Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Cwen, Daughter, Model, Friend, Model Mayhem, Parking Garage, Washington, D.C., Summer, 2010


She goes by the name of Cwen, we meet through a modeling website called Model Mayhem.

Responding to one of my posts, she shares her curiosity with me and offers to join her brothers and sisters in my portfolio. The sentiment that she shares with me is most genuine and we proceed to stay in touch.

Since my negatives are processed in her hometown, it seems practical to arrange a time that coincides with a visit to pick up my negatives. When presenting this idea to Cwen, she tells me just to tell her when and she will arrange her schedule around mine. Incredible.

A time comes when it's necessary to collect my negatives from a recent trip. She agrees to the time and goes about the process of finding a location. She tells me of a parking garage that will give us access to the open sky and we arrange to meet there.

After work one day, we drive to Washington and sleep overnight in a small town perhaps two hours away from the city. In the morning, we start our way before sunrise and almost make it to the garage, getting lost in the process. The highways are beyond confusing but Cwen, on the phone, calmly helps me to a spot and tells me to wait for her.

She goes out of her way, meets us on the side of the road, and then leads us to the garage. We park next to each other, leaving a spot in between as our studio. We spend the next hour making images in front of a white canvas, against the blue sky and on top of my car. We are fortunate to have the most perfect weather, warm and sunny the entire time without a single cloud in the sky.

Just as we are getting along nicely, an older woman in a car asks for the parking spot. She seems to be quite impatient with the thought that the parking spot is being used for something other than parking. She of course has a point and we move our equipment so that she can park her car. We think that perhaps all other spots are taken, then find out that the other half of the parking lot is empty. Regardless, she does have a point.

We set up about twenty meters away from our first spot and continue with the photography. The image above is made during the second half of our session. While film is changed and unlike so many, Cwen goes about asking many questions regarding my background, my photography. She then asks the sweetest of questions: 'when are you coming back?'

She then tells me that she would love to have me photograph her family. This honors me tremendously and we expose a few more rolls with this feeling in mind. Her portrait above is an example of the chemistry possible between two people having never met in person.

You may view her modeling work through the link below.

Cwen

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