Another image from the Broken Project. The object being broken was an old Ikea picture frame, which instead of glass used a non-reflective laminate, which came apart in a very interesting manner.
Taken using Mamiya M645 camera with 80mm f2.8. lens. Film was Fomapan 100 developed in Xtol 1:1 for 8 minutes. Lighting was through one umbrella, at model’s right side.
Black and White photography by definition is a reductive exercise, just by stripping away colour, to focus on light, shadow, tonality and texture. In this portrait, we go even further; only the eyes and hands are unobscured, but even so the model packs a lot of expression into her eyes and hands. On of my favourite portraits of 2011!
Picture taken with Mamiya M645, 80mm f2.8 lens with 25A red filter, Ilford SFX Infrared film. One shoot through umbrella to model’s right.
A musician from Ottawa answered a casting call for my Broken project; he would be in Toronto, and was I interested in photographing him? Yes, and I am glad I did! The image below won’t be part of the broken series as the object is not visible, but I really like the intensity that comes out of this image!
Interesting guy” he collects vinyl LP records, so naturally he had an interest in real film 🙂 It was also fun chatting about guitars.
Masks are interesting things. Sometimes meant to hide or obscure, in a performing sense they can channel energy and personality into a performance. In this image, the actress is definitely using the mask to channel the energetic and creative spirit that her made her a lot of fun to work with!
This image is from my Broken project. The model is actually a film-shooting friend (along with her husband). She filled in one day when a model couldn’t make it for the shoot. She brought a lot of focus and intensity to the image!
I originally purchased the mic in this image for another photo shoot, but when the team for a “Film Noire” shoot saw the mic, they immediately wanted to work it into an image, and I can’t blame them. It’s a real Shure 55 “Elvis” mic, iconic and quite collectable. I am not sure if it can be made to work again, but it would be worth the effort!
This image is another one from my “Broken” project. I had the pleasure of working with “Rae Gun”, an alternative model who brought a lot of creative spark and enthusiasm to the shoot. (As an aside, it has been my experience that alternative models — tattoos, piercings, different hairstyles etc. — have almost aways been amazing folks to work with!)
The prop is the remains of a metal bucket that has been rusting away in our back yard for at least 5 years. I think it’s a perfect prop for the Broken series.
Canadian literary critic Northrope Frye was famous for his work The Great Code: The Bible and Literature, about the pervasiveness of biblical themes, metaphors and symbolism in Western literature, and as I worked with this image I was struck by the fact that while the model and I were not consciously trying to do so, to my mind at least we created an image that reminds of of the story of the Annunciation, with the combination of the head scarf, the lighting, and the model’s upward gaze. It’s ironic that at a time when I am at best agnostic (with atheist tendencies), I am still affected by the universality of the story.
I finally got around to developing a roll of Delta 100 black and white film I had shot with “The Beast” (my Pentax 6×7) over the last few weeks. I like this image because it shows a contrast in architectural styles in downtown Toronto. I am also thinking of another contrast: with a roll of film that waits a while before being developed, it is easy to forget what images are on the roll, and hence I get a pleasant surprise. No such experience in the digital world of instant gratification.
On a shoot last week I found I had not brought enough Ilford Delta 400 film with me. This film is my bread and butter for black and white portraits, and so with some trepidation I was forced to dip into my camera bag for some Ultrafine Extreme 400, an inexpensive film I had not shot before. When it was time to process the film I did some research online and was not happy to see various lousy reviews of the film, until I ran into a post by a photographer I know on Flickr who had managed to tame this beast. I messaged him a couple of questions and in a very short time I had the magic formula (Xtol, 1:1 for 13 minutes @68 degrees). The negatives turned out fine (an example is below).
This will never be my primary film (I got it mainly as a cheaper way to test lighting set-ups), but I still got some great shots, thanks to a helping hand from the Internet
My Third Eye 