Ireland III (Dangan Castle, Ireland)

After a short break for lunch (Ingrid warmed up some with a hearty soup), we drove off to find our second location, while simultaneously slowly working our way westward, towards our first week's accommodation.

The vast majority of preparation for this trip went into researching locations for Ingrid and I work with in, and one of the most exciting was discovering the ruins of Dangan Castle, an old stately home built upon the foundations of an even older castle. The house has been uninhabited since the 1840s. Its most famous occupant was Great Britain's greatest military commander, Field Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington , who famously defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. The Duke was born near the castle and spent most of his youth there.

After a lovely walk out to the ruins, Ingrid and I started working not with the house, but with a massive tree that was situated in a field beside it - though the tree was healthy and green, the heart of the trunk was mostly missing, with enough space for Ingrid to clamber right inside. Initially I photographed in colour, but I quickly realized the light was SO green (given all the leaves around us) that getting a colour colour balance on Ingrid's skin would be challenging (this turned out to be the case, so the only "colour camera" images of Ingrid in the tree are in black and white). So I switched to the infrared camera. This presented its own challenges (the infrared light under the tree was VERY low in contrast), but side-stepped the colour issue all together.

After working with the tree until Ingrid and I ran out of poses, we walked over and began working with the house proper. Without the doubt the most prevalent features that remain are the massive windows, so after making a small number of images of Ingrid in the main door, I helped her up into one of the stone window frames and we proceeded from there. The magical part of the space was the fact that the window frame we worked with was partially filled in (on an angle, just to make things different), so while Ingrid was in a massive window, she was also posing against a background to weathered stone and render. 

Ingrid and I worked on the face of the building for half-an-hour or so, experimenting with camera angles and lenses, and different ways for her to interact with the space. Working at Dangan Castle was a very different experience than our first session at the Abbey - at that location, there was a steady flow of interruptions from other visitors - Ingrid and I could never really lose ourselves in the process, and get to the point where a natural rhythm emerged in the session, as we moved from image to image. At Dangan Castle, the only interruption was a local dog walker, who we'd seen at a great distance, and easily worked around. 

One to the reasons I was so keen to work at Dangan Castle (apart from the tie to the Duke of Wellington) was because of the images I had seen of the interior of the castle - it is incredibly overgrown with foliage, and even small trees. I'd hoped to make a whole series of images with Ingrid within the building, working with the magical juxtaposition of such a massive building, and the hand of nature reclaiming it, but sadly, I had forgotten about stinging nettles ( Urtica dioica ). Even walking through the fields to the ruin, we came across the nettles, and the interior of the castle was overrun with them. I did manage to clear a small path for Ingrid, but a standing pose, feet inside the doorway, was all we could manage with the space. 

The last images of the session at Dangan Castle were made in a small out building, beside the main house; Angie had found it during her own photo exploration of the site, and she thought it might provide some contrast to the other spaces we worked in.

The first images in the shed worked with the ivy that flowed over the building, and hung down over the opening; after these images, Ingrid moved further into the structure, and lent back against the stone wall, working her hands in among the ivy. This lead to the final set of images, working with the soft, yet directional light coming in through the only entrance into the building.

Ireland II (Bective Abbey, Ireland)

After a rough night's sleep (who knew Sunday night in Dublin was such a party-fest?), we loaded up the rental car, and drove out from Dublin to our first location in the creation of the Ingrid portfolio. After more than half-a-year of planning, I can honestly say, I've known for months were the first place I'd planned to work with Ingrid was - Bective Abbey. Why? Well, it is a ruined abbey, it is close to Dublin, and it has a small covered area of cloister - therefore it would work for my purposes, rain or shine.

We arrived to find the abbey totally empty, so with a smile on my face, I pulled into the parking lot...only to be followed by a couple of other cars...in no time whatsoever, these disgorged enthusiastic visitors (both locals and tourists) who headed straight for where, moments before, I'd envisioned Ingrid and I happily working - a theme of sorts for our first session. While it was true the first group only stayed for fifteen minutes or so, the tour bus which pulled up moments after they left took a little longer.

Fortunately, Ingrid and I were expecting (or more accurately, resigned to) this possibility, and spent much of our time while waiting exploring the ruins, and roughing out ideas for images we could make together when there was no-one around. It didn't take too long to work out the couple of locations that would work well for photographs, and by the time the tourists cleared out (the first time), Ingrid and I had a solid game plan in mind, and swung into action, setting up and making a solid handful of images, before we suddenly had to halt, get Ingrid clothed again, and wait out the next set of tourists.

A more subversive assault on the session came from jet lag. The first set of images of Ingrid in a cloister window, was made with my colour camera, and somehow, I neglected to focus the lens...so the first 26 images (4-5 images of each pose) were a total write-off. All I can think is that I neglected to check if the lens was switched to auto-focus, and then forgot to check the focus in live-view (which is my normal approach to working these days. The simple fact is I was tired, and made a mistake.

Fortunately, the second group of images of Ingrid in the cloister windows had no such issues, as they were made in infrared, which I always have to manually focus (using live-view).

It took three separate tries to make all the images I wished with the cloisters - two more cars parked in the lot, and disgorged tourists who romped around the ruins while Ingrid and I milled about, waiting for them to leave. While this totally disrupted the flow of the session, it did give Ingrid a chance to warm up between images.

After another tourist-imposed break, Ingrid and I moved a little further into the ruined abbey. I have always had a love for spiral stairs, and while the stairs in Bective went no-where (literally, they ended at one-floor up, in a drop-off back to the ground), Ingrid was quite keen to work with them. Like much of the abbey, the stairs and walls were incredibly green, which proved challenging for the colour in the above image - thus black and white came to the rescue, keeping the colour casts at bay. 

While we were working on the stairs, Angie was keeping an eye on the parking lot - but also caught a glimpse of Ingrid through a small window, and suggested I come around to the outside of the building to take a look. It was challenging to make (using both an exposure blend, and a focus blend), but the final result is both unusual within my work, and pleasing, so it was well worth the effort. 

The last set of images, made in the corridor by the main entrance, took the longest to create...not in terms of the making of the images, which took only a couple of minutes, but in terms of the wait we had to go through for a time without any visitors in the abbey. After what seemed like forever (and was actually about fifteen minutes, we had our opportunity, and without hesitate, Ingrid walked through the poses we'd discussed working with the side wall, and then did some improvisation on the rock floor, before we packed up, headed to the car, and drove off looking for lunch. 

Ireland I (Dublin, Ireland)

After a little more than four hours of flight time, we arrived in Dublin, tired, but happy to finally have the project properly underway. Having learned from my 2014 trip to Ireland with Angie (who was also on this trip, as a part-vacation, part-assistant, part-documentary photo/videographer), the hotel bookings I'd made in Dublin all had early check-ins. As a result, after picking up the rental car, and fighting with the GPS (it is ironic that the first GPS co-ordinates used on the the trip, to the hotel, were the ONLY co-ordinates that were wrong...sending us to a totally different location), we arrived at the hotel in a timely fashion, and by 10am, were unconscious in comfy beds, recovering from the trans-Atlantic flight.

After a good late-morning nap, we headed gathered ourselves and headed into Dublin; after some debate we decided to save the taxi fare and have me drive (on 4 hours sleep) into the city...fortunately it was Sunday, and traffic was light. We found an awesome parking spot next to the river, and then struck out of foot, with cameras in hand!  

The weather was quite pleasant (especially as the forecast had been for rain) - overcast with pleasant temperatures. Without a specific goal in mind, we wandered south across the river, taking the Capel Street Bridge, which is famous for its Hippocampi light-posts. 

As soon as Ingrid saw the hippocampi on the bridge, she wanted a portrait with them - my first image of her in Ireland. 

The last place we explored on our all-too-brief visit to Dublin was the Library of Trinity College Dublin, home to the famous books of Kells. The instructions to visitors were none-too-clear, with "no photography signs all over the place, and then "no flash" signs, next to tourists (like us) taking a million photos a minute. Very odd.

The 65-metre-long (213 ft) main chamber of the Old Library, the Long Room, was built between 1712 and 1732 and houses 200,000 of the Library's oldest books. The Long Room holds one of t last remaining copies of the 1916 Proclamation of the Irish Republic. This proclamation was read by Patrick Pearse near the General Post Office on 24 April 1916.

Ingrid, The Ireland Portfolio Begins (St. John's, Newfoundland)

The 2016 Ingrid Portfolio project began as an abstract almost nine months ago, when I realized I was only a couple of months away from the start of my 30th year photographing. Well over half my life spent pursuing a single passion, focused on a single goal - the pursuit of "the image". 

When I finally put my idea in front of Ingrid, asking her if she'd be willing to spend a couple of weeks working with me in Ireland, to produce a portfolio to celebrate this milestone in my career, she didn't even hesitate, and said she was on board.

The it was simply a question of making things happen (sounds easy, doesn't it?). It took about 6 weeks to prepare for the 30 day Kickstarter campaign, and then another couple of months after the campaign was over to finalize the planning, but today, we boarded a plane in Halifax, and spent an evening in St John's, Newfoundland, while waiting for the late night flight to Dublin, Ireland.

Because of how the flights worked out, we had almost 6 hours between the two flights, which was more than enough time to catch a taxi into the city proper, and eat a meal in downtown St John's. After dinner was over, we still had a little time to spare, so another hour or so was spent walking around town, camera in hand, enjoying what I love to do the most. Making photographs.

I've always just walking with a camera, and the hour I spent in downtown St. John's was no exception. The evening light was stunning, and there was no shortage of things to photograph. All good things must come to an end though, so by 9pm, we were back in the airport, through security inspection, and waiting for the last big step before the creation of the portfolio began - the overnight flight to Ireland.

Decor Paper Arrives! (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Though I was told it would be 3+ weeks for the order to arrive, yesterday I was incredibly pleased to pick up the paper for printing the Kickstarter campaign Decor Print rewards on. There are still a handful of backers who have to select their rewards, but I expect to start printing the Decor Prints next week, which means I am on track for the fulfillment of the backer rewards (except those which include images from the final portfolio) which are due for delivery by the end of May!

Project Planning Begins (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

It's now 11 days since the Kickstarter campaign ended, and almost all the backers have completed their reward surveys. Though the project funds won't be transferred to be until early next week, I have already ordered the materials required for the creation of the backer rewards, and the project planning for the 2016 Ingrid Portfolio is now well underway. Flights are booked, two weeks of accommodations in Ireland have been selected, and the detailed planning has begun on numerous levels.

Most of my preparations are focused on researching locations Ingrid and I may work in. A combination of website, google earth, and physical travel guides are being used to first locate potential sites, and then evaluate them for their appropriateness for the project. Privacy is obviously the primary issue (both to prevent interruption of the process, and any chance of offending the locals), but ease of access access and overall aesthetics are also major considerations.​SML

The role Google Earth plays in this process can't be understated; the ability to view locations from above, and get both a sense of their surroundings, and how they sit in the landscape as a whole is incredibly valuable.

To help with planing on the ground (where internet access will not be available), I've been creating a document with a page or two of each potential location, with sample photographs to remind me of the setting, Google Earth screen captures to show the surroundings, and Google Maps screen captures to provide detailed driving instructions, should Ingrid and I decide a particular space is worth pursuing. Once this document is completed, I will convert it to a PDF, sort the pages geographically (at the moment they are just randomly arranged) and put the final PDF on an Ipad to accompany us in the car!

The Kickstarter is Over! (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

After 30 days, the Kickstarter campaign, to help fund the creation of a 2016 portfolio to celebrate 30 years of photography (and 17 years of working with Ingrid) is now over. The campaign raised $7,078 in total, which will contribute around $5,000 to the costs of creating the new work (after fees, taxes and the costs of backer rewards).

Over the coming months I'll finish the prep for the project, and then head to Ireland with Ingrid to photograph for two week, creating the work that will eventually be edited down to the final 12 portfolio images.

A Behind the Scenes Video

Model Society, a site focused on fine art Nude photography, is featuring a video of Ingrid and I working together in their most recent blog post.

The video could be considered NSFW as it contains nudity (and as such has YouTube age restrictions); it shares behind-the-scenes footage of Ingrid and I making one of the strongest photographs we've created together in our 17 years of collaboration.

The video is also available on Youtube, if you wish to view it directly.

Travelling as a Fine Art Photographer Presentation (Truro, Nova Scotia)

Next Wednesday evening, March 30th, 2016, I will be presenting "Travelling as a fine art Photographer", to the Image Maker's Photography Club, in Truro, Nova Scotia. The presentation will focus on the difference between travelling to photograph and photographing while travelling!

The Club meets at the Truro Junior High School, 445 Young Street, Truro, in Room 011 at 7PM.

My First Kickstarter is Live!

To mark 30 years of photography, I am going to create a new model-based portfolio - the 2016 Ingrid Portfolio. To help create this work, I am using KICKSTARTER to raise funds.

Please take the time to visit my KICKSTARTER campaign, watch the video, and check out the rewards I am offering in exchange for your support.

If you can’t take advantage of this KICKSTARTER, but know of someone who might be interested, please pass this along, as art is fueled by the support of those who love it. Sharing this post to even a couple of your creative-minded friends would be an awesome way to contribute to my campaign!