Cheryle

She arrived early, with a bag of clothes and makeup.  She stood about 6'0 in her Oxford heels and made her way up the stairs for our shoot.  Her voice is quiet and feminine, the kind of sound you would expect from someone with much less imposing of a presence.  When we settled in to my studio, we looked through some clothes and picked out a few things to shoot with.  After she changed we wandered my neighborhood and I shot a series of her at the French immersion school down the road.  She walks with a timidity that I find pleasant in women, as I tend to enjoy photographing people who are unsure of themselves, like a baby deer finding its first steps.  We walked to the river, and as she became more comfortable with me, she struck stronger poses.  We laughed at the ridiculousness of 'modeling' but in-between we managed to find some amazing shots.

Back at the studio she changed into something more delicate for our last shoot.  I had this idea to make some photographs of freeze-frame powder explosions.  So I had her sit in front of a black background and prepared her for this by laughing, once again, about how ridiculous the premise was, but how beautiful the picture was in my head.  I covered the studio in paper and tarps, because I anticipated a mess.  I decided to use flour, since it was cheap and plentiful and could be used as an analogue for powder.

I steeled myself with trigger in one hand and flour in the other.  I counted down and threw the lump at her.  All at once a loud "THWAP" rang out, and in a blind dust cloud I thought I had seriously injured her.  It sounded like a large dead fish hitting someone in the face.  I saw her keel over and I got scared.  Then the most amazing laugh started filling the room and I followed.  We cracked up and could not stop laughing for a good five minutes. 

After a few more tries, we started to get it.  I made some amazing photos of this.  We finished up and the entire studio was a wreck with flour.   For the next week I would have to dust and clean every day, as it settled out of the air.  Completely worth it.