Alberta Portfolio I (Halifax, Nova Scotia to Mountain View, Alberta)

Without a doubt  the single biggest benefit of the Internet in regards to my work is the people it has brought me into contact with. The majority of these contacts began as e-mail concerning my website; individuals send comments, I reply, and things grow from there. Sometimes, however, they grow even beyond the Internet. In the fall of 1998, I received an e-mail about my work inviting me to join a group of artists who work with the figure for a week long retreat in South-western Alberta. I thanked Annie, the writer of the e-mail, for her comments and politely declined the offer to attend her ad-hoc retreat and workshop since it was simply inconceivable that I could afford to travel all the way to Alberta. And there it ended...for a while.

In early May, however, I received another, more impassioned invitation to visit Alberta; Annie had viewed my April Diary entry, and felt, as before, that I would be an asset to her retreat.

Again, I initially declined, but after a series of discussions with Joy, I decided to step off the virtual cliff, and try to make the trip happen. Getting the time off to make the trip was less of an issue than the expense of the trip itself and, with this in mind, I set about raising the funds through developing my first portfolio offering - the Alberta Portfolio. Sixteen portfolios will be made up, each containing ten images created during my trip to Alberta. There will be 1 artist's copy, 10 advance portfolios which have been offered for sale directly to my web page subscribers, and 5 public issue portfolios which will be released in late September. Once the portfolio prospectus was prepared and sent out, I notified Annie of my plans, and crossed my fingers that enough support would materialize to fund the project and facilitate the creation of the Alberta Portfolio. It did, and less than six weeks later, I was on the plane to spend 13 days in Alberta, working with the Nude in the western landscape.

My flight to Calgary, Alberta, was long and uneventful, and I arrived at 9:45 PM, tired but excited. Early the next afternoon, I began the bus ride to Lethbridge, in South-western Alberta, where I was to meet Annie, and a couple of the other artists who would be attending the retreat. As it turned out, Annie was delayed, so I went and spent a couple of hours at one of the attending artist's houses, talking about art, and showing my work to several people. In the end, it was midnight before I finally arrived in Mountain View where Annie lived. Two days of travel, but everything arrived safe and sound (including the filmy I'd sent ahead by courier to avoid airport x-rays). We ate dinner in the first hour of a new day, and I went to bed, weary, but very much looking forward to my first sight of the Rocky Mountains the next morning.

Victoria at the Coast (Lower Prospect, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

This session was my last opportunity to work in Nova Scotia before leaving for two weeks to do figure work in Alberta. Victoria had freed the afternoon to model for  me and, rather than heading for a river, we went to the coast.  We'd been intending to go to Prospect where I'd worked with Aeyla in July, 1997 but we actually followed the road signs and ended up in Lower Prospect, not the same place at all.  The advantage of Lower Prospect was the Victoria knew the space and had several places in mind for us to work. 

35mm infrared film

I was quite relieved to be able to work this close to going to Alberta as I had just switched my 35mm camera to a Canon EOS 650 from a Nikon FM2 and I welcomed the opportunity to become familiar with the new system before heading west. Recently, I had bought Joy a Canon Rebel 500 (equivalent to a Rebel G) and then gotten myself a Rebel 2000. I had planned on switching completely to the EOS system eventually but held onto my Nikon because the 500 and 2000 cannot be used for infra-red.  The 650, however, is an older body and uses a manual advance, as opposed to the infra-red sensor in the newer models.  Along with the 650, I purchased a 20-35mm zoom to replace the 19mm Vivitar I'd used on the Nikon. From the results of this day, I am very pleased with the performance of both the camera and the lens.

4"x5" film

This session wasn't terribly long as Victoria had been up late the night before and was tired.  We finished up by working with some tall ferns. The late afternoon sun provided beautiful backlighting for the plants and Victoria's hair.  The real success of this, and indeed, any nude portrait, comes from the model's comfort and confidence before the camera, qualities Victoria possesses in abundance.  Though we've only worked together a handful of times, I have a number of strong and varied portraits of Victoria.

Ingrid at Killdevils (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

With the rich imagery I have been finding along and within the Gold River, I have not done much work on land. I find my photography often goes in cycles, feeding off recent images, and following a theme or exploring a reoccurring motif. Ingrid wasn't feeling up to working in the water and this gave me a chance to explore more of the Gold River shoreline.

4"x5" film

The first two images work around pockets the river's flow has worn into the bedrock. In contrast to the rest of the rock, which is extremely sharp and angular, these circular wells and smooth alcoves called out to me for a figure. The top image was the most physically difficult to make as Ingrid could barely fit into the crevice but, surprisingly, the one and only pose she could manage in the space worked very well with the flow of the river and rock. With the image to the left, the challenge was primarily aesthetic:  in composing the image, I was concerned that Ingrid's figure would overpower the depression in the bedrock. As she worked with the pose, however, I saw the reflection in the dark well, which together with the water flowing around her hair, made the image work.

4"x5" film

From the very beginning, I have been drawn to the landscape along the river, as much as the water. The strong angular quality of the striated rock gives the river its unique character but this has been lost in my images to date because of the water's overwhelming visual presence.

Ingrid and Victoria on Canada Day (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

After finishing with the Rawdon tree, we drove to Gold River. From all the time we'd spent working there to date, we'd learned that the late afternoon/early evening light was the best, as the sun was screened from view quite early by the trees along the river bank. While light is absolutely essential to photography, under most circumstances, direct sunlight is the least desirable form for it to come in. The harsh shadows and viscous contrast are simply frustrating; in black and white they can be tamed somewhat, but in colour it is practically an exercise in futility.

4"x5" film

After over a year of owning it, I have become quite proficient with my 75mm lens on my 4"x5" camera (equal to about a 24mm lens on a 35mm). I am continually surprised with the variety of images this lens, usually considered an extreme wide angle, can produce. The first two images here are both made with the same lens, yet the distortion commonly associated with ultra-wide angle lenses is absent from the image above. It would be easy to believe that the image was made with a normal or even short telephoto lens. Even when the 75mm lens distorts perspective and scale, as on the left, it is with a refinement which is often lacking in 35mm wide angle work (a good example is the distortion present in my infra-red images). The flexibility of this lens has becoming a major element in in my figure work.

4"x5" film

When we arrived at the Killdevils, the light was perfect; the sky was bright and lightly covered with clouds, and the sun was descending behind the high screen of trees. Victoria had never worked at the Killdevils before, and while I did make images of both Ingrid and Miles, the majority of my time was spent with her. Bringing a new model to a space I am already familiar with always lends a freshness to the images, and being a dancer, Victoria's body-space is well defined. Her ability to work with a location, finding the right pose and body position, is exceptional. This, combined with the incredibly rich visual space of the Killdevils lead to a stellar session.

Ingrid and Victoria on Canada Day (Rawdon, Nova Scotia)

It was on July 1st 1998 that I first worked with Ingrid, and over the past year, she has helped me make a very strong series of images. In contrast to last year, this Canada Day was hot and sunny, and as we had the whole day, we decided to head inland in search of spaces to work, before heading to Gold River for the afternoon light. Both Miles (who drives) and I (who passengers) agreed on Rawdon, Nova Scotia, as a good place to begin.

35mm infrared film

It was at this point that I noticed the lone dead tree on the dyke beside the river. Instantly, I wanted Ingrid to climb the tree and work within its limbs. Most of my images of the Nude in forests are composed with the figure under or beside the trees. This is mostly because the woods I work with in Nova Scotia are mainly composed of small, stubby conifers and struggling hardwoods. It is simply hard to find a big enough tree for a model to climb that isn't on a manicured lawn.

35mm infrared film

While I started working with Ingrid and then Victoria in the tree with my 4x5, I eventually shifted to using my hand-held 35mm camera with infra-red film, which permitted me to move closer. The ground below the tree was full of rolls of barbed-wire, which made it impractical to work with the 4x5 and tripod in such close proximity. In the end, the strongest images were the infra-reds. The first image, photographing directly into the sun, has a powerful motion to it, which would have been hard to replicate on the less spontaneous medium of the view camera.

4"x5" film

The final image above was a 4x5 snapshot (if there is such a thing); captured as we were walking back from the tree to where we'd left the clothes and the rest of our gear, Ingrid stopped to eat some berries. I was immediately struck with the graceful line of her arm and hip, and asked her to hold the pose. I quickly switched to my longest lens, a 12" Caltar, and made the image at f/8, almost wide open on an f/6.3 lens. The resulting image has Ingrid's body crisp and detailed, against a soft and diffused background, leading to a distinct Arcadian feel.

Ingrid in a River (Ingramport, Nova Scotia)

In 1996 I began my exploration of water nudes with Kris in the Canaan River. Two years later, in July 1998, I returned and made some very successful images with Lilly. A month later, however, in August, the formerly beneficent river god claimed my 4"x5" Wista in a tragic accident (to me, at least...the camera toppled over in midstream). Needless to say, I have a love-hate relationship with Canaan River.

4"x5" film

All that being said, on the way home from Gold River, Ingrid and I stopped to work for an hour, hoping that the change of location would provoke more images in the short time before we had to head back to the city. The Canaan River was suffering from the same lack of rain that had lowered the Gold River; I've never seen it so low and to say that the water was moving risks an accusation of hyperbole.

4"x5" film

Just as I discovered with Victoria and Megan that two models in the same space begin reflecting one another, it has become apparent that two similar spaces with the same model become almost interchangeable. Had the weather, or the water level, been different, the two rivers would have been night and day but, as it was, apart from my memory, there is nothing to separate the two session in the work itself.

Ingrid at a Rapids (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

The Spring and summer to date have been very dry and the water levels in the rivers have continued to fall. The first time we worked in the Gold River rapids, the flow of water was quite strong and all three models had to struggle to maintain poses in the rushing water; Miles nearly got swept down stream while posing for the most striking image of the day. A month later, the water level was down by three feet and the flow of the river had slackened considerably.

4"x5" film

It was a hot day, with blinding sun and a clear blue sky; Ingrid was quite enthusiastic to do water nudes and I was fairly confident I could tame the contrast inherent in direct sunlight enough to make the resulting images work By over-exposing the film and then compensating in the processing, I maintained shadow detail while keeping the highlights in check.. Given the reduced speed of the water, I knew that I'd be able to pose Ingrid in such a way that she wouldn't be battered by the water enough to blur her figure, but I'd be able to get a lovely blur in the water around her.

35mm infrared film

The distinction in an image between one quarter and a full second can be stunning. A quarter second exposure, such as the one to the left, maintains distinction in the river's flow, while blurring out the froth and bubbles below the rapid itself. A full second, to the right, renders everything as an almost smoky stream. In this image, the water flow was too strong for Ingrid to keep still during the exposure but the overall effect is very pleasing, with her body melding with the maelstrom below her. The most extreme water blur exposure, four seconds or more, makes everything look like it's in a low level fog, and creates a very difficult situation for the model in regards to staying still.

4"x5" film

After this session, upon reflection I realized how much the river's personality had changed from my first work there. In some ways, this is my favourite session at the Gold River, with strong water blur and poses that dealt with the direct sunlight well.

Miles and Ingrid Model on Rocks (Polly's Cove, Nova Scotia)

35mm infrared film

Because of the geographic position of Nova Scotia, much of her ocean-facing coastline is glacial plane. These broad expanses of granite cascade down to the ocean, and are strewn with a mixture of boulders, scrub and stunted trees. A distinctly inhospitable landscape, these glacial planes have been a favourite place of mine to work since 1993.

On this day, Miles, Ingrid and I didn't have much time, so we decided to stick with a route we knew and walked down to a rock cove where we'd worked last year. The day was sunny and bright, not my favourite photography weather but optimal for working with infra-red.

35mm infrared film

As we walked, following the path to the shore, we passed under a high cliff which both Miles and I instantly agreed had image making potential. We clambered up the rocks and began working with the pale wisps of cloud which I knew would turn black on film. It was only at the very end of the images we made on the cliff that the image above was composed. I seldom frame an entire landscape though I use a very wide angle lens (19mm) when I work with infra-red. The open vista looking down to the sea worked very well with the flow of Miles' shoulder and back and the low line of fog delineated the ocean from the sky.

4"x5" film

When we arrived at the cove, the sunlight pretty much obliterated working anywhere but under the sheer rock faces. The first image I made of Ingrid below the rock was an attempt to convey the massiveness of the cliffs at Polly Cove and, while I am pleased with the image, I still feel it falls short of conveying the space. The final image of the session was made when Ingrid moved into the crevasse to the right. Sunlight filtered down behind her in a narrow shaft along the crevice, producing a subtle side lighting to the left, while the flat front lighting gave a wonderful roundness to her figure, in a manner similar to Edward Weston's dancing nudes produced in 1927. One of the best ways to learn how light works is to see how others have mastered it and apply their technique to your vision.

Victoria at Fort McNab (McNab's Island, Nova Scotia)

4"x5" film

It always amazes me how much a space can influence different models. In 1998 I worked with Megan in Fort McNab, and just over a year later, I returned with Victoria and produced work with a similar tone and approach. I didn't intend to mirror the work with Megan, nor was it consciously in mind while I worked, but looking at the two set of images, I find it impossible to deny the influence the space had on the images.

The strongest image of the day was made in a space that I'd discovered with Megan in 1998, but was unable to work in at the time as the sun was in the wrong position. With Victoria however, the light was right, and we could make the images I'd been thinking of for a year. In the space of about 10 minutes, we exposed 10 sheets of 4"x5" film, with most of them relying simply on available light.

4"x5" film

I was concerned that the contrast from the single overhead light source would be too high, and so for the image to the left, I used the small pop-up flash in my Canon EOS Rebel 2000 to fill in the shadows by firing it manually during the one second exposure on the 4"x5" camera. This worked wonderfully, with the low-powered flash filling in the shadows, while leaving the sense of the natural light intact. The other negatives work in a different way, but I prefer the one displayed here, as it give a better sense of the space in which we worked.

The final image displayed here was produced shortly after we finished in the arched room. The sunlight was coming almost directly down, a situation I usually avoid working in. The reflections off the whitewashed steps and walls filled the shadows enough to make the image work, however. Victoria's simple pose, with the aversion of her head, makes an image which for me has a distinct Latin feel to it; something that would be better set in Mexico or Spain than in a military fort in Nova Scotia.

4"x5" film

The combination of the Nude with architecture is something that keep reappearing in my imagery. I seldom work with conventional building spaces, finding that they date images too much; there's nothing like seeing a 1960's chair in the background to fix in time the work of Richard Avedon. In the same light, setting the Nude on the worn concrete and beaten architecture of the military ruins around Halifax gives them a timelessness that is hard to replicate in other, less decrepit spaces.

Ingrid at the Killdevils (Gold River, Nova Scotia)

6x12 cm film

Gold River, between the rapids, Killdevils and Cumberland, has proved to be a rich hunting ground for images. The wide variety of riverscape, combined with the differences in the river's water levels from week to week has lead to a very diverse set of images over a short period of time (earlier work on Gold River can be found here). The more I work with water, the more malleable I find it, realizing that its ability to both reflect and transmit light is its real beauty, as much as I love its movement. On this day, because of the lack of rain, Gold River was slow moving, and instead of working in the same space as before, we moved down river, to a broad, open section.

4"x5" film

There, as opposed to working with the movement of the water, I concentrated on the reflections and distortions which were present, using the pale green water grass under the surface as a counterpoint to Ingrid's pale body. The subtle distortions of the body below the water, combined with the dark, mysterious quality to the river made the water images from this session quite different from my other water work.

4"x5" film

After we finished up working in the water, Ingrid took a walk downstream. Returning five minutes later, she asked me to come with her; she'd found a small patch of white flowers which she wanted to work with. Though it doesn't come out well on the web, the image to the right is the flower nude - one of my favourite "land nudes" this year. The wonderful sweeping motions of Ingrid's arms, torso and legs makes the image work well within the frame, and the high resolution of the 4"x5" negative shows the tiny white flowers in exquisite detail. The delicacy and quite quality of the image as a whole lead to exactly the result I was hoping for.