The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

Exhibition at The Whitehouse Gallery

About 18 months ago, I had the opportunity to do a series of photos with Alexandra – a retired professional ballet dancer.

At 66 years old she still had the toning and suppleness of someone decades her junior. Here was a chance to capture the beauty and elegance of the human form, which was not about youth, but maturity and experience.

Setting up a black background, I placed a single light behind and to one side of Alexandra as she glided through a series of poses and movements. As the burst of the flash was too fast for the human eye to register what was being caught, I tethered the camera to a laptop computer so I could see the results of each click.

After the session I converted the images to black and white, and darkened down the shadows until just the highlights remained, creating images where the light, line and form were all now minimised and accentuated. The lines flow, the graceful body is partially visible and the mind fills in the missing details.

I ended up with a series of amazing images that took my breath away, but I’ve never quite known what to do with them. They don’t fit into any of the usual categories for marketing and promoting my business, so they’ve pretty much just sat on my computer apart from occasionally putting one into an online photo competition.



However, recently the Galloway Photographic Collective – a group of professional photographers I belong to – were asked to put together an exhibition for The Whitehouse Gallery in Kirkcudbright.

Photography is not usually something they sell, but from Feb 4th to March 4th, they have turned over the entire ground floor to displaying images from the Collective.

We were asked to produce photos that ideally hadn’t been seen before and had more of an art feel to them.

I realised I finally had the opportunity to show off these images of Alexandra.

I have printed 5 of them up at A1 size – about 60cm x 84cm – and on block mounts. Modesty thrown out the window, I have to say they look stunning, and I’m really looking forward to seeing them all together on the walls of the gallery.



If you can make it along to Kirkcudbright this Saturday at 11am, there will be drinks and nibbles and various members of the Collective, including me, on hand to chat about our work.

It would be lovely to see you if you can.

7 comments

Pat said...

Two beautiful examples of the complete trust essential between photographer and model. Bravo both.

Kim Ayres said...

Pat - thank you! I look forward to my next shoot with you :)

neena maiya (guyana gyal) said...

You've proven that photography can be art, Kim.

I hope the exhibition gets proper plenty notice!

hope said...

Let us know how things turn out. I admire your model's sense of ease and grace. That says a lot about you as the photographer.

Kim Ayres said...

Neena - Many thanks :)

Hope - having a model who knows what she's doing makes so much difference. For a different project I've recently photographed a couple of women who have called themselves models, only to discover they had no idea how to hold or shape their bodies. I think in much the same way that there are people who have a camera and think that is enough to call themselves a photographer, so there are young women who think being pretty is enough to be a model...

marke said...

Beautiful.
Truly art.

Kim Ayres said...

Many thanks, Marke :)

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