Ellen and Jacqueline
After an admittedly long hiatus, I have finally put up some photos of Ellen and Jacqueline together. I did the shoot with the them two days before I was scheduled to move from London back to New York. I was up all night before the movers came developing the black and white rolls, and I brought the color film to Joe's Basement and picked up the contact sheets a couple of hours before I left for the airport.
All my darkroom gear was on a boat between New York and London for about a month, so I brought the color negs to West Side Color Lab to have some prints made. They did an awesome job, but since the scanner was also on the boat, I had to wait awhile before I could scan them. Then once the scanner got here, I had to wait for Bell Atlantic to hook up my phone line, which was a lot easier said than done. (Normally if I mention a company on my page, I'll provide a link to their web site, but I despise Bell Atlantic so much that I won't even extend them that courtesy.)
So this page has been a long time coming, but I hope you'll enjoy the photos!
I have a lot more to print, so as usual, check back from time to time and see if there are any additions.
Victorian
I rented these authentic Victorian dresses from an antique clothing store, the
name of which I am embarrassed to say I've forgotten. If I can find the
name, I'll post it, because they were very helpful, and when the first
shoot fell through, they gave me the clothes over the next weekend for free.
Belle Mok and Simona Stutz did the hair and make-up for these photos, and they really did an excellent job. I originally asked them to curl the models' hair, but the curls kept falling out, so they spent about an hour creating the styles that you see here.
I wanted a dark grey background, so I bought a color called "charcoal." Unfortunately it seems to have a big of a blue-green tint to it. (It's not just the prints, either; I noticed it when I was shooting.) I probably should have gone for a medium grey instead.
Another one shot on T-Max 100. I'm currently evaluating T-Max 100 for
use in my Bronica when I don't want to use XP2 Super for whatever reason
(usually because I want more detail).
These four photos were all shot on Ilford FP4+. They're conspicuously more
grainy than the T-Max 100 photo. They're also more contrasty, but I think
that that's just the printing (they were printed at a lab since I still don't
have my own darkroom in New York). The first photo was one of the ones
that I shot before Belle and Simona redid the hair.
Camden Town Market Dresses
I bought these two dresses for £10 each at the Camden Town Market in
London. Opinions on these dresses vary drastically. Belle and Simona
thought that the dresses were ugly, so I had to wait for them to leave before I
shot these photos! Some other people who have seen the dresses (either in
the photos or in my closet) think that they look cool. Personally, I think
that I'd like a woman who would wear a dress like this, but that's just
me.
Shots with Mark
Mark Selley owns The Image Factory and is
Ellen and Jacqueline's agent. He asked me to shoot a few photos of him
with the girls, and here they are.
Outtakes
I'll put some up soon!
All contents copyright 1999 by Willis BoyceLast updated November 19, 2001