Standing Tall

(I haven’t shot any Photosynthesis in over 6 months, and while there are a few things I’d still like to try out, I think I’m getting towards the end of that particular journey. I was reviewing my favourite photos from the series, and thought it would be interesting to revive this blog with some commentary about the ones that mean the most to me.)

The first test shoot of Photosynthesis outside in the sun was in July 2019, and the first studio shoot in October of the same year. I had not by then found models in Hong Kong where I lived, and didn’t quite know how to get about it (in Europe it had all happened through friends and friends of friends). So I had to wait until late February 2020, on my last trip to Europe for a long while, to organise a couple of shoots, one in Paris and one in Brussels. I made a lot of mistakes on both shoots, but some new threads emerged, including this image here. By shooting a dark branch against a cloudy sky, I managed to get the branch imprinted onto the skin without burning out the silhouette. For a while, this became a staple of the project, but if I’m honest I never liked the images as much as I liked that first one. It’s the one that feels the most genuine, possibly because the branches are reminiscent of Japanese tattoos.

Model: Anne