Things are not always black and white, except Marie Machin’s latest photo series of women wearing white at night in Baltimore.
A junior photography major at UMBC, Machin began photographing women in Baltimore city wearing all white at night. Simply put, Machin describes her photos as strong, yet vulnerable.
It is no secret that women are frequently victims of sexual harassment and sexual assault. Machin emphasizes the rush she and her models get from being outside in the city, alone, at night. And for good reason – since she uses film, the photo shoots take a long time. It takes about an hour to get 12-24 photos from a single shoot.
Machin’s goal is to shoot at least 50 different women before her project is complete. Following that, she hopes to use her photos as her senior project or to turn them into a book. She even has interests in traveling to other cities and repeating the photo series there.
Machin’s favorite photo from the series is one she took of a woman named Audrey in July 2017 (although she did not share this photo on Instagram until August 7). In this photo, which was taken only some feet from Audrey’s home, a car can be seen with its headlights on in the background.
When Machin and Audrey were taking photos, cars kept driving by, which gave them the idea to include a car in the photograph. Machin admits that the car in the photo is hers and that this was the first time she has ever really used a prop in a photograph, so it was a very special moment for her.
Machin began her series by just asking friends to model for her, but then she reached out to Facebook and met some additional people. If you or a woman you know are interested in being a part of this photo series, send her an e-mail (mmarie1@umbc.edu) or a direct message on Instagram (@mariejanemachine).
