Where is my mind

BRONZE MEDAL - OPEN PRINTS

This image should challenge you to work out what she is thinking - and why you feel that. Is she inviting you in or confronting you by returning "the gaze".

I was pleasantly surprised and delighted when this got a bronze. Quite a few people were thrown by this one, and it has bombed in other competitions. But I still had faith in it as I believe it has something to say, even if - or perhaps because - it is discomforting.

I used a very shallow depth of field, shooting at close range at f1.8 on a 35mm lens (full frame), That blurred anything not covered by the hair. Shooting down with her head tilted back gave a sharp plane of focus on her face. Adding the texture (my own) and colouring came later, when I found the original image was not read well. Abstracting it a little makes it more accessible.

Lighting from natural light with Speedlite for accent, camera right.

Something about that little "scratch" over her left shoulder said "leave me in", so I did!

FAQ: Yes, she is in a bath; Yes, those are tatoos; Yes, she is topless; No, none of the images reveal anything more; Yes, she was very happy with the images; No, it was TFP. Yes, if you ask me and have a good reason I will tell you more about her;Title came from "Where is my mind" by the Pixies; I don't know if I will finish the AV; I dropped this from my A set - too risky even for me.

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Generation Gap

This was shot in the Xinjiang region of China, in a old Uighur quarter of the capital city, Urimqi. This is semi-posed - as I walked past this was how they looked, and I got them to resume their positions.

What I saw in this was the absorption of the girl with the new technology, with Mum seeming both impressed and concerned by her adoption of it, but Oma looking happy with this new way of life.

Compositionally, I love the way Oma is looking straight at you, but you are diverted by Mum's gaze to the girl, and by her gaze to the smartphone (or whatever) which is the notional subject of the image. I also notice strong repetitive, parallel diagonals - I see them now, at the time I just thought "that looks good".

Most of all though I am drawn to the subtle and varied expressions.

It is unusual to be able to photograph Muslim women and girls in this situation. They didn't mind and liked seeing their photo on the back of the camera, but politely turned down a print of it when I returned some days later.

I have printed this in colour, but the railing behind is a strident orange and distracts. I took care to focus on the girl's eyes. In processing nothing was altered, but I put a lot of work into getting the tonality right, especially reducing the highlights on the girl's head-dress, but leaving the blurred highlight between her face and hands to draw attention to the phone.

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Engrossed - The Reader of Romance

One from a sequence based on the concept behind a painting by Antoine Wiertz, The Reader of Novels, 1853.

The lighting and posing of the model's arm and the posing has been criticised, but to me they are core to the composition and feel of the image. No way will they be photoshopped out!

This was shot in a makeshift basement studio in Wellington with studio lighting. Model "Salacious Sugar", model's own styling. Paul Whitham assisted with setup - they were his lights, and we had a hard job getting the borrowed Chez down the stairs! Thanks also to Os who first suggested I might try cropping out the 'thief' who appears in another image, "The Book Thief" - study Wiertz's painting to see where I am coming from.

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Wolf Whispers

Inspired, obviously, by the story of Little Red Riding Hood. This image relates to the way I think of the Wolf as an analogy for 'stranger danger' and the mix of fear, excitement and doubt that might elicit. The wolf is muted - perhaps it is just a voice in her head.

This was shot in Bottle Lake Plantation, modelled by "Valentina Grim" and a friend. MUA Stacey Goodall (Transformations). Hood from Petticoat Lane. (all Christchurch). Lighting a mix of natural and LED.

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