Fort Petrie, Sydney Harbour

Of all the sites in Sydney Harbour, Fort Petrie is the only one being actively preserved. When I'd visited it a decade before, it had been an abandoned ruin, with a water-filled bunker, and little else to indicate that it was a fort of any historical importance. Like North Bar, I'd photographed Fort Petrie in 1991, but I welcomed the chance to return and continue the documentation - thus my pleasure to find that the site was now being cared for, and preserved for posterity.

8"x10" film

This is, of course, a double edged sword, because while the preservation of the space would protect it from further deterioration, it also involved neat, clear labels being placed on almost everything of interest in the main fort. As a result, I quickly bypassed the main fort, and headed for the cliff, where the searchlights were emplaced; in 1991 when I'd first visited, one of the emplacements had slid down the cliff, and I was interested to find if it even existed now.

8"x10" film

My first day photographing the forts in Sydney harbour had been frustrating weather-wise, but this afternoon was perfect - high fast moving cloud produced shade when I most needed it, while the sun provided the contrast that was sorely missing before. If the day had been sunny with a clear blue sky, it would have been hard to control the contrast, and if it had been dull and grey, I would have been back where I was a decade ago, with blank white skies and foregrounds with little sense of volume to their shadow less rocks.

I only made a couple of images of the first searchlight emplacement. It looked much as it did a decade ago, and is in fact the exact same design as those in Halifax, which probably makes the searchlights the defining architectural feature of the Halifax Defence complex.

8"x10" film

As it turned out, the second emplacement was still in the process of sliding downhill (it seemed to have hit bottom, but I suspect in several years, it will finally topple on its side). As a result, most of my time at Fort Petrie was spent working with this dynamic element, first from a shallow rock-bar offshore, and then from directly below the searchlight building, looking up into its broken face. In both cases, the sweeping perspective of the 150mm wide-angle lens accentuated the lines of the images. While I wished I had more time to document the other forts around the harbour, I was pleased with the images I accomplished in the short time I did work in Sydney, and hope to be able to return in the future.

The Fortress of Louisburg (Louisbourg, Nova Scotia)

6x7 cm film

Fortress Louisburg, on the eastern coast of Cape Breton, is not really a fort, but a restoration of one. Destroyed by the British and New England colonists in the 1700's, Louisburg was reconstructed in the 1960's by the Canadian Government as a living heritage museum. My visit to the fort was as much a vacation event as it was a photographic one, but never one to pass up an opportunity to make images, I brought along the Mamiya RB and a tripod, to make images as we explored the extensive museum.

6x7 cm film

One aspect of working in such a "touristy" space was all the people; usually I work in less populated area - even the American Forts I photograph are relatively unpopulated, but at Fortress Louisburg, people were everywhere. This didn't influence how much I photograph, but it did limit to a degree what I could photograph, as I had to keep to subjects that attracted less attention This wasn't a real problem, as it was mainly the small architectural details that drew my eye, but all the same, it was a very different thing, photographing with so many other people around.

6x7 cm film

Probably the greatest frustration of the day was also the greatest success - the Mamiya RB. The camera was a resounding success because it facilitated my walking and photographing for over six hours without growing tired (the camera, lenses, film and tripod weighed less then 30 lbs) and yet there was still a frustration. For more then a decade, I've been using view cameras to photograph architecture, and as a results, the flexibilities of the large format cameras have become second nature. The camera movements that are so easy to accomplish with a view camera were difficult to do without on this day, and as much as I enjoyed the freedom to walk around and photograph at will, I looked forward to later in the day when I would return to working with the 8"x10" camera.

Sydney Harbour Fortifications (Sydney, Nova Scotia)

I've only been to Sydney once before, over a decade ago (when I'd photographed the Sydney Steel Coke Oven in its death-throws). At the time, I'd also spent a day photographing the Second World War harbour defences, which closely mirrored those of the Halifax Defence Complex. I had been
aware that the Canadian Armed Forces must have defended the harbour during the Second World War, as it was one of the three Canadian staging point for Trans-Atlantic convoys (the other staging points were Halifax and St Johns, in Newfoundland).

8"x10" film

This time around, because of time restrictions, rather then trying to tackle the full range of the harbour defences, I opted to focus more exclusively on two sites, one for each day I was in the area. Because it was directly on our way into the city, I opted to work with North Bar first. I clearly remembered the fort's location, and when we finally came around the corner and could see the smoke-stack and fire-control towers, it fit perfectly with my decade-old memory of the space.

8"x10" film

Like most of the forts in Sydney Harbour, North Bar is a mixture of intact emplacements and broken
rubble; most of the main batter is intact, with the concrete emplacement, gun chambers and magazines in fair condition. The searchlight emplacements, and other outer works haven't faired as well, unfortunately, with a great deal of the remaining concrete swiftly disappearing into the harbour surf.

8"x10" film

The couple of hours I spent at North Bar Battery were split between working on the beach below the emplacement and remaining searchlight towers, and documenting the emplacement from it's position overlooking the mouth of the harbour. The day's light, grey and threatening, was great for the details and studies by the shore, but left much to be desired when I was working with the broader view above.

Victoria at York Shore Battery (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

Though Victoria now has a house not one block from where I live, we seem to have bad luck in working out times to work together; both our lives are busy, and as much as we both want to continue our evolving body of work, often as not, plans fall through at the last minute.

6x7 cm film

This session however, came to pass, and saw us up early in the morning, bound to work with the angular light at York Redoubt. Because the fort faces east, it is only in the morning that direct sunlight strikes the fort's face. Too many times I have gone to work at York Redoubt, and found the light dim and lacking in the richness that both direct and diffused sunlight has.

6x7 cm film

For the beginning of the session, we worked within one of the concrete rooms set into the hillside. I enjoy the juxtaposition of the body against concrete, and felt it was a good a place to start as any. The sunlight bouncing off the floor and walls of the room provided wonderfully soft light, with enough directional qualities to give Victoria's shape some form.

6x7 cm film

The most striking of these images came at the very beginning, as I was working with Victoria leaning between two shafts of light. I was moving the tripod from one side of her to another when I glanced down to see a rich composition involving the overlapped forms of Victoria's shoulders, hip and leg. I quickly changed the camera lens to a wide-angle one, and captured the image on film.

6x7 cm film

From that energetic beginning, the rest of the session progressed, first to a series of quite successful portraits, and then finally to working outdoors, with the striated rocks and directional light of the morning sun. In under three hours of working together, we managed to make more then 60 exposures, varying both the pose and the setting. Though the session was short, the combination of an experienced model like Victoria, and the lighter, more portable camera system of the Mamiya RB gave me more then strong results by the time we had to call it to an end.

Fern & L_ Model Together for a Digital Test (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

The second part of the session was spent working with L_ and her sister, Fern. After our first session together in March, I was eager to build upon those first images, and see what could come of a session where the dying of the light wasn't a factor.

Digital original

With the white sheets as the setting, I chose to work with both models lying on the bed; this created a strong landscape flow to their bodies but also insured that the light would cascade across them. With such a strong contrast between the sheets themselves, it was important to get as much light as possible on the models or else they would look too dark against the surrounding sheets.

Once I set up where the models would be working, most of the rest of the session was spent either responding to the two models interactions, or providing suggestions for poses (mostly, "L_, how about if you rolled over while Fern stays where she is" and the like); both worked well, and there was no shortage of inspiration.

Digital original

Because of the similarity of the two models' faces (they are sisters, after all), I spent a good amount of time working with portraits, either playing up the similarities, or just taking advantage of both models' comfort with the camera. In the end, probably two-thirds of the images from the session were portraits, certainly not unusual for an indoor session, but a little more unique given how similar Fern and L_ look.

Digital original

As with the first part of the session, there was no issue in regards to the session being created
using a Canon D60; the only real issue was having to download the 256 mb memory cards as they
filled up - over the three hours between the two sessions, I downloaded to my computer more
then ten times using a card reader, generating more than 3GB of files of the two models.

L_ Models for a Digital Test (Halifax, Nova Scotia)

This session marked my first photo session with a digital SLR camera. I had the camera, a six mega-pixel Canon D60, on loan from Canon Canada and approached the session in a dubious state of mind. By the end of the session, almost all my doubts had been removed and many new, intriguing questions and potentials arose.

Digital original

I worked with L_ for the session, preferring to test the camera with an experienced model who'd be understanding of the experimental nature of the session; generally speaking, I keep any tests or experimentation with unfamiliar equipment out of first sessions with models - if something goes wrong, I'd prefer it to be with someone whom I' already have their confidence.

Digital original

Rather then try to cater the session to what I expected would be good for the digital camera, I just set up my usual indoor space with the white sheeting that I'd fallen in love with using to soften the light and simply worked normally; about my only concession to the new equipment was setting the camera to bracket each image (making three  exposures as opposed to one, with the second and third being subtle variations on the first) - I did this because I was unsure about the tonal range of the camera, and knew I would be working in a very contrasty setting.

Digital original

In the end, the camera was simply a tool; once we began working, it was the images that propelled the session, with the wonderful luminosity of the setting providing, as usual, a great space to work in. I concentrated mostly on portraits, using the small space to create a series of intimate images of L_ which nicely compliment the earlier black and white images that I'd created the first time we'd worked together. By the end of the session, I was not working with a digital camera, but simply with an image-making tool that, surprisingly, surpassed all my expectations.

Miles & J_ Pose in an Abandoned Building (The Valley, Nova Scotia)

Since I first met Miles in 1998, it has become something of a tradition for us to spend July 1st, Canada Day, photographing. On this day, the weather was less then perfect in Halifax, so rather then give up on the day, we set off on a early afternoon drive, hoping the rain and drizzle would be absent on the other side of the province.

8"x10" film

Unfortunately, the poor weather was pervasive; for every time the sun seemed almost about to break through the clouds, there was a time when the heavens seemed just about to open and drench the world. As a final desperate act, we decided to try driving all the way to the coast of the Bay of Fundy, which is separated from the rest of the province by a long, steep-sided hill called "North Mountain". The fog and rain was just as present on the other side, and we were pretty much ready to turn around and go home when we spotted a burned out building beside the road.

We stopped the car, and walked through the brush to see if the space had possibilities; it turned out to be an old church that had suffered a fire; one entire corner of the building was gone, but much of the rest of the structure was still intact.

8"x10" film

At first I was hesitant to work with the space because it was a church, but it was pointed out that when a church is abandoned, it is deconsecrated, meaning that, while it had formerly been a church, it was nothing more then an abandoned building now. Given the visual possibilities of the space, and the fact that, because of the roof, it was sheltered from the weather, we decided to work in the building, placing models in the windows and other spaces in the old church.

As it turned out, because of the low light levels, the only spaces in which we could work were the windows. Even in that space, most of the exposures were at least two seconds long. This limited the imagery somewhat, as the models had to be in positions where they could stay perfectly still.

8"x10" film

At the end of the day, after exposing 14 sheets of 8"x10" film, I was very pleased with that came out of such an unexpected location. I have a strong preference for working in landscape whenever I can, but given that the day was not conducive to landscape images, the abandoned building was an excellent second option. The balance between the beauty and elegance of the human body, and the random chaos of the fractured and burned building appeals to me very strongly and yielded images that catch the eye. I do wish we had found the space earlier in the day when there would have been enough light to work in the interior but, knowing the space is there, I certainly will keep it in mind as a place to return to in the future.

A Second Cool Session with Miranda by the Sea (Polly's Cove, Nova Scotia)

The second session with Miranda suffered from one of the same issues as the first - chill air. I had hoped the day would be as warm as the previous one, and it was inland, but by the ocean (where both Miranda and I wanted to work) the fog put a chill in the air that was decidedly unpleasant.

6x7 cm film

As opposed to working in the parts of Prospect which I know best (those would be the parts closest to where the car gets parked), we decided to head cross country, until we hit new ground. I've used this approach in the past with Claire, to great results, so I had no trepidation in doing it again. When we finally moved out to the coast, as I'd hoped, the space had more then enough possibilities.

35mm infrared film

Because of the day's weather (cool and windy) I had opted to bring the smaller Mamiya RB and 35mm cameras as opposed to my 8"x10" Toyo - the large bellows of the view camera would have presented a significant problem in the high wind; it would have been very difficult to ensure that an image wasn't blurred by the wind shaking the camera. As I've worked so much with the 6x7 camera in the last couple of sessions, I had been looking forwards to having the chance to work with the 8"x10" camera, but that would have to wait.

35mm infrared film

The weather and camera helped shape the session; where I prefer to work slowly, letting the model find the pose and carefully refining the camera position, I had to opt for letting Miranda work out the pose clothed, and then quickly making the image once she disrobed, with only a little time spent refining the pose. This worked well enough, but definitely had a different flow from the normal - the images were still successful, but I do feel they would be subtly different if more time had been available to permit contemplation and revision.

35mm infrared film

Where the previous evening's session had been planned as a short session, I'd hoped to have spent most of the day working at the coast with Miranda. The weather however, conspired against us, and while Miranda was enthusiastic about working, the reality was that as the session progressed, she got colder and colder, and eventually, we brought the session to a close, finishing off the film in the cameras and heading home.

Miranda Returns! (Prospect, Nova Scotia)

The second session of the day was the result of one of the nicest surprises I have had for some time; Miranda had left Halifax in April for work elsewhere, and had no plans to return until the end of the summer. I was therefore greatly surprised to find her in my living room the night before this session, in town for a week, and needing a place to stay!

6x7 cm film

Though she'd just arrived, Miranda was more then keen to commit to working with me a couple of times during her stay, so the plans were laid. I'd known that Carol wanted to be home by late afternoon, so we made plans to meet late the next afternoon, and work until sunset at the coast.

As I always say, the best laid plans oft' go awry, and this session was no exception. We arrived at Prospect about ninety minutes before sunset, hoping for a session with warm, angular light; what we found was a coast line increasingly covered with fog, and a sun descending behind low cloud. The light was rich at first, with a soft sun adding delicate modeling to Miranda's body but as more time passed, the duller the light got until it was simply the even grey of a cloud shrouded evening.

6x7 cm film

Miranda and I worked as long as we could, given the increasing chill of the evening. A couple of the most striking images I made were close-cropped body abstracts, unusual for me in my outdoor work, where I usually place the body entirely within landscape. I think the reason for making these was the delicate quality of the setting sun's light, which provided a great description of her torso, while providing delicate softness to the rest of her figure.

6x7 cm film

Over all, the session was very enjoyable, as much for the fact I was working with Miranda so unexpectedly as it was for the images we made. It cannot be emphasized enough how much a model influences a session.

Workshop Day 3 (Prospect, Nova Scotia)

The last day of the workshop was with at one of my favourite locations in Nova Scotia; Prospect has
served to provide me with some of the richest and most beautiful images of the Nude to date. This,
together with the simple pleasure of working in such a beautiful space, made it the perfect place to close the final day of the workshop. Ironically, while I've worked many times at Prospect, this was Victoria's first session at this location.

6x9 cm negative

As with the previous day, I'd brought the 8"x10" camera as my main imaging tool. While the student, using small and medium format cameras, worked at a more rapid pace with Victoria, I proceeded at a slower pace, setting up compositions, and then borrowing Victoria to complete the images as necessary. In between these more considered images, I sketched with my medium format Fuji 6x9 camera, working in both colour and black and white, as the images demanded. The results from both cameras were more than pleasing,

8"x10" film

I often use smaller, more portable cameras to explore possibilities before moving in with the view camera, but for this session, I reversed the process, following my intuition with my primary camera. The difference between the two approaches is subtle, but pursuing the first perception with the larger, more demanding camera, kept the session focused

4"x10" film

The biggest influence of the workshop on my work for the day was the distraction factor; while I am used to working with assistants and others around, the constant division of my attention between the student and my own images took its toll, not on the images themselves, but on the process - the day was riddled with minor errors and mistakes. All this aside, the three-day workshop provided my with lessons, as well as the student.