Miranda IV

The greatest trick to working with the Nude outdoors is finding the settings in which to work - these can be found by chance, personal experience, or the recommendations of others. The last session of the first day of the New Brunswick Portfolio was set in a coastal location shown to me by a fellow photographer, who had been intending to show me the space for more than a year. Less than an hour from Moncton, the space brought to mind the drama of Alberta's hoodoo's, though it also bore similarities to the rock space of Burntcoat Head, in Nova Scotia.

Digital original

By the time we arrive at Bas-Cap-Pele, it was early in the evening, the wind had come up (more evidence of the tail wind of the tropical storm that was moving through New Brunswick) and the sky was a leaden gray, threatening rain. All that was swept asside however, when we stepped out of the car and looked over the cliffside and the landscape below. The red sandstone rock which made up the shoreline had been shaped by the continual assult of the ocean, until it had carved a wonderland of organic caves, bluffs and freestanding hoodoos, the greatest of which lay directly below the parking spot where we stood.

Digital infrared original, 4 frame stitch

As the light was fading, and the evening had turned decidedly cool, Miranda and I only had the chance to make a handfull of images working with the space (also, being directly below a car park, and close to houses, the space was relatively exposed to interlopers). Taking advantage of the DSLR's potential and the even light, I made the images of the rock and surrounding water first (using three rows of three images to increase the final image's resolution), and then had Miranda experiment with the pose possibilities, assembling the results in to seven finished images later in the computer.

Miranda III

The second location for the day turned out to be as green and verdant as the first - in search of a barn I'd seen a year before, we headed out onto the dirt roads that cris-cross the Tantramar Marshes. After more than half-an-hour of driving, and many short side-trips down dirt tracks, I had to finally admit that the barn was impossible to find (or razed, which was a distinct possibility, given how dilapidated it had been when I'd first seen it. Over the search, however, we had driven past numerous spaces that held great possibilities for images, and given how crowded the marsh was (we saw perhaps four cars over the two hours we spent on the marsh) I felt it was more than secluded enough to make some images.

Digital infrared original, 8 frame stitch

The Tantramar is criss-crossed with dykes to keep the ocean back, and many of these run directly beside irrigation ditches, and it was one of these spaces that we decided to work in. The grasses here were easily three feet high, and provided the perfect screen for Miranda to emerge from. With careful composition, I could frame her against the dark water behind. Working with the infrared camera, I made a hole series of images, initially starting with a large multi-image stitch, and
then working with Miranda on a set of poses, which could then be dropped into the final assembled composition.

Digital infrared original, 12 frame stitch

On the whole, the space was fabulous to work with, but extremely limited in regards to the angle and perspective from which I could work. More than anything, Miranda and I were experimenting with posing, as there was little I could do with the composition. Working this way (seeking a single image in a space, as opposed to working in a location with plenty of possibilities) is unusual for me, but with the reality that Miranda would be modeling for the next week, it didn't seem like the time and effort expended to realize a single potential was unreasonable - if we'd only had that day to work together, I might have driven past the space, deciding that a singular image wasn't worth the time and effort, but in the context of a week of solid work, taking the slow and methodical approach seemed almost appropriate.

Miranda II

The first day of the New Brunswick Portfolio dawned dull and overcast. The forecast threatened rain, but we headed out anyway, determined to make the most of what weather we had. All through the drive down to Hillsborough the weather held, and by the time we'd stopped and set up the equipment the day was looking to be improving.

Digital infrared original

The first images of the portfolio were a wide panorama of Miranda, backed by the muddy edge of the peticodiac river. Eight times wider than they are high, these only hint at the broad sweep of the river's edge, and almost dwarf the figure of Miranda - not an image for inclusion in the portfolio, but definitely a photograph that had to be made. After we completed the panoramic images, Miranda and I walked further down the riverbank, to where a lone tree was growing out of the dyke.
As is often the case, I worked from the general to the specific with the tree, making a few initial images from a distance, and then moving closer to work with Miranda in among the leaves. Though the sky was heavily overcast, the infrared camera still yielded magical images, with the tree developing a beautiful separation between the leaves and branches, due to the high infrared reflective qualities of the leaves.

Digital original

As I moved closer to the tree and had Miranda move in among the branches, I began to work with both the infrared camera, and the unmodified DSLR, which permitted me to make images in colour.  One of the most liberating aspects of digital imaging is the freedom it permits in realizing an image - every digital image I make with the conventional DSLR has the potential of being colour, or black and white, with an almost unlimited range of possible modifications and variations to the final image. In this case however, it was the rich greens of the leaves, in contrast to Miranda's delicate skin tones and soft golden brown hair that drew me in - hence the importance of keeping the image in colour.

Digital infrared original, 15 frame stitch

After completing a whole series of portraits of Miranda among the leaves and branches of the tree, we set about to discover if there was anything else in the area to work with. Just behind the tree was an old weather log, set into a block of concrete at an almost horizontal angle. With careful composition, it was possible to isolate the old trunk in the landscape, simplifying the background to the sea of green grass and minimizing the content to just the wood, and Miranda. The only other issue was how much longer the log was than the model - this by default meant that Miranda had to work with an elongated pose - and rather than trying to explain my way through it, I just showed her, stretching out along the log as I wanted her to be positioned.

The end of the first session came rather spontaneously, happening to coincide with the start of a little rain - not the torrential downpour that I had feared, but certainly enough to put a damper on the session. Regardless, after much planning and anticipation, the New Brunswick Portfolio was now underway, and though I didn't know it yet, the first image for the final portfolio had even been made!

Miranda I

Miranda, the New Brunswick Portfolio was born of the tradition of producing a portfolio every three years. Two of the previous three portfolios have been set in Canadian Provinces (1999's Victoria, the Alberta Portfolio , and 2001's Cassandra, the Nova Scotia Portfolio), with the third portfolio being a 15 year retrospective of my work with the Nude (2003's Portfolio XV).

Miranda, the New Brunswick Portfolio officially began on January 1, 2005 , when I asked Miranda (at the end of a photo session with Gilda and Ingrid) if she'd consider working with me on a portfolio during the coming summer. Her response was enthusiastic, and several months later, when her vacation schedule was confirmed, we set the date for the portfolio production to begin.

With two provincial portfolios already completed, in some ways the planning for this portfolio was more of the same, but in two important ways it was very different. This is the first portfolio I've worked on with a model who'd already had a long history of working with me; Victoria had modeled for me several times before we went to Alberta, and was an experienced model when I met her, but by the time Miranda arrived in Moncton to work with me, we'd worked together for almost four years, making a very broad range of images. Secondly, this is the first portfolio where I had been a driver - previously I had to rely upon Joy, in 2001, and Annie, in 1999, to provide transportation, but after learning to drive in 2004, this was the first portfolio where I could be totally in the driver's seat, so to speak.

Monique & Miles at Dawson Brook

The most unexpected session yet this summer was today's work with Monique. After working with me numerous times indoors and out last spring, Monique had moved to Upper Canada , so I didn't expect to have the chance to work with her again. As luck would have it however, she was visiting
Halifax on the same weekend as I was, and we managed to set up a time for working together.

Digital infrared original, 3 frame stitch

The day was a cool and overcast, so we opted to head inland to work, hoping for warm enough water at Dawson's Brook to facilitate working there (I seem to have something of a curse, when it comes to Dawson's Brook and sunlight – almost every session I have spent there was bright and sunny – the hardest lighting conditions under which to photograph).

As it turned out, Dawson 's Brook was a perfect choice, with the water bearable (calling it warm would be an overstatement, and make light of Monique and ultimately Miles' dedication and perseverance) and the light soft and even, filtering through the canopy of trees overhead. We started the session with Monique posing along side the waterfall, keeping her out of the water for the most part. I set up my camera with a six stop (64x) neutral density filter to ensure the exposures were long enough to blur the water, and with most of the images, made multiple exposure stitches to gain both more resolution to the final images, and a wider angle of view to the images (the space we were working in was somewhat cramped and hard to work in, even with a 12mm wide angle lens (this has the same angle of view as an 18mm lens on a 35mm camera).

Digital infrared original

After we finished working on the waterfall, Monique moved down into the shallow basin at the bottom of the falls, and after some cajoling, Miles dove into the water as well, spending perhaps ten minutes posing with Monique. Some of the images we made were carefully posed, while others, like the one here, were more spontaneous, playing on the simple interaction between the models, as opposed to my direction from the shoreline.

Digital infrared original, 6 frame stitch

For the remainder of the session, we worked out way downstream, photographing Monique against the backdrop of the river, and ultimately on a ten metre cliff overlooking a river-bend. For such an unexpected session, it was a great pleasure to be able to work with Monique again, especially with such a striking location, and perfect light.

Miranda in Her New Apartment

This session had an interesting challenge – how much can be accomplished with a single model, a small space, and a limited angle of view? Miranda had recently moved into a new apartment, and much of the space was piled high with boxes – about the only free area was a futon below a large
double window – a perfect space to work in. The set up was not dissimilar to the space I used to work with in my old home in Halifax, with one major change – here my ability to move around the room, or fame a composition from a different angle was severely hampered by all the moving boxes still filling the room.

Digital infrared original, 2 frame exposure blend

On one level these limitations hampered the session, but by the same degree, they helped focus the work on what could be accomplished with the possibilities at hand. With such a small, confined space, an extreme wide angle was the natural lens to use, and combined with the soft, directional lighting coming through the windows, I was able to make a number of very pleasing compositions, initially keeping everything square and level to the camera, with a very traditional feel, and eventually exploring more dramatic off-level compositions with sweeping perspectives and dramatic lines.

Digital infrared original, 2 frame exposure blend

The end of the session focused on a series of portraits, some single frame images, like the one displayed here with a slight tilt to the composition, and others made as multi-frame stitches, increasing the final photograph's resolution to enable larger prints to be made.

Digital infrared original

Start to finish, this session was well under an hour, but within that time, I felt strongly that I made the most of the resources at hand – Miranda's long involvement in my work help produce numerous strong poses, the lighting was everything I look for in an indoor session, and the limited space to work in, while initially frustrating, served to provoke me into pushing what compositions I could make into being as strong as possible.

Ingrid in a River

Ingrid and I haven't worked alone together since August 2003 (often when I work work with Ingrid, another photographer or other models are around). This is not to say that work made when others are about is less focused or successful, but it is very different to have the undivided attention and focus of a model as opposed to directing multiple models, or working beside a second photographer.

8"x10" film

For this session, Ingrid and I had the afternoon to ourselves, and set out to Pennant River, where I'd worked with Miranda the week before. Where that session had been short, and saw Miranda and I worked on the rocks and shoreline, this session was specifically focused on working in the water. Ingrid has a particular love for water and this comes through both in her endurance, working for hours on end in the cool rushing water, and her dedication, often holding poses for five minutes or more, as I work through the process of making the images.

Fortune shone upon us through this session, as the light, bright and sunny in Halifax, was diffused by low clouds (not quite fog, but close enough), given the entire river a soft even illumination that I have come to love so much.

Digital infrared original, 9 frame stitch

The session flowed in opposition to the river - we began working on a low shelf of rock perhaps fifteen minutes from the road, and over the four hours of the session, we worked our way upstream, finding settings and poses as we went. For the most part, I used my infrared converted digital SLR to make the images, but occasionally, I brought out the 8"x10" view camera to record an image that was particularly striking. It was quite a bit easier to maneuver around on the rocks and water with the smaller DSLR, and while there is definitely an image quality difference, that is often diluted through camera techniques, such as using multiple image stitching to increase the pixel count in the final digital image (a number of the stitches were made with 4 second exposures for each frame...but in a 12 frame stitch, does that mean the image exposure time was 48 seconds, not 4?).

Digital infrared original, 6 frame stitch

The end of the session found Ingrid and I at the first bend in the river, where it broadened out to a shallow basin. It was at this point that I had worked with Miranda the week before, amongst the trees and rocks on the riverside. Ingrid was equally intrigued by the trees, and we spent the last half-hour of the session exploring them, with Ingrid's tree-spirit side supplanting her water-nymph self.

Ou Lady of Sorrows

Digital infrared original

Graveyards were one of the first spaces I photographed in when I received a camera in 1987. There is something quite haunting about their serenity, even in the middle of a busy city. On this particular morning, I had a couple of hours to myself, before I picked up Ingrid for the afternoon session we had planned, so I decided to spend it exploring the nearest graveyard. One reason for choosing this particular space was that another photographer I knew had worked in the same location with infrared film, and I was quite interested to see how the tonality of the digital infrared camera would compare to that of conventional infrared film.

Digital infrared original, 5 frame stitch

Initially I was frustrated by the morning's light - low cloud was blanketing the city, providing a featureless white sky above the graveyard. I had hoped to do some images with dramatic dark skies and fluffy white clouds, but it was not to be. As I worked however, I became more and more interested in the contrast between the pale foliage and the white, featureless shy, and started working deliberately with that contrast in the images.

Digital infrared original

Overall, I am very pleased with the results from this session. Truth be told, I hadn't considered the infrared camera for anything other than my figure work when I'd arranged for its conversion, but having seen these images, I can definitely see how other infrared subjects will present themselves over time (though I am not too certain that a graveyard theme will ever fully realize itself).

A Studeio Experiment

The main reason for my visit to East Pubnico was to help a couple of local photographers with their studio photography. While both photographers have been using studio lighting for some time, neither had received any formal guidance in its use and were looking for a more formal groundwork.

Digital infrared original

As a side affect, however, this also permitted me the opportunity to work with my newly converted infrared sensitive Nikon D70. While I have been increasingly pleased with the camera's performance outdoors, I haven't had the chance to try it with studio flash. Fortunately Jane, whose studio we were were using, had arrange for a portrait model for the day and I had the opportunity to spend some time photographing her.

Digital infrared original

After I made and reviewed the first image, I knew the DSLR was going to give me exactly what I was looking for. Even without conversion to black and white, I could tell off the small camera screen that the images were looking exactly like they should. One of the most interesting elements of working with the infrared camera in the studio was that the image on the LCD screen was almost totally monochrome (after I set up a custom white balance), with the exception of the model's hair, which was a delicate light blue.

Digital infrared original

I only worked with the model for short while, putting the modified camera through its paces and making a couple of experiments. As Dianne was modeling in a wedding dress, I even took the opportunity to make my take on a "wedding" image - cropping the image to the models hands on the dress.

Jane Poses on Pubnico Harbour Island

Digital infrared original

Besides their own interest and enthusiasm, one of the most valuable elements a model can bring to a session is local knowledge; in this case, Jane took me out onto several of the numerous islands in Pubnico Harbour, first working with a number rocks on one island and then working with the grass and trees on a second.

Digital infrared original

Because of the day's heat, and our limited time (not to mention traveling by boat), I decided to work with my digital camera exclusively. I had hoped to work with the 8"x10", but I feared the day would just be too hot (in the end, the weather was beautiful on the water, so I should have taken the camera along, but hind-sight is 20/20).

Digital infrared original, 2 frame stitch

Once we finished working with the rocks and shoreline on the first island, we traveled by boat to a second - more a flat sea of grass than an island proper. Here, it was a little easier to work with the harsh light, as the landscape was a little more open, and I could better choose the angle from which to photograph. A couple of times during the session, Jane had to duck down into the grass as locals went by in their motorboats, but for the most part, we worked undisturbed, free to explore the possibilities the island offered.