Nocturnal Tryst: A Film Noir Photographic Story

Oct 5

In the early 1940s Hollywood started pumping out a great deal of films that all had dark, pessimistic themes, extremely high contrast, and shadows absolutely "crushed" to black. These films featured alienated antiheroes, slick sleuths, and seductive femme fatales. Soon enough, a group of French critics coined the phrase "Film Noir" to describe this emerging trend, which literally translates to "Black Movie". These movies drew heavily from detective novels and quickly attracted some of the greatest names in cinema, such as Stanley Kubrick, Billy Wilder, and Orson Wells. The genre rapidly gained popularity and dominated the cinemas for two decades - the 1940s and 1950s, widely regarded as the classic period of Film Noir. Notable films from this era, such as "Double Indemnity" (Billy Wilder, 1944), "Sunset Boulevard" (Billy Wilder, 1950), "The Killing" (Stanley Kubrick, 1956), "Touch of Evil" (Orson Welles, 1958), and many more, have significantly influenced filmmakers for generations.

Despite the classic style of Film Noir fading into the shadows (he-he) of modern cinema, its' tropes and cinematic style continue to inspire today's filmmakers. If mid-20th-century films aren't your jorum of skee, may I suggest one from the turn of the century - "The Man who wasn't there" (Joel Coen, 2001), starring Billy Bob Thornton, Frances McDormand and the then-emerging Scarlett Johansson.

In this short photographic story I aimed to capture the ambiance and visual style of the noir film genre, leaving the plot to the viewers' imagination. I had the privilege of working with an incredible team, all of whom were deeply committed to the idea and brought their A-game to the project. The characters in this story are played by the professional models from Alia Models Agency. The stunning Erika Mihaylova transformed effortlessly into a noir femme fatale, while the talented Panteley "Leo" Marinski fully embraced the look of a 1950s sleuth. This look wouldn't have been possible without the skills of the talented makeup artist Stefania Gogova. Last but not least, I couldn't have pulled off this shoot without my long-time friend Phillip "Fifo" Nikolov, who assisted me. This was the most enjoyable and amazing shoot I've ever had, and I'll let the photos speak for themselves.

For the photography enthusiasts: I shot this series on the Mamiya RB67 medium-format film camera, using Ilford HP5+ film pushed to 1600 ASA with Atomal 49 developer, and used three Godox strobes to light the scenes.