Body Projection 03

Oh my, I have been messing up! You guys have not been given a good dose of the abstract things that I do, now that is just not right.

Lets have some body projections. There is one in the port all ready as well as another in color called stele. But that is another subject.

How it is done: I used graphic images of pattern that were copied onto 35mm slide material as well as the old graphic copy film (Kodalith Type 3). These at first were projected from a 35mm slide projector. Now I use a special flash head that will hold the 35mm slide and project it onto the body. The unit I use is a Norman Tri-Lite with a 2000D power base. This delivers a exposure of about f 5.6 and a half at ISO 100. The tech part is the easy part, the next is where the meat is.

For anyone looking to improve their sense of photographing the human figure this is an excellent learning tool. By learning to ‘hide’ the specific reference points of the body (nipples, belly button, toes fingers, head and such) in the shadow of the projection one finds that the body will become abstract. Where it refuses to go abstract are the critical recognition areas due to scale and mass. This sounds like hokum but it is truly not. By recognizing that the shadow can not only ‘hide’ these critical signifiers of the human body, one becomes more aware of how it is the shadow in an image that defines both the volume and the abstraction with in the rendered two dimensional surface of the print plane.

I know, way too much intellectual stuff. Tough, get better at visualizing any way you want, but get there.

Now for the BIG BONUS! Women LOVE this stuff. It is also a great way to work with models new and experienced. I have yet to find a single woman who did not like it. I have started a session once with three new models, took them through the basic concept then showed them the basic point and shoot technique then went and got a cup of coffee while the took turns posing in the tri lite and did pictures of each other. I returned after a while, traded out the card on the digital camera and cut them loose again. Next I got them to look over a selection of the slides to do body projection, with some instructions as to hiding body parts. All the images were on medium res jpegs. Then back into the shooting they went. After a while, one came out from the studio with a card having put a new card in the camera. We down loaded that card and she began playing with the images in Photoshop. The other came out to see where the first had gone. More down loading. I gave everyone a shirt to wear and they were playing on the two computers trying out ideas. Then we made quick B&W prints on typing paper. I showed them how to cut areas of black with an exacto knife and fill in white with a black felt marker to make it more abstract. Then scan on the bed scanner back into the computer to play some more.

In the end we were at the point of discussion, who was the photographer, who was the model? Who held the copy right? Who was the artist? By this point we were all at dinner and five hours over the end time for the shoot to end. We decided that everyone owned all the images and that who ever did the final work was the ‘owner’ of the work and would sign the print. Back at the studio, we made discs of all the images so everyone could play with the images and make new interpretations. We got together the next week, each arriving at different times to do more work on the computers. I showed each one a new way to work doing self portraits with an ultra wide lens. Then they did the ultra wide lens with each other as model then playing photographer. These were done in color and resemble the Stele style image. There understanding of the model and photographer roll was decisively altered.

This is one of the many way in which I will work with models. I love to do collaborative shoots. Some models are not much into this type of approach and that is fine. I have found that there are models who want the camera in their hands, they want to do the images. I try to see that they get the time and opportunity to do what is creative for them, beyond the front side of the camera. As you may guess, I like to work multiple times with a model, become collaborators on projects. I see little distinction between the photographer and model when it comes to creativity.