The first inklings of the Black/White project were a few random thoughts that crossed my mind while messing around with other stuff quite a while ago. Would it shock you to believe that the very first experiment with approach to that inkling was not only with Mary again but also a semi-accident?
It had been a while since last time Mary and I made any pictures, she was around so I decided to mess around with a bunch of stuff. We played around with the crappy Marilyn dress I had laying around which lead to a different project. We chit-chatted a bunch and got caught-up. Made some life-style-y crap like above, etc.
While messing around with the white shorts on the bed I remembered that I had bought those along with an identical black pair just to experiment with the whole notion of the black/white project a while back but never got around to it. Beyond the notion of opposites and tying that with identical black and white wardrobe I really didn't have any sort of approach. Let's just see what happens… So I chucked a couple of props over to Mary and with zero direction off we went. The first experiment of this project.
Here's the last life-style-y frame we made. Frame No. 6441 at 2:48.
I went and had a drink, smoked a cigarette, and changed batteries, etc. The next frame, No. 6442 looked like this.
I missed a bunch of stuff as Mary just got right to it with the cuffs. I have no idea why I didn't do the whole opposite black matching wardrobe that day. Proably because it was after 3pm, who knows.
What I found interesting after letting these sit for a while and sifting thru them is that the ones I found most interesting were all the in-between shots I made rather than any of the pretty ones.
The ones that had some dynamic to them and maybe even some motion blur.
Mary was a bit agressive with putting on the cuffs so this happened a couple of times.
I've always gravitated to the in-between shots of people but this time was a bit different in terms of the frames that seemed to "fit" what I was looking for and how I wanted the project to feel.
I think my selection of what was interesting to me from this first time out is what prompted me to do so many experiments on approach for the project.
Fuji XT-1 18-55mm
End Notes
This was the very first time I used the Fuji 18-55mm lens on any subject beyond StupidCrap™ like stuff laying around my office.