Last Sunday I had two photo shoots: one for the Women and Cameras series (more on that shoot later this week), and one just a straight shoot with a young model looking to build her portfolio. Today’s picture is from that second photo shoot. Like I said in the flick image comment, I’ve shot more than a few smiles this year, but I think this is the favourite smile I’ve captured so far.
One of the concepts I’ve had in mind for my Women and Cameras series has been the concept of a model with a large symmetrical tattoo on her back holding a camera, behind her back as in the image below, created this past weekend. When I asked the model why she got that tattoo of the butterfly, she responded that she “had always wanted wings.” I’m not personally planning on getting any tattoos myself anytime soon, but in this case I can see the appeal of the tattoo as a way of externalizing and making tangible one’s hopes and dreams.
This image is a cyanotype of an image I took a bit over a week ago at Niagara Falls, from a spot called Table Rock. I took this image on a Friday morning, very close to the spot where a couple of days later, a young woman would slip and fall into the river and over the falls, to her death.
This picture was taken this past weekend at Fort George in Niagara-On-the-Lake with a new (to me) camera: a Pentax 6×7. This is a beast of a camera, shooting 6×7 cm negatives (400% of the area of a 35mm negative) on 120 film. I’m in love 🙂 The 6×7 is the love child of a camera and a tank.
Today’s image is from my first photo shoot involving a nude model a few days ago. I used my Mamiya M645J medium format camera and Delta 400 black and white film, with some post processing in Aperture. I’ll have to admit I was a bit nervous but once the session started, it was like any other photo shoot; getting the image via a fruitful collaboration was the goal. The model was an artist herself, who works in sculpture using bronze and the “lost wax” technique, and it was fascinating to hear her talk about her process and artistic vision.
This picture is certainly unremarkable at first glance, but there is a story behind it: it was taken with a Detrola E camera (made between 1938-1940). This camera took film in the 127 film format which rather difficult/expensive to get today, but the roll I shot expired in 1965! I would not have been too surprised if the roll did not turn out at all, but apart from low contrast (easily fixed) the pictures were fine, and also much sharper than I expected!
The only response I have to the hatred that led to the massacres in Norway is to post a picture about love.
Another image in my Women and Cameras series, and the second to feature a friend who is not a model. My friend Jo-Anne is holding a Kodak Duoflex, a simple camera made from the mid 1940’s to mid 1950’s. To me it seems like a “friendly” camera, and I think Jo-Anne’s warm expression suits it to a T.
Last Friday, I took part in the PAB 2011 Content Walk. The idea was to walk around central Ottawa with cameras, audio recorders etc. to create content and tell stories. The weather rapidly became the story, changing seemingly every ten minutes, but mainly rainy. We spent some time outside, and I got some pictures taken around the canal locks, but soon we had to retreat to the safety of a pub. The weather got steadily worse, but in the basement of the pub we were having a great time. We got some great light and my favourite is the image below. I had to push the film to E.I. 1600 but in this context I don’t mind the grain.
Today another image from my photo session with Mysty. Again, I used the hybrid approach of shooting on film, and then using digital post processing; this is really becoming my favourite workflow, as I take advantage of the best of both the film and digital worlds. What a great time to be a photographer!
My Third Eye 