Another image of Iryna, this time shot on film, I asked Iryna to show some sadness, and I described a story for her to place herself into. It was amazing how fast she became the character in the sad story; she was feeling the emotion. There is no faking for this kind of expression.
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-x @ E.I. 800 developed in Diafine 3+3, negative scanned and post processed using NIK software)
Yesterday I had an amazing shoot with a young model named Iryna in High Park. It was a glorious day, very welcome after a spate of weather-related cancellations! Most of the shoot was film (until I ran out! I thought I had more with me than I did), so I had to shoot a few digital, so my first post on this shoot will be a digital image, as the first batch of negatives go through their final rinse in my darkroom. I was amazed at Iryna’s ability to create amazing expressions: beautiful, subtle, and entirely believable, over and over again. She instinctively understands that successful modeling is as much about acting and story as it is about posture and pose.
One more image from this past weekend’s shoot with Jennifer. As I think I’ve mentioned before, my strong preference for portraits is close-up: I am captivated by the human landscape of the face. I have to force myself to at least some of the time take a few steps back and attempt a portrait that is as much about the background as it is the subject. Guildwood Park in Toronto has a lot of great backgrounds to use, and as soon as I saw this sculpture, I knew that it would be perfect for a non-close-up image.
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-X @ E.I. 800, developed in Diafine 3+3. negative scanned, and post-processed using Nik Silver Efex Pro 2)
Today’s image stars model Jennifer, who has graced the pages of this blog before. Jennifer reminded me when we did this shoot this past weekend that it had been roughly a year since we started collaborating, and together I think we’ve created some good work. Jennifer brings so much to a shoot in terms of energy and personality that collaboration is the correct way of describing a shoot. Her spirit shows in every image, and she deserves the credit for that. Today’s image is a good example: a lot of the Steampunk photography I see comes across as rather serious, but with her playful expressions Jennifer was able to turn it upside down, and bring some fun into the photographs!!
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-X @ E.I. 800, developed in Diafine 3+3, negative scan, post processed using Nik Efex.)
Today’s image is another one from the High Park shoot with Dani, as she does a dancer’s stretch in High Park. Dancing (speaking as someone who is all too aware of his woeful ability or lack thereof in this area) is a discipline which requires tremendous focus and self-awareness. Also, I see a lot of dance photography where the dancer seems unaware of the camera, and I think the two are related: the dancer is not directly connecting with the camera or viewer, as she is consumed by the demands of her art. I really like this image because Dani is making a direct connection with the viewer, while practicing her art.
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-X @ E.I. 800, developed in Diafine 3+3)
Dani is a dancer and for the concept in this photo shoot we combined the idea of dance poses with the outdoor setting of High Park.
Today’s image is a hand-tinted print of Ren from the steampunk shoot; I’ll be giving this print to her later today. You might be thinking that the bicycle was tinted orange to make it surrealistic, but actually the bike is this colour in real life; it is chained more or less permanently as a piece of art in a back alley on the U of T campus in downtown Toronto
Today’s image is another one from the “Dangerous and Domestic” shoot with the very talented Mallory, using the original prop that she suggested to skewer the cliche in the subject matter. 🙂 One of my favourite kind of concepts is taking a standard idea (in this case, sexy woman on motorbike) and twisting it, taking a poke at the underlying assumptions and stereotypes.
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-x at box speed, HC-110 Dilution B for 7.5 minutes.
Negative scanned, and some post processing done with Nik Efex.)
One final shot from the shoot in High Park with Tara. I had a parasol left over from a cancelled shoot, so I thought that spray painting it with metallic spray paint might give it a steam punk look when teamed up with the goggles. I was happy with how the parasol is sharp, where Tara is mainly slightly out of focus.
(Mamiya 645 Pro LT, 150mm f3.5 Mamiya lens, Tri-x at E.I. 800 developed in Diafine 3+3)
I’ve been shooting a lot in High Park recently, as I love the lighting and settings available. Last week, while waiting for a model to arrive I noticed a dead tree, set amongst living plans that I though would be a great place to shoot, but before the model arrived, another photographer and a model arrived (I think it was his girlfriend) and set up camp at the spot. They spent more time engaged in a bitter argument than shooting; I don’t think they will be happy with the results. Luckily, when I came back the next day for a shoot with model Chantal (featured in the image below) the spot was available, so we started our shoot there 🙂
My Third Eye 