These are images from my first shoot of 2012. I was feeling a little creatively drained at the beginning of the year; between planning fairly large moves in my personal and professional lives, including moving to Europe for a couple of months, things were in a bit of upheaval.
That state of being comes through in these images. Fluid, slightly mysterious and turbulent, occluded – but with a graceful underlying form.
I love portraying motion in my photography. The result is sometimes surprising; I found some of the images where Justine has the fabric pressed close against her body to oddly remind me of a nun’s habit, which was rather unexpected.
I’ve been very lucky to work with models that have a lot of patience for my concepts. I’ve covered Justine in oil and milk, doused her with flour, wrapped her in plastic sheeting, and draped her under a soaking wet white sheet. So, playing with this fabric and a bank of fans was actually pretty tame.
I think this would be a wonderful concept to revisit on location one day; there’s something very classic about shooting work like this one white, but a different environment could certainly bring a lot to the story.
Model / makeup: Justine Marie (missjustinemarie.com)
Photography / styling: Thomas Park