The images you see are from an idea we at JIVE have had for a while now. It started with us wanting to build a couple of 4’ x 8’ flats, to use as reflectors, negative fill etc. and we discovered some wood veneer 4’ x 8’ pieces at the back of our studio, that we had used for another project. We really like the natural texture of these pieces so we framed one side of both of them with 1/2 inch x 2 inch strapping to make the more rigid. As this would allow us to set them up vertically into a corner piece. This then served as a mini set for individual portraits etc. which we wanted to experiment with. Since the existing panels were not the colour or tone we wanted, we commissioned local artist Jack Kelly to paint them for us. We worked with Jack to get the colours and shading we wanted. We also instructed him that we wanted to retain as much of the texture as possible.
Jack went to work on this using everything from rollers, brushes, rags, and torn up rollers etc. And as a happy accident ended up using some of the existing panel colour as it worked really well with the colours we added. Once we had these all completed, we just needed the right subject. We were looking for someone who had dance experience and was comfortable in front of the camera. We did some in-house casting through our casting specialist Samantha Gracie, who found us Katie Jazic. Katie was a perfect fit for this, as she studies dance in Toronto and is very comfortable in front of the camera, and was happy to play with us and brought a great attitude. We provided her with some wardrobe instructions and I brought some other options as well. I had 2-3 ideas for this corner shoot. First, I wanted her to simply dance and move within the corner set. And I photographed this with strobes so we were able to freeze any motion. Then I instructed her to act like the walls were closing in, which produced some really interesting images. She tried on various wardrobe options to arrive at the shots you see here.
Which one is your favourite ?