Candle

The second time I photographed the Nude (in 1988), it was by candle-light; I was at the model's house late at night and suggested a session; she volunteered the candles but we had nothing to put them in. Taking advantage of the natural resources on hand, I set the candles in empty root beer bottles (then by poison of choice), and the session began.

From this grew a body of work that has developed at a slow and steady rate; to some degree, this is as minimal as my work gets; one model, usually one candle and the camera. Having a pinpoint light-source is not unusual in photography - the sun, after all, is a single light-source - but having one so close to the model and having the light from the candle wrap around the figure gives it a very specific look and appeal. Including the candle in many of the images furthers the uniqueness of the compositions, and provides a direct reference to how the image was created. Over the years of creating my candle nudes, I have always been surprised by how different models respond to the candles - much of the difference between the sessions arises not from my direction, but from their reactions.