digital original

One of the most pleasing images of the session was quite a surprise; all my digital images are made in colour, and then post-processed into black and white, but one of the portraits I did of Nicole leaning against a rock wall was composed as a horizontal portrait - and in colour it was very striking - so much so that I decided to leave it that way - the warmth of Nicole's skin goes well with the shock of pink hair.

Ingrid with Skulls

My first session working with Ingrid and her skulls left me feeling frustrated - so many images worked, but they were only hints of what could be produced with better lighting and more time. I felt the images needed a more stylized approach, and knew that this could only be achieved using a lighting studio.

8"x10" film

When we were finally able to revisit the idea, one hurricane and almost two months later, the original images were still clear in my mind's eye. While Ingrid has a strong preference for working outdoors (perhaps related to her fey nature), she was willing to do a studio session as she felt the images were strong enough to deserve the effort.

Pretty much every image from the session was inspired by the earlier skull session, but the photos felt finished and polished, where the first session, indoors by available light, seem more like sketches of ideas as opposed to final compositions. The other difference in process came from working with the 8"x10" camera, as opposed to the smaller, faster digital camera. Ingrid is totally comfortable with me using the view camera, so the long wait between exposures as I set up the camera was not a surprise, but the difference between the first session, with more the 80 images being made in 30 minutes, and this session, with 16 being produced in just under two hours was pronounced.

8"x10" film

I normally have a strong aversion to working in the studio, unless there is a clear reason to do so. This session though was perfectly suited for the studio, so there was none of my usual frustration working with the minimalistic space. I have spent much of the past four years working with white backgrounds, but for most of this session, I returned to my original studio approach - a featureless black background, with the model set against it with strong side lighting, to separate them from the blackness that surrounds.

8"x10" film

Towards the end of the session however, I decided to try some images with Ingrid and the skull on white. Rather than use the white seamless paper as a backdrop, I opted to use the same white sheets I use in so much of my available light work indoors. This worked well enough, with a beautiful contrast between the model's skin, the symmetry of the skull, and the rumpled sheets but I cannot help but wonder if the image would have been stronger with a totally seamless, featureless surroundings. Perhaps this will be the approach of a third skull session in the future.

L_ before the Hurricane

In some ways, this session answered some of the questions that were uncertain, in regards to my relocation to Moncton, New Brunswick, and maintaining my relationships and work with the models I work with in Nova Scotia.

8"x10" film

From the time we decided to move, the intent had been to keep returning to Halifax on a regular basis to photograph and this session marked the first attempt; after a three hour drive, we picked up L_, and headed out to York Redoubt to work for the afternoon. As it happened, the day was the eve of a major Hurricane strike on Halifax. As the afternoon progressed, the light grew more and more eerie and the wind gradually increased. It would have been a great afternoon to work by the ocean but the cooler temperatures, combined with the wind, made it more sensible to work in the shelter of the woods.

Of all the landscape I work in, probably the least common is woods and forests. This is partially because the woods in Nova Scotia tend to be thick and dark and partially because trees often present a problem for compositions and posing - being thin and generally vertical, it becomes hard to compose an image focusing on the Nude without abruptly cutting off trees at the top or bottom of the composition. With the first images we made, this was addressed by using an extreme wide angle lens (a 75mm lens, equal to a 12mm lens on a 35mm camera). This resulted in a circular image (because the lens is designed for a 4x5 camera, but used on an 8x10 camera, it did not create an image that extended to all the corners of the film) but it also gave a great sense of space, with the trees exploding away from the center of the image. The use of the super-wide lens helped overcome this, giving a sense of the space around L_ without truncating the space and cropping in too tightly.

8"x10" film

After working with such a wide lens, I shifted to a longer lens (19", or 482.6mm in length); this gave a more pleasing perspective for portraits and tightly framed compositions. A side effect of long lenses is that they also reduce the depth of field, effectively throwing the background out of focus, isolating the figure from the surroundings. Working with this lens, I made a number of successful compositions, first focusing on L_ standing in a bed of ferns, and then with her set amongst the limbs of a tree.

8"x10" film

In the end, the even, diffused light that heralded the coming of Hurricane Juan shaped this session as much as the space or model. As the session progressed, the light grew more and more even, with a particular sullen quality which was quite different from high-overcast light, which also gives very even illumination of surroundings.

Miranda in a Bathtub

6x7 cm film

As small as my living room is to work with, it was practically palatial compared to the space for my next session. Miranda had wanted to work with candles and I decided that it would be cool to revisit the water-candle nudes that I'd made in October, 2001 with R_. At the time, I'd certainly felt the work was successful, but also knew it was something that I could build upon, and so have had it in the back of my mind as a setting with yet as unexplored possibilities.

6x7 cm film

Part of my attraction to working with candle light is its simplicity. A single light source is about as minimal as photography can get, and the fact that it can often be included in the image (as a referent to the light source itself, and as a way of giving the image some degree of contrast) adds to the possibilities. All this, when combined with the natural reflective qualities of water, leads to a great number of possibilities. Leaving aside the water upon the model's skin, the double light-source that the water creates with the reflection gives some pretty cool effects (plus there's the inherent opposition of fire to water, which is very cool to work with).

6x7 cm film

While Miranda and I only worked for a little more then an hour, we made a number of very successful images, most of which used the reflection of the candle's flame in the water as an element. Probably my greatest frustration during the session was not being able to get the candle close enough to the surface of the water, or the camera at a low enough angle to photograph from. If I ever have my own studio space, one of my first projects will be to construct a water space in which I can work with models, but have total control over the depth of the water, and height of the sides of the tub.

Lymari at a Quarry

Digital original

The final session of Lymari's visit was my second try at working with a model with landscape in New Brunswick. Just like the first session, we spent as much time driving, and looking for a location, as we did actually making images. Finally, at a loss to find a better space, and running out of daylight, we settled on an empty rock quarry to work in, hoping to make some successful images working with the piles of rock and stone.

Digital original

It turned out easier then I thought to work with the quarry - the rock piles were arranged with repeating peaks and valley (I assume these came from the rock-thrower that had made them), and these provided enough form and shape for Lymari to work with. As with the Burntcoat Head session from a week before, the session was all-digital. I often wished I had the 8x10 along, for the increased detail and focus controls but the thought of waiting a month or more to see the images kept me firmly focused on working with the digital camera.

Digital original, 7 frame exposure blend

On one level, the rock quarry was a very limited space to photograph in, with nothing but the piles of rock for Lymari to pose upon. But by the same token, they provided us with a very simple space to work with, so the images focused upon the light and form. With such a minimalistic setting, the images focus even more upon the model, so the combination of pose, angle of view, and lighting are crucial to creating images that worked.

At the end of the session, I was quite pleased with the results; I would have been much happier if we had found a more dynamic or inspiring space, but given what we had to work with, we did exceptionally well. It is the test of a model to be able to work in such basic a setting and Lymari did well, spending a couple of hours working with the piles of rock and generating a number of very compelling compositions.

Lymari at Burntcoat Head

When I first worked at Burntcoat Head with Miranda and Natasha, I was so stunned by the landscape, I knew it would be a space I would return to again and again. My second try at working there failed due to misreading the tide tables but, for this session with Lymari, I double-checked the tides and we arrived about an hour before low tide, insuring more then five hours of working time.

Digital original, 5 frame stitch

I would have loved to work with the 8x10 in the space but the session happened shortly after my move to New Brunswick, and I wouldn't have my new darkroom up and running for another month or more. Rather than making images I would have to wait weeks to see, I decided to work entirely with the digital camera; this way, Lymari and I could view the work immediately after the session was over. This worked well on several levels, as it permitted me to work in colour and, while I would have liked the higher resolution of the view camera, using the digital camera to create multi-image stitches helped overcome that shortfall.

Digital original, 10 frame stitch

The vast majority of the images we made were produced on the same island where I worked two months earlier. At high tide, the island is surrounded by water but, from mid tide onward, is accessible from the mainland and had the most beautiful water-carved caves and rocks on the outer side (which just happens to be the side away from where the public accesses the beach the island is located on.)

Digital original, 12 frame stitch

I find it quite interesting that after having such a strong reaction to the rich reds of the space, most of the images I ended up liking were in black and white. While digital photography permits you to work in both black and white and colour, I think my long experience of working with monochrome films has biased my judgment of what constitutes a successful image. I think with more time and consideration, I might end up with a more positive reaction to the colour images, but on the first run through of the images, in almost every case, it was the black and white images that really caught my eye.