As I was researching helmet Newton to determine his style I came across an image that really took my fancy. It is called “Self Portrait with Model and Wife” and was shot in Paris in 1981.

Sometime ago I acquired a very large mirror that came out of the shop that was being refurbished. I knew that it would be perfect to try to recreate the image. While one of the other photographers (Helen) was shooting Johana I was working out the angles that were needed.

Lighting was going to be the challenge. I needed to ensure that both myself and Johemiane were lit especially as we were in quite different locations.

I initially tried to use the single lit positioned camera on the right. However, the image below shows that this created a number of issues. The lighting was very uneven and I was getting unwanted flares.

In order to eliminate the flare I moved the constant light so that it was in line with Johemiane. Then I placed a 65cm octabox just out of view so that it provided better light on her.

While it fixed one issue it presented a further two. Firstly there was no light on Johemiane’s back or on Helen who was acting the part of the “wife”. Secondly I will getting an ugly shadow on the backdrop from the constant light.

The answer was to move the large light. This was positioned next to me aiming it to just touch Johemiane. This provided lighting for her back. It also had the advantage that the light reflecting off the mirror illuminated her front. The same light also lit Helen.

It took about 15 shots to get everything right in camera.

I selected the final image. Then, I took it into Photoshop. I used Silver Efex Pro to apply the same black and white treatment. This was the treatment I had used on all images from the shoot. Finally to replicate the image I flipped my one.

In the final image you can see the code connecting my camera to the computer. A similar cable can be seen in the original photo however its purpose would’ve been completely different. In Helmet’s case the cord would have been to fire the flashes.

As I mentioned in the first post of the series, this whole shoot was intended to produce images. These images could be considered for the Wellington income print competition.

This image ended up being the one selected by the club to represent them. It came third in the round.