ROBERT LUIS CHAVEZ
PHOTOGRAPHY

infrared portrait of heather
image © Robert Luis Chavez

Heather... 8" x 10" silver print
A studio portrait of Heather shot
using Kodak high speed infrared film.

HEATHER, STUDIO PORTRAIT

Back in the good old days when Frank Howell was alive, Kent Bowser's darkroom was in the back of Frank Howell's studio in Santa Fe. Kent had already set up Franks big strobe and soft box in the studio and Frank said it would be okay for me to do a shoot there sometime.

I recruited a friend, Heather, who also models. I photographed her and used several rolls of Kodak infrared film. When I showed her the portraits though, she really didn't like them, saying it didn't look like her at all, which is true. The effects of the film are pretty radical in this image. First heather has very light blue eyes which photograph black here. Another wierd thing, look how the film renders the whites of her eyes grey. Also Heathers skin appears strange too, her face almost looks like a thin mask hiding a real face underneath and her fingers render like porcelain. Add all of that to the vampirish quality of the pose, needless to say, I was pleased with the results and would definitely experiment with studio flash and infrared film again.