About three years ago I was commissioned to photograph Architectural detail of an interior of home in Hamilton Montana. The artist was Jill Meyer of Meyer Design. She had done beautiful work, very classic faux application to a multi-million dollar Italian design home in the middle of the mountains. It was a fun photo assignment, as all architectural photo assignment are for me. I enjoy the lighting challenges, seeing how how other people live and creating visual arresting images of inanimate objects. So how does this connection relate to breast and cancer prevention? Well, as fate would have it, I received an e-mail from Jill about 5 months about entitled " breasts", my wife thought it was another porn solicitor spamming our e-mail. I saw the name Jill Meyer in the subject line and opened it. Since I last met Jill, she had, like many Americans was negatively effected by the economic downturn, her business was on the verge of bankruptcy, she had gone through a divorce, given birth and was diagnosed with cervical cancer. As I had found out Jill is an unsinkable person and an inspirational artist. She took it all in stride and decided to make the most of her financial misfortune and new fortunes, her beautiful son birth had detected early onset of cervical cancer and she was able to fight it because of early detection...Being and altruistic person Jill decided to use her gift as an artist and go on a visual campaign to bring awareness to early testing and detection of breast cancer by painting. Her idea was simple; find breast cancer survivors ask them to dip their breasts into paint, press there breast onto the canvas and paint incorporating the breasts imprints. She and her partner Shelley Bickel joined forces and created their company FauxPink. Since the have exhibited and sold and raised money for their cause. Back to my connection, the e-mail asked if she could barter her services, paint my studio in exchange for photographing her paintings...of course. And now Friday November 6 2009 I will have an opening at my photography studio in downtown Missoula, Montana of her work. To promote the event in a provocative but aesthetic way we gather 8 women who either had breast augmentation or reconstruction due to breast cancer at my studio. I wasn't sure how it would go since I would be the only male photographing 8 women at once naked from the waste up. I set up up my lights, a simple lighting set-up with two Profoto strip lights from about and a white seamless behind. The ladies arrived and I introduced myself to them to make some personal contact. Jill made the announcement of what we were trying to do. I assured them that their face would never be revealed and they could sue me if they were since they did not sign model releases. It was a festive atmosphere, Jill had brought some chocolate and wine and everyone was drinking a glass to ease the tension. Once we all felt comfortable, I was a bit nervous we asked them to take off there tops while Shelly and Jill place paint on their breasts. I went to my office so I didn't appear like a voyeur but when I came out they were all laughing and having fun and my presence was not big deal. In truth I went into artist mode and was really into the creative process of constructing a strong compositional image. I had all the women raise there hands and chins to lift their breasts and shape their torsos and began shooting. They were all in a lineup and my objective was to make sure there breast were all on the same height since we were doing a tight crop and very panoramic image for the poster. The whole session took about 20 minutes to arrange and that was it. I saw that I got the shot and the women were great. They hung around drinking more wine, wiping off the paint and getting dressed while I downloaded the images into Adobe Lightroom began editing and cropping. When I found the shot and cropped I brought them into my office and showed them the results...they were ecstatic. Many of the women told me that it was an empowering experience and thanked me for such a great job. The one women who had the bilateral mastectomy was especially pleased with her willingness to reveal herself, scars and all to strangers. It was a great night and the results were all positive. Tonight is the opening and we will see what the public thinks. The paintings are beautiful and I anticipate a fun party, Jill, Shelly and her mother were all working to transform my studio into a party atmosphere and I am looking forward to seeing what they did...What a great profession I chose....
No comments:
Post a Comment