A Nude With Fallen Trees
Walking along the trails of Sauvie Island over the summer I came across a patch of fallen trees. If I had to guess, it looked like a wind storm knocked them over several years back and the trunks and branches were slowly falling apart with the ravages of time. But you never really know on Sauvie Island. It could have been the river flooding, or a lightning storm, or any number of things.
I suppose it is really not important.
What is important is that the twisted trunks and curly branches made a perfect jungle gym for photographing some figure studies.
I was working with Kristy Jessica that day, who was quite adventurous when it came to climbing over things and really jumping into a scene. Exactly the kind of person you want with you in such a place. She had no hesitation when it came to dangling from dead branches, or dancing along the mighty trunk of a tree laying on its side along the dusty summer earth.
My only regret with this series of images is that the only film stock I had with me was a relatively high ISO Ilford HP5. I’m honestly not sure what I was thinking. It was the middle of summer and there was plenty of sunshine. We also got started a little later in the day than I would have liked which meant I was fighting with the harsh light a little bit.
A slow speed film would have come in handy here, but alas, sometimes you just don’t bring the right film stock with you and you have to make the best of it. In this case I pulled the film back a little when it came to ISO (I metered everything for ISO 200) and made sure to develop this roll in a cold bath with low agitation. The end result is something I’m happy with.
You also might notice in these images there are some splotches on the negative where the tones should be more even, like in the sky for example. This is due to the fact that I developed this roll of film on a sweltering hot day in a darkroom with no air conditioning. The negatives dried incredibly fast and left some marks on the negative.
A quick re-wash will solve the problem, but I’ve been too lazy to get on it.
Camera: Hasselblad 500c/m with 80mm f/2.8 lens.
Film: Ilford HP5 in medium format. Exposed at ISO 200 and developed in cold Rodinal at about 30% less than recommended time.
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