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The Shirt Off Your Back
Back for an encore
What do you photograph when you are a working parent living in a rural community in the dark days of winter? Consider this: You go to work in the dark and come home in the dark. It is raining. It is always raining. You have limited free time. That was my life on Vancouver Island on the Wet Coast of Canada forty years ago.
Don’t get me wrong. I loved the place, and I always found something to photograph. It just meant I was forced to move indoors for much of the year. I photographed air bubbles in water, pantyhose on my light table, or color-themed tabletop still lifes. The camera shutter never stayed quiet for very long. On weekends, if it was dry, I‘d head outside.
I was thrilled to learn that the amateur theater group I belonged to had received a large donation of vintage clothing to enhance the costume department. I saw an opportunity.
I headed for the theater. I set up a clothesline and photographed a series of shirts using black and white film. The black velvet curtains and theater lights created a wonderful isolating setting that made the rather mundane clothing items glow with pride.
I developed and printed the images and then hand colored them using transparent oil paints. That was a perfect winter project.
