Category: Modelling and Fashion

Keira in Colour

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As a follow up to the last post, here is one of the colour images from the shoot with Keira at Kensington Market. Although black and white is my “mother tongue” when it comes to photography, there are times when the language of colour is the only thing that will do, and I believe this is one of those times. I love the pink and blue neon sign with Keira’s auburn hair, both glowing, and capped off with a touching expression.

By the Sign

(Nikon FE, 105mm/f2.5 Nikkor lens, Kodak ISO 200 Colour Negative film, processed using JOBO C-41 kit, post work done with NIK Color Efex Pro 3)

Canadian Manners

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Today’s image of model Keira Jade was taken in Kensington Market in Toronto last week.  It was very hot and fairly crowded, but we were both struck by the continued politeness we encountered, as passersby made every attempt to stay out of the shot, either by stopping and waiting, or going behind me, all the while saying “Sorry.” Sometimes the stereotypes are true!

Keira Jade in Kensington Market, Toronto

(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 150mm/f4 lens, Tri-X at E.I. 1000, developed in Diafine 3+3)

Colour

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Today’s image is from a recent shoot with the very talented Emily Decoteau. Although mainly a black and white shoot, I did shoot one roll of colour: some Fuji slide film, using a Nikon FE 35mm SLR, and a Nikon 105/f2.5 portrait lens (a classic lens that I got a steal of a deal on!). Although this is a colour shot, it is dominated by red. I had mentioned to Emily how well the red hair, dress and nails went together and she said, “you’d almost think I coordinated it this way!” and I realized that my alter ego Captain Obvious had struck again 🙂

The Colour Red

Ideas

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I love it when models come to a shoot with ideas — a good shoot is always a collaboration, and Miranda came not only with some amazing props (such as the broken garnet jewelry) but great ideas for unconventional poses (she was shot from above in this image).

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One item of note: this is the second post in a row where I have featured a digital image (taken with a Nikon D90 camera). I wouldn’t call it a trend, but in this case, being able to show Miranda the shots immediately helped spur the creativity and refine ideas, which is never a bad thing.

Look Closely

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Today’s image is of Miranda, an actress and musician from Hamilton. This image is from a shoot for my “Broken” project, for which she brought a long a great broken pearl/bead necklace. The vase was a great garage sale find — 25 cents! If you look closely, you’ll see me 🙂

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Expressions

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Every now and then, I’m lucky enough to capture an amazing expression in a portrait — one that has complexity and subtlety, and in this recent image of model Julia Lewis,  the expression she created is really quite something. Every time I look at this image, I see something new and different in her expression. At the end of a rather iffy week photographically speaking (models not showing up, weather-related shoot cancellations, technical screw-ups), getting this image made for a very positive end to a not so positive week. 🙂

Julia A. L.

(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Fuji Neopan Acros 100 film, developed in HC-110, dilution H)

Art and Grieving

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Today’s image has a touching story behind it. Caitriona the model (who is also an artist) had messages me saying she had to be a bit late for the shoot, due to an unavoidable issue. When she arrived for the shoot,  she told me that a close friend of hers had passed away that day. I asked if she was still up to shooting (and would have understood if she wished to cancel the shoot) but she said her friend had also been an artist, and would have wanted her to keep going, keep creating. When I showed Caitriona the first images from the session she remarked that doing the shoot definitely helped her out.

Caitriona

(Photograph made with Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80 mm f2.8 lens. Arista 200 Ultra film, developed in Rodinal 1:50 for 1o minutes)

An Interesting Accident

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The term “Lomography” refers to using old/cheap cameras such as Holgas to create images that may suffer from technical defects (light leaks, vignetting, out-dated film), but achieve a certain style and mood as a result. I have a new term, “Blowmography” for when I blow it technically, but the resulting mess looks interesting. Lomography is on purpose, Blowmography is accidental. This image (from the shoot with model Caroline in downtown Toronto) is an example of Blowmography — I developed the film (Polypan F) in the wrong developer (an extremely low contrast special purpose developer meant for another film, Adox CMS 20) and got a very muddy, thin negative. I cranked up the contrast on the scanner, and got this. I thought the colour shift artifacts, and the emphasis of some surface defects on the  made for an interesting vintage shot.

Interesting accident

Power

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Today’s image is NSFW, so all I can do is add a link

The model in today’s image is striking in her power and intensity. Although nude images often imply submissiveness and objectification, in this image the model makes it very clear that she is in the image on her own terms, and is definitely not submissive!

Glowing Shadows

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Today’s image is of Kaitlin, a model I worked with recently. I really went wild with the post processing on this one, to get the heavy glamour glow I like. The background is an old curtain I got at a thrift store for about $5.00 sometime back; I love its pattern and texture.

More Kaitlin