It felt really good to do my first photo session of the year in full bright sun. I don’t know what it is about this year, but maybe for the first time ever the long gray winter was bringing me down a little bit. So getting some vitamin D on my skin with a camera in tow and working with one of my favorite people, St. Merrique, all equaled a really good day.
Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Rollei RPX 100 in medium format.
We got started a little later in the morning that I typically would have liked. I’m a little bit of a monster in that sense as I like to get started around 5am whenever possible. What can I say? I like that golden early morning light with dramatic shadows. Not to mention it is far and away easier to avoid people in the early morning hours. In this case we hit the road at 9am and by the time we got out to Rooster Rock to start exposing images the sun was a bit high in the sky and burning brightly. Not in any way what-so-ever the end of the world though. Heck, in many ways the bright overhead light is what made these photographs interesting.
Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Rollei RPX 100 in medium format.
Whenever I work with Merrique I like to use at least one roll of Rollei RPX 100. Aside from being a model, Merrique is a talented photographer as well and we’ve had long poetic conversations about how beautiful Rollei film is, making it one of our favorite films despite its relatively high costs. It’s only fitting. Developed in Rodinal, Rollei RPX gives a silver rich look with plenty of tonal range that looks completely glorious in print. I added just a touch of contrast with these by adding a light yellow filter to the front of the lens.
I plan on going into the darkroom in the next few weeks and printing these images. I think they’re going to look really great in a classic frame with an off white matte.