Coleus Lara

(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.)

Coleus Lara became, in many ways, the blueprint from the default Photosynthesis look. Lara is shot with her back entirely in the shadows, but a little bit of wraparound light from the diffuser. This means that the texture is very strongly visible, but the texture in her hair is stronger still because of the darkness of the hair. Coleus quickly became one of my go to textures as well (I think this one was the Japanese Giant hybrid) because of the contrast in the leaves. When I showed a digital print of this image at a meeting of film photographers in a Hong Kong gallery the response was so overwhelming that I think from that point on I knew I was onto something… Lara became a good friend down the line, and one of the models I’ve worked with the most, on this and other projects.

Model: Lara