Kira, That Patch Of Sunlight

I think I'll start the narrative for this sitting by discussing "pacing". Normally, I host a sitting once every three weeks or so. It takes me that long to "process" the sitting, meaning doing all the darkroom work, all the digital photo editing, drafting these web pages & previewing them with the model, publishing these pages, and most importantly, absorbing the lessons learned from each sitting. I want each sitting to be unique, so I have to think about what I want to do next time. I am only happy if each sitting shows me something new, and most often, I need to plan some new concepts to try. If there is insufficient time between sittings, I tend to fall back on ideas from previous sittings. If there is too much time between sittings, I lose a little confidence & fall back on familiar ideas. So, for me, it's important to maintain a pace that will produce roughly 18-20 sittings a year.

Last year, in mid-October through November, I hosted five sittings, and a couple of those sittings were within a week of each other; that's a sitting every 7-10 days. Then, it took me a couple of months to work down the backlog & get all those sittings published. Add in the chaos of the year-end holidays & the year-end "business" processing, and I took some time off from photography. Then, I had a few problems nailing down Sitting date: s with new models, plus a little bit of physical problems (shoulder, eye injuries), and my hiatus stretched out.

So, I call Kira to see if she'd be up for a sitting. I admit that I was frustrated by not being able to close on a Sitting date: with a couple of the new models in the area, and Kira is not only beautiful, she is reliable. We also enjoy working together a lot & we always find images that we like. So, it was easy to set up a quick sitting.

We live in Portland, Oregon, and around here, it is rare that we get to see the sun during the winter. So, when the sun shines during a winter sitting, I like to take advantage of it. During the winter, the sun is low in the southern sky as it moves from east to west, and in the early afternoon, it slants through this window. During the summer, the sun is more overhead, and the light puddles right under the window & is roughly worthless for this kind of photography.

Just to be different, I added one of my favorite lamps. It's made up of little glass tiles -- that's what's throwing the speckles on the wall. (Go back & look for those speckles on the wall -- ignore the beautiful model & look for the speckles. Ha!)

Back to pacing -- this sitting was the first in a few months, and I was definitely rusty. Look -- in order to stay interested in photography in general & photography of the nude in particular, I want to see progress. Sure, a sitting might only be a millimeter better than the last one, but that's enough for me. So, it is a constant challenge for me to find something new to do, some improvement in technique, some different style to try. Anything different. I just don't want to be the kind of photographer who does the same thing over & over & over & over. I want to be a better photographer, and that takes effort, and the better you get, the more effort it takes.

Okay. I've done this winter patch of sunlight image before (in fact, often) -- how can I make it different or new?

How 'bout this? I haven't done this before: the model is standing, the light bisects her waist, the composition includes the reflection on the floor, and the model's shadow is just a strange jumble of shapes.

Whatcha think? I like it a bit, but I don't love it. Somehow, Kira was leaning away from the camera, and I don't care for that. Somehow, I should have something on the wall on the left side of the image -- it looks empty. And the lamp should have been moved to the left a tiny bit, so that its shade is totally in front of the shadow on the wall. Maybe there should have been something interesting on the floor to occupy the lower left corner of the image.

(See? That's the kind of thinking I go through when I analyze one of my images).

Another variation. Again, I like it, but I don't love it: she's leaning away from me again, and I don't like that. The lamp is better positioned, so that the whole shade is visible, and you can see the speckles on the wall from the sunlight hitting the shade. I should have stepped back more & included more floor. I also don't care for the cropping -- I shouldn't have chopped off her foot.

I do like keeping the camera low. (It could have been positioned lower).

So, the image has its good points & its not-so-good points. That's what I mean when I analyze an image (or all the images of a sitting). I admit that my approach is cerebral in this way -- I've got to figure these things out & be prepared for when/if similar situations arise in the future. I don't know about other photographers; I'm sure some of them are more "in the moment" & more reactive than I am. That's just my nature.

Okay, a change in perspective. It's a little weird, but in order to keep this lighting setup fresh, you've got to try new ways at looking at stuff. Observant people will notice that I photo-edited out the wall plug.

I ask Kira to fan her hair out, and that almost works. There wasn't enough contrast separation between her hair & the floor. But, see, that's an idea to file away for a future sitting, something with hair on the floor, probably lit with my studio strobes instead of this sunlight. Maybe this would work with a model who is blonde or whose hair is much darker than the floor.

I don't photograph model's backs often. During a sitting, in order to set the mood & put some interest in the model's eyes, we are having a conversation, and I don't naturally talk to a model's back. But Kira has a world class back & her butt is awfully nice, so we try a few. For these, I lose the lamp, keeping these images simple.

Here's a favorite for this setup. I like the simplicity. I also like the curve of Kira's back. Sure, Kira's front is magnificent, but I'm glad I took a moment to appreciate her lovely back.

One last vertical variation. I like this one, too. Again, it is simple, and I like the way Kira's hip is cocked to the side.

Mini-assessment: I've used this lighting setup before. It's so rare that we see winter sunlight that when it happens when I have a willing model over, I feel compelled to take advantage of it. I did try some variations, and some of these images are nice, but "different" does not necessarily mean an improvement.

This sitting continues with Topless Kira.