Nude Beach

Reflections On The Columbia River

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Typically I associate the summer months here in the Pacific Northwest as a time with bright light that can be a challenge in the best of times to work with. I’m spoiled in that for most of the years I get to work with nice subdued overcast lighting that looks good from pretty much any angle at any time of the day. For two or three months in the summer however, I actually have to be careful when selecting the time of day I go out because the light can become quite harsh, bright, and full of unflattering shadows or highlights.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford HP5 medium format film.

Earlier this week however I had a stroke of luck and found myself doing a photo session on a day with nothing but overcast and mild temperatures. Perfect!! I wish I could say I planned it, but really the weather just worked out in my favor by complete accident.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford HP5 medium format film.

To take advantage of the day I traveling out to Rooster Rock which is a stretch of beach along the Columbia River to the east of Portland that is officially sanctioned as clothing optional. On a weekend when the weather is nice I tend to avoid this spot at all costs because it can get incredibly crowded. However, on a weekend morning when the temperatures are mild the entire place is nearly deserted. It’s the perfect environment where Floofie and I could take our time, work on poses, explore the best angles to get a solid reflection in the water, and not at all worry about looking over our shoulders the entire session.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford HP5 medium format film.

As if I wasn’t lucky enough with the weather, it also happened to be low tide along the Columbia River which meant we could walk out quite a ways into the river and the water was only up to our ankles. Seriously, I’m not sure I could have asked for better conditions.

Nude on the Shore

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I’ve been quite happy with a lot of the film I’ve been developing lately. This image is a perfect example. It was made right as the sun was setting over the mountains to the west of Portland and I managed to make an exposure in those last few seconds when the light gives off its last few seconds of usable glow.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Pan F ISO 50 medium format film.

I think this image is made all the sweeter for me as I managed to pull it off with Ilford Pan F film. I love Ilford Pan F film but I won’t deny that given its relatively low ISO (i.e. low sensitivity to light) and my general loathing of tripods I don’t use it all that often. Ilford Pan F tends to also be high in contrast, which is a quality that I think adds to the dramatic effect of the low hanging sun.

Nude From Above

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I apologize if it feels like it has been a minute since I’ve updated this blog. A lot of life changes have been going on, mostly for the better, and that means having to prioritize what I can realistically accomplish without burning myself out. I assure you however, I have been very hard at work making new images! In fact that has been my primary focus right now. Developing film, editing finished pieces, and enjoying the satisfaction of completing something.

Social media and the internet in general sometimes just needs to be ignored in order to make that happen.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 ISO 125 medium format film.

Anyone who has ever photographed with any camera with a waste level finder knows that it can be incredibly complicated and disorienting to try and photograph straight down. This is primarily due to the fact that the image in the viewfinder is already reversed, and when you are holding the camera above your head or straight out at arms length and aiming down it will almost make you dizzy trying to compose an image.

I made about seven exposures of this exact pose in this exact spot and this was the only frame that I feel like I composed properly. I was standing on a broken log above the model, balancing as best I could, with the camera being held straight outward, the lens aiming straight down. Needless to say, a Hasselblad isn’t exactly built to be held in this manner and working the controls, focus, and hitting the shutter button was awkward.

The little challenges one encounters with photography can be interesting that’s for sure!

Escaping The Wind

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Sometimes when the weather is not cooperating during a photographic outing one really needs to get creative. Or you just need to get lucky. When these photographs were being made the wind was bitterly cold! The temperature on paper wasn’t really so bad, just a mild day in the late fall here in the Pacific Northwest. But the wind… The wind was making it feel fifteen to twenty degrees colder than it actually was.

Anyone who has ever tried to operate a camera with bitterly cold wind howling around you, not to mention anyone who has ever tried to remove their clothing under such conditions can tell you - it is really not fun!

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 medium format film.

I was actually ready to call the day a bust when we found a strange tree growing near the ground along the shoreline that had a perfect opening. I was able to stand out in the windy cold while the model was able to take shelter at the opening and didn’t have to endure the wind at all. The branches and foliage on the tree were so thick it felt like climbing into a sturdy tent.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford FP4 medium format film.

Our options for posing were very limited given the small opening, but I think we made do with the difficult conditions we had before us and I’m quite happy with the results. I was only able to expose one roll of film in this spot before it was physically impossible to continue. Sometimes one roll of film is all you need though.

Storm in the Oregon Sky

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The wind was whipping around something fierce on this particular day out on Sauvie Island. High winds can easily be some of the most difficult conditions to work under. Cold weather is one thing. Cold weather with winds moving through your skin down to your bones is another thing entirely.

Photographed with a Hasselblad 500c/m and Ilford Delta 400 medium format film.

I feel extremely fortunate that despite the difficult conditions there are some excellent photographs that have come out of this session. You’d never know it looking at this image, but the model and I blew through twelve frames of Ilford Delta 400 in about three minutes flat. Anything longer and the model would have probably started turning purple. On top of that, it was impossible to look through the ground glass on my Hasselblad without my eyes becoming a watery mess thanks to the high winds. I ended up just simply zone focusing using the distance scale on the lens.

Photography isn’t always, in fact it is rarely ever, the glamorous activity people assume it is. I’m lucky to work with brave and very resilient people.