Thursday, May 29, 2008



I have written about Jo-Ann and Yuliya here and about Yuliya here. Now I have the opportunity to show some of their latest pictures. They pass my self-imposed modesty standard of no nudes in my blog. As some of my students at Focal Point would say, "They are nudes but the bits and pieces don't show."

Yuliya showed up on Tuesday and it was a cloudy day with nice shades of green since there was no contrast. This inside shot by my computer would have been impossible on a sunny day as the contrast difference between the living room and the garden would have exceeded my film's range.

With Jo-Ann at our last studio session I used an old Hollywood light that was given to me by photographer Brent Daniels some 16 years ago before he left for Toronto. The light has a huge two foot long incandescent light bulb. Daniels subsequently moved to Australia and can be found here.



It is liberating to photograph Yuliya in the garden without lights and to use no flash with Jo-Ann. It makes me feel like I am back to my original roots, before I could afford a studio flash system. The studio flash is so easy to use that after a while I feel like I am in a rut. There is a challenge in having to fight contrast and the unpredictability of anything that is not my set formula.

Now if I could only be in Mexico City on a hot day and be able to tell Yuliya or Jo-Ann, "Let's go to the azotea and take some pictures!