This pond - or perhaps a lake after all - was our plan B. A bit of my personal attempt to settle old scores with water and light. I haven't had much luck here so far. A few embarrassing frames, a few missed opportunities, a few situations that looked better in my head than in the photos. But photography, especially the photography I create as a photographer in and around Heidelberg, is not about shunning difficult subjects. Rather, it's about returning to them at the right moment.
Water sessions require special dedication. It always means pressure - logistically, technically and mentally. This time, however, was different. We were returning from a successful photo shoot and completely spontaneously decided to take advantage of the last rays of sunshine. It was warm. The air stood still. Everything was in its place. All we had to do was stand on the shore, walk a few meters into the depths and let the situation write itself.
The bottom was not stable, so to go further into the water would have been sheer recklessness. This boundary, however, turned out to be ideal. Where comfort ends, real portrait photography often begins. I experimented with a polarizing filter, but eventually gave up. The mirror-like reflection of the water was too important. It filled the frame not only visually, but also meaningfully. It still needed to be given meaning - or at least a substitute for it. "Pretend you're combing. Pick up wet leaves and brush them out of your hair with your hands."
At this point, it stopped being about posing. It started to be about the role.
The role is now a part of the story.
You became the Lady of the Lake.
It's at moments like this that I enjoy working as a photographer in Heidelberg the most - when a photo shoot stops being the execution of a plan and starts being a story. When a portrait is no longer just an image, but a scene from something bigger. Water, silence, the last light of day and a figure suspended somewhere between reality and myth. This is not a photograph about a place. It is a photograph about a condition.
If you're interested in an artistic photo shoot in or around Heidelberg - one that doesn't rely on reproducing patterns, but on building a story - that's the direction I'm working in. A portrait as a story. Photography as a scene. Light as narrative.
Assistant