The Debut of the "Revelaing Beauty" Documentary Video

On a rainy, blustery evening, several dozen friends and friends of friends came together to view the debut of "Revealing Beauty", the 25 minute long documentary video on my work with the Nude, produced by Eric Hayes. The evening was a great success, with three screenings, as well as good feedback from both the models (who hadn't seen the final edit before) and the larger general audience. We even attracted a musical celebrity, singer-songwriter James Keelaghan who arrived with Eric Hayes and stayed through the first showing of the video.

Another Studio Session with Aurora

When Aurora and I first met and talked about the possibilities of documenting the pregnancy, one element that I was particularly interested in exploring was the possibilities of a session with her, the growing baby, and her partner. While I've had the opportunity to work with pregnant models before, I've never done couple images that revolved around a pregnancy.

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Generally, for me the studio is a frustrating space to work within; there is nothing but the subject, myself, and the light. It is a lot to ask of a model to be the sole focus of an entire session, and even more so within such an open empty space as a lighting studio, which is why two models are often far easier to work with in the studio (the models have something to cling to, for lack of a better way of explaining it). Aurora's first studio session was more then successful, but I really felt that more could have happened if there had been the introduction of another element, in this case, her partner's hands, to make the images all the more dynamic.

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So, when everything came together, the three of us (four if you count the developing baby) descended upon the studio to see what would happen with Aurora and her partner together in front of the camera. The technical approach was pretty much the same as the first studio session with Aurora and me but the added complexity of the second model (second set of hands, actually) added to the imagery was fabulous to work with.

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Where the first session was Aurora and I working together to make the lighting and confines of the studio work, this session was almost the complete opposite, with minimal direction from myself, and most of the images arising from the spontaneous interaction between the two models.

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The end of the session saw Aurora and I working together on a couple of solo Nudes, continuing the documentation of her changing body. It was verydisconcerting moving from a dynamic where the images happened spontaneously in front of me, to one where I had to return to the standard studio approach of actively working with the model to make the images work.

An Indoor Session with Victoria

Though Victoria now lives less then a block from me, it seems that we never have time to get together and make new images together; between her teaching, dancing and working, and my equally complex schedule, 're lucky if we even get to chat on the phone occasionally.

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All that being said, since before her house even started last fall, I had my heart set on working with her in her claw-footed bathtub, which she intended to install in her renovated home. So, when the house was finally civilized, and the tub installed and working, we set a date...and managed to keep it!

The day was perfect, with bright sunlight providing enough light through the light curtains for me to work with. I began the session working with infra-red film in my 35mm camera, and Ilford's SFX near infra-red film in my Mamiya RB camera; I was interested to see how these two films worked against each other in diffused, low light situations. One of the greatest gifts of a long term collaboration with a model is the freedom to experiment - with an inexperienced or first-time model, there is less room for experimentation. As I knew from earlier tests, the look of the Ilford SFX was not identical to Kodak's HIE, but in the soft light of the room, it was quite pleasing, and definitely different from what would have been recorded by conventional film.

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Once we finished working with the couch and window light, we moved upstairs to the bathroom. Having worked on her house renovations, I knew the space was small, but I knew that this would prove to be less of a problem with the wide-angle lenses that I prefer for so much of my work. What I hadn't realized was that the image I'd end up wanting the most would be from the head of the tub.

After making a series of images looking from the foot of the tub, on a whim, I moved to the head of the bath, and checked to see if there were possibilities from that angle. What I saw was beautiful, with the curves of Victoria's body moving along the receding lines of the tub, an interwoven figure within the simplicity of the bath. I wasn't sure if I could get either of my cameras into position there (because of the angled ceiling and close wall), but I knew that I had to try. As it turned out, the Mamiya RB was perfect - once the prism finder was removed, I could see just enough to compose the image, and while I had to focus by guesswork, the final exposure (four seconds in length) more then met my expectations.

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For such a short session, the couple of striking images are very pleasing. The flexibility of the Mamiya in such closed quarters was unexpected yet crucial to making the day a success, photographically. If I had only had my 35mm equipment, I could never have framed up the image, because of the position of the walls and ceiling.

Aurora's Second Session

The second session with Aurora took place just over two weeks later, in the studio. As much as I appreciated and enjoyed the work we had done in the small white room, Aurora felt that the work was not exactly what she was looking for, so we decided to explore the possibilities that a lighting studio provided. The major difference between a lighting studio and a space with available light is that in the studio, you have the full flexibility to arrange the light as you wish - the drawback of this is that everything that the images comprised of his created there's very little to draw upon from inspiration besides what is in front of your camera.

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I've had several models recently comment on how different it is to work in the studio compared to modeling outdoors, or indoors with available light. Aurora seemed feel that there was very little difference between the two environments and worked just as to happily in the environs of the studio as she had in my house with available light.

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Where I had used the white room in my house to give the images we made a delicate, intimate feel, in the studio I concentrated on Aurora's figure by using a black background to isolate the body in the frame. My standard lighting approach, with a soft light to one side, and a hard light to the other, worked well with the pregnant figure and prove to accentuate both the curves and swell of the body.

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Overall, the contrast between the indoor of our first session, and the studio work two weeks later is quite striking. This isn't rooted in a change in Aurora's comfort level, but in the difference in the atmosphere of the two spaces. I think part of my reoccurring frustration with studio photography is rooted in my continually returning to a standard approach to lighting and framing. I won't go as far as to say that this revelation is new, but it certainly will provoke some thought when I return to the studio in the coming weeks and months. As an evolution of our first session, it is a wonderful compliment to our initial images.

An Unexpected Pregnancy Session

In the fifteen years I've been working with the Nude, I have time and again thought that the ideal project would be to work with a model through a pregnancy, recording the changes that a woman's body goes through over the nine month term. I have had the opportunity to work with several pregnant models a number of times in the past, but most of these were single-sessions, as opposed to a more involved project.

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While I was pleased and engaged by the results from these sessions, I was continually left with the feeling that more could be created, given time and enthusiasm. While I have yet to realize the chance to work with a model through an entire pregnancy, a chance encounter with Aurora early in her third trimester, lead to the start of what would become more then eight weeks of work.

Aurora came across my work online, and while she wasn't specifically searching for someone to photograph her pregnancy, she saw in my work something of what she wished for in an image of her pregnancy. After a flurry of e-mail, a meeting in person, and some soul searching on her part, we began working three days later.

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For the first session (of what I hoped would become many), I opted to work in the small front room in my house; the light was perfect in the late afternoon, and while the space was small, it provided us with a nice intimate space to work in. The white sheets, arranged over the two windows, provided more then enough light, and the bed, while limited in space, provided us with a well defined place to work in.

It usually takes some time for a new model to become accustomed to the process; with Aurora, however, there was little of the usual hesitation over modeling nude for the first time. I think in part this was less because of an adjustment to a new experience, then it was a reality of the change in her own relationship to her body that comes with a pregnancy. Whatever the reason, very quickly Aurora moved into a place where she was relaxed and comfortable, and both of us were focused upon the images we were making together.

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Something I really enjoy about working with a model within a small define space is that rather then constantly trying to make new, unusual, or extremely compelling images, I tend to focus far more on how the model moves, how she interacts with the space, and how the light wraps around her and gives definition and formed to her body. This approach certainly worked well with Aurora, as by the end of the session, when the light was swiftly dying, we had a number of striking images from the hour's work I hope that these images mark the beginning of what will be a striking body of work revolving around a pregnancy that I feel privileged to document even part of.

Carol & S_ at Litchfield Cove

As it turned out, this session was my last outdoor work of 2002; fall came swiftly this year, and as beautiful a day as this was, it was the last with the warmth of summer in the air; from here on, my work will be indoors.

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Though the session started out with a series of solo nudes, including some very brave images made in the gently flowing ocean (which was none too warm), the main focus was working with the two models in a couple of spaces. The first time I'd worked at Lichfield Cove was also with two models, so I suppose the space is conducive to outdoor couple images.

After we finished making the ocean-images (a quick end was precipitated by the impending arrival of some intrepid hikers), we moved further down the coast, and stumbled across one a fabulous space in which to continue working. A vertical spit in the granite bedrock created a perfect angular shelf in which the two models could work, giving them both a space in which to pose and react to, and diffusing the otherwise blinding sunlight into something a little more delicate and soft. Both the models and I reacted strongly to the space, so we decided this would be an idea place to continue to work in.

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Once we set up and started to work, the possibilities came as rapidly as I could advance the film and reload the camera. As I suspected, the close quarters between the rock walls and the debris in the crevasse provoked some striking poses from the models, who worked with their intertwining forms as often as they did the surrounding stone.

After three rolls (30 images) spent working with the crevasse, we moved back to exploring the coastline, with the natural rock forms and the interplay between the models and the rocks. After the strength of the crevasse images, I felt that things were flowing well, and the remainder of the session went by swiftly, with a number of engaging images being created.

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While I didn't know that this would be the last outdoor session of the year at the time, it was a fitting conclusion to my landscape work for the year. While the session began with classic, single model images, most of the time was spent working with the interplay of the models and the landscape, a marriage of my more stylized, reduced indoor work and my landscape nudes. While I by far prefer to work outdoors with the Nude, the session was a bridge of sorts, moving me into the winter's work with light, body, and the landscape of the mind.

Victoria on a Wet, Rainy Afternoon

Victoria and I had planned to work on this afternoon for more than a week, but when the day dawned with intermittent showers and thick fog, I pretty much figured the session was off. When she called to confirm the session, however, Victoria insisted that she was keen to model, rain or not, and by early afternoon we were heading for the coast, praying for the rain to hold off.

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We arrived to find the entire beach deserted (as I had hoped), and began the session with Victoria testing the temperature of the ocean. As I suspected, it was too cold for her to consider as a location for working (in the car, Victoria had been keenly but naively speaking of doing water nudes), so we walked further down the beach to where the higher dunes were to see what could be done there.

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In many ways, the session was similar to when Victoria and I worked in the Alberta Badlands in August of 1999; the landscape looked amazing, but turned out to be difficult to work with, and the weather made it even harder. In Alberta, the sandstone was hard and abrasive, and on the beach, the wet dunes were unyielding and cold. In Alberta, it was unbearably hot and dry, and on the beach, it was cool, wet, and increasingly rainy. It was during the work in Alberta that Victoria and I truly laid the foundation of the body of work we've produced together since the first photographs I made of her in 1998.

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With the Mamiya RB protected by a plastic shopping bag, Victoria and I began to explore the possibilities of the day. The fog was slowly turning to rain, but Victoria insisted we pursue the muse, and we did what we could working with a line of low sand-dunes. The work flowed well, for as long as Victoria could deal with the rain. With every passing minute, however, the drizzle gradually increased in strength until it was undeniably raining. This swiftly called an end to the session, because while I could keep the camera relatively dry, there was no way to keep an already drenched Victoria warm.

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My favourite image of the session was actually made as we were calling it to a close; Victoria had wrapped one towel around her waist, and was brushing sand off her shoulders when I asked her to pause - the wet hair set against the beautiful softness of her wet skin belies the chill that had set in by that point. A beautiful image of a thoroughly cold model.

Fern Returns to North River

After a break for lunch, we headed up the LaHave river, to find another space in which to work. Several had been suggested, but each in turn was revealed to be occupied (it was, after all, the Labour Day weekend). In the end, we opted to return to North River, where Fern and I had had our first outdoor session almost a month before.

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Luck was with us, and we found the space abandoned. Rather then walk far up the river to the place we'd had such success in before, I opted to work lower on the river, where the slowly moving water was meandering between the bare, softly shaped rocks. By this time the high cloud had burned off, and the light was harder and more direct. This was a double-edged sword, as it gave more definition to the dark rocks, and Fern's pale body, but at the same time, it made the exposure and development a little more tricky.

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Because there was little water in the river, much of the imagery I made worked with Fern posing in the rocks and foliage on the riverbed; I would have preferred to work with a more active river, but a dry August pretty much ruled that out. Towards the end of the session, we did manage to work with some water, overflowing from a broad, smooth-surfaced pool. Created late in the afternoon, the image of Fern in the water is darker then many of my water nudes; the sun was low in the sky, and as opposed to reflecting a bright blue sky, the water was dark and mysterious, with only a little highlight appearing on the other side of Fern's body - quite beautiful.

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In contrast to the morning session, I worked exclusively with the 8"x10" at North River; the difference was striking, but not unexpected. Making twelve images in four hours was a refreshing change from the morning's hectic pace; Fern was more then patient with the slower approach - given the warmth of the afternoon, she was just as content to hang out and wait for an image to come to fruition as she was to model continually, as she had in the morning session.

Fern Models by a River

My second day of outdoor work with Fern (the first was in August) began with her and I working down in the river valley of the LaHave river, which was low from lack of rain. I would never have thought of looking along such a wide river for places to work but, as has happened many times before, local knowledge prevailed, and a fabulous space to work was discovered where none was expected.

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The riverside was extremely varied, ranging from undercut cliffs of soft rock with verdant green ferns and rich rock textures to low rock shelves stretching out into the slow moving river. The light was perfect, with high overcast condition providing a wonderfully soft illumination that made everything seem to glow. Even under the overhang of the cliff, the light seemed to almost wrap around Fern's body and lift it from the surrounding rocks and shale.

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Given the beauty of the light, the session moved along at a rapid pace; there was more then enough variation in the settings to keep me engaged, and as soon as Fern and I began to struggle for pose or composition ideas, we moved on to another location. This is an interesting variation of my normal approach of working with a space until all possibilities are exhausted, for fear of missing some fabulous composition or pose. Because I was working with the smaller Mamiya RB camera, it was quite easy to respond fluidly to each new location, without taking too much time to adapt the camera set-up. As much as I enjoy the studied, considered speed demanded by the larger view camera, it was almost refreshing to work at such a rapid pace, in such a varied setting.

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As things turned out, it was fortunate that we worked so fluidly, and took advantage of the variety of landscape open to us in the space. When we were pretty much as far down the riverside as we could safely go, some hikers began to approach from upstream, so we brought the session to a close. One of the greatest advantages of having extra people along on a session (in this case, Lymari and a model she worked with) is that it increases the number of eyes looking out for visitors; I am aware that some people would be less then pleased to come across my work-inprogress, and sensitivity to this reality colours all of my outdoor sessions, no matter how remote the location.

Miranda at the Coast

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This afternoon was one of the most relaxed, low key photo sessions I have ever had; a total of five people headed to the coast for the afternoon, two photographers (Lymari and myself), a model (Miranda), a fiddler (Anthony) and a visiting friend of the model. The main purpose of the session was less for me to to make images, and more to coach another photographer through the process of working with a model, both by example, and through simply letting her explore her own vision.

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We arrived at Long Beach to find it quite windy; this didn't preclude Miranda modeling nude, as the wind was warm enough, but it did make working with the 8"x10" view camera a little impractical. I did make a couple of images at the beginning of the session of Miranda on a rock overlooking the sea, but I found it quite hard to compose the image and keep the focusing cloth from flying away.

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Most of the rest of the afternoon was spent working with Lymari on her photography, occasionally making images with either infra-red film (on a 35mm camera) or with the 8"x10" Toyo. It was a very different way of working, making images when they happened during Lymari's work, but the pace was relaxing, and lead to a number of striking images.