Ingrid

One of the most powerful aspects of photography is how it can depict change; often it is used to show progress or evolution, how places and spaces change over time. Other times, it is used to show how age has affected a face; how weather-worn and weary one can look after decades of struggle. In a more subtle way, however, it can also show the change in relationship between the subject and the photographer.

Ingrid's a very supportive model, who since she started working with me in 1998 has generously provided me with the opportunity to work with her many, many times. I have had few models with the courage (or insanity) necessary to do some of the poses she has carried out. When we began working, the images were certainly good (two of the images in this folio come from that initial session) but the increase in quality of the images over the year is immediately evident.

It was a multi-layered process which lead to the strength in the body of work I created with Ingrid. I became more familiar with her personality and managed to draw some of that out in the images, working with a person rather than a model's body. She became more aware of the type of images I sought after, and worked harder towards that end, suggesting poses and possibilities where before she'd awaited direction. And most important of all, the two of us developed a rapport which strengthened and solidified over the months we worked together; without this, none of the images would ever have been made.

In 2003, Ingrid returned to Nova Scotia from two years spent on the the west coast of Canada, and she and I resumed working on expanding the images that we made together between 1998 and 1999. In the summer of 2008, Ingrid accompanied me to Scotland, for the first week of my 17 day visit.