Within the Photographic Society of New Zealand there is an honours system. It is based on submitting a portfolio of images that are then assessed by a panel. In August 2022, I successfully achieved the associate level. After this achievement, I started working on the set for the top fellowship level.

The Fellowship requires you to submit 18 images that tell a story. I decided that it would be based on the way in which we use our hands. I drew up a list of the shots that I wanted.

When Connor and Kassie came for their shoot I asked if there would take part. With Connor I wanted to show “washing” set up a basin in the garage.

I used a single light positioned camera right with a reflector on the other side. Fill was provided by the doorway to the garage. The camera was set at 1/200s f8 ISO200. While this is not a particular fast shutter speed I knew that the flash would freeze the action.

In order to maintain consistency in the set I had decided that all images would be black & white. I edited the images in Photoshop first. Then, I ran them through Nik Silver Efex. There, I developed a particular recipe. This recipe gave me the gritty high contrast I was after.