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| Berthe Morisot - A Woman at Her Toilette |
I have written about this idea of a woman at her toilette
before here. I reflect I may have been
influenced not only by watching my mother apply makeup when I was a little boy
but also because I have been fascinated with Berthe Morisot’s Woman at Her Toilette since I can
remember seeing it sometime in the late 70s.
I first photographed the very beautiful blonde-haired
Cheri in the late 70s and then for the last time in 1995 in my Robson Street
Studio (corner with Granville Street). I asked her to get ready for the
photographs and to apply makeup by the antique mirror I had there at the time.
While I took the photographs after this with my large camera I chose to use my
Nikon FM-2 loaded with Kodak B+w Infrared Film. To shoot this film one has to
place a deep red filter in front of the lens. Curiously one must focus and then
unfocus the lens to where there is a little red mark (not found in modern
lenses). The effect is grainy but ethereal.
