Several months ago my friend, Jessica Browne-White approached me about a shoot incorporating several masks that she had created.  She’s an amazing visual and performing artist whose work with art pianos I’ve shot before (see Sing for Hope 2013 Pianos Gala).  We finally nailed down a date and collected a couple of models from our friends and off to Central Park we went.

Yes, Central Park in January.  This January. The one with all the snow in it.  Jessi and I arrived on “set” first.  We found a great spot just off the East 76th Street entrance.  We had been considering the Alice in Wonderland statue and the Hans Christian Andersen statue, but on the way there we found a great spot with some expanses of snow, some exposed rock and an amazing tree that had been bowed to the ground, split open and looked like a natural gateway in the snow.  We got to work and shot a couple of masks with Jessi as model until Beth and Virginia arrived.

Once we were all there we started shooting in earnest.  Jessi had [7?] masks and we gave each its own story and location, using snow, trees, rocks and the Alice statue to play off the mood of the mask.

Finally, we shot some images of the three ladies together for an upcoming theatre project they are creating.

I learned a lot from this shoot.  The big one was how much I want to get some lighting tools to be able to craft the light the way I want it to be.  Steps have been taken!  See [gala] for the update.  I learned how much I have to learn about posing.  I was lucky to have three very photogenic models who are very conversant with the instruments of their bodies, but I still had some moments of struggling to express what I wanted.  Jessi and I have a date for spring, when it is warmer and drier, to do some more work together.  Oh, and there’s another piano on the way!