Sometimes I like to see how slow of a shutter speed I can accomplish without using a tri-pod. I kind of consider it a sort of personal challenge which in all honesty is a bit dumb and has more to do with my hatred of throwing a camera on a tri-pod over anything else. I can be a very stubborn photographer sometimes.
In the case of this image I was handholding a Mamiya RZ67 all the way down to 1/15th of a second with an aperture of f/3.5 (the widest this particular lens goes). Anyone who has ever used a Mamiya RZ67 knows that these cameras are heavy monsters, which in some ways works in the photographer's favor when working hand held. A heavier camera can often give way to steadier hands.
The image was made in my backyard at the time and the model and I got started at about six o'clock in the morning to avoid giving my neighbors something to look at. There wasn't much light to work with, but the result has a very lovely even tonal quality to it that I really like.