Jessica's Third Visit: Black Back

When Jessica was here last winter, I set up a sitting for her -- she photographed Leona here at my house. I think the best images from that sitting were made with a black backdrop. (You can see some of Jessica's images of Leona on the last page from Jessica's third sitting.) Jessica liked these images, and she suggests that we use the black backdrop here.

About a month earlier, Jessica & I attended First Thursday, a tradition here in Portland where the local art galleries stayed open late in the evening of the first Thursday of each month. When we were hanging out, she was wearing these leather cuffs/bracelets, and we decided to photograph Jessica wearing them.

When Jessica photographed Leona, she wanted to use a single light source. I don't like that kind of setup, especially when using a dark or black backdrop. I don't like it because the off-side of the model is in shadow, and that shadow disappears into the black backdrop, thereby losing the shape on the off-side of the image. So I make the necessary adjustments to introduce a second light source, so that both sides of Jessica are lit.

This works well, especially since Jessica is having a good hair day. I find the highlights kissing Jessica's face to be an interesting & vital addition to the image.

Definitely a sitting favorite.

I like this image, but it's real value is that it is a transitional image. This is not a standard pose, and on most other models, it would be unattractive. I'm a big fan of good posture -- in fact, that's why I like photographing dancers. But Jessica is lithe & lissome, and she has a muscular athletic torso. On her, this pose looks great. I am inspired to step back, include more of her torso, and explore this shape.

Here's a big, big favorite from the sitting.

We are exploring strange shapes. I always like having models stretch, and I like what's happening with Jessica's left arm raised high like this.

But this image is a favorite because of the intense contact from Jessica's gaze. I love the way the light sculpt her facial features.

If Jessica were to give her boyfriend an image for him to remember her while she's studying abroad this year, I'd recommend this one.

This picture isn't a favorite -- don't get me wrong, it is nice & Jessica is lovely, but there are elements I don't like:

I'm not a fan of the "staring off in the distance" pose. I always wonder what the model is looking at. I don't mind closed eyes poses, however. I also don't mind images without eye contact as long as we have an idea about what the model is looking at.
From a technical perspective, I can't quite get the digital images to record color & contrast & light well. I'll have to work on that.

Heretofore, Jessica was posing on a little posing bench. I ask her to try similar poses while standing. That up light highlight on her face is interesting.

There was something I noticed during the all day photo orgy with Betcee (a couple of weeks before this sitting). I noticed that when Betcee or Jessica were taking the lead in directing the posing, they would find a situation (lighting & model) that they would like & would make exposure after exposure. I understand -- you can get into a rhythm, needing to release the shutter every 10 seconds or so regardless.

I find that this is true for me, too, especially when I work with the digital camera. But the film camera requires a lot of post-processing time in the darkroom. It doesn't "cost" me anything to make lots of digital exposures; it "costs" me hours & hours in the darkroom to make film exposures.

So, when working with film, I've learned to be more selective when making exposures. I'm sensitive to whether this next exposure is an improvement over the ones previously made, and if not, I make adjustments until it is. Otherwise, you wind up making the same picture over & over again.

With that in mind, I wind up making a lot of exposures with Jessica doing that curved pose, but there came I point when I felt that I wasn't making any improvements on the basic shape & pose. So, I ask Jessica to move around a bit, facing the other direction, and eventually asking her to turn around & show me her back. We still explore some unusual shapes & poses.

One nice thing about working with Jessica is that the resulting pictures always exceed my expectations, regardless of how high I set those expectations.

A final insight of the day: actually I noticed this during the all day photo orgy. The best models have a way to focus on you (your camera) completely. They aren't distracted by wondering what to have for dinner or that fight with the mother or when can they find time to do the laundry. They are focused on the camera with intensity, and that contact is palpable & important to the impact of the image. Go back to the photo orgy pictures & look at the images where I am photographing one model working with the other -- the posing model is intently focused on the lead photographer.

Jessica looks especially seductive here.

Here's another favorite. I'm loving the great eye contact in many of these images, and this one is one of the best.

It's funny. One of the most popular questions in my FAQ is "how can I find models?" (often asked by beginning photographers). My reply typically is "don't neglect to ask your friends; if you can't ask your friends, how can you ask strangers?"

Over the past year or so, Jessica has become a good friend, and initially I was anxious about photographing her. Foolish me! It was Jessica's position that being friends should have made the sitting more comfortable, not less, and of course, she was right. Jessica was an active participant during this sitting, suggesting props & backdrops & poses -- our communication was terrific. I'm very happy with many of the resulting images.

This was a throw-back sitting for me. For the first time in a very long time, I made 100 film exposures (a full batch in my film processor), and I made more film exposures than digital. Good for me.