*A Ladder*
Canon EOS300 + Rollei RPX25
This is one of the last rolls I shot in Hong-Kong. For about a year now, I have shot mostly very slow films for street, forcing me into shallow depths of field and different subjects. Rogue ladders are so Hong-Kong, you’ll like see some more.
*Fading into Leaves*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta 100
Model: Aleks
The tricky thing with inverted treetops is that you want a lot of contrast between the top of the tree and the sky, but ideally you also want some detail on the leaves or branches at the top of the tree. Ultimately it’s always a compromise, but when you manage to get sufficient contrast and some detail, like here, it’s really powerful.
*Nubian Princess*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta 100
Model: Nadia
Nadia’s prominent Egyptian inspired tattoo obviously evoked antiquity, and the statuesque pose in this image only reinforced that. I absolutely love how this one came out.
*Slither*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta 100
Model: Ela
I had already shot a similar pose with a similar texture in colour during my early Photosynthesis experiments, but with a narrower stemmed plant I think the winding, serpenty feel of that texture is magnified. It conveys a certain air of menace to the image that I find quite compelling.
*Sweet Leaf*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta 100
Model: Claire
When it comes to poses, there’s a fine line between confidence and provocation. I strive to achieve the former, I’m not so interested in the latter. I think this silhouette shot of Claire is a good illustration of the confidence I like in my models and poses.
*Fractal Pauline*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta100
Model: Pauline
When doing « inverted treetops » I normally aim to shoot very dense texture under the treetop, so that the body appears in full. But I like this more fractured approach as well where the light peeking through creates a more puzzle like effect. It’s hit or miss but worked a treat on this photo of Pauline.
*Zebrina Menace*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta100
Model: Ben
Photographer: Siuding
Texture: Tradescantia zebrina
(This week I will share some of the images that came out of an unusual session where I was the model. I’ll talk about why I did it and what I learned from it. These will not be the best Photosynthesis images you have seen, but they form an important part of the project’s history.)
While the talented Siuding took the portraits of me during this shoot, I had to plan the textures ahead, as I normally do. One area that I rarely anticipate with models, but I could and did anticipate with myself as the model was using model features to evoke a certain feeling, in this case one of menace. I felt that that would be a good visual use of my bulk.
Siuding and I set up the lights so as to underexpose my considerable back with Tradescantia zebrina, a texture I knew to be quite dark and striking, and we lit my face properly so as to have little to know texture there. Interestingly, this is the exact same lighting set up as a very successful image of Siuding herself, Bittersweet. A fitting parallel to our collaboration, I think.
*The language of flowers*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta100
Model: Ben
Photographer: Siuding
(This week I will share some of the images that came out of an unusual session where I was the model. I’ll talk about why I did it and what I learned from it. These will not be the best Photosynthesis images you have seen, but they form an important part of the project’s history.)
A couple of years ago I attended David Boyce’s great history of photography course at the Blue Lotus Gallery in Hong-Kong. When the course covered nude photography, David mentioned a project that some female photographers had undertaken (in NYC, I think) to photograph (in the nude) male photographers specialised in nude. I loved the idea of that.
I found the process of posing myself really interesting intellectually and emotionally. I didn’t know how I would feel before hand. Turns out the nudity itself did not intimidate me. Siuding is a pro, and it was clear to me she was looking at me as a subject, not as a nude person. There was no judgement in her gaze.
It helped me understand as well the stark divide that a lot of models have talked about between the session itself and the images. When I started this project, to me the session was an integral part of the image making process, and I didn’t really internalise the fact that the shooting itself may be a distinct experience for the models. Now I do.
*Hashed in Light*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta100
Model: Ben
Photographer: Siuding
(This week I will share some of the images that came out of an unusual session where I was the model. I’ll talk about why I did it and what I learned from it. These will not be the best Photosynthesis images you have seen, but they form an important part of the project’s history.)
With Photosynthesis I’ve never felt like I was doing nude photography, but rather that I was doing double exposures and clothes were getting in the way. In other words the end result – to my eyes – doesn’t feel like nude photography most of the time. Yet the models are (most of the time) nude, and that’s no trivial thing.
I photograph a lot of women, in fact I’ve written before that I have found it easier to find female models than male models. The images I aim for have no erotic intent, but the fact remains that I am a man (with a camera) looking at a naked woman. To truly experience what my models experience, I needed to invert that when I was posing naked.
That’s why I asked Siuding if she would photograph me. Not only because she’s a great photographer (and she is) but because she has modeled for me, and she’s a woman. In that way, I experienced the shoot itself in a way symmetrical to how female models experience a shoot with me.
*Cut me up with leaves*
Canon EOS300 + Ilford Delta100
Model: Ben
Photographer: Siuding
(This week I will share some of the images that came out of an unusual session where I was the model. I’ll talk about why I did it and what I learned from it. These will not be the best Photosynthesis images you have seen, but they form an important part of the project’s history.)
I have shot enough models now to have understand something fundamental which had previously eluded me: our perception of our own body is only marginally related to how closely said body fits the canons of the day. People that would be considered good looking by a jury of their peers can have body issues. Others who wouldn’t necessarily be considered beautiful can be absolutely comfortable with their bodies.
One of the interesting things about the Photosynthesis images, I have found, is that the textured double exposures create a distance that sometimes allows the viewer to not see themselves in the images, but see the beauty of the image as if the subject was someone else. They know it’s them, yet they look at themselves differently.
I have body issues. I’m (very) fat, have been nearly all my life although it’s gotten worse as I got older. I’m not too ashamed of it (I still go to the beach in my trunks), but I’d laugh at the idea that you could shoot beautiful photos of naked me. And yet I realized this summer that that’s kind of what I was telling my models: no matter how you see yourself, you will like at least some images that come out of a Photosynthesis session. It was time to flip the tables and be on the receiving end of that.
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