Natalie Eton
Natalie is a professional fashion model. She's only about 5'6" tall, but she's extremely skinny and tends to look taller than she really is.
This shoot came about because I'd seen a dress that I'd liked in Selfridges, and I wanted to photograph someone wearing it. The dress is called Star[c]kNaked, and it was designed by Philippe Starck for Wolford, a company that makes lycra clothing of various types. Star[c]kNaked is simply set of lycra tubes that can be worn in a plethora of different ways. We didn't explore all of the possibilities during this shoot, so I might have to invite Natalie back!
I was privileged to have two students from The Delamar Academy working with me on this shoot. Belle Mok did Natalie's make-up, and Simona Stutz took care of Natalie's hair. Both also provided advice on posing Natalie in the Star[c]kNaked outfit and helped her adjust it.
We also did a set of photo in a more casual outfit with some crazy hair. I call these the graffiti photos because I spray painted some stuff on the backdrop.
I took a bunch of the Star[c]kNaked photos with my view camera on Polaroid T-55 positive/negative film. This is nifty stuff that gives you a positive Polaroid print and also a negative from which you can make additional enlargements. The view camera photos tend to look more stiff and posed than the photos that I shot on the Bronica. This was the first time that I'd attempted to shoot a person with the view camera, and it was pretty slow going. Hopefully I'll improve with it because the quality of the images that it can produce put the Bronica (which is an excellent camera in its own right) to shame.
Star[c]kNaked
Two of the Polaroid T- 55 photos. I had these printed at Joe's because my enlarger
can't take a 4x5 negative. The prints are grainless, as you'd expect from an ISO 25
4x5 negative.
Graffiti
Ilford FP4 Plus in the Bronica.
Portra 160VC in the Bronica. The blue backdrop, predictably, put a blue cast on
everything, which I tried to balance out in the prints. I thought that the blue
outfit would go well with the blue backdrop, but in retrospect, I probably should have
selected contrasting colors.
Outtakes
Simona (left) and Bette (right) work on Natalie's hair and make-up. This is my
bathroom. The window is blacked out because it is also my darkroom. Natalie is
sitting on two phone books.
Simona adjusts the Star[c]kNaked outfit while Belle advises.
Last updated November 19, 2001