Treemergence

(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.)

This (like Coleus Lara) is an image from the first proper studio shoot of Photosynthesis. My friend Saki had arranged for close to a dozen models I didn’t know to come and shoot in a Brussels studio, and I was overwhelmed, didn’t quite know what I was doing. A lot of duds came out of that session, but also a few really great images. I learned a lot in terms of what worked and what didn’t work. For a long time afterwards I didn’t know what to do about this one. The top and side of the treeline biting into the hair and the side of the face was unplanned, and while I liked it I didn’t quite understand what had gone on here. Months laters, my brain finally clicked and this became the prototype for the inverted treetop images. Also Nora was the first coloured model I had worked with, and while I didn’t immediately understand that her darker skin had lead to deeper imprint of textures, I would make that conceptual leap some months later…

Model: Nora