This is my second hand-tinted print where the colours are somewhat surrealistic. It is model Keira, taken in Kensington Market, where the colours are already a bit surrealistic, to my eye.
Time Travel
Toronto is not know for vintage architecture, thanks in part to a lot of bad development decisions over the years. Much of the downtown core looks rather generic. I was walking downtown the other day, and came upon a dark, gloomy alleyway, aand it seemed to take me back a century or more.
(Rolleicord IIIa twinlens reflex, Schneider Xenar lens, Tri-X)
Vibrant
It has been a productive weekend for hand-tinted portraits. Today’ image features Jinxy, an alternative model with a unique and vibrant esthetic.
Theme and Variations
In my last couple of shoots, I have made a point of using different cameras and technologies at the same shoot, and I am glad I did so — I love the different kind of results I get. As a follow-up to yesterday’s post, here is another image of Shreeti, but instead of a high resolution digital image, today’s image is a scan of an instant print (using Fuji FP3000B film in a Polaroid Model 455 Land Camera). Shreet’s look is timeless, and I think the vintage appearance of this print technique captures this, while still retaining her thoroughly modern sensibility.
Details
Last night I had a great photo shoot with Shreeti, a Toronto model of Nepalese background. She brought a number of beautiful Nepalese outfits. I shot film (colour and black and white), some instant black and white with my Polaroid, and some digitals, one of which is today’s image.
I was truck by the intricacies of the outfits, and the eye for detail that Shreeti had for posing and arranging the outfits; she definitely made them sing!
Twin Lens Reflex
Today’s image was created on Kodak Portra 400 colour negative film using my Rolleicord IIIa camera, which is a Twin Lens Reflex camera. Normally the term twin lens reflex refers to the fact that the camera has two lens — a viewing lens, and a “taking” lens directly below the viewing lens. With this camera though, twin lens for me could refer to the large difference in image sharpness when shot with the taking lens wide open (at f3.5) compared to stopped down to a smaller aperture, say f8 or f11. Stopped down, the lens (a Schneider Kreuznach Xenar) is reasonably sharp. Wide open though, I get a softness that I just love. It is great for portraits, such as this one of Emily.
Losing My Religion, Part 2
This is another image with a theme about being conflicted about religion. It didn’t pop out when I was shooting, but when I looked at the image later, I couldn’t help but see baleful eyes, angry eyebrows, and a gaping maw, ready to devour. It reminds me of how fear has been an essential part of almost all religions since the dawn of humanity, with the message being worship me or die.
A Time and a Place
Yesterday I had a great shoot with model and photographer Amy Sarfinchan, using the infamous “shipwreck” located along the Q.E.W. (exit 55) in Southwestern Ontario. I shot a number of different cameras and film: Colour and black and white instant film, traditional black and white film, Infrared/Hybrid black and white film, along with some digital. One of my favourite shots is from an instant print, where I scanned the negative from the Fuji FP3000B print. I think the retro, low fidelity look really compliments Amy’s timeless, haunted expression.
<a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/johnmeadows/7926327794/” title=”Waiting 2 by John G Meadows, on Flickr”><img src=”http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8315/7926327794_450eb25c82_z.jpg” width=”491″ height=”640″ alt=”Waiting 2″></a>
Losing My Religion
Over the last couple of years I have gone from lukewarm Christian to resigned atheist (in a family of Christians), so when it comes to taking pictures with a religious theme I’m sort of conflicted — I like the grand traditions of Christian art, architecture and music (especially the latter, and I don’t mean Christian rock!), but I am now considering it from behind the glass window of non-belief. I took this picture a couple of weeks ago — I was part of the choir at a wedding in the chapel of Trinity College, University of Tor0nto. the choir stalls are in a raised gallery at the back of the chapel, as as I was early I had time for a few pictures. For me, the image is symbolic: the setting and architecture have beauty, but it is empty.
Strength, Part 3
Today is the final post on the photo shoot with remarkable model and Cystic Fibrosis survivor Sarah D. In this image I made no attempt at glamour; Sarah’s surgical scars from her double lung transplant are plainly visible; nothing is hidden.
The clock to me symbolizes many things; from what I have read, various treatments have improved life expectancies, from a median of 6 months (U.S., 1959) to over 47 years (Canada, 2007). The clock can also symbolize the patient waiting for suitable donor lungs to be available, as the race against her condition continues.
The final symbolism was quite by accident — after seeing the image, Sarah remarked that the clock was showing a time of about 8 o’clock, and that this was the time of her surgery which saved her life. A striking coincidence, and a testament to the operation that gave her the physical strength (buttressed by her obvious mental strength) to extend the timeline of her remarkable life.
(Mamiya 645 Pro TL, 80mm f2.8 lens, Tri-X)
My Third Eye 
