Brooke, Back Stairs

I've done a few sittings that included posing on the back stairs, and for variety's sake, I invite Brooke to pose there. It's time to think about the light there a bit. I live in a Victorian house downtown, and here the buildings are close together. To the south is a 9 story building that is less than 2 feet away, and to the north is another Victorian that is perhaps 10 feet away. My house is bigger than the other Victorian, thus the windows on the side of the back stairs overlook the other Victorian's back yard, and those windows face north. Yes, the light coming in from those side windows is the famous "north light" favored by many artists. In addition there are a window higher up, on the east wall, and two small skylights maybe 16 feet above our heads -- these other windows provide some fill light to the strong north light from the windows. In contrast to the studio light, the back stairs light is very soft & fairly dim -- we use a slow shutter (typically 1/30th of a second), implying that the camera is on a tripod and that the posing is slow & graceful.

As always, there are opportunities for breaks for the model while I change film and/or change the lighting setups. When we moved to the back stairs, Brooke donned this white shirt. There definitely is something highly sexy about a woman wearing only a shirt, so I request that we start making exposures with her wearing the shirt. What do you think?

Something I once knew, but had forgotten: when working with natural light, you've got to be prepared for subtle but significant changes in the light. In the brief time Brooke & I worked on the back stairs, clouds moved to cover the sun, making distinct changes to the qualities of the light. Normally, that means that the exposure changes during the sitting, something that doesn't happen when we work with the studio lighting. Sadly, I didn't keep up with the changes in the light -- the exposures for these few rolls were all over the map. This was also true with the exposures Victoria & I made later in the afternoon on the back stairs. Live & learn -- I'm out of practice using natural light; something I intend to "fix" in future sittings.

The main light for these photos is the north light coming through the windows to Brooke's right. But remember, Brooke is standing on a landing of the back stairs, and the windows are somewhat low -- this accounts for the light being less bright on her face than on her figure. Later, when Victoria posed on the back stairs, we compensated for this by asking Victoria to kneel or sit on the floor -- here Brooke stands throughout, and we'll just have to accept the effect of the light dropping off a bit on her face. Suffer!

I thought you might want to see one of the digital images we made on the back stairs:

Lovely light; lovely Brooke.

Somewhere around now, the doorbell rings, announcing the arrival of our second model, Victoria A.. As it turns out, Brooke & Victoria are acquainted with each other, and both are looking forward to working together.

After showing her around, Victoria takes a moment to get ready, and Brooke & I return to the back stairs to finish off this last roll of film. We replace Brooke's white shirt with a dark brown chenille throw -- it feels good for the model & looks good for the photograph. We finish up the roll playing with the throw.

Like I said earlier, please forgive the variations in exposure (due to changes in the sunlight).

To be honest, I like this lighter image shown here; the texture in the blanket feels real, Brooke's skin tone is fair, yet the subtle shadows on the back wall frame the image nicely. We worked a bit on this pose, and I like it the best of these last three pictures -- I think seeing the underside of a woman's breast is exciting. All the "naughty bits" are covered, yet it is clear that Brooke is nude. It's a sexy picture. If I were to print this picture again, I'd work to darken her left arm a tad, but that'll be a different darkroom session, and I'm a bit backlogged there right now.

Assessment: Brooke & I tried a variety of setups in the two hours we had before Victoria arrived, and I find that there are plenty of great pictures from each setup. Brooke was bright, beautiful, and easy to work with, and I certainly hope that she'll come through town again.

On a personal note: we exposed 10 rolls of film in the two hours we worked so far, and normally I take up to three hours to expose 10 rolls. I had meant to pace myself -- at this point, I'm less than halfway through my "model marathon". That's perhaps the best tribute to Brooke's ability as a model. Anyway, Victoria was now ready, and we move to work together, but that's a different set of pages, to be posted in a few weeks.