Category: Medium Format

Karen and Penelope

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“And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her seed;
he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel.”

 – Genesis, 3:15

Note: today’s photo is NSFW (not safe for work – partial nudity) so I am just posting a link instead of embedding the image: Karen and Penelope .

It was most interesting to work with Karen and her pet snake Penelope — I observed the complete opposite of the common aversion many women (and men!) have towards snakes. Penelope the snake emphasizes lines and curves on a model with a strikingly modern look, in a vintage inspired photograph.

(Photo taken with Mamiya M645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fomapan 100 film developed in HC-110, dilution H for 7.5 minutes)

L’Homage Pour Édith Piaf

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Today (the opening night of Man of La Mancha in which I play the Governor and the Innkeeper) seemed like the perfect day to post this image of model Léah, who wanted a portrait that pays tribute to her hero, twentieth century French singer and icon Édith Piaf. I have to admit I didn’t know much about Édith before working with Léah (I had heard La Vie en Rose, but hadn’t made the connection), but in reading about her, listening to her music and watching performances on YouTube I was struck by how this tiny (4 foot 8 inch tall) woman had such a powerful, commanding stage presence, and how her essentially tragic life is transmuted into the emotional intensity of her singing. She literally put everything she had, and everything she was into her performance. As an amateur actor who clearly has so so much to learn, I can really take a lesson from her life and music.

L'Homage Pour Edith Piaf

Old Friends #1

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Today’s image is the first from my new project “Old Friends” Originally the concept of the project was images of two people who had been friends for 25 years or more, but the parameters of the project have broadened, bringing new opportunities and challenges. In this image, we have Mallory, Kendra and Caitlin, friends since high school. It was a fun evening of shooting, a lot of laughter, talk and general positive vibes, with very strong connections of friendship between the three, and hopefully I caught that here.

Old Friends #1

Hidden Allure

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In an age where (thanks to the Internet), graphically explicit pornography is just a mouse-click away, it is easy for the allure of the hidden to be forgotten.

Hidden Allure

(Mamiya 645 Pro-TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fomapan 100 developed in HC-110 dilution H, post-processed with Nik Efex)

Slow Down!

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I’ve been asked recently why I like ambiguity and subtle facial expressions in my portraits, and the reason is simple: we live in a very black/white culture, prone to snap judgments and instant categorizations (good guys/bad guys, cool/uncool, attractive/unattractive, etc.). We are encouraged to make decisions and interpretations of people, situations and issues based on shallow criteria, anything to keep people from actually thinking for themselves.

Ambiguity and subtlety force people to slow down and consider more than one possibility, and this will always be a goal of mine.

Channeling the Mona Lisa

(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Delta 400 film developed in HC-110 Dilution B)

Props

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This image is from a recent session with a great model, and features a couple of props. She is using a vintage phone receiver (1940’s vintage perhaps) I picked up for a song, and she brought along a jewelry box. Together with her great pose and expression I think everything works together to tell a story.

Phone Heartache

(Mamiya M645 with 80mm f2.8 lens, single strobe through umbrella. Shot on Fomapan 100, developed in Blazinol, a Rodinal clone 1:50 for 8 minutes)

Concealment

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Today’s image is from a shoot with Pash, a local actress/model of Iranian descent. She has long, exuberant hair, and in this image it was arranged to conceal much of her face; I was trying to create a sense of exotic mystery. After the fact, I started thinking about the tradition in Iran of women wearing head coverings (and in other Muslim countries where the requirements for female concealment is even more extreme). To me, I cannot help but see these mandatory coverings as symbols of subjugation; in this picture, I hope I am creating a feeling of power emanating from the emodel, with a different kind of concealment.

Pash

Mamiya M645, 80mm f2.8 lens, Ultrafine Xtreme 400 film, developed in HC-110 Dilution B

Ghosts

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I finally got around to developing a roll left from our trip to Italy in November of last year. It was a rainy day in Pompeii, but the rain did a great job of detailing the stones and textures on this ancient street. When I looked at the streets, I could not help but imagine how it would have looked, crowded with citizens and slaves, so many centuries ago.

Pompeii on a rainy November day, 2011

Mamiya M645, 55mm f2.8 lens, Ilford Delta 100, developed in HC-110, Dilution B

Revisiting

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Back in the early 1980’s I shot this picture of an antique piano stool belonging to my parents. Fast forward about 30 years: I inherited the piano stool, and now it is a favourite prop/support for portraits — I love it!

Christina Mallais029

Mamiya M645, 80mm f2.8 lens with 25A red filter, one strobe through umbrella. Ilford SFX 200 film, developed in HC-110 dilution B for 9 minutes

Yet Another Happy Accident

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Old cameras are many things, but often “idiot proof” is not one of them. Today’s image is from a roll of Delta 400 shot about a week ago. While unloading the film I noticed I had set the aperture incorrectly for the flash, and I overexposed the film by around two stops. I decided to underdevelop, or “pull” the film, so instead of developing for a full 15 minutes in HC-110 (Dilution H) I just did it for 12 minutes. The negatives are still overexposed (I probably should have tried 10 minutes or so). but what a great vintage look! When I scanned the negatives, a slight colour cast was left; more often than not I remove it (or replace it!) as it is not attractive, but this time it was perfect! I’m going to experiment with this workflow so more, that’s for sure! 🙂

Vintage glow