*Sweeping the Nun’s Shadows*
Fuji GW690iii + Rollei RPX400
I’m not actually sure that these female figures represent Nuns, or if they are female Bodhisattva, but I liked the alignment of statues casting shadows, and the leaning broom breaks that alignment nicely.
*Flaky Abbott*
Fuji GW690iii + Rollei RPX400
Despite our inability to travel over the christmas holiday (same as everybody else) we tried to make the most of it and check out HK spots that we’d missed so far. Such was the 10000 Buddhas temple in Sha Tin. A long strip of concrete path lined with lifesize buddhist statues leads to the temple itself up the hill. Fascinating place and great opportunity to shoot portraits of monks, abbots and stranger things.
*Dieffenbachia Suit*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: Christina
Texture: Dieffenbachia Seguine
The challenge with big leaf textures is that they paint themselves across different parts of the body and sometimes that breaks the abstraction that makes this series work. Yet here, the texture seems to espouse the model’s skin to the point that it looks like a painted wetsuit, and I think that makes it effective.
*Peeking through*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: Lia
Texture: Branches
Another successful photo (if I say so myself). I love the way that Lia’s eye shines through despite the mess of branches around her face.
*Fall Silhouette*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: Christina
Texture: ?
So the newest thing in this double exposure project is something I’ve struggled with for a while. The idea is, instead of shooting a recognisable texture, to shoot the top of a tree and foliage below. That shot is inverted (the camera is upside down) so that the treetop and the sky are at the bottom of the double exposed silhouette. The result is a fractured yet ethereal silhouette. Exposure needs to be just right, so it’s tricky, but when it works, as I think it does here, it’s very effective.
*Leafy Dermis*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: Laura
Texture: Ixora Coccinea
There are certain plant textures that don’t look like much but turn out working great (and some that you think are going to look awesome and turn out disappointing). This Ixora Coccinea is all over Victoria Park in hedges, mostly; I used it simply because I had not tried it before, but I didn’t expect it to work. I was wrong. On this picture it looks properly organic, and I love how different it looks in Laura’s hair.
*Half a Nymph*
Fuji TX2 (XPAN) + Ilford FP4+
Model: Lia
Texture: Tagetes Erecta
With flowers, my double exposures are hit or miss. Flowers are usually very bright compared to the leaves around, and this can work in a nice bucolic kind of way or completely blow the image and ruin it. I’m glad here that it has worked. I was trying a half bust portrait, which I’ve already done in the past but with less success. I’m really pleased of the result here.
*Blue Mask*
Cyanotype on Bockingford 300gsm Hot Press
Model: Claudia
Plant Texture: ?
I struggled to transfer this image to cyanotype. The texture in the highlights is so faint that I kept getting prints where the right side of Claudia’s face was near-white. Finally after several attempts, shifting papers and adjusting exposure times I got what I wanted. I find this picture at the same time beautiful and disturbing, especially in this age of masking…
*Blue Caryatids*
Cyanotype on Bockingford 300gsm Hot Press
Model: M.
Plant Texture: ?
Another experiment with double digital negatives reversed. I tryly love how this one came out. the original composition was a bit too lopsided, especially since the texture didn’t come out as strongly as expected in the « empty » side of the frame. The quasi symetry here not only fills in the frame but magnifies the portrait of M.
*Wistful Blues*
Cyanotype on Bockingford 300gsm Hot Press
Model: Lara
Texture: ?
This is a cyanotype of one of my favourite photos of the plant texture double exposure project… that I never showed before. The reason is that while I love the photograph, I always felt it never quite fit with the rest of the project photos. The texture is much more chaotic, and therefore isn’t really legible. But at the same time, it feel like the texture drapes the model, which I love.
Recent Comments