Provocative Photo - Through the Lens

Respect Your Models

2012-01-09T18:32:00.000-08:00

Audi in the Woodlands

I recently completed a small project during which I shot with several models, including two very lovely ladies for whom the project was our first shoot together. During the course of the shoot those two models, as well as two of my regular models, told me how nice it was to work with me. I have received this compliment many times over my years of shooting and I had really never given it much thought. After all, I’m a good person and I try to treat people well, so I certainly had hoped that shooting with me would be a “nice” experience. The first model that said this to me during this most recent project, however, said it with such intensity that I simply had to ask her what she meant. Her response surprised me.

She told me she had recently worked with a photographer who continually commented about what he didn’t like about her body or her poses. He made snide comments about her weight, though in my opinion she has a very well formed and toned body; how he didn’t like some of her poses and generally was not pleasant to her during the shoot. This young lady is one of the most pleasant people you’d ever want to meet. She has a gorgeous smile, is always ready for a shoot, shows up on time and puts great effort into giving the photographer what he or she wants. I’ve worked with her four times over the last year and she’s just a real sweetheart. I’m shocked that anyone would treat her so.

Her story made me think about the photographer to model relationship and what it means to me. So when I received the next such compliments, I asked the question, “Why do you say that?” In every case the model was able to tell me specific aspects of shooting with me that made the experience pleasant and an event to be repeated rather than to be avoided. Two of the models also related experiences they had encountered with other photographers which made them unwilling to work with those individuals again. Once again, I was surprised that these ladies would be treated with such disregard for their feelings.

Now, I certainly hope these photographers are the exception and not the rule. It’s certainly been my experience with the few other photographers that I’ve occasionally worked with that models are treated with respect though, of course, shooting with a group of photographers and models is quite the different dynamic than when a model and photographer are shooting in a one-on-one situation. Still, it doesn’t benefit photographers as a profession or avocation when models are treated poorly by someone who professes to be a photographer.

I am therefore going to share my philosophy and process of working with models in the hope that it will help other photographers who may not have much experience in working with models, and specifically glamour models, in front of their lens. Certainly not every person who reads this will be influenced to change the way they act towards their models. The ones that won’t change probably treat people poorly because of their personality and their attitude toward humanity in general. Nothing I, or the models, say will change how they treat others. I’m betting, however, there are a few photographers out there that simply don’t know what’s expected of them during a shoot and are willing to consider better methods so that they get the results they want while ensuring the models will want to work with them again in the future.

On the Beach with Sierra

I think the most important thing to keep in mind when shooting with a model is that they are your collaborators in the process of creating the image. Yes, you’re setting the exposure, the lighting, choosing the composition and the depth of field, and perhaps even directing the model into specific poses, but without the model, what would be your subject? What element beyond the background, the foreground and the props would you have in your final image? You need the model, otherwise you would be shooting still lifes, landscapes, or bugs.

If you’re shooting with a model, she or he, as the case may be, is most likely the subject in your image. If you want the most from your model, treat them as a dynamic partner in the creative process. Talk to them, listen to them, and consider any suggestions they might have for the image. If they are experienced, they already know the poses that make them look the best and they often have great ideas about what poses would work well for the image or scenario you’re trying to capture. Consider what they have to offer and make use of it as appropriate.

Models are people too. Don’t treat them as simply objects or props. Many of my models have willingly put themselves into awkward positions, donned uncomfortable clothing, stood in the cold, soaked themselves in freezing water, and posed with sand blowing in their face while standing barefoot on a hot desert floor because they shared my vision of the final image. They also did it because I explained what I wanted, made sure that a comforting towel and robe, a hot cut of tea, a wet washcloth and a cold drink or a helping hand was available to them immediately after I got the shot. I always keep what I call a “comfort pack” with me when I shoot. It contains a robe and slippers for the model, a pack of wet wipes, mosquito repellant, a large towel, a bottle of water, a washcloth, lotion, paper towels, and a clean brush. Some items seldom get used and some items get used quite a lot. But, they’re always available if the model needs them. Most of the time, depending on the duration and location of the shoot, I have hot or cold drinks available for the model as well. Keep the model comfortable or at least aware that the discomfort will be short, and you’ll get far more out of your model than you could otherwise expect.

Encourage your model. I certainly can stand to improve in this area. I often get so caught up in the techniques of the shot that I often forget to provide feedback to the model. I’m still working on this, but I do try to let my models know when I think a particular pose or expression is working. I use words like “great,” “gorgeous,” “beautiful” or phrases like “that’s it,” “very nice” and “terrific expression,” to encourage my models. What’s more, I mean it. If I don’t like a pose or an expression I don’t tell them I don’t like it, but rather I suggest another pose or another look. The idea is to keep up a positive flow of energy between the photographer and the model. Reinforce everything that is working and let what doesn’t work slide on by. Keeping the model happy and encouraged makes the shoot flow better and keeps the energy high.

Keep your hands to yourself as much as possible. In most cases, it’s not necessary to touch the model. Talk to the model before the shoot and let her know how you give directions. I often demonstrate glamour poses to my models and I know it has to look silly for a person who looks like me to strike a glamour pose, but hey, it gets the job done and I can indicate to the model what I want without a lot of words or trying to push her around like a mannequin. Sometimes you do have to move a hand or an arm slightly, but before you touch the model, ask (and get) permission first.

Finally, and I think this is where a lot of photographers get into trouble, understand your model’s limits and don’t try to push them beyond what they are comfortable shooting with you. If in doubt, ask before the shoot or before you get to that particular sequence in the shoot. If the models indicates discomfort with the pose or the concept, don’t push it. If such a pose or concept is integral to your shoot, it’s imperative you discuss it with the model before getting her to commit to the shoot and don’t spring it on her as a surprise the day of the shoot. It’s always okay to ask about a concept, but it’s never acceptable not to take no for an answer and to try to push a model into an uncomfortable situation.

Models are people just like your sister or your mother. They can collaborate with you and help you create some wonderful images if you treat them right. If you don’t, well, word has a way of getting around and you may just find yourself unable to get anyone to work with you at all.

Lindsay by the River

Closing in on Year's End

2011-12-29T17:47:00.000-08:00

Jenn Cavaricci - Wind Fae

It has definitely been an interesting year. I certainly managed to stay busy shooting with a number of lovely models throughout the year. I met several new models through the Unchained Girls and through a few workshops that I attended through various Meetup Groups. One model I met through a workshop is Jenn Cavaricci. She was working with a model I work with often, Floofie, at a High Key Lighting Workshop. I won't call Floofie on of "my" regular models as she doesn't like the use of a possessive to refer to her (oh, did she get teased by that). In any case, I gave Jenn my card at the workshop and we subsequently worked on a few projects together and will wrap up a couple more in 2012.

One of the most important shoots we did was the Wind Fae which is the penultimate shoot in my Fae in Us All series. I had hope to shoot the final images in that series this well, the Winter Queen, but alas there has been no snow yet, so it's likely that shoot will also happen in 2012 as well. The earlier the better, I think.

I have a couple of candidates for the Winter Queen, or the Ice Fairy. Actually, I'm not sure what the final title will be, but I'm planning for it to be one of my best. I have a great costume and accessories collected for the shoot, and I've engaged a wonderful makeup artist to assist with the shoot, as well as a terrific location provided I can get there in the snow.

The two candidates for the shoot are Grace and Veronica. I've done test shoots with both and each would bring her own beauty and character to the interpretation of the Winter Queen. In all likelihood, who will be with Winter Queen will be a matter of opportunity and chance as it will depend entirely on who can be available and present when the first good snowfall occurs. It's been suggested I use both, and that may well happen, but we'll have to see how it all works out. That will end the Fae in Us All project, though I will resurrect it from time to time for paying clients.

I do need to wrap up a few shoots with models that are in the middle of a sequence for my Women in Chains projects, but I do plan on concentrating much more on landscape, nature and event photography in the coming year. I'm looking forward to wrapping up the projects and actually begin putting my books together for publication.

Project Wrap-up & Interviews

2011-12-10T09:02:00.001-08:00

The Water Fairy

The Fae in Us All project is coming to an end. In the past three years, I've completed 31 different shoots in the project with 27 different models. Ultimately, best images from the series will be going into a self-published book featuring 28 models. There is but one shoot left to complete, and it will be the most elaborate and most challenging of the shoots in the entire series.

The original series was intended to be limited to the five essential elemental spirits (water, earth, fire, air and spirit) and the four seasons (spring, summer, fall and winter), but the models and I were having so much fun with the project, that it seemed to just organically expand into other Fae creatures. In the series, the models and I have expanded the project to include such wonderful creatures as the Danse Fairy, the Bubble Fairy, the Sand Fairy, a Woodland Pixie, and Waterfall Nymph, the House Fairy (the one that does the dishes and laundry when you're not looking - a truly mythical creature who never seems to visit my house), and many others.

Don't Mess with the Combat Fairy

Theoretically, the project could go on forever, and I may resurrect it from time to time just for fun or if a model requests it for their portfolio, but I do need to move my attention on to other interests and projects. The last shoot in the project (for now) will be the Winter Queen, the most regal and inspiring of the Faery. I've actually been trying to shoot this particular concept for the last couple of winters but, for multiple reasons, the shoot simply hasn't happened. This year, though, I'm doing extensive planning to make sure the shoot can and will happen.

Waterfall Nymph

I've recently completed interviews with 5 different models and one of those lovely ladies will be my Winter Queen. To some degree it will be the luck of the draw that determines who will be the lucky lady who gets to stand mostly naked in the freezing snow while I (warmly bundled against the chill) wield my camera and lenses to capture her portrayal of the queen of the season. By that, I mean, I have prioritized the models and when the snow arrives, I will work the list from the top to the bottom to schedule the model that is available for the shoot. Utilizing this plan, I hope to successfully complete the shoot this winter without the issues I ran into in previous attempts. I've explained this to each of the prospective models and they each seem to be quite amenable to the plan. Each would bring their own unique interpretation of the concept to the shoot and any one of them could exemplify the queen, but I will need, of course, to prioritize the model that best matches my vision of the shoot. With any luck, and with the planning I've done, the project will be complete within the next few weeks and I'll begin working on the layout of the book.

Still Without a Studio

2011-11-05T20:17:00.000-07:00

Alija in the Wizard Room

I'm still without a studio, but I think I have a couple of good leads for spaces. One is a very large basement space, and the other is a newly refurbished studio/gallery in SE Portland. Normally, in the late fall and winter, I move to the studio or into my home for my photography sessions. Home is out of the question for the time being due to a kitchen remodel that seems never ending, but getting into the studio to finish up some projects will be nice.

When the house is not in shambles, though, it's a pretty nice place to shoot with several different rooms that serve as lovely backgrounds for models. One room is set up as a Wizard's Bedroom, while the master bedroom and bath are large enough to accomodate a couple of strobes with modifiers. The living is great for shoots with lots of room to maneuver lights and bodies. Alas, shoots will not be happening here for a while yet.

In the meantime, I'll leave you with some images from inside my home.

Audi in the Window (Master Bedroom)

Kim the Sorceress (Living Room)

Kim in the Window (Master Bedroom)

Summer is Definitely Over

2011-10-16T20:23:00.000-07:00

Kira & the Rainbow

It's the beginning of the wet season here in the Pacific Northwest. That means rainstorms, rainbows, and the end of outdoor glamour photography. Of course, sometimes there are brave models who are willing to dare the elements for a shoot.

I do suspect, however, that I've done my last outdoor shoot for a while and while I may be able to get into the studio for a time or two before the end of the year, most of my time will need to be spent processing the images I've taken so far. A few of these you can see below:

Scout Audi

Wet Audi

End of Summer Shoots

2011-09-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

I'm wrapping up the summer shooting season here pretty quickly. I have just a couple more shoots scheduled, though I'll probably head to the Pirate Festival tomorrow to shoot a few wenches and scalliwags.

I think at the end of this year I'm going to take a break shooting with models for a while and concentrate of finishing my books and perhaps work on landscape, experimental and macro photography. In the meantime, I'll enjoy shooting with the lovely ladies for the remainder of the year and sharing my photos here with my few loyal readers.

Warrior Jasmine

Lindsay at Sauvie

Queenly Kim

Christy at Dragonfly Landing

Seasonal Changes

2011-08-23T22:57:00.000-07:00

Summer got off to a slow start, but boy has it arrived in force lately. That means I've been busy with shoots and post processing and while that's good from the photographic perspective, it means I've been much to busy to write. So, since a picture is worth a thousand words, I'll give you a few thousand words worth of images to view.

Bathing Beauty

Keira

Lindsay

Alija - Trestle

Alija - Sauvie

And here are some images from the latest NWGP shoot at Scream at the Beach.

Magnificent Mackenzie

Barbarian Betty

Gorgeous Caity

Candy as Conan

Sauvie at Dawn with Keira Grant

2011-08-05T23:05:00.001-07:00

Enough said!

More Weather Woes

2011-07-19T23:18:00.000-07:00

Kim in Chains

Okay, having to cancel not one but two shoots due to weather in the middle of July just sucks. Usually by this time of years the skies are clear, the temperatures are in the mid-80's and the humidity is low. Along with the cold, wet spring we had this year, apparently we're having a cool wet summer to go along with it. I've already pushed through two shoots in cool weather and I'll shoot with overcast, but there's simply no way to shoot my concepts outside in the rain.

I was supposed to shoot with Kim again today, but we both decided to cancel after looking at the weather report on Monday. We're hoping to reschedule for sometime in August in hopes of warmer and drier weather. This shoot is one that I'd really like to complete as it would finish part of a three part arc of shoots and would be the only outdoor session of the three sets.

I've also had to reschedule with Lindsay for our barefoot glamour shoot. She was one of the models that pushed through a shoot earlier this summer despite the clouds and the cold, but I was shooting her in tandem with another model and I really want to shoot her one-on-one so I can concentrate on her expressions and her poses as I think she is an excellent model and can provide me with some compelling images when we next shoot. Alas, it looks like the earliest that can happen will be the end of August.

The weather forecast calls some improvement later in the week, but I have many other commitments later in the week and even the first couple of weeks of August looks pretty busy with non-photographic activities.

Time for Shooting

2011-07-12T20:59:00.000-07:00

Forest Sorceress

These days it seems I have to almost take vacation to get any photography done. Fortunately, we had a 4 day weekend for the 4th of July holiday, and I was able to take the remaining three days of the work week off for vacation for a little leisure time and some photography. Again, fortunately, there were several models available and ready to work with me that week and I took advantage of their availability by shooting with all of them as the opportunity (weather) permitted.

The first couple of days of the holiday were spent playing with the grandkids, and shooting with the Northwest Glamour Photography Group. The kids and I went to the coast for some fun at the beach, and the next day I went to a different kind of beach for a photo shoot with the Unchained Girls at Scream at the Beach in Jantzen Beach.

Snake Girl

Scream at the Beach is a horror house with multiple sets including a dungeon and a number caves. The group had arranged for a number of models from the Unchained Girls, a promotion group, to pose for us, and for airbrush artists to provide body painting for the girls. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to stay for the entire shoot, so I didn't get to shoot with all the models in all the settings, but I had fun shooting with the ones I did get to work with during the day.

In addition to the models and airbrush artists, there were several large snakes used during the shoot. Adding the snakes provided some excellent shots, but made the shoot technically more difficult since the snakes often moved their heads in and out of the depth of field. Also, the tight locations where we were shooting limited the placement of the strobes, so the setups were the best we could do for the situation given the lack of room for large light modifiers such as light boxes. Still, we made it work .

Queen of the Glade

Later in the week, I primarily shot at Dragonfly Landing focusing on my Swords & Chains project wrapping that series arc up with a couple of models. I also did a Barefoot Glamour shoot with Floofie using three themes - Bathing Beauty, Nude Artist, and Military Glamour. We had a perfect day for shooting those and the model was great - but very happy when the Bathing Beauty shoot was over as the water wasn't nearly as warm as we had hoped for when I planned the shoot.

I wrapped up the week acting as a photographer's assistant for my friend, Mark, and even brought him a model to shoot. The model had engaged me to shoot her as the Rain Fairy and since I planned to do it at Dragonfly Landing, I suggested they both take advantage of the opportunity to shoot together and I must say they put together some fine shots. I think she was a lot more comfortable shooting for him in the warm sunshine than she was shoot for me in the cold water coming from the oscillating sprinkler I used to simulate the rain.

I'll probably get a handful more shoots done this summer, but they'll have to be in my spare time in the evenings or on the weekends, as I'm saving the rest of my vacation time for a trip to Arizona to visit my family there and for the December holidays.

Jenn's First Time with a Sword

Bathing Beauty

Jenn's Magic Ball

The Rain Fairy

A Throne in the Woods

2011-07-03T21:03:00.000-07:00

Last December the photographer I was renting studio space from lost his lease when the building that contained his studio was sold and redesigned. After my last shoot in the space, I dropped by to pick up some props that he had been storing for me, and acquired this very heavy, metal throne that he had stored in one of his back rooms. I had used it a few times in my studio shoots, but I decided I would use it this summer for some outdoor shoots as well. This past weekI finally got a chance to do so.

This is Lindsay and this is from our first shoot together at Dragonfly Landing. I thought the throne worked rather well for this shot I've titled "Magic in the Glade." I've left it in place for now (covered by a tarp), and I hope to be using it for a couple of more shoots in the very near future. After that, I think my friend Mark has some rather wicked ideas to use with it for a bondage shoot.

NW Glamour Workshop

2011-06-11T20:18:00.000-07:00

Nude Photographer's Assistant

I had the recent and pleasant opportunity to attend a Glamour & Nude Workshop which focused on high key and low key lighting techniques. It has been quite some time since I attended a workshop and I thought it would be fun to get together with other photographers from my area to work with a couple of models and to explore some different lighting techniques.

One of my regular models, Kira, let me know about the workshop, and I share the information with my friend, Mark M. and we carpooled up to the shoot in Vancouver bright and early last Sunday morning. We got there just as the models arrived and the crew was setting up the shooting stations in the loft area of the building. The team brought lots of props and the shooting area included a pool table.

There were two models available for the shoot and a low key and a high key shooting area were set up with the appropriate lighting and backdrops. There were, I'd guess, about a dozen photographers at the workshop, divided into two groups. We buddied up in pairs, and each one of use alternated shooting the models for an hour at each of the station. The shoot was efficiently organized and I actually capture many more images that I would have expected given the time and duration of the workshop.

Kira on the Table

I've shot with lots of models and many different styles of lighting over the last three decades, so I was familiar with the lighting arrangements and and exposure settings, but what I found really interesting was watching the various photographers pose the models and come up with creative ideas to create unique images. I t was also a kick talking to other photographers, discussing tips and techniques, and sharing ideas about various projects and even locations to shoot. Everyone there was friendly and more that willing to talk shop. That made it all the more enjoyable

Lunch was provided as well a copious amounts of water and it was just a great afternoon shooting with lovely models and a great group of photographers. With any luck, I'll be free for the next workshop and it will be just as fun.

Jenn C. - High Key with Fabric

Kira - HIgh Key

My Waterfall

2011-05-23T21:42:00.000-07:00

Water Witch

I love shooting models in water. If you don't believe me, ask my wife. She's been in enough rivers, lakes, streams and seas over the years as a subject in my photos that she complained once of getting webbed feet. She was always a good sport about it, but has drawn the line at the freezing waters of the Pacific Northwest (well, mostly - that's her in the image to the right).

There are a few places where I like to shoot water glamour, but one of my favorite places is a little waterfall in the Tillamook Forest. I've written about it before, but it's worth another mention a few years later, especially since I've done a bit more photography there during the intervening time.

Tropical Cathy

One of the things I like about the area is the different backgrounds you can achieve by varying your distance from the falls, changing the angle from which you're shooting, and choosing the time of day for the shoot. Each variable creates and different look, color and atmosphere to the image. Additionally, you can get up and away from the falls and get a totally different feel for the images. There are logs, ledges and small trails all around the falls and each spot offers new opportunities.

Glamorous Sierra

Shoot facing away from the falls, and a completely different view of vegetation, water and earth tones form the backdrop. At the right time of day, warm sunlight scatters through the surrounding trees and produces a dappled pattern of shadows and light on the ground. Pose a model in this environment and the potential for an exquisite image increases exponentially.

There are other areas around the falls that provide equally photogenic settings, but I haven't explored those areas nearly as much as I have the base of the falls, the stream and the surrounding ledges. With any luck, I'll get a chance to remedy that this summer.

Now, if you're truly interested in shooting here, ask me nicely and I might give you directions. You'll have to provide your own models though, and be sure not to misplace your keys as there is definitely no cell service at the falls (don't ask, it's a long and embarrassing story).

Waterfall Nymph

Cathedral Park Revisted

2011-05-20T19:52:00.000-07:00

Tropical Audi

With the return of warm weather, fleeting as it is this week, I've started thinking about summer shoots in Cathedral Park, both with models and with my family. The park has so many delightful areas in which to shoot and I want to explore many more of them this summer. I'd especially like to do more Barefoot Glamour images and some portraiture, but it would also be fun to do portraits of my own family in the park as well, and I'm setting aside some time for that as well.

I've written about the park in the past, but it's worth repeating that by selectively choosing different areas in the park, the atmosphere of the image can be made to look tropical, urban, woodland and any other number of scenarios. The St. Johns Bridge offers many unique backdrops, but there is also a set of rail tracks that run through the park, a long pier and dock. a small beach area, fields, trees, buildings, and a number of other structures.

Light, Texture and Beauty

I particularly like the light and the textures directly underneath the bridge. The bridge provides an extensive area of open shade, but enough light filters through at an angle to provide a bit of contrast to intensify the colors. The concrete pillars and the painted steel provide a textural and color contrast with the grass, trees and other vegetation that abound throughout the park.

There are certain drawbacks to an urban park, of course. While the city of Portland does a great job of preventing and removing graffiti from public lands, inevitably there will be some trash and debris, mainly cigarette butts that have to be picked up from the shoot area. On occasion, I have had to remove liquor bottles and beer cans as well, but I've seen a lot worse in other areas. My recommendation is to take a small trash bag with you just in case you need it. It never hurts to leave a place in a little better shape than in which you found it.

Stairs and Arches

Urban Lines and Curves

Get Your Critique Heard

2011-05-13T13:50:00.000-07:00

A Different Perspective

If you are a photographer, writer, painter or simply someone who loves viewing art and providing feedback to the creator of that art, you should be aware that often the content of your critique can be utterly dismissed simply by the manner in which you offer it. Anyone can provide a critique, and most do. Stating something as simple as "I like that" is a critique. It's not a very good critique and it doesn't help the artist improve, but it is a critique nonetheless. Likewise, "that sucks" or "that's not my cup of tea" is equally valid as a critique, and is similarly dismissed out of hand as not being useful.

Often opinions are offered simply to express the appeal, or the lack thereof, of a work, to stroke the artist's ego, or to stroke the ego of the person providing the comment (I can do better than that.) If, however, your objective is to help the artist improve or, at the very least, to consider your perspective, you need to be able to convey your message effectively. Anyone can provide a critique, but having your opinions heard, understood, and accepted as valid is more about a constructive approach to communicating those opinions than the actual opinion itself.

The key to getting your comments understood, accepted, and considered is to provide respectful, polite, and even-handed commentary. If your goal is to help the artist improve, you should also provide constructive critique.

Find What Appeals to You

Constructive critique not only identifies the issues the viewer perceives with the work, but also provides suggestions on how to improve the work. Constructive critique is all the better if you can offer some specific technical recommendations to the artist, but even if you're not an expert or even familiar with the artist's medium of choice, you can offer constructive critique of a generalized nature. Your goal shouldn't be to tell the artist how to recreate his or her work according to your standards, but to identify how the work could be made to be more appealing to you. You may not be the artist's intended audience, but you can have a valid opinion about how the work makes you feel and what could be modified to make the artists future work more appealing to you, i.e. how to expand the intended audience. It's up to the artist to consider and then accept or reject your comments, but there are certain approaches that will virtually guarantee your opinion will not even be briefly considered.

There's no faster way to have your commentary rejected, deleted, and any future communications promptly ignored than to approach the artist with anything less that politeness. You may absolutely hate the artist’s work, but if your goal is to get the artist to heed your opinion, you are not going to do it by being mean spirited or disrespectful in your approach. It's said that respect has to be earned, and if you want the artist to respect your thoughts, you have to provide respect as part of the process of delivering your opinion. So drop the snarky or condescending attitude and be polite and gracious with your words. Even if you're an expert in the artist's field, there is no reason to adopt a know-it-all attitude. Obviously your words will carry more weight if you are indeed an expert, but a gracious novice will influence the artist far more than an arrogant expert ever will.

Be Polite and Respectful

Avoid name-dropping. Telling someone that another artist wouldn't do it that way or that so-and-so said to do this won't help you to get anyone to meekly accept your opinion. One goal of art is to be unique, and good artists strive for that. They aspire to have their own style. An appeal to authority generally doesn't work with an artist.

While it is important to be honest when presenting your opinions, don't confuse honesty with meanness. With some thought, you can truthfully state your perspective without resorting to unkindness. Malice has no place in a constructive critique and will shut down your communication faster than almost anything else. Too many people try to use “honesty” as an excuse for petty cruelty. These people seem to enjoy pointing all the flaws in a piece of work as spitefully as they can. When they get called on it their claim is that they are “simply being honest and the artist can’t take an honest critique.” Honesty is good. It does neither the artist nor the viewer any good to receive a less than truthful critique. But anyone with at least half a brain knows the difference between honest and just plain mean.

So, what can be done to make your commentary more likely to be considered, accepted, and utilized by the artist? There are a number of approaches that can be used, singly and in various combinations, but you should start by finding something positive to say about the work. Always strive to start with that. If, after thorough consideration, you can't find at least one positive aspect to the work, then reconsider whether the piece is even worthy of the critique. After all, why should you go to the effort of providing the critique if it’s so awful as to have no redeeming qualities and you simply can’t help the individual improve?

Consider the artist's perspective and the message (if any) that he or she is trying to convey. Tell the artist what you perceive the message to be and how effectively the piece “spoke” to that message. If you feel the message is weak, explain why you think so and offer any suggestions you might have on how to improve the delivery of the concept.

Be Honest, but don't be Mean

Strive to identify both the "good" and the "bad" about the piece. Usually some components of the art will appeal to you while others will not. The better the work, the more elements you’ll find that appeal to you. For example, the composition may be appealing, but the artist's choice of colors may not. The artist may have used fantastic lighting or an excellent brush technique, but the choice of the subject might be not be to your taste. As clearly and concisely as possible, explain what you find appealing and in equal measure explain what you don't like about the piece. For either, but especially for what you don't like, suggest improvements and provide examples (if possible). You may not always be able to offer valid suggestions, but any attempt to do so will be more appreciated than not.

Finally, when summarizing, identify the overall impact and appeal the piece has for you and provide some words of encouragement, even if that means suggesting another avenue of creative expression. Of course, you may not have the time or the inclination to follow all the advice provided in this article, but if nothing else, you should understand that kindness, respect and encouragement will do far more to get your message across than any level of expertise or experience you can claim.

Recovery and Summer Shoot Planning

2011-05-11T09:32:00.000-07:00

Random OCF Attendee

Since I'm confined to the house for a few days, it seems like an opportune time to write a bit and share some plans for the summer shooting season. I'm good at planning my shoots, and I can generally stick to the plans allowing for some deviations for creative flexibility. Good planning helps me stay on track for my projects, and I leave some latitude in the scope of the shoot so that I'm not constrained so much I can't take the shoot in a different direction if the creative flow takes me there.

My wife, Wanda, will be gone for about three weeks this summer on a visit to our family in Arizona, so I'll probably be shooting at least a few projects during that time frame, including at least a day at the Oregon Country Fair. The OCF is an event that I routinely shot for about 5 years, but I haven't gone in the last couple of years due to family commitments. I'd like to get back there this year just for some general people photography, as there are always interesting costumes, presentations, music and people at the fair. It may also be a good opportunity to pass out some of my business cards to get paying clients for some of my photographic specialties.

I'll also be shooting quite a bit more of my Military Glamour project this summer. This is a subset of my Barefoot Glamour project, but with an emphasis on a military flavor with the costumes and props. Several of my regular models have expressed an interest in working on this project with me as it gives them a different look for their portfolio. This is also a good genre for new clients as it gives a person an opportunity to have a sexy shoot done for their military boyfriend or husband.

April in Soft Focus

These shoots are also quite fun, as they are logistically easy to set up, shoot, and post-process and that means I can concentrate more of the creative aspects of the shoot: the composition, the lighting, and posing the model. Since I have a variety of military themed outfits and props, there's very little expense in the shoot for me or the model. Now, if I could only find a costume like Christina Aguilera wore in her video, Candy Man.

Another theme I want to explore this season, is Steampunk. I haven't actually shot any images using the style yet, but I've been researching the costumes and props and it seems like it will be fun to both shoot and design. I know of some good outdoor locations to shoot and I've compiled a list of props that should be fairly easy and inexpensive to acquire. A number of models have already expressed interest in shooting this with me, and several of them are very creative with their costuming ability, so there is the opportunity for even more variety in the shoots, from very sexy to almost Victorian prudishness.

There are several more projects in the works as well and they're all quite different from what I've shot in the past. I also want to try some concepts that I've considered in the past, but haven't taken the time to attempt - light painting, random faces, abandoned nudes, and fabric suspension. I may not get to try them all, but I at least have a list of concepts from which to work. I certainly hope to have a fun and creative summer with my photography and with my family.

Hiatus

2011-05-07T21:16:00.000-07:00

Kira and her Posse

I managed to get in one last shoot before a medically induced hiatus that starts next week. Since I will be unable to kneel or bear pressure on my left knee for the rest of May and into the first couple of weeks of June, I took advantage of St. Merrique's visit to Portland to do a quick shoot Friday afternoon. She's a great model with a fantastic smile and some terrific poses and expressions and we had a fun shoot and she gave me some great images.

Merrique is a good friend of another model of mine, Kira (also known as Floofie), and I took advantage to that to shoot the both of them together and to get a few new images of Kira. You can see her with her posse of skulls in the image to the left. Kira and I have agreed to work together on a number of projects this summer, our mutual schedules permitting, and we'll be doing more conceptual work with some included social commentary.

I shot Merrique for my soon to be retired Sword & Sorcery project, but we also got some fun images in gypsy attire and with a large chain. Merrique is able to pull off a mysterious and exotic look that goes well with the project, and I hope that I'll be able to work with her again in the near future.

Merrique in her Lair.

Planning, working, and soon, recovering.

2011-05-02T21:01:00.000-07:00

Jasmine in Shadow

I'm working on plans for my summer shoots. I want to wrap up my existing projects and move on to some different concepts and explore other avenues in my photography, including some collaborative projects with another photographer and artist. That's not to say, I won't revisit these current projects from time to time, but I really need to work on some new stuff that challenges my technical and compositional techniques.

The key to this is finding the right models, locations and props for the new projects, as well as determining the lighting and ambiance necessary to complete the compositions I have in mind. I definitely want to experiment more with lighting techniques including light painting, low key shots, and different frequencies (UV, infrared) of light.

I'm also planning on trying some different costume concepts - Steampunk, Victorian Pinup, Glamour Goth, etc. I'm also open to other suggestions as well from other creative people.

In the meantime, surgery is scheduled for Tuesday the 10th and with any luck, my knee will be fully recovered by the time I starting shooting in earnest.

Oh, Summer, where art thou?

2011-04-18T21:51:00.000-07:00

I could really use some warm weather. Winter didn't seem all that long, but usually by now we've had some nice warm dry days to begin drying out and shaking the winter chill. But this year the cold wet weather has persisted well into April following the wettest March on record. It has become a bit drier during the last week, but it certainly hasn't warmed up which makes cleaning up the winter mess a lot less enjoyable that previous years.

On a good note, though, my knee surgery is scheduled and I should be well on the way to recovery by the time I am ready to do any summer shoots and in plenty of time to be walking well before Wanda takes her second trip to Arizona.

One benefit to all this rain should be some lush vegetation and bountiful blooms in early summer. Of course, it also means more work to clear the shooting areas (I'm assuming of course I'll be allowed to shoot at Dragonfly Landing again this summer), and more work at home as well. Still, when I can get shots like the one you see here, it's well worth it.

A Long Week

2011-03-27T12:30:00.000-07:00

Lauren in Sword & Sorcery

It's been a rather long week. It's Spring Break here and my wife has been out of town since last Saturday visiting our son and his family in Mesa, Arizona. She goes there every year to spend some time with our two year old granddaughter and to soak up some sun to recharge her internal solar cells. Usually when she's away I take the time to work on my photography by doing a couple of shoots, scouting some new locations for my summer shoots, and post processing images from previous shoots.

This year, however, circumstances prevented me from my normal Spring Break activities. My left knee went out just before she left requiring the use of a cane, large doses of anti-inflammatory medications, and the occasional pain killer. That really limited my mobility and prevented me from doing much scouting or shooting. Add to this the cold, wet weather we've been experiencing this March (record setting rain and low temperatures) and I simply didn't do any scouting our outside shooting at all. So, I've primarily been limiting myself to cataloging recent shoots and post-processing images from my back catalog.

I've also been thinking about where I'm going with my photographic projects. I'm wrapping up a couple of projects this year - The Fae in Us All and Women & Chains. That's not to say, I won't shoot any more images like those once the project is complete, but rather I'll be switching my concentration to a different project. I haven't come to any decisions yet, but after this year, or maybe even later this year I'll switch to something new or different. I'm looking forward to that as there will be new techniques to learns and different lighting with which to experiment. In the meantime, you'll just have to put up with the materials I've been working on for the last few years.

Christy & the Chair

Ashley as the Art Fae

The Agony (and no Ectasy)

2011-03-20T22:37:00.000-07:00

Charlie Kristine

Well somehow last week I managed to wrench my left knee. I don't know what I did--the pain was minor on Monday, but by Friday I could hardly walk and wound up visiting the doctor for steroid injections in the knee (a very painful experience in and of itself). This is sad, because I had hoped to shoot my Winter Fairy session this week, but there's no way I'd be able to tromp around in the snow, not matter how beautiful or scantily clad the model is.

I'm sure I'll get a couple of shoots in soon despite the knee and it does appear to be on the mend - or at least the ibuprofen and the Vicodin the doctor prescribed are kicking in finally. I did have some studio time scheduled in hopes that I'd be able to work on a couple of different projects, but I cancelled that and will instead work on post processing some of the images from my last two shoots. You can see one of those to the left, but there are quite a number of models that I can choose from the last three months. So, I don't lack for creative opportunities.

Still, it will be good when we finally get some decent weather around here and I can get back outside for some shoots. Summer seems far away give the cold and wet days we've been having so far. Spring has officially started, but the only signs of it here are a few daffodils and some budding hydrangeas. The sun certainly hasn't made its presence know and all the models I've chatted with recent are just as eagerly awaiting its warmth.

Fortunately, I have a couple of business trips coming up that will be taking me to warmer climes for a week or two. I'm certain I'll be taking along a camera.

Catching Up, Yet Again

2011-03-14T21:43:00.000-07:00

I had another shoot last weekend. Again, I shot we three new models I'd not shot with before. I managed to get some great shots and all three of the models were easy to shoot. This was the 2nd time I used the new studio, but I don't think it's going to work out in the long run as I can't get much time on the weekend due to another group booking the space out every Saturday at mid-day for the rest of the year. I've mentioned this to the owner of the space, but he doesn't seem inclined to do anything to ensure equity with regard to sharing the space, so I guess it's good thing that it's getting to be time for warm weather shooting.

Here are some shots from last weekend:

Jasmine in the Chair

Christy in Chains

Kristy in the Sorceress Lalr

2011-02-21T15:41:00.000-08:00

It's been a long three weeks since I last posted. My day job has been keeping me very busy, so I haven't had much time for post-processing the most recent shoots or choosing the images for my new business cards. The weekends and most evenings have been for family of late and, of course, my wife's inevitable annual home improvement projects.

I have been able to squeeze a bit of time in for cataloging and screening images from previous shoots into catalog sets to make the post processing work flow easier when I get a little more free time. Lightroom 3 makes it pretty simple to do, and the catalog sets are visible in both the Library and Develop modes so once you've picked the best images, you don't have to switch back and forth between modules to do the initial processing. Of course, had I been doing this all along at the completion of each series of shoots, I wouldn't have such a backlog, but as they say, hindsight is 20/20.

I do have a couple of shoot planned for the 1st week in March, and I hope another few near the end of that month.

Here's one of the images from the above catalog capture:

Wicked Rose with Sword

New Studio and Models

2011-01-30T09:31:00.000-08:00

Kim

I had a great time shooting today with two new models and once I've shot with twice before. The two new ladies were part of my Sword & Sorcery series and both replied to a casting call I posted due to a last minute cancellation by another new model I had considered for the series. They were both so nice and agreeable, that I didn't have the heart to turn either of them down so I reworked my schedule to include them both and keep my commitment to Megan, the model I'd worked with before.

The shoot took place in a new studio, well a new space actually. It's not ideal for studio photography, but the price is right and it was available. And it worked. It would be better if it had a dedicated changing room with a mirror and if it had black-out curtains for all the windows. Natural light can be good, but not when you want all of your lighting to come from the strobes. The benefits, though, are a cafe/coffee house right next door, a large space and high ceilings, and easy access and parking.

I've got a couple more shoots set up there in the next couple of months, so we'll see how well it continues to work, but for now it seems adequate for my current needs. Of course, when the warmer months arrive, I'll shoot more outside than in so it become less of an issue. Ideally, I'd love to have a space where I could set up the lights and leave them along with adequate storage for my props, but I just don't see that in my immediate future.

Lauren

The two new models, Lauren and Kim were on time, professional and very easy to work with throughout the shoot. I thought we worked together quite well and I'm looking forward to working with them for the other two parts of the project arc.

Megan is a model I've worked with twice before and I had offered to do a Valentine Day Shoot for her in recompense for her time during our previous shoots. So she brought a variety of outfits to use for the shoot and we did quite a number of pinup poses reminiscent of the 1940's style images.

Megan had a bit more than that in mind though, and I found out exactly what that was when her boyfriend arrived at the studio with her last outfit and prop. You can see one of those images below with with some very preliminary processing.

Jedi Megan

Finishing the Fae in Us All Project

2011-01-15T22:16:00.000-08:00

Ashley as the Autumn Fae (2006)

I've been working on my Fae in Us All project for about 5 years now. I began planning the concept and interviewing models in the summer of 2006, but it wasn't until October of that year that I actually shot the first model for the series, and while that first shoot yielded some nice images, the project was in its infancy and didn't produce the results that I sought for the final publication of the photos.

So, I went back to the drawing board for a couple of years. I researched and purchased various wings, material, makeup, and jewelry. I also looked at the work of various artists who specialized in depicting images of fairies. I also spent time visiting various locations around the state to find locations that would afford both the model and I privacy and an appropriate setting for the various shoots that would comprise the project. Luckily, I also have a good and generous friend who has let me shoot on his property for many of the shoots as well.

Initially the shoots were to include only the seasons and the elements - Winter, Spring Summer and Fall, as well as Fire, Water, Spirit, Earth and Air. Most have been shot, and in some cases, reshoot, but Winter, Earth and Air remain. When I resumed shooting in the summer of 2008, after interviewing a number of models and talking to a number of my more artistic friends, I decided to expand the scope to include any number of expressions of a person's inner Fae, and then the project got its title and purpose.

Lilly as the Woodland Fae

I also looked and my portfolio and determined I needed to add a more diverse selection of models. That fit well with the "In Us All" portion of the concept. The second shoot of the series was the Woodland Fairy featuring Lilly. The shoot was planned with full collaboration with the model with regards to the concept, the costume and the setting. I was much more pleased with the results and I discovered that I truly enjoyed the collaborative creative process, i.e. working with the model as well as others to design the outfit, makeup, hairstyle and choose the various props for the shoot.

In the last three years, I've shot a number of variations on the them - Combat Fairy, House Fairy, Photo Fairy, Pixie, River Fairy, Waterfall Nymph, Garden Fairy, Flower Fairy and so forth and so on. It's now, however, time to wrap this up and move on to other areas of photographic interests. That means I must shoot the final, essential elements of the project I mentioned above during the 1st half of 2011 and start the layout of the book, along with the accompanying text for the images that will be included in the final publication.

Base design for Winter Wings

To that end, I'm in the midst of planning my Winter Fae shoot. There are a couple of models in consideration for the role, and the costume is essential ready. I'll be using a variation of wings from the ArtofWings.com to complete the costume, but for this shoot, I'll also be photographing the model without wings so I can add some variations during the post-processing. When the weather warms up and the skies clear enough, I'll shoot the Wind (Air) Fairy and then when we move into early summer, I'll wrap up the project with the Earth Fairy. There are a number of variations that can be done on the latter two Fae and I'm looking forward to exploring those variations with the models.

If you are a model, or know of one that would like to participate in the project, the window of opportunity will be closing this year. While I have plans for only the three shoots I've mentioned, I'm still open to adding one or two more if I can fit it into the schedule. One I'd particularly like to try is a Rain Fairy, but there could also be a Fae of Music or one of Light.

Under the Bridge

2011-01-07T20:47:00.000-08:00

Audi in the Park

Contrary to popular belief, I do sometimes shoot women with their clothes on, and in fact, I'm hoping to do more of that in the coming year. It's not that I've given up on shooting nudes, but rather I want to explore more along the lines of matching clothing and other props to the outdoor settings or using them to contrast with the scenery.

In the images seen here. Audi and I spent about a half day shooting in Cathedral Park under the St. Johns Bridge in North Portland. We were exploring the park and using the various areas there as settings for different outfits that both Audi and I provided for the shoot.

The park is great for glamour and fashion shoots, and it's one of my favorite places for photography from late spring to mid-fall, or anytime it's reasonably warm and dry. The park has many features to recommend it. The bridge, of course, is the most distinguishing and prominent feature, but there are fields, trees, shrub lined paths, a dock, a sandy beach, the river, benches, lamp posts, stairs, railway tracks, and a lot more.

Under the Willow

One of my favorite elements is a large willow tree near the base of one of the bridge supports. It's large enough to provide a canopy of leaves and branches under which I can shoot a model and provide a somewhat tropical feel to the image, despite actually shooting in the Pacific Northwest. The tree's canopy drapes over an embankment under the bridge and that provides lots of room for shooting. Add a bikini top and a sarong and you get a delightful setting.

The bridge supports also provide interesting structures that add visual interest to shoots. Models can climb on the large concrete platforms to pose--sometimes two levels high if they are courageous and you have good insurance. Walking around the platform can provide varying lighting and different structural elements for backdrops. The structures are so large that they can be made to become ambiguous in terms of location which allows it scene to appear to be an industrial setting rather than a park.

Now, while I don't want all you photographers flocking to the park to take up my best shooting, if you ever want an interesting place to shoot, you might check it out.

On the Bridge Support

Updated Deviant Art Portfolios

2011-01-01T16:12:00.000-08:00

Reorganized my Deviant Art Portfolios today and changed some of the images out. They're still a work in progress, but I've found them immensely useful for showing my work to potential clients and models.

Swords & Chains: Beauties with Blades and Chainmail
Women & Chains: Strong Women, Beautiful Chains
Sword & Sorcery: Warriors and Magic
Provocative Photo: Fantasy and Glamour Photography

If you have any constructive suggestions, I'm happy to hear them.

Christmas Pinup Day 10

2010-12-24T20:04:00.000-08:00

Christmas Day is almost upon us and we've reached the last of our pinup images. This is the lovely Audi and she has been quite the prolific model this year, though I understand she is taking and break and concentrating on her music for a bit. She has modeled for me quite extensively this year including a Sword & Sorcery shoot, a Women in Chains shoot, a Sword and Chains shoot and we wrapped up the summer shooting at Cathedral Park for fashion, Barefoot Glamour and then Sauvie Island for some figure nudes.

It seems fitting that I should end the series with her. I hope you enjoyed the series and I wish you all the very best for the coming year.

Audi Reflected

Christmas Pinup Day 9

2010-12-23T21:05:00.000-08:00

Nixi

Well, we're almost to the end of our countdown. Tonight's lovely lady is Nixi with whom I've just recently started shooting this month. Nixi is fairly new to modeling and we did our first shoot in the studio. In fact, she's not had time or opportunity to review the images from the shoot yet as our schedules have not yet meshed well enough to get together again.

Nixi has studied and participated in theater and so has experience in providing expressions for an audience. We worked well together, I think, and with a future session or two under our belts we'll have all the kinks worked out with our directions and posing.

Nixi brought along a friend to the shoot who is also interested in shooting with me, and so we'll probably be able to stage a sword fight for a future shoot. I've done that twice before in the studio, but I'd like to attempt a shoot outside where the models will have more room to move and interact without the need to stay within the framework of the backdrop.

Here's a final shot of Nixi for this iteration of the countdown. Enjoy!

Christmas Pinup Day 8

2010-12-22T22:43:00.000-08:00

Kira as Jacoba Marley

Here's my take on A Christmas Carol. Poor Jacoba Marley, struck down in her prime and yet willing to return to earth to make amends and warn the rest of us to embrace the spirit of Christmas. Kira makes a beautiful Marley, chains and all.

Kira is one of my most versatile models and can pull off any number of looks. She's extremely professional and just a great sport when it comes to shooting various themes. I plan to use her for several more projects in the upcoming year.

Christmas Pinup Day 7

2010-12-21T21:40:00.000-08:00

Bridgett Xmas 2002

This particular model is not only someone who has posed for me many times, but she's and her husband are wonderful friends as well. These images were taken in different years at our home and thought I shot with Bridgett here and in various indoor and studio settings on several occasions, I've not yet had the pleasure of shooting with her in an outdoor glamour session. I do hope to remedy that sometime in the near future. The problem has been not one of willingness, but rather of busy schedules and missed opportunities.

Her husband is also an avid photographer and has made some imaginative images of her for his portfolio. There is a great series he shot of her using candles and a crucible in which he created a beautiful blue flame. That is definitely an effect I want to recreate in one of my future shoots.

Bridgett completed one project for me in which she is featured as my Reaper Fae. I do hope to use her for my Sword & Sorcery and Sword & Chains project and that's my goal for 2011.

Here's a final image of the lovely Bridgett to share with you. Enjoy!

Christmas Pinup Day 6

2010-12-20T19:26:00.000-08:00

Okay, technically I didn't get to do a Christmas shoot with Sivonna, but I thought it might be fun to put a composite of her in a Christmas scenario. I sent it to her for a look and she had a good laugh about it.

I normally manually mask images for my composites, but I tried a new release of Topaz Remask 3 for this composite. It works quite well and has some nice features that make masking and compositing quite simple.

The background image is from a set of digital backdrop images I purchased for stock and the image of Sivonna comes from a set of image we shot back in March of this year.

It's certainly not the greatest composite I've ever made, but I kind of like it for the simplicity of the image.

Christmas Pinup Day 5

2010-12-18T21:25:00.000-08:00

The Mollie Tree

As the Christmas countdown continues, meet Mollie who came up with this idea for a Christmas pose. I've worked with Mollie (Lady Mab on Model Mayhem) a couple of times now. We shot a Sword & Chains shoot back in August and are planning at least one additional shoot this winter. Mollie is currently scouting a location for that shoot near her home.

Mollie has a fun and quirky personality and likes to cut up in front of the camera. I have lots of funny out-takes from our two shoots together and may feature a few of those in a future entry along with out-takes from a number of shoots with my other models.

Mollie is quite dedicated to her modeling. She does it mostly for the fun and creativity and both times I've worked with her, she's given me some great poses and expressions, and I'm looking forward to what we'll be able to pull off in our next couple of shoots - especially one that I hope we'll be able to do this winter in the snow.

Here are a couple more shots for your enjoyment:

Mollie in Soft Focus

Bottoms Up

Christmas Pinup Day 4

2010-12-17T19:19:00.000-08:00

Tinsel Wrapped Olive

Olive is one of my newest models. She's new to the Portland area and I think I was one of the first photographers she worked with when she moved here. Some of the images she has shot recently have already been featured in a local show, and I think we'll be able to get some exhibition quality shots from our shoot together as well.

We've a few more shoots scheduled after the first of the year when I locate another studio, as well as a couple of shoots when the weather becomes warmer and we can move into the outdoor venues.

As with a number of the other models I'm presenting here, we shot these images at the end of studio session where we were concentrating on my Sword & Sorcery project. I think Olive had a lot of fun with the shoot, and I know I did.

As you can tell, she's very expressive, and I thought she was able to provide me with a number of excellent poses, even though we only got to shoot for about 90 minutes. She certainly has a great attitude and was playfully fun throughout our shoot.

Christmas Pinup Day 3

2010-12-16T20:31:00.000-08:00

Veronica

It's time now for the 3rd pinup of our countdown. I'm hoping I don't run out of girls before I run out of days before Christmas, but even if I do, I think I can put together a montage of a few additional images to tide us through to Christmas Eve.

In any event, this is my friend, Veronica. She was one of my main models for about three years. We quite a number of holiday shoots, but I believe this was our only Christmas set.

Veronica is a frisky model to say the least. She's always been a great friend and a fun girl with whom to hang out. She was instrumental in helping me find a few additional models to shoot.

I haven't seen her in about 8 years, but we still exchange the occasional e-mail. I don't think she's modeling any more at all, but if she ever came back out to Oregon to visit, I'd certainly ask her to shoot with me again.

Christmas Pinup Day 2

2010-12-15T19:40:00.000-08:00

Continuing with our Christmas Pinup countdown, I'd like you to meet Alija. I started working with Alija back in early summer when she started with my Sword and Chains project. Since then, we've done three additional shoots together (Women in Chains, Barefoot Glamour and Sword & Sorcery). We shot this at the end of our Sword & Sorcery shoot for a bit of fun.

Alija is great to work with and also a fun conversationalist. She has some great poses and seems to be naturally adept with moving her body for the camera.

Since she's a trained beautician and stylist, I'm never quite sure what I'm going to get from her hair when we shoot, but that's part of the fun of shooting with her. Indeed, for her Barefoot Glamour shoot, she sported a mohawk for a portion of the shoot and we used wigs for the remainder.

I'm looking forward to our future shoots together. I'm sure she'll make a great fairy for my Fae in Us All project. What do you think? Earth Fairy?

A Fitting End to a Fun Shoot

Christmas Countdown

2010-12-14T20:29:00.000-08:00

There's just a few days left until Christmas. Over the years, I've had fun shooting various lovely ladies at Christmas time, so I thought I would share some of those images with you all as we wend our way toward the holiday. So, everyday from now until Christmas I'll post a set of images celebrating the sexy season.

Today we're starting with the lovely Krisa, with whom I've worked with several times over the last couple of years. In fact, Krisa did her first nude shoot with me, as my Danse Fairy, in 2008. Since then we've done several fun shoots and we took these shots in the studio just within the last couple of weeks.

Krisa is always fun to shoot and she does a great job with her hair and makeup. That's always a plus for a shoot. She's got a great "I'll try anything once" attitude and she's always willing to help me pack gear after the shoot. As you can see from the shot below, she's got some enviable "talents."

Candy Cane Fun

Kira

2010-11-29T21:10:00.000-08:00

Kira in Chains

I got to shoot with Kira three times in 2010. We completed a full sequence of projects that consisted of a studio shoot (Sword & Sorcery), a location shoot at Dragonfly Landing (Sword & Chains - seen in the images here), and an indoor location shoot (Women in Chains). Because I was traveling quite a lot this past summer while on sabbatical and then catching up with work after returning from that nice long vacation, I only recently got around to queuing up those images for final processing. Shooting Kira was a joy. Trying to cut down the number of images to process was not - I mean, it's tough to cut images from the que when they're all so good.

Of course, that's a problem most photographers would love to have when they finish a shoot, so I consider myself quite lucky to have been able to shoot with her for all three portions of this project arc, and I'm sure I'll be using her for future projects as well. I certainly want to shoot a figure study with her as well as a series of outdoor nudes and some barefoot glamour series. Those shoots, however, won't occur until the warmer months return, so in the meantime I'll just have to work on the images I've already made with her.

I hope you all enjoy these images and I can tell you to look for more in the near future.

Kira says "Halt!"

2010-11-15T13:12:00.000-08:00

By my calculations, I may have a grand total of 5 regular readers of this blog. That's as many as I can determine from the followers list and from the comments that I occasionally get, as well as the three friends I know for a fact who check out my writings from time to time. I enjoy writing, and I'll probably continue to write about my interests in photography and the various shoots I do, but it would also be helpful to me if I knew the size and the interests of my audience, as small as it might be.

So, I'm asking for a boon from my readers. Leave me a comment. Let me know if you do, in fact, read this blog on any kind of a routine or recurring basis. If you do, what type of entries interest you and what would you like to see more of here. Also, is there anything that bores you to tears and you'd just as soon never read about again.

This blog is useful to me because it provides me a creative outlet for combining my photography with writing, but I'd like to make it useful for readers as well, if it isn't already. So, leave that comment, or if you prefer, shoot me an e-mail, because I'd really love some feedback and it doesn't matter who you are (model, photographer or just a casual reader) or what you have to say (even if you think my writing and photography suck), let me know. :)

Studio Issues

2010-11-14T17:15:00.000-08:00

Jen & Ashley at MRB Studios, St. Johns

It is mid-autumn here in the Northern Hemisphere and in the Pacific Northwest that means it's the beginning of our gray, cold and wet season which will last until at least the middle of March when the sun breaks begin to become more frequent and the temperatures start to rise. This is the time of year when I move my photography to the studio or to other indoor venues. As I have a three-part project that requires two of the three settings to be indoors, this usually isn't a problem. Unfortunately, for the second time in two years I've lost access to the studio I've been using for my on-going projects.

Gabriell as the Blood Sorceress - MRB Studios

In 2009 I found a great place to shoot in the St. Johns area of North Portland. Eric Rose, the studio's owner, gave me a great deal on using the studio and it was simply a matter of scheduling the time in advance on the studio's calendar. The studio was fairly large, allowing for some elaborate sets, and had easy access to bathrooms, a cafe and excellent parking. There were four photographers sharing it on a regular basis, and I never really had a difficult time getting the time I needed for my shoots.

I was able to shoot in that studio for almost the entire year and the only drawback was the large skylights at the top of the studio and provided great natural light during the day, but which limited and complicated the use of studio lights until after sunset. Toward the end of 2009, though, Eric decided to move to a smaller studio. That made a lot of sense for him, since he primarily shoots portraits and head shots for agency work. I checked out his new studio after he moved and it was simply too small for what I normally shoot--it simply couldn't support that elaborate set-ups that I use for most of my indoor photography. I could see how it was a great place for Eric, though, with its great natural light and textured wall.

Audi at Tim Gunther Studio

For a while I looked into getting my own studio. I found a great place in a fine location and seriously considered leasing the location. The space was actually a 2000 square foot warehouse with an office area and a bathroom. The high ceilings, roll-up garage door, and area dimensions were near perfect, but I couldn't justify the cost of the lease for the amount of studio shooting I do. I thought if I could find a partner we could share the expenses and lease the space out to other photographers, hold classes, and conduct seminars to make up the cost of the space, but I couldn't find a willing partner to share the space with me.

I had been looking on various forums for weeks and perused the commercial space ads on Craig's List hoping to find something suitable. I finally broke down and posted an ad myself seeking a space to shoot and fortunately Tim Gunther of Tim Gunther studios sent me an e-mail and we came to an agreement and I started using his studio space in February of 2010.

As a studio, it was even better than the previous place in St. Johns. Tim's studio has a single skylight which doesn't interfere much with the studio lights, a dressing room, a bathroom, and several storage rooms. Tim was easy to work with and there was ample studio time available for me projects. The cost was a bit more than what I paid in St. Johns, but I managed to stay within my budget while shooting there from February to May. Of course, in May, I moved back to my outdoor settings and continued to work my projects with the expectation to returning to the studio during this time of year.

Unfortunately, Tim had the building sold out from under him and my last shoot in his studio will be the weekend of December 4th. I'm booking my models now and also hope to do a family shoot of my grandchildren that weekend as well. So, after the first of December I'll be looking for studio space again. If you have any suggestions, don't hesitate to let me know.

Sivonna the Sorceress at Tim Gunther Studios

Raiding the Archives

2010-10-29T20:24:00.001-07:00

A very good friend of mine asked me for a few images from our previous shoots together so she could add them to her Model Mayhem account. She's modeled off and on casually for both her husband and for me, but I think this is the first time she's actually ventured into modeling as an avocation.

I've shot with her many times, but only once or twice in a studio environment, and I've never really felt that I gotten any images of her that really do her justice. I did agree, however, to send her some images that I thought would work for her portfolio. So, I went back to my archives and found some images that I liked and thought she would like as well. Since I haven't done much else photographically this week, I thought I'd share them here.

The images here are from a couple of different photo sessions we've done over the last few years. I'd really like to get her in the studio again before I lose my place to shoot, so I'm hoping we can work something out with both her schedule and mine. If I am able to get her back in the studio, I'll be shooting specifically for a couple of ongoing projects for which I think she'll be a great subject.

In any case, I hope you enjoy these shots.

Seasons Turn

2010-10-18T16:23:00.001-07:00

It's a cool, crisp fall day here in Portland. The sky is clear, the leaves have turned and are near, if not at the height of their seasonal color. Here in the Pacific Northwest, though, that means mainly yellows with a smattering of bright reds and oranges.The pumpkin patches and the corn mazes are in full swing with as weekend visitors flock to pick out pumpkins to carve into jack o'lanterns, to feast at the vendor stalls, and to wander through tall rows of corn in hopes of getting a scare or two on their way to the exit.

Soon, however, the winter rains will be upon us and my outdoor photographic activities will be mostly curtailed. I've had a fruitful summer working with some great models and I have lots of images to process over the coming months. Oh, I"m likely to do a few studio shoots as I wrap up some specific projects, but more likely the majority of my time will be used to work on choosing and editing images and working on the layout of the two books in which they'll be featured. Here are some favorites from my summer shoots:

Hand Held High Dynamic Range Images

2010-10-08T20:51:00.000-07:00

Sentry

This past summer I did a number of experiments with High Dynamic Range (HDR) images. This grew out project I had done for work that required some high dynamic range images taken of some on the unique architecture of my company's facilities. The results were interesting, and were used in some company presentations, and one image was ultimately released to and published in the Wall Street Journal, though only credited to the company and not to me personally as the photographer. The images did get me to think about how I could use the process in my own personal projects, so I decided to attempt it using some of my lovely models and experimental subjects. Of course, the shoots weren't shot entirely in HDR, especially since I wasn't sure the process was going to meet my needs or expectations, so I set up one specific camera and lens combination for HDR and alternated between that camera and a couple of others during the shoot.

Specifically, for those of you unfamiliar with the process, for an HDR image you take 3 or more exposures of the same subject bracketing the exposure above and below the suggested exposure settings and then merge the three images in Photoshop or some other program to expand the total dynamic range in the resultant image. In my case, I set the camera to bracket one stop above and one stop below the recommended the exposure.

Warrior of Light

The other key to HDR is to minimize the movement of the camera (and subject) between the bracketed exposures to minimize ghosting and other artifacts after merging the three images. Ideally, you'd use a tripod and a remote release to do this, but I wanted to try it while hand-holding the camera. So, I set the camera to aperture priority (to keep the depth of field constant for each exposure), set the bracketing as required, then set the camera's drive to high speed mode. I also used an ISO setting high enough to give me shutter speeds sufficient quick for hand-holding at the focal length of my chosen lens, in this case a 50mm focal length.

Of course, nothing worked perfectly and even the slightest bit of wind created artifacting in the background of the final images. I did determine that blowing out the highlights was quite easy to do, and that a simple HDR merger couldn't provide quite the dynamic range and look that I wanted, so I had to resort to tone mapping of the final image. That wasn't quite what I wanted either, so I brought the tone mapped image back into Lightroom and Photoshop to adjust more of the image parameters and for the final pixel level adjustments of the final image (cloning, skin retouching, and burning/dodging). I think as a photographic technique it's certainly useful, and it does help to create some interesting images. I think I'd like to try using a tripod during my attempt at HDR with a live subject to further minimize the camera shake so that any resulting ghosting is only the result of minute changes caused by the wind or the model's movement.

Guarding the Path of Light

Fierce

2010-09-23T09:03:00.000-07:00

This is from my Sword & Chains series. This is the image most preferred by the model.

Megan with Kilgorin Sword

Some More Recent Images

2010-09-16T21:31:00.000-07:00

Audi in the Willow

Kira - Anticipation

Megan - Communion with Nature

Dark Sorceress in the Glade

2010-09-06T21:10:00.000-07:00

I just love the expression on Jen's face in this image. I asked her to give me dark and foreboding look and she delivered.

Alija - Sepia Warrior

2010-09-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

Here's another shot of the lovely Alija. There are many more images of her available from my recent shoot, I just have to find time to process the many images I've shot this summer.

From Some Recent Shoots

2010-08-30T00:26:00.000-07:00

Here's my latest model, Mollie, in her first shoot with me out at Dragonfly Landing. This is just a quick shot at random and a quick edit while the rest of her images were downloading:

Mollie at the Arsenal

This is from a fun shoot with Alija. She wanted to be an urban guerilla and I envision her as a punk soldier. Whatever you call her character here, it's definitely a fun image:

Alija the Punk Soldier

Finally, here's a glamorous shot of Kira, finishing the third shoot in the series of chain shoots I'm doing with several models.

Kira at the Window

Wicked Kira

2010-08-26T22:56:00.000-07:00

I particularly like this shot of Kira - her expression and stance make her look wickedly ready to take on anyone or anything that gets in her way.

Kira is ready for a fight.

The Arsenal

2010-08-24T22:42:00.000-07:00

Here's the lovely Jen posing with a bevy of swords. This is from a recent shoot. Prior to this, our last shoot together was back in November of last year. It was sure fun to work with Jen again.

Jen in Amira Steel Chains with Emerald Crystals

There are lots more images of Jen to come, but I'm still working on catching up and I have a few shoots planned while the weather is still good. Looks like I'll have plenty to work on this winter.

Audi in the Glade

2010-08-15T22:35:00.000-07:00

Here's another image of the beautiful Audi posing in the glade at Dragonfly Landing. I'm way behind on post processing my images due to all the traveling I've been doing, but I hope to start catching up slowly but surely over the next few weeks.

Audi in Ice-Flame Dewdrop Chains

Sivonna and the Tree

2010-08-10T21:25:00.000-07:00

Just finished processing this as a follow-up to a post on one of the forums in which I participate.

Sivonna at Dragonfly Landing

Back from Belize

2010-08-02T22:32:00.000-07:00

Belize was great. We snorkeled with the sharks, snuba dived withe the sea turtles, climbed ancient Mayan temples, and drank copious quantities of the local rum and beer and ate our fill of seafood. After a few days home to rest, take care of some chores, and to play with two of our grandkids, we're off for a visit with our son and his family, including our little granddaughter, in Mesa Arizona. We'll take the fast route down, spend some time with them, then take a slow, scenic route back that will include the Grand Canyon, Historic Route 66, Hoover Dam, Las Vegas, Death Valley, Mono Lake, Carson City, Reno, and scenic views of the Sierra Nevadas and the Cascade Mountain Range. It should be a fun trip - especially the visit with the family. In the meantime, you can enjoy these shots of Nicole taken a few weeks ago at Dragonfly Landing.

Preparation

Meditation

I'm off to Belize for a few days

2010-07-17T21:50:00.000-07:00

In the meantime, I'll leave you in the capable hands of the beautiful Audi:

After the Fight

The Sorceress in the Glade

Flower Power

More of Kira

2010-07-16T07:39:00.000-07:00

It's been a busy week both at work and at home this week, so I haven't done any new shoots or done much post processing of images from last week, but I did manage to get a few more images of Kira completed. Fortunately, I begin 8 weeks of sabbatical today and I'm looking forward to getting a lot more photography, processing and relaxing done during the rest of the summer. In the meantime, enjoy these shots of the lovely and expressive Kira:

Saturday's Shoot with Nicole

2010-07-12T20:28:00.000-07:00

On Saturday I had another opportunity to shoot with Nicole. I had previously shot with her last November and we hadn't had much contact since then, but fortunately I was able to reach her and we managed to put together a shoot for mid-morning. We even managed to grab some shots in a field of flowers toward the end of the session. So, without further ado, here's Nicole:

And in the flowers:

Friday's Shoot

2010-07-09T20:10:00.000-07:00

Friday's shoot went quite well. Not much moving around to other locations for this one. Here are a couple of examples featuring the lovely Sivonna:

Three Quick & Dirty Edits from Today's Shoot with Kira

2010-07-07T22:41:00.000-07:00

Tribal Spike Chains with Valdris Blades (Canon 135mm f/2.8 with Soft Focus)

Amira Silver with Emerald Beads, Avoloch Mithrodin Sword (Canon 135mm f/2.8 with Soft Focus)

Amira Silver with Emerald Beads, Avoloch Mithrodin Sword (Canon 100mm f/2.8L IS Macro)

Have a Great Independence Day Everyone!

2010-07-04T09:57:00.001-07:00

Heather the Bubble Fairy

2010-07-03T09:35:00.000-07:00

Cancelled Shoot

2010-07-02T16:29:00.000-07:00

Well, my shoot today was cancelled due to weather. It's been raining off and on all day, pouring at times, so I certainly wouldn't have wanted to be shooting in the downpour, and it certainly wouldn't have been fun for the model either. Fortunately, we have rescheduled to Monday when the weather is supposed to be much nicer.

Also, fortunately, I was able to pick up another shoot for tomorrow and the weather looks better for tomorrow as well. With any luck, I'll be able to fit one more shoot before we leave for Belize as well, but that remains to be seen.

In the meantime, enjoy this image of Sivonna.

A New Project (sort of) and a New Model

2010-06-29T21:26:00.000-07:00

I managed to get my 2nd shoot of the "summer" last weekend. Alija Whitebird Pure Spirit and I connected on Model Mayhem and when I provided her the link to my current projects, she was eager to participate. We had originally planned to shoot on Sunday, but other commitments proved to difficult to manage so we both bit the bullet and decided on a very early morning shoot at Dragonfly Landing with my new project, Sword & Chains, on Saturday morning.

Since it's a 45 minute drive to the shoot site and she had to be back home for another shoot before 1 pm, I met her at 7 am and we were off to shoot, arriving at Dragonfly Landing shortly before 8 am. Unfortunately, despite the weatherman's assertions to the contrary, it was cloudy at quite cool when we arrived. Despite that, Alija was more than willing to change into the very skimpy chains, grab a sword and walk with me down into a heavily canopied glade to take on the role of the Raven Warrior. Within minutes her teeth started to chatter and not long after that she began to shiver. Still game, however, she pressed on and only took breaks to wrap up in a thick robe when she could no longer control the shivering as she posed.

Fortunately, our gracious host and the property owner soon joined us as a photographer's assistant and he was able to provide Alija with a large cup of hot tea, which helped immensely. We shot for the better part of two hours in the cool and shadowy glade and made some amazing images. Alija has only recently started modeling, but she certainly pulled of some great poses and wonderfully expressive looks.

We had one other set of chains we definitely wanted use in a shoot, so we relocated to a different part of the property to get a different look for the background as well. We were going for a dreamier look in most of these shots, and once again the model pulled it off with grace and charm. Dragonfly Landing has many lovely little areas in which to shoot and I'm fortunate that the owner is such a good friend who allows me to shoot there with so many different lovely models.

For the dreamy look of these images, I used my Canon 135mm f/2.8 with Soft Focus lens. I was shooting wide open, and at the maximum softness settings I was getting some wonderfully dreamy images. One feature of this lens that works particularly well with these costumes and props is the way it renders the specular highlights from the metal chains and swords.

Alija was absolutely gorgeous in these lovely chains, and the background really contributed to the dreamy feel with its moss covered rocks and tiny white flowers. Alija happily climbed over the rocks, knelt on the damp ground, embraced the large trees, and let the long stemmed plants tickle her bare skin in order to get the shot. I was quite impressed with her willingness and enthusiasm during the entire shoot. She's informed me that she wants to be a part of my The Fae in Us All, my Sword & Sorcery, my Women in Chains, and my Barefoot Glamour projects as well. Sounds like a fun summer of shooting to me.

Since we had a bit of time left, Alija wanted to shoot in a final set of chains I had mentioned to her. I had hoped we would be able to shoot with this costume because I hadn't had much of an opportunity to use it in previous shoots. The heavy brass chains require a particular physique and skin tone to look right to me. I had used them once before on a model with pale skin and a softer build but the results disappointed me. The results with Alija did not.

The brass worked well with her skin tones and her smaller, harder physique made a better contrast with the larger pattern formed by the draping chains. I posed her on a small boulder between to very large trees, used a gold reflector to cast some sunlight onto her upper and used a large aperture to blur the background into a dappled pattern of light and shadows.

In all, the shoot more than met my expectations and as we left Dragonfly Landing I felt quite satisfied with both the new project and the new model. Alija expressed her satisfaction as well and was as eager as I was to see the results from our shoot.

Here's a final image for your enjoyment. Alija sure enjoyed swinging the swords, and this Skull Katana fit her hands quite well.

Summer Fairy, Annotated

2010-06-29T13:40:00.001-07:00

Sand Fairy Annotated

2010-06-28T14:08:00.000-07:00

Annotated Image (Model Floofie)

2010-06-27T10:32:00.000-07:00

Finally, A Shoot (Outdoors)

2010-06-20T00:45:00.000-07:00

Finally! The clouds and the rain stopped long enough and within an available period that I was could shoot an outdoor session with one of the models I've been working with for some of my projects. Cindy had posed for me earlier this year for my Women in Chains and Sword & Sorcery projects in the studio, and we've been trying to get an outdoor shoot completed for some time now. I think we scheduled and rescheduled the shoot at least five times before we were finally able to do it. Even then, while the morning was mostly sunny and dry, but the time I was able to wrap up my work week, pick her up at the bookstore, and travel to the shoot site (Dragonfly Landing), the clouds were already rolling in again and we only had about two hours of shooting time before we started to lose the light. As it was, I was shooting a larger apertures with moderately high ISO settings in order to keep my shutter speeds up.

Cindy was a real trooper though, willing to go into the brush with me, even though the ground was pretty soggy and there was no scarcity of biting insects. We shot mostly in a small clearing cut into the wooded area by the property's owner. The ground, though pretty wet, was reasonably firm and covered in small flowering plants. The small trees made a wonderful backdrop and when the sun broke through the clouds, we had some terrific lighting available, but those opportunities were few and far between. Still, it was great to be outside and shooting again. Usually, by this time of the year, I've done several outdoor glamour shoots, but certainly that hasn't been the case this year.

After shooting in the woods with swords, chains, and kukri knives, we moved out of the woods and onto a paved path near the lower part of the property. For this shoot, we used military style outfits and props and worked on creating some military pin-up type images. Cindy truly excelled at this type of imagery and we were able to get some great shots.

She worked hard on giving me some great expressions, and this shows quite well in the final images. I think she had a lot of fun with the pin-up shots and I know I had fun shooting them.

We're planning on shooting again in August when I return from a couple of trips to Belize and Mexico, and I think during our next shoot we're going to concentrate more on Barefoot Glamour style shoots with water and waterfalls and the settings. In the meantime, here are some images from our studio shoot earlier this year:

Dual Blades with Shadowpoint Chains

Shadowpoint Chains with Battle Axe

Statue with Skull Katana

Dual Blade Dance

Sand, Sun & Sauvie Island

2010-05-28T11:15:00.000-07:00

Summers in Oregon are glorious. I do the vast majority of my glamour photography in the period of June - October using various locations throughout the state to suit the theme of the shoot. While I love shooting in forested locations, two of my favorite elements are water and sand. I know most of you immediately think "beaches" but that's not always the case, but Sauvie Island does make a great location for combining the two elements.

Sauvie Island is located along the Willamette River west of Portland, about 10 miles from downtown. Farms abound on the island, and it boasts a wildlife reserve and and an extensive beach along the river. Most of the beach front is your typical river beach - wild grasses, sand dunes, and lots of people. You'll find the typical summer activities here - wind surfers, sun bathers, and families playing in the water. In the summer months, this area is quite crowded with parking at a premium.

Further west, though, after the pavement ends along the beach access road, the beach becomes clothing optional with a narrow strip of wooded area separating the beach from the road. It's less crowded here, and the trees give additional opportunity for some interesting glamour photography. The beach is more interesting here as well, and not just because of the naked sunbathers. This area has more driftwood, more natural architecture such as fallen logs, sand berms, and stands of small trees. This, for me, makes the area much better for photography of any sort, glamour nude or not. Small and large vessels often transit through the waters north of the beach and can provide and interesting backdrop for photography if your timing and angles are right. I haven't managed to capture such a shot yet, but I'm hoping to be in the right place at the right time with the right model for a future shoot.

Mount St. Helens can be seen from most of the beach front areas on a clear day, and the snowcapped mountain provides another interesting backdrop for shooting with beautiful models. In the image to the right, for example, Mount St. Helens can be seen in the backdrop. With a longer lens, I could have pulled the mountain seemingly closer to the model by compressing the perspective. Alas, on the day of this shoot, my longest lens was a mere 200mm focal length. In one of my future shoots, I intend to replicate the shot using a 400mm focal length to provide to bring out the mountain as a contrasting element to the model on the beach in the foreground.

The model here, Gabriell, and I had a great shoot on Sauvie Island in April of last year. It was her first nude shoot and she pulled it off quite well, despite the occasional sunbather watching the shoot. We started in the mid-morning, not the best time of day for shooting, but we had to let the morning clouds clear and the temperatures warm a bit before beginning our shoot. We shot for about 2 1/2 hours, the typical length of one of my shoots, on the beach and in the wooded areas adjacent to the beach using a variety of costumes and backdrops. The images help to show the versatility of the island as a place to shoot. Had we been shooting fashion or another non-nude genré, we would have had even more choices for shooting, including vast areas of farmlands, wetlands, and other scenic areas.

Here are some other images from the beach:

Gabriell in a red, silk sarong.

Here she is with a great, big smile.

We moved to a wooded area of the island for the second part of our shoot and managed to get the following images:

Gabriell in the woods at Sauvie - note how different the feel of this image is from the above photos.

The image below combines the natural architecture along the beach (logs, trees, grass) with a view of water and sand to create another look. I used the Canon 135mm f/2.8 Lens with Soft Focus to create a more dreamy effect here.

Gabriell at Sauvie - Soft-focus Nude

Of course, Gabriell isn't the only model that I've shot here. My first glamour shoot on Sauvie Island featured Sierra as my River Fairy. I've shot with Sierra multiple times in both indoor and outdoor settings, and I was one of the first photographers to begin shooting with her when she started modeling in 2007. We did several shoots that year, took break over the winter, and the Sauvie Island shoot was our 2nd outdoor glamour shoot in 2008.

Sierra has a quite different look from Gabriell. All models have different expressions, body types, and poses and that's what creates the challenge and fun for the photographer. Capturing great images of Sierra is a different task from shooting with Gabriell or any other model, and her skin tones call for a more subdued and softer light than some other models. For our River Fairy, and subsequent glamour shoot, we chose a mostly cloudy day (in fact it rained on us a bit during the first part of the shoot) to provide us with softer light. We used a variety of different wings and locations in the water to pull off this effect and once the rain passed we had a great time shooting on the island.

After we completed the River Fairy portion of the shoot, we went up on the beach to shoot in the sand and on some of the driftwood and logs that line either side of the beach area, and then went back down into the water to wrap up our shoot with some fun images in the water without the wings.

We used all the elements of the beach front to our advantage during the shoot and even shot a few infrared images as well. Here are some of the images from our shoot:

After shooting in the water, Sierra wanted to try some images in the wooded area near the edge of the beach.

We then did some shots with sand and driftwood.

One of our infrared shots

Back into the water for the end of our shoot.

Sauvie Island is a beautiful place to shoot but be aware that portions of the island are wildlife refuges and access to those areas are restricted. It's also a farming community with lots of private property, so don't trespass or ignore the access restrictions signs. Also, Sauvie is a popular place in the late spring, summer and fall and bicyclist and pedestrians abound. Bicyclist will be all over the island and with heavy traffic and narrow roads, long lines of cars are inevitable. My suggestion is to relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery of the island rather than attempting to pass the cyclist when it's not safe to do so. Also note that parking passes are required for many areas of the island including the beaches, do don't forget to pick one up at one of the small stores on the island. If you plan to visit there several times, an annual pass is available for about $20.

Sauvie Wetlands in early Spring.

Bright Colors

2010-05-11T20:37:00.000-07:00

Sometimes you just go with the flow. My most recent model, a lovely young lady with theater experience, is also fond of flamboyant hair colors. In fact, she dyed her hair specifically for this shoot and let me know ahead of time that it would be bright. Since I make a point of encouraging models to show their personality and inner beauty, this was fine with me.

Since we were shooting in the studio, I deliberately chose to shoot with a black background so the models colors would pop and not blend into the background. Except for the simple nude you see below, the chains and weapons were also chosen to be complement the bright, bold look and I dug up a prop to use which went well with the entire look.

I used a standard three light set-up - key was a large octobox, fill as a large softbox set 1 stop below key, and the rim/hair light was a small softbox set to equal key. We also worked with some more subdued and moody lighting, but I actually prefer the brighter shots.

Megan, the model, enjoyed shooting and so far has liked the way the images have been processed. She's already looking forward to her next shoot with me and has made me promise to shoot again with her in the very near future. She really wants to be part of my Fae in Us All series and I'm more than willing to accomodate that request. So, I'm sure you'll be seeing more of her here in the future. In the meantime, here's a simpler shot of this lovely model.

Barefoot Glamour

2010-04-16T23:33:00.000-07:00

It's getting to be warmer and drier here in the Pacific Northwest which means it's also getting to be weather for one of my favorite genrés of photography--Barefoot Glamour. I define Barefoot Glamour as photographic imagery containing several essential elements: a girl-next-door look, casual clothing, an outdoor setting, and, of course, bare feet - though, I do find sandals acceptable as well. For me, another distiquishing element of Barefoot Glamour is that it is a planned photo shoot and not just a casual snapshot or image from another event.

When I shoot Barefoot Glamour, I plan the shoot as meticulously as I plan a full studio shoot. I meet with the model and discuss makeup, jewelry, and clothing and I pick the locations in advance as well as the time of day. I prefer minimal and natural looking makeup for the model, little or no jewelry, and very casual clothing. The idea is to create images that bring to mind a beautiful neighborhood girl enjoying a casual day in the great outdoors.

Of course, given my definition of the genré, I have a limited shooting window of good weather in the Great Northwest. I can get in a few good shooting days in April, May and June, but the prime shooting months are July through mid-October. September is a great month for this type of photography, especially during the weekdays when school is back in session and the shoot is less like to be interrupted by wandering families and children. While Barefoot Glamour isn't necessarily nude photography, some of the outfits can be quite skimpy and it's best to choose locations that offer some privacy and solitude. Fortunately, I know of several such places.

Sometimes Barefoot Glamour can combined with a fun roadtrip and often this results in some lovely photographic finds. For example, the image to the left was taken near Florence, Oregon next to an abandoned rail spur. There was a rusted old train car sitting near next to the track and leaning about 20 degrees off horizontal. My model and I had a great time shooting on the car, along the track and even on a farmer's gate to an adjoining pasture. We changed her outfits for each new scene, and I was particular fond of the gypsy outfit for the train car.

We also shot her in military camo, in casual shorts and tops, and as a pirate wench. It was a fun day and the model got lots of great images for her portfolio.

I suppose I started shooting Barefoot Glamour when I first began shooting models when I lived in Upstate New York. I didn't call it that back then, but the shots contained all the essential elements I described above. I shot with about a half dozen models in the 3 years that I lived there and though I had a small studio at home, I enjoyed the outdoor shoots far more than I did shooting in the studio. In fact, I still enjoy shooting in the great outdoors far more than shooting in the studio.

Upstate New York has an even shorter shooting window for Barefoot Glamour than the Oregon, but much like Oregon, it had some great scenery. Unfortunately, those were the days of film and the images I have from those days simply can't match the quality of the images I shoot today.

Models seem to enjoy Barefoot Glamour, so once they've shot a session with me once, it's not hard to get them back for future shoots. Sierra, the model you see in the image to the right, has done several Barefoot Glamour sessions with me. In fact, her first shoot was a Barefoot Glamour shoot underneath the St. Johns bridge in Northwest Portland. We spent about three hours shooting in Cathedral Park and along the Willamette River. We also shot at waterfalls in the Tillamook State Forest (as you can see in the image here), on Sauvie's Island, and on the campus of the local community college near my home. Unfortuately for me, Sierra is now in Dallas, Texas attending college, but that's great for her. I'm sure I'll get to shoot with her again from time to time as she still visits her family here in Oregon during the college breaks.

Cathedral Park is one of my favorite locations to shoot Barefoot Glamour. I've shot in the park a half-dozen or so times in the past three years. For a short time, I leased a studio in the building next to the park.

The park offers a variety of shooting backdrops; two large open areas, several small glades, numerous flowering bushes, a small beach along the Willamette River, a pier, and, of course, the buttresses and concrete arches of the St. Johns bridge that towers above the park.

In the image to the left, Holli is posing for me on the small sandy beach at the south end of the park. There are lots of large logs and pieces of driftwood scattered along the beach and the shadow of the bridge provides some great open shade for shooting even on bright sunny days.

In September the annual Portland Pirate Festival is held in the park and one can photograph many beautifully costumed pirate wenches along with many other characters and scoundrels.

So, as the weather turns warmer and cloudy skies become less frequent, I look forward to shooting in the park and in many other wonderful locations around the Pacific Northwest. Of course, I'm also planning on doing a lot more landscape photography this summer now that I have a new ride, but I won't be doing much transporting of anyone for a while.

I'll leave you with this final image of one of my first models from Oregon, Lynda. Lynda and I have done many shoots together, but none in the last 6 or so years. She moved from Oregon back to the East Coast some time ago, but for a while we probably did a shoot every couple of months or so, even when she was pregnant.

This image was part of series we took in a local park in a very populated portion of Portland. Lynda enjoyed surprising me, I think, and was comfortable with her body. In this image, she wanted to show off one of her tattoos. It wasn't the best lighting, but I really love the expression on her face as well as the dappled lighting in the background and on the trees.

March Images

2010-04-06T22:13:00.000-07:00

My good friend Mark K. from Florence on the Southern Oregon Coast just moved from a Pentax DSLR system to a Canon 7D. With, what I presume is his new camera, he posted a stunning set of low key images of a favorite model that we both use from time to time. He has more access to her than I do and is better than me at capturing her unique beauty. He really captured the light, tamed it, and bent it to his will. You can see some of the images here if you have Deviant Art membership: Tripmoon on Deviant Art.

Mark has a great eye for composition and for putting his models into interesting and seductive poses. It certainly doesn't hurt that his primary model is a limber and beautiful woman, but he definitely supplements her beauty with his control of light and shadow. He and his lovely model are coming to Portland for a weekend and I'm wondering if I ought to reserve some studio time for us to play with while they're up. Photography just for the fun of it - for experimenting - for trying different lenses and techniques, such as infrared light painting just to see what we get. That would be an interesting and entertaining evening in my opinion.

While Mark was attempting low key images, I was trying my hand at high key images. I think his low keys were more successful than my high key - he at least had the advantage of a model that was at his heck and call and with he'd worked with many times in the past, whereas this was my first shoot with this model in this studio. Excuses aside, I do think my efforts were credible,

I think it would be great fun to get both our models into the studio for an afternoon of experimentation - I'd like to try light painting for a change. The results of that can be quite unpredictable and part of the fun is finding interesting "brushes" to shoot with. That's certainly and idea I'll have to run buy them before they head up to town.

A Busy Week

2010-03-27T00:09:00.000-07:00

I backloaded my shoots this month to coincide with Wanda's annual Spring Break trip. I got to shoot with several new models as well as do a photo expedition (though I most just drove around scouting for future locations) and I'm getting to meet up with a bunch of photographers from Photography-on-the-Net tomorrow for a shoot at the Portland Saturday Market. I generally schedule my Spring shoots during this time because it allows me to get quite a lot done without neglecting any time with my lovely wife. So while she is enjoying time with our youngest granddaughter, I'm enjoying my creative outlet and working on expanding my portfolio, making new images and working with new models. It's a win-win all the way around from my perspective.

Mostly I've been working on my Women in Chains and Sword & Sorcery projects, though I did shoot a bit of Barefoot Glamour as well. Ashley, seen above, is a younger model who saw my images and wanted to shoot with me for my Sword & Sorcery series. We had quite a fun shoot. She brought a friend to the shoot who happened to be reading the same series of books that I'm currently reading, so I got to tease her friend about what was coming up in the series. We had a good time with the shoot, and Ashley was quite happy to work with me.

I also got to work with Heather again. Heather was my Spirit Fairy as well as my first Bubble Fairy. She was 17 when we first shot together, but that was a couple of years ago. At 19, she's expanded her modeling, though she still uses her mom as an escort - which was quite fine with me. We did a series of concepts which included the image you see to the right. Heather drove up to Portland from a small town south of here in order to participate in this series of shoots, and I'm glad she did, as she is becoming quite an exceptional model.

I also got to work with Kira, a lovely young model located here in Portland, but who travels extensively up and down the West Coast to support her modeling "habit." She was probably the most experienced of the models I worked with this week, and I was lucky that she wanted to work with me as well. It seems that my concepts have garnered a lot of interest of late, so it's been much easier to find willing models for my shoots. It seems my niche is the fantastical and the mystical, and that's quite alright with me, as I enjoy planning and staging the components necessary to execute the concepts.

Muscles and Shadows

2010-03-16T09:18:00.000-07:00

Audi came back to town last week and gave me a call to see if she could take a look at some of the photos we shot in the studio in February. Of course, I was delighted to show them to her and to get her feedback as the model during the shoot. Since I was headed out for lunch that day anyway, we just met at a local coffee shop and we went through the images on my laptop.

In general, Audi liked all of the images and the theme. Of course, she had the occasional comments such as "I don't like my expression in that one," or "that pose makes my legs look too short." She was critiquing her own posing abilities and trying to learn more about herself from the shoot.

During the shoot, I was having trouble with the wireless synch trigger on my key light. For a while it was firing about only every other shot. I eventually fixed it by moving the trigger to the fill light and letting the key synch off the optical slave, but before I did that, there were a number of shots where the background and fill lights didn't fire and the image was exposed using only the key light (which was a large softbox). I kept them because I felt the looked very good and set a different tone and mood for the images. Audi felt the same way, because she picked several of these shots as her keepers.

As you can see from the posted images, the large key light kept the illumination soft, but also gave us some deep shadows while the angle of the light help to emphasize the muscles tone of the model's body. That's what Audi liked about the photos, and I have to agree that the lighting here adds more dimension to the model's body, if not to the entire image.

So, during my next shoot, I'm going to experiment more with the lights and go for a more moody look in some of the images as a deliberate action rather than as a serendipitous result of a lighting misfire.

I'll be shooting at least one session next week, so I'll have an upcoming opportunity to try this with a new model, Sivonna. She's a painter and art student so I'm sure she'll have some ideas on how to set the lighting and I'm looking forward to that collaborative photo session.

Women in Chains - The Latest Shoot

2010-02-24T20:39:00.000-08:00

I had the pleasure of working with Audi and Holli this past Sunday. That was my first time working Audi and my first studio shoot with Holli. I had done a test shoot with Holli in Cathedral Park last summer in preparation for a studio shoot in the fall, but that shoot fell through at the last minute and we didn't reconnect until earlier this year.

Both models were shot for my Women in Chains project, but as you can see, I also threw in some swords as well for my Sword & Sorcery project. I shot for about 4 hours with Audi and for almost two and half hours with Holli using various chain outfits, weapons, and colored backdrops.

Audi was especially fun to work with and quite photogenic. She has studied dance for a number of years and the grace and poise of a dancer, as well as the expressions of an actress. She was both adept and innovative with her poses and managed to convey the various concepts I wanted her to portray. I'm looking forward to working with her again this year for some outdoor glamour shoots.

Holli came to the studio later in the day and we had less time to shoot together, but we still managed to get quite a few great images. Holli has modeled longer than Audi and I had at least had the advantage of doing a test shoot with her, so I had some feel for how she could pose and express herself.

The poses for Holli, I kept less elaborate and designed more to show the curves of her body. Like most models I've worked with so far, she was especially delighted with the various chain jewelry I had her wear for the shoot.

As with Audi, we also shot with a couple of different swords, but I don't think Holli was a comfortable posing with them as Audi. Holli did enjoy herself though, I know, because she called me today wanting to shoot again soon, and to include a friend. I'm sure we'll be able to work something out in the near future.

Here's another shot of Audi and you can expect to more of both Holli and Audi in future posts.

Model Works

2010-02-15T18:12:00.000-08:00

I've had experience working with a great variety of different models of all shapes, sizes, colors and experience. Obviously some ladies, from experience, are more skilled and adept at modeling than others, while others seem to have a natural talent for the camera that exceeds their current experience. Veronica, from the previous entry was like that. She hadn't modeled much, but she knew how to play to the lens and the poses she struck seemed to be just a natural part of her personality.

The key to modeling is facial expression and body language. For that reason, experienced actresses make great models When I learn that a prospective model for one of my shoots has some acting experience and knows how get into and then stay in character, then I'm pretty confident we're going to have a great shoot where the expressions and body language match the thematic purpose of the shoot.

These two shots of Kristina exemplify this concept. Kristina has some modeling experience, but she has more theatrical experience and was quite easily able to pick up the ideas I pitched to her and run with them. It helps that she's quite lovely, but more importantly, she is able to match body language to facial expression and carry off a total concept.

Working with experienced models is also fun, but sometimes a very experienced model has a rote set of poses that she moves through for a shoot without much variation from that set unless the photographer asks for and directs her to something specific. This is good since the model knows from experience what poses work well for her and which ones do not, but those poses may not go well with the concept the photographer want to convey. Pushing the model out of those familiar and comfortable poses can create some great images or can produce disaster, and you don't know which you'll get until you try.

In Kristina's case, however, we were able to establish the concept, the supporting character, and then produce poses and facial expression that were consistent with the concept.

When I interview beginning models, one of the first things I tell them is to get a mirror and to practice their expression. Too often new models focus on their body positions and neglect their expressions, whereas those with a natural talent have the ability to link both expression and body language without thought.

Shooting at Home

2010-02-09T21:26:00.000-08:00

I've used my home extensively for shoots. As part of our decorating efforts, my wife and I have designed parts of our home with photography in mind. I don't shoot much at home anymore simply because we've had to accommodate our grandchildren and that has meant baby proofing, and that's likely to remain the status quo for a while.

You can see, however, from the photo to the left, shooting at home can produce lovely results. and hey, it's cheap and there are no props to lug around. This image was taken in front of my bar using an octobox as the key light. By keeping the shutter speed low, I was also able to catch the ambient glow of the lamps that sit behind the bar. I used a Canon 135mm f/2.8 Soft Focus lens to create the dreamy effect (it's not a Photoshop filter).

I can't say that I've shot in every room of my house, but I have shot in the family room, the living room, the dining room, two bedrooms, one bathroom, the stairway, the garage, my office, and the foyer and the upstairs landing. I've also used the back yard, the front yard, the hot tub and deck, as well as the side yard for shoots as well. It's really all matter of choosing the right angle and the lens to make the shot work.

The image below is from one of the upstairs bedrooms. The mirror makes a very effective prop and the soft window light has help to create many a lovely image.

A Fomer Model

2010-01-28T22:01:00.000-08:00

Not long after I moved to Oregon I started shooting models again. I had done a fair bit of glamour photography over the years, beginning in Connecticut and New York, but other than shooting my wife and a few of my friends, I really hadn't done much glamour photography in the 10 years prior to moving to Oregon. My focus on photography in those days was primarily family, events, travel and landscape images.

One of the first ladies I met and engaged as a model after moving here was Veronica. Once again, Veronica was primarily my friend, but she is extremely photogenic and loved to model. She is also quite fun to be around with her ready smile and sparkling attitude. A bit of an exhibitionist, Veronica, could sometimes startle me with her willingness to show some skin in public, but it was all good.

Veronica started modeling for me when she needed some shots for a project, and then our partnership grew from there. I shot images for her that got her published in a couple of national men's magazines, and for a few contests she entered. As far as I know, she didn't work with any other photographers here in Oregon, but we certainly didn't have an exclusive arrangement for photos.

While Veronica primarily enjoyed shooting outdoors when we shooting together, she is a beautiful model both indoors and out, as you can see from the images I've posted here.

Veronica is a natural red head with the fair complexion and freckles that are natural to those lovely women. When I first met her, she had long red hair down to her bottom, but by the time we started shooting together, she had cut her hair off short and varied the length and style constantly over the years we worked together.

About 6 years ago, Lynda moved to the East Coast and though we exchange the occasional e-mail, I haven't seen her in all that time, but I am grateful to her for being something of a muse to me for all those years and for rekindling my interest in glamour and figure photography.

Back to the Woods

2010-01-20T20:52:00.000-08:00

This is Amy, my Woodland Pixie. You should be able to tell from this image that she is tall and slender with naturally brown hair. She is a bit of a nature's child, and as such, had just the look for this particular shoot.

It was pretty chilly in the woods where we held this photo session, but Amy posed for nearly two hours with only short breaks to wrap up in a blanket while I changed lenses. By the time we finished the shoot, her teeth were chattering and her lips were a bit blue.

The image was lit primarily by natural light with a reflector for fill and a touch of flash. We actually had to move around the glade quite a bit chasing the sun with the reflector since we shot later in the day and the sun was falling pretty quickly and the canopy was quite thick.

Unfortunately, Amy moved to Idaho shortly after this shoot, so I haven't been able to work with her since, but she did tell me that if she came back to the area for a visit she would get in touch with me so we could plan a new shoot.

Nicole

2010-01-14T20:54:00.000-08:00

The weather here is getting to me a bit. It's not been cold, but it has been gray, windy and quite wet and not at all conducive for photography. I've been concentrating on post processing images from my last big photo shoot, but between work (my real job) and family it's been difficult to find much free time for that. Still, I've gotten a few more processed and at least some others identified for the processing que.

To the right, we have the quite lovely Nicole. This was my first shoot with her and I have to say she provided me with some great images. Nicole has a very expressive face and can pose with an elegant grace that belies her youth and experience.

I think she enjoyed this shoot nearly as much as I did. We had been shooting for well over 2 hours, but when I told I had plenty of images to select from and we could quit if she wanted, she politely declined and continued to pose for me since the next model was still getting into makeup and costume. She is an eager and collaborative model, and very fun to shoot.

During our shoot, I think she went through about a half dozen of the weapons I had acquired for the session. I particularly like the shots with the battle axe, but the other weapons worked just great too. The make-up artist, Lexxi, did a great job too, especially with the eyes. The image to the left is from the sorcery portion of the shoot, and as you can see, Nicole was brave enough to wear the more exotic chains provided for the shoot. This chain set is called the Raven Ensemble and features black and silver chains with an intricate weave. I've used this chain set for several shoots now, and it really works well for this theme.

The image below is also from the sorcery portion of the shoot and show the matching chain sandals that go with the outfit. The backdrop is black velvet with "fantasy cloth" lit by red gels. I opened the barn doors on the background light to camera left to allow some of the red light to spill onto the sorceress's table, but angled the door enough to keep the light from spilling onto the model herself to maintain her fair complexion which went so well with this particular set up and costume.

Nicole has told me she hopes to work with me on the outdoor portions of my Sword & Sorcery shoot, and I look forward to working with her again.

Vanessa the Sorceress

2010-01-10T19:44:00.000-08:00

I've been sporadically working on the Sword & Sorcery images as time permits. Between work and family demands, time to work on the project has been minimal at best. Vanessa is at the top of my list of models whose images need to be completed, and I've made significant progress on those images. I've completed the sword shots, picked out the sorceress shots, and processed about half of those. With any luck, I'll get the images completed this week and the CD in the mail to the model shortly afterward.

One lesson I learned from this studio shoot is that I needed more space between the model and the background for the depth of field I wanted to use. Given the studio space I had to work with, this wasn't really much of an option. Maybe I need to rent a warehouse the next time. Ideally, I'd like a space long enough to use a 135mm lens on a full frame camera and wide enough for a set of lights on either side of a 10 foot wide backdrop. By my calculations I would need a space of about 35-40 feet long by 15-20 feet wide. This would give me 10-15 feet behind the model and 5-10 feet on either side of the backdrop. I could live with that. Of course, that's about 800 square feet of studio space which is not an inexpensive option, given the requirements for a studio.

I've seen a couple of warehouse/office spaces in the area that are renting for about $400/month through October of this year (the landlord claims this is 1/2 prices), but I simply don't shoot enough to justify a dedicated studio space. For the past few months I've been renting a studio on an as needed basis. There was a studio in the St. Johns area of North Portland that was my primary source of studio space, but the owner gave that up to move to a space in downtown Portland that's smaller and less convenient, so I'm not sure how often I'll actually use that space. Of course, if it's my only option, then I'll use it as I need it.

It really would be sweet to have my own space, though. That way I could leave the backdrops and lights set up, store all my most used props, and shoot anytime I felt like shooting, and it would save lots of hauling and set-up time. I've actually even considered selling my home and buying something that would give me decent studio space. I was serious enough about it that Wanda and I even went to look at a few houses in a nearby development. The only listing I've seen that would even come close to providing the needed (wanted) space is an older home in a small community north and west of where we currently live and would involve a much longer commute to work, so that's not really an option at this point.

So, for right now, I'll muddle along as best I can and I hope I can produce more (and better) images like this:

Samurai Warrior

2010-01-07T10:47:00.000-08:00

Okay, maybe not a true samurai, but Cathy sure makes these chains and swords look good. I've shot with her several times, but this was our first studio shoot together. Unfortunately, she only had about an hour to shoot with me, so we had to work fast and didn't get in very many costume changes. I had intended for her to pose with the two black sai that I had acquired for the shoot, but we simply ran out of time (she had to get back to her studies as she had a big test coming up).

Cathy is a beginning model and as such is more modest than most of my other models. The chain mail top came in handy in this case as it allowed her to pose and be comfortable while staying within the theme of the shoot. The blue katana sword keeps well with the theme. Had Cathy been a little less modest and if she had had a bit more time, I think the shot would have been even better if we had used the Ice-Flame Blue Ice body chain sets. The blue crystals set into the silver chains would have been a great match for Cathy's skin color as well as as the background and the sword. Unfortunately, I don't have a chain mail top or g-string for that particular costume.

More of the Sword and Sorcery Project

2010-01-02T17:09:00.000-08:00

On New Year's Eve, on of the models from my Sword & Sorcery shoot came to my office to review her photos. It's an option that I offer all of my models who shoot with me in exchange for images. Some take me up on the offer while others are content to let me choose the images that best reflect their participation in the shoot. Melanie had worked with me before on my Fire Fairy shoot and had let me choose her images for shoot, but this time she wanted to look at them all and choose some herself. This also gave me an opportunity to explain to her how I would edit the images to better reflect what I wanted to do with the project.

One image she particularly liked had her reclining with the sword following the curve of her body. I probably won't use it for publication in my project, but I think it's a lovely image and provides a good example of the lighting and the set that was used for the project.

The other image uses a different backdrop and weapons set, as you can see in the image to the right. The black sai worked well as a contrast against the model's skin and the gold tone of the body jewelry provides an elegant counterpoint to the black weapons. We did several more shots with the black sai and the gold body jewelry, but I haven't yet processed the images that Melanie picked for her portfolio. They are next on my list after I finish processing the images of Vanessa who was first on my list.

One final image is a variation of a shot that I've posted here before, but it's a lovely image and I don't think anyone would mind seeing it again. When Melanie asked me to participate in this shoot, she asked if she could bring a friend along to shoot as well. Jenn and Melanie worked well together, as you can see from the shot below and I hope to work several more times with both of these ladies in 2010.

And here's one final image that I've complete processing from this set:

Changing Things Up a Bit

2009-12-30T22:34:00.000-08:00

I've decided to separate my blogs into more appropriately divided journals. This journal is devoted more specifically to my glamour and nude photography and linked to my Provocative Photo website. I've also designated this blog site as an adults only site so that anyone who visits gets a warning that what they are about to see isn't appropriate for work or for young eyes (or at least not young eyes with no parental guidance).

Splitting the blogs also allows me to be more flexible with what I post by allowing project based posts as opposed to the chronologically based posts system I was following before. As part of splitting the blogs, I did extract the pertinent glamour and nude posts to transfer to this journal to maintain the continuity of the writings. There may be some odd holes here and there in the stream of posts, but there's nothing anyone will miss from series of posts about glamour photography.

The image to the right is the lovely Ashley posing with sword and chains in my backyard. The image was taken with the Canon EF 135mm f/2.8 SF lens with the soft focus setting set to 2. As you can see, it provide a dreamy effect straight out of the camera. Some have argued that the effect could be achieved in Photoshop as well, but I don't think the dimensionality of the effect can be achieved directly with software. That's why I keep the 135mm SF lens in my lens bag even though I also have the 135 f/2L which is probably my favorite prime lens.

This shot was taken as part of my Women in Chains project. Ashley posed in several different sets of chains and in a few settings and at one point we decided to go out into the back yard for a few shots, and that was when we decided to use the sword with the chains. I've subsequently started a different project featuring both the chains and various swords. I've shot the first set of those images (see Vanessa in the post below for one example and Ashley G. at the bottom of the page for another).

To the left, you can see this Ashley in an Ice-Flame body chain and headdress in Dark Flame. This is one of several different sets of chains I've been using in my recent photography projects. In the image above, she's in a set of chains called the Raven Ensemble.

I've got a few more images of Ashley to process later this winter, but for now I'm concentrating on completing the Sword and Sorcery images shot in November. When the warmer months arrive, I'll be shooting some outdoor scenes with many of the same models. It gives me something more to look forward to once warm weather arrives.

Processing Images

2009-12-17T21:20:00.000-08:00

Here's on of the latest images I've processing now that my comptuers are back online and optimized for operation. I had only intended to process about 20 or so images of per model, but Vanessa's images (the first I've worked on) are turning out so well, I'm post-processing many more than that.

I'm also experimenting with the capabilities of Lightroom, especially with varying the colors of the background. The program can certainly change the hue of the background for a specific color, blue in the case of the image to the left, but it seems limited to a narrow subset of hues that can be adjusted without adversely affecting the skin or hair tones.

Still, it has its uses and I can see where I'll be able to use it to expand the utility of my different background.

Thoughts at the End of the Year

2009-12-09T18:17:00.000-08:00

I think, perhaps, my long running battle with my computers may be over, or at least in a lull. My laptop drive has been restored with only the loss of a list of images that I needed to process. The images are still there, but the list of images the model chose for me to process was lost in the recovery.

The external hard drive that failed when PGE cut the power to my neighborhood has been restored and the thousands of family photos on that drive have been copied over to a new drive, backed up, and re-cataloged. Additionally, the main images will be backed up to a small hard drive and stored in my safety deposit box. I’ve also added to UPS (Uninterruptable Power Supply) units to my computer network and optimized the system drive on my desktop. Now, at last, I can actually begin processing the images I’ve taken over the last few months. In fact, I did manage to complete processing the Autumn Fairy Reshoot images for the model chosen for that shoot and will deliver them to her this weekend. Now I have to start processing the Sword and Sorcery shots from mid-November.

In the meantime, I have a number of family images to process, including some Christmas portraits of my grandchildren and daughters. Those will need to be completed before I travel to Arizona next week so my daughter-in-law will have them for her scrapbooking. Of course, Wanda has a few thousand photos she wants scanned a retouched too. Maybe I should consider golf as an alternative hobby.

It’s hard to believe that 2009 is almost over and with it the end of the first decade of the 21st century (depending on how you look at it). The 2000’s were sure different from the 90’s, and not all in a good way. We’re still in the midst of two wars, the economy is, at best, staggering along. Unemployment is at an all time high, and more people are homeless this Christmas season than ever. What I can’t understand, is why we can’t as humans, despite our political and ideological differences, pull together as a country to do better and be more kind and humane toward each other.

I feel fortunate I have a wonderful wife, great children and adorable grandchildren, as well as a job, a home and the time and money to spend on a hobby. I know there are many others who are just scraping by these days and would be grateful for a 1/10th of what I have. That makes me appreciate my family and friends all the more—and I’m certainly happy I have the ability to take photos of them, and my other projects, and share them with the world.

Site Move

2009-11-19T18:39:00.000-08:00

I'm in the processing of moving my personal website, www.mac-photo.net, to a new server. The server I'm currently hosting it on will be shut down at the end of this month, so I'm moving to a new web hosting company. The move should be transparent to the 3 of you who read this blog on a regular basis, but in the event that it's not, I'll warn you that some of the images here are hosted on my site and may disappear for a bit until the name server properly propagates the directory changes. That shouldn't happen as I paralled the sites prior to submitting the change request, but then, you never know.

I had a great shoot this past weekend. I was able to work with 8 models and a make-up artist (MUA) for a series of shoots with a Sword & Sorcery theme. The shoot took a full two days. Both days we started shooting around 11 am and didn't finish shooting until around midnight.

The shoot took place in the studio I share with 3 other photographers in Cathedral Park Place in St. Johns. The goal was to shoot the models both as a warrior and as a sorceress using poses inspired by the works of Boris Vallejo, Julie Bell, Luis Royo, Michael Whelan and others. The models were very inspired by the theme and loved posing with the various swords and edged weapons, and especially the chain mail costumes I acquired for the shoot.

We used several backdrops throughout the shoot as well, but tried to keep the set and the lighting fairly simple. I think it was pretty effective.

In several instances the models overlapped each other and I was able to shoot two models interacting together as in this image of a sorceress and her slave seen here to the right. There was also a few staged sword fights which the models enjoyed shooting. Some of the girls have a pretty risqué sense of humor. I'll definitely need to post a shot of Ashley balancing a skull on her head in a future posting. She was hilarious.

I also got Krisa to come out for a shoot, despite being 7 months pregnant. We both had a lot of fun shooting her as a pregnant swords-woman.

When the warm month return, I'll be shooting with most of the same models again, but this time I'll be shooting them in outdoor settings over the course of the summer months utilizing the same outfits and swords that we used in the studio. I think we're all looking forward to it.

Portland Pirate Festival 2009

2009-09-23T20:44:00.000-07:00

This year we finally got the majority of the family to the Portland Pirate Festival. The first year of the festival, I attended the festival alone and covered the festival for the St. Johns Sentinel. The next couple of years, Wanda, Amber and Makayla attended with me, and Ryker attended last year even though he was only a couple of weeks old. This year, we went all out and even brought Greg and Nikki (and all of us were in costume, I might add). Unfortunately, Jeremy, Kristin and Jocelyn weren't able to be with us. Had they been, it would have been truly a terrific festival. Wanda and I hope we get to attend the Arizona Ren Faire with them in the spring of next year.

We did get quite elaborate this year. I had the idea to decorate one of the Radio Flyer wagons as a pirate ship and had thought to simply add some cardboard cutouts and a flag to the wagon and that would be it. Once I made the suggestion, though, Wanda, Amber and Greg took off running with it. Amber drew ship outlines onto plywood and Greg cut them out and designed a method to mount them onto the wagons, and added some neat modifications such as cup holders, restraints for the handles, mounts for the pirate flags, and cannons on the port and starboard sides. Amber designed images for the ships and Wanda painted them with bright colors. Amber and I added cannon balls and fake smoke to the cannons. Pretty quickly we had a two ship squadron of pirate vessels. They were certainly a hit at the Pirate Festival. We had to stop every few feet for folks to take photos. It certainly didn't hurt that we had a couple of cute pirates manning the rails.

Wanda made Ryker a cute little pirate's outfit and we bought one for Makayla some weeks before the festival. With all the costume materials at our place, we didn't have any difficulty coming up with appropriate outfits for all the adults. We remembered to bring blankets this year to watch the shows, and we even thought to bring a tarp for the wet ground.

When we arrived the the gypsies were on stage, and while they were quite fun to watch, the kids had little interest in them. So we spent the first hour of the festival checking out the shops, the food vendors, and the children's play area. There were definitely fewer vendors this year, and fewer activities for the children. Many of the same entertainers were there, though, including the Boom Pirates, Captain Bog and Salty, and the belly dancers.

There seemed to be lots more attendees in costume this year, though the Saturday crowd was smaller. I think the smaller crowd was due to the weather. The lack of vendors was probably due to the economic downturn. I suspect many of them went out of business over the last year. Still, there was plenty to see and do. The food was plentiful, there was a beer garden, and the weather turned out to be quite nice for the festival.

Of course, the reason Makayla came to the festival was for Captain Bog and Salty. For the entire week leading up to the festival, she had us playing the Captain Bog CD and specifically Nellie the Elephant and The Pegleg Tango so she and Ryker could dance to the tunes. Ryker especially loves the Nellie the Elephant song. It has a part where the song starts out on a long, low note and then rises to a very bouncy and bright chorus. During that crescendo he just starts giggling and laughing in anticipation and then when the chorus arrives, he bobs and dances his little heart out.

The band got off to a rough start. There was a power failure about 10 minutes into their show (their portable generator died), but they recovered nicely and put on an excellent show for the kids. Ryker and Makayla both had a grand time dancing to the songs, as did all the other kids there, including some "big kids" who looked to be well into their 20's and 30's. They seemed to be pirate groupies.

Rogue Brewery had a tent set up with several varieties of beer and wine and well as some quite delicious pizza. The Pirate Wenches serving there were easy on the eye, and the beer was easy on the throat. There were plenty of other food vendors with delicious treats as well. Chowder bowls made from bread and filled with New England style clam chowder seemed to be quite popular as did the African dishes. As can be expected with any festival there were also sweet treats such as elephant ears and a very interesting rosemary lemonade.

A big part of any festival for me, though, is watching, photographing and interacting with the people who attend and get into the spirit of the event. When you're in costume yourself, the interactions are friendly and fun, and I had a number of short conversations with various groups of people throughout the day. All of them were quite willing to pose for me and happy to have their photo taken.

Here are some of the images taken throughout the day:

Wanda had a lovely costume complete with boots, chains, a hat and a wonderful smile:

A small group of Pirate Wenches looking quite lovely in their festive attire:

Here's the lovely lass who ran the games for the smaller children. She's been a fixture at the festival for at least a couple of years.

The Beer Wench and a lucky customer from the Rogue Brewery Tent:

After we had been at the fair for a couple of hours, we met some of our daughters' high school friends, Holly and Jenny. They're sisters and Jenny spent quite a lot of time at our house when she was high school with our daughters.

Makayla and her grandmother had fun sword fighting. Makayla's favorite phrase was "Give me your treasure." She seem to be able to wrangle a few dollars out of me, so it must have worked.

Nikki enjoyed cuddling her nephew:

Of course, Papa had fun too - even though his earring got ripped off at least a half a dozen times!

THe Portland Pirate Festival is held every September in Cathedral Park underneath the St. Johns bridge. It's a wonderful setting for a fun event and I hope it will continue to be an annual festival for pirates of all ages for years to come.

August 2009 Roadtrip

2009-09-04T22:23:00.000-07:00

Last weekend, Wanda and I decided to take a couple of days for ourselves and do some driving and shooting. We got up very early on Friday morning, 4 am if you can believe it, and drove down to Crater Lake for the day. My goal was to shoot some landscapes in infrared, and Wanda's was simply to get away from the house and spend some time in nature. She finds the lake a very restful and peaceful place, and wanted to get out of town for a a bit as well.

It's quite the drive from Portland to Crater Lake. It typically takes anywhere from 5 - 6 hours depending on the traffic and the road conditions. Because we left so early, there was very little traffic to impede our travel, and we made to the North Entrance of the park around 9 am. We checked the weather the night before, and unfortunately the forecast had changed from earlier in the week from mostly sunny to mostly cloudy with a chance of showers. Since we had made plans for the entire weekend which included some time in Bend shooting the Cascade Lakes and visiting with some friends, the trip was on regardless of the weather.

When we got to the Crater Rim, the water was so still and quiet that the clouds were reflected almost perfectly such that it looked as though you were looking down into the sky. We took the time to hike up to the Watchman's Tower which is where the above shot was taken. The hike took us about and hour, and it was quite windy at the top of crater rim where the tower was located, so we didn't linger too long admiring the view. It was kind of neat to look down into the small crater at the top of Wizard Island though.

After our short hike, we continued around the crater rim to the Rim Village where we had a cup of hot chocolate, purchased some souvenirs as gifts for the grandkids, and walked down to the Crater Lake Lodge. While there, I took the opportunity to take a few infrared landscape shots of the island. That image can be seen above.

From the Rim Village we drove down to the Pinnacles. These are geological formations created when fumeroles were fused, buried by subsequent eruptions and then years later exposed when the surrounding ash and soil were eroded away. They are strange and interesting formations, and Wanda had some fun shooting them with one of my cameras.

The Pinnacles:

As we wrapped up shooting the Pinnacles, it began to drizzle, and though we had planned a picnic lunch, we decided to finish the rim drive, exit the park where we entered, and then head on up to Bend for dinner and a good night's sleep. We had reservations for two nights at a hotel in the Old Mill District, and we knew there was a weekend concert and art show planned during the our stay.

We got into town around 5 pm, checked into our room and decided to check out the art show before dinner. There quite a number of booths set up and an eclectic collection of art on display - sculptures, photographs, quilts, paintings, crystal, glasswork, and much more. We didn't purchase anything, but we had fun walking around and looking at the various displays.

After the short walk through the art show, we stopped for dinner at Greg's Grill. The meal was quite delicious, but the most enjoyable part of the evening, was sitting around the large gas firepit outside the restaurant enjoying the music from the concert and chatting with the locals. While we were there savoring the company, the music and our drinks, the weather began to clear and soon we were able to enjoy a lovely sunset. Unfortunately, with our previous 4 am wakeup call, we had to call it an early night and head to bed.

The next day we met with some friends for coffee, then headed out to shoot the Cascade Lakes for another day of shooting. We managed to get in some photography at Sparks Lake and Devil's Lake, but not much at any of the other lakes because of the sheer number of people out enjoying the day.

On our way back into Bend from our day's outing, we stopped at a meadow by Spark's Lake and had our picnic of hummus, flatbread, fruit and cheese. It was a quiet and peaceful meal and most relaxing for both of us. Afterwards, we did a little more shooting, and Wanda managed to catch me in my classic "shooting a landscape pose." And here's the final shot from that day:

When we got back into town, we stashed our gear in the hotel room, then took a short walk downtown to the Deschutes Brew Pub for a locally brewed beer. Later that evening we met our friends for dinner, had another lovely meal with good conversation, and got a good night's sleep before our trip home the next day. Before we went to sleep, however, Wanda made sure we got the laptop out and planned our next few get-away weekends in advance.

Barefoot Glamour

2009-08-27T22:16:00.000-07:00

I got to shoot with Cathy K. again this week. We tried a couple of different locations this time, but I still put her in the water at both locations. She's a good sport and didn't mind (too much).

Our first shoot location was in the Tillamook Forest at the spot where I shot my Water Fairy last year. The spot features a wide, shallow area of the Lower Nehalem River. Here, in the summer at least, the water is tolerably warm, and if shot at the right time of day, is quite blue. The day we shot, however, the river was a bit too shallow to get the deep blue color that I've managed to see there in the past. We did, however, get quite a few shots in before the sun got too high and we lost all of our open shade.

Once we lost the light there, we decided we would take the ride out to Ecola Point State Park and do some shots there. Cathy was quite eager to do this as she hadn't been to the park before and I had promised her a great view of the Oregon Coast. I also think we was eager to dry off and warm up.

We first went the the viewpoint which juts out from the surrounding cliffs and offers a wonderful view of Cannon Beach to the south, and Indian Beach to the North. It was not a very windy day there for a change, so it was quite comfortable shooting at the point. For this shoot, Cathy wore a black linen beach dress, and we had quite a lot of fun shooting around the various tourists and sightseers.

After about 45 minutes at the viewpoint, we drove down to Indian Beach for some shots on the beach and in the small stream that runs down to the Pacific. Little did Cathy know at this point that I would be putting her in the water again, but I think she might have guessed what was going to happen once she saw the waves and the small stream. Still, she was as game as ever, and even went pretty far out into the Pacific to kick up some sand and water. I dared her to kick water on me, but since I was shooting with a 70-200 f/2.8L IS zoom, there was little risk she could actually reach me. It was a fun shoot and both the photographer and the model had a great fun.

Studio Fun

2009-08-26T20:41:00.000-07:00

I've started processing the photos from the weekend's shoots. I'm very pleased with the images so far. Bridgett did a great job as the Reaper Fae, and I'm very happy with the costumes, her look, and the variation on the themes we did. I had some concerns about lighting the background and the model and providing some degree of separation between them, but the addition of a Lumopro Reflector Panel let me swap one of my lights for background light while allowing me to have a sufficient degree of fill on the model.

Based on my previous experience shooting the Dark Fae, I knew it would be difficult to separate some of the costume elements from a black velvet background, so I ordered a couple of new backgrounds from Backdrop Outlet. I have used them with great success in the past, so I had no concerns about order a new Elite Blue backdrop and more specifically, the Scarlet Flame Muslin that I planned to use for the shoot. I ordered them in plenty of time for the shoot, but only the blue backdrop arrived before the weekend. The Scarlet Flame was put on back-order just after I ordered it. So, I had no red backdrop for the shoot at all.

Fortunately, Mike Lowery at Focal Point Photography came to my rescue. Not only did he sell me the Lumopro Reflector I mentioned above, he had a cranberry muslin in stock I was able to purchase. That's the back drop you see in the image above and to the right. I hit the backdrop with a red gelled strobe and it was almost perfectly what I had envisioned for the image.

Mike also loaned me what he called his "seagull droppings" background to use. This was a very fun background with which to play. It's partially translucent and therefore takes on the color of whatever strobe is placed behind it. The images below show three examples of it's use:

First is with a blue gel on the backdrop light:

Then with a red gelled light:

And finally with no gels:

Now, if I could just get him to sell it to me.

Most of the day was spent shooting Bridgett and Wanda, and then that evening I shot with a new model, Melanie K. Melanie posed for my Fae in All of Us series as one of my Fire Faries. She brought her fiancé along to the shoot, and he and Wanda had a pretty good time talking to each other while Melanie and I were shooting. Wanda grilled him for some of his favorite shooting locations. Additionally, Melanie's friend Betsy dropped by the studio for a bit, and she make actually become part of the project as well. I'll be talking to her soon about becoming my Wind (or Air) Fairy. Here's a shot of Melanie as the Fire Fairy. It's not the best shot from the series, but it does give an idea of the set-up and the look of the set:

When I get more of the images processed, I'll probably post a few more here.

A Studio Weekend

2009-08-24T21:20:00.000-07:00

I was able to spend all day Saturday shooting in the studio and I had a great time. I was able to shoot with my good friend and model, Bridgett, for two shoots and got to work with a fun new model for the last shoot. All in all, I was able to get in about 6 hours of solid shooting, including a couple of hours of shooting with my wife.

I was able to work on two of my projects. Bridgett posed as the Reaper Fae for my Fae in All of Us project, and Bridgett and Wanda both posed for my Women in Chains series. After those two shoots, we went out to dinner in St. Johns with Bridgett, Mark and their son, Morgan, and had a nice time just chatting and catching up with them. Afterwards, Wanda and I went back to the studio to set up for the next shoot which was a reshoot of my Fire Fairy set.

The photos you see here are from the 1st shoot. These ladies weren't the primary models I had planned for the shoot. In fact, they were my back-up models. The primary model was to be shot later the same day that these pictures were taken, but the model was a no show. This was especially frustrating because this model had been planning to shoot this particular set for over a year. Whenever we would plan to shoot, scheduling issues would prevent us from getting together. At the time, I didn't consider this a major issue, since I felt that I had plenty of time to complete the shoot this year and I also knew I could easily get another model for the shoot. Also, the scheduling issues were on both ends of the equation, so I felt I owed her an opportunity to do the shoot.

Finally, this summer, it seemed things were about to come together for the shoot. I found a studio that I could rent for a reasonable rate, although because of the large windows and skylights it would require the shoot to be at night. I was also able to complete a test shoot with the model and she was ready on time and worked well with the camera. She was able to self-direct well, and was also able to take directions easily. Based on her test shoot, I reserved the studio, gathered the needed props, and paid the deposit for a day of shooting.

As you can see from the images above, the lighting for this shoot is quite elaborate. It involved 5 strobes. A large softbox on camera left, a gridded hairlight with a red gel on a boom above the model, and three gelled strobes below the model with barndoors. The model posed on a plexiglass platform with two strobes with red gels lighting her (them) from below, and the third strobe with a yellow gel was set to illuminate the smoke from an industrial fog machine. Additionally, a black velvet background was used to absorb the light and the softbox was flagged to prevent any light spill onto the background.

Earlier in the week the model wrote me (she doesn't have a cell phone or land line) to say she wasn't sure she could make it and asked me to reschedule. This was after confirming two days earlier that the shoot was on. After I told her the studio was reserved and paid for and I could not reschedule, she told me she would be there and we made the final logistical arrangements for the shoot (I was to pick her up at the Max station at 7 pm and she would be bringing her sister along as an escort). That was quite fine with me, but I did have a unsettling feeling about this, so I arranged for the two other models just in case. I also had arranged for a makeup artist for the shoot, but when the MUA called me earlier in the day to confirm, I told her to wait until I was sure the model was going to show before she headed to the shoot.

As it turns out, that was my best move in the whole situation. I figured I could at least use these models to set up the lights and fine tune all the elements of the image so that when the primary model showed up, I would be ready to go for the shoot. Due to the setup time and the time it took the two models to get into makeup and costume, we only got to shoot for about an hour and a half, at which time we all went to the Max station to pickup the third model and her sister.

Since that model had no cell, there was no way for me to call her and confirm she was on her way - so we got to the station early and waited for two trains (a half an hour) before I decided to take the two models to where they needed to be. I came back by the station after dropping them off, and waited for two more trains. At 8:30 pm, I gave it up, called the MUA to cancel and then went back to the studio and spent the next two hours breaking down the studio equipment and stowing it in my truck.

During all this time there was no call at all from the model to explain the situation. In fact, it wasn't until 5 days later that I got a note from the model. She told me she had been in a car accident on the way to a cookout before the shoot, and although she didn't get hurt, her friend who was driving bumped his head and had to go to the hospital and so she had to stay there with him.

I have no idea if this is true or not, but I did tell her in my reply that there was simply no way we'd ever be able to work together given what happened and that a call would have been the most courteous thing to do in the situation.

Fortunately, my shoots this weekend helped me to move forward and I'm just going to chalk this up as a learning experience - never shoot with a model that isn't able and willing to maintain multiple lines of communication. The hassle just isn't worth it!

Completed Shoots

2009-08-21T23:08:00.000-07:00

I've completed processing a number of shoots lately, but I"m still working on several more. I have three shoots scheduled for this weekend, and just finished one more yesterday evening. Photographically, I've been quite busy, but I've been having a blast and enjoying stretching my imagination and skills for each of the shoots.

I've been processing images for the models as they've picked them out for their TFP (Time For Print) sessions, but I'll still have plenty of images to processes over the winter, as well as a couple of other shoots that will occur during the cold season when we actually have snow on the ground.

I did a couple of photo sessions featuring three different models using a military theme. The first one, featuring Jennifer and April, was shot at Dragonfly Landing with the assistance of my good friend Mark, who shuddered with dismay each time I set my 5D MKII or my 1DsMKIII on the ground, and his girlfriend, Rainbow. That shoot went quite well, and the models were quite fun to work with, though a bit inexperienced and not used to taking directions or self-directing.

The other military glamour session was with Gabriell as part of her portfolio development, which is mostly complete at this point - at least as a starter portfolio. Shooting with Gabriell was both planned and not planned. Originally my idea was to shoot landscapes in the morning, starting and Ecola Point and Cannon Beach, then meet Gabriell later in the day in Newport and do more of a fashion shoot in Newport or Lincoln city. The day we were supposed to shoot, however, it was quite cloudy and cool; not exactly a day for shooting landscapes, so I just shot on down to Florence and spent the day shooting with Gabriell.

We did several themes that day. We started with the military shoot, then found an abandoned rail car and did a gypsy shoot. Nearby was a old gate where we did a country girl shoot, and then we used the abandoned rail line for a nude shoot. Finally, we finished up the day by shooting Gabriell as a pirate.

Gabby has come along quite well as a model. With a little effort she could do quite well as a glamour model and I think she would do especially well as a promotional event model since she has an outgoing personality and a girl next door look. Here are a few more of her looks from that day's shoot:

This is from our gypsy glamour shoot with the abandoned rail car.

And one from our Pirate shoot:

Tomorrow I have three shoots planned. I'll be shooting the Reaper Fairy with Gabriell's mother, Bridgett, ladies in chains with Wanda and Bridgett as the models, and in the evening the final Fire Fairy, with Melanie. Of course, I have more images to post from some of my other shoots as well, so there will be a number of future journal entries here show-casing those images. Right now, though, it's time to for bed so I can get an early start setting up the studio tomorrow.

Summer Shoots

2009-08-05T20:42:00.000-07:00

I enjoy shooting in the summer. College is usually on break and the high school graduates are in that halcyon period between then end of high school and the beginning of college when their worries are few and their dreams are great. It's during this period that I generally work with a number of new models eager to try modeling for both fun and, they hope, profit. Usually, I'm always willing to work with new models trying to establish or expand their portfolios, and I especially enjoy working with ones who are on top of their game and who meet their commitments and come prepared to get the best images from the shoot.

So far this week, I've had the opportunity to work with two such models. The first new model, Miranda was to be my Rain Fairy. Our plan was to shoot in my backyard during the early morning hours so as the catch the morning sunlight on falling drops of water from an oscillating sprinker which would look likes streaks of rain falling on the model. I had a full shoot plan with costumes, wings, and filmly white material to use for shoot. The model called the night before to confirm the shoot and get directions to my house, sent me her address and a copy of her ID so I could have the model release ready to go prior to the shoot, and she arrived 30 minutes early and eager to shoot. I was ready, the model was not only ready but happily eager, on the other hand, the sun was no where to be found. A thick layer of clouds hung in the sky and diffused the sun'a light to a weak, soft, and nearly shadowless version of summer sunshine.

The diffused soft light would have been great for a beauty and glamour shoot, but we needed strong sunlight to back light the falling water and produce the silver streaks that would fall on he model. So, we quickly had a conversation, discussed some changes, and improvised a new shoot using the same location but with a different concept,

So out went the white wings, white material, white tule, white crystal face jewels and light blue sheer material that was our main costume materials for the shoot, and we quickly put together an outfit of purple, green and pink materials, purple wings, and silver body chains. The model was quite willing to go with the changes, and we had a great time winging the shoot. The image above, quickly edited this afternoon, is representative of that fun.

An even more invigorating shoot occurred this afternoon. While I was in California over the weekend for my granddaughter's 1st birthday, I was contacted via my blog (this blog in fact), by a lovely young Pacific University student who was interested in my projects, and was especially intersted in my ongoing Barefoot Glamour project. We agreed to meet for a cup of coffee on my return and to discuss a potential shoot.

We therefore met for a coffee and a chat on Tuesday evening. I let Cathy peruse the photos in my portfolio and made sure she was comfortable with my style and my work and offered her the available times I had to shoot for the next several days. She was quite happy to get started shooting right away, so after my morning meetings this week, I took the afternoon off and we drove out to the Tillamook Waterfall to shoot. We discussed the clothing and the materials that we'd use for the shoot and had a decent shoot plan going in to the shoot.

Cathy was a fun and adventurous model. She easily met any request I had for her with regard to poses, and even walked deep into the pool at the base of the waterfull to submerge herself to her shoulders and then slowly rise from the waters while getting heavily sprayed from the falls. None of my previously models had been willing to do that. It was a fun shoot with lots of great images, and I think Cathy enjoyed the shoot just as much as I did. I hope I get a chance to shoot a few more times with this lovely young ladie.

New Models

2009-07-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

I've been interviewing and working with a number of new models lately. As I've built my portfolio with new and various images from my fae project and with other examples of my glamour work, it's been easier to explain my vision to prospective models and engage them in a conversation about potential projects on which we can work together. Last week, I was able to do a test shoot with a young model called Heidi who will be one of two girls posing for my Fire Fairy shoot. We shot under the St. Johns Bridge in North Portland and we were able to get some very nice images along the river and on the steps beneath the bridge.

I did a test shoot with the young lady that cuts my hair yesterday, delivered her some prints today, and I think she is seriously considering shooting with me for the fairy project. At least, she told me she enjoyed our little photo session and wanted to do some more.

This week I'm hoping to do test shoots with two more models who want to be part of my project, and next week with any luck I'll be shooting with 2 more models who want to be fairies as well. This is all good, because I think this project is coming to a temporary close. By this, I mean I hope to have the necessary images completed so that I can begin working on designing the book for which the images are intended. My goal is to pick the final images for processing, layout the book and design the pages, and write the prose to go with each set of images during the winter and early spring. This should allow me to get the book into publication by summer.

Once this is complete, I guess I'll start working on my next project, whatever that might be. I'll need a project, though, because that give purpose to my photography and lets me exercise my creativity in a more purposeful manner.

The Morality of Nudity

2009-07-19T20:47:00.000-07:00

I've never made any secret of the fact that I photograph nudes, among other subjects, as part of my creative work. I also photograph landscapes, flowers, wildlife, airshows, fairs and festivals, birthday parties, weddings, and many other subjects. I've also never made it a secret that sometimes my wife is a model for me, as are friends, acquaintances, and other people I know.

It seems, however, that some people (specifically some folks from Georgia), think photographing the nude human form is some how sinful and immoral and I'm just a terrible person for doing so. Even worse than that, I use that awful tool of Satan, the internet to share my art with others.

I usually don't bring such personal drama into my blog, but this is more funny (and a bit sad) than it is dramatic.

I've been shooting models for glamour, both nude and non-nude, for nearly 30 years. I haven't been hit by a bolt of lightning from the heavens yet. It seems that neither Jehovah, Jesus, Allah, Mohammad, Buddha, Jupiter, Zeus, Thor or any other "god" has deemed my work prurient enough to require immediate destruction and eternal damnation. Since I don't think the gods care much about who I chose to shoot and what they're wearing when I take their photo, I think I'll just keep on doing what I like to do and not worry about the tiny minds and puritan hypocrisy of other folks. So, I do hope you like these photos of Krisa as the Combat Fairy shown above.

I imagine most of my readers will also enjoy these photos from my latest shoot with Sarah done in my garage studio. These haven't been retouched yet, but straight from the camera I'm quite pleased with them:

This was quite a challenging shoot. I had originally thought to back light black wings with both red and blue gelled strobes, but that simply didn't allow them to stand out enough against the black velvet background. Fortunately, I had anticipated that this might be a problem and had prepared two other sets of wings to use for the shoot and those wings worked much better with the lighting I had prepared. Given enough time, I might have tried to rework the lights in order to make the black wings work with the black background, but I certainly felt that I got some excellent images from the shoot.

Sarah was a great model and was exceptionally expressive with both her face and her body. She really got into the character of the Dark Fairy and I had a great time shooting with her. As a bonus, I got to meet Sarah's friend, Lexxy, who did Sarah's makeup and who I hope will work on me on some future projects.

Here's a final shot for your viewing pleasure. I sure hope your mind is open enough to view it with frying to a crisp.

A Muse

2009-07-08T10:52:00.000-07:00

I believe I need a Muse. I just don't think I'm creative enough when it comes to my photography or to my writing for that matter, and I need someone who can inspire me to stretch beyond the limits of my existing creative process and who can listen to my proposals, my ideas, and my conceptual theories without initial judgement, or negativity and then help me refine them into feasible shoots. That Muse would also help me execute those concepts, either as a model or as an assistant.

If would be great if such a person were also technically adept in photography, but not essential. It's the creativity that's important--the ability to help me sort the kernels of great ideas from the mundane chaff of mediocrity. More importantly, a Muse would propose her own ideas with a unique perspective and a feminine touch and allow me to mold them into derivative concepts to execute. This would help me to get out of this creative rut that I feel that I've been in for the last year or so, and would perhaps help me to find my own intrinsic vision while infusing me with new enthusiasm.

For many years, Wanda was my Muse. For the last 33 years, she has been my model and my inspiration for many ideas. She has borne my experiments with good grace and cheer, and has often put herself in precarious situations so I could achieve a particular shot. She has climbed trees and rocks, stood in ice-cold rushing water, stood nude in snow banks and blizzards, walked on ice, and generally has done whatever I've asked of her for my shoots.

Unfortunately, as my passion for photography, and my technical skills have grown, Wanda's interest in my work has waned. I can hardly fault her for that. Over the years, I've taken literally tens of thousands of photos of her, and today she is far more interested in her own hobbies and interests, and the extent of her interest in my photography is the images I make of our grandchildren and of family events so she can create her wonderful scrapbooks. She still supports my photographic projects, but she has no enthusiasm for them, and I can understand that.

It's unlikely I'll find a new Muse. While it's not difficult to find models, a Muse is a more personal relationship, and platonic though it may be, there does have to be some emotional and creative connection in place. There has to be friendship as well as a working relationship. It sure would be nice though.

I Lost My Arbor

2009-07-01T09:39:00.000-07:00

Wanda has yet another project going on this year. Now that the living room is completely refurnished, she wants all the river rock dug out from the side of the house and pavers put in place and a walkway added to the deck. Okay, I want to get rid of the river rock myself. The previous owners had put it in because they used that side of the house as a run for their dog, but we don't have a dog and the rock is a real pain in the rear when I'm trying to get the lawn mower from the front yard to the back and vice versa. Besides that, any attempt to walk on that surface without sturdy shoes is a exercise in masochism resulting in bruised soles and stubbed toes.

Once again, Wanda has done weeks of research, picked out the paver colors and patterns, and has dragged me to several landscaping suppliers to look at the difference between Appian, Boston, Camino, Roca, Arena, Octo, Holland and many, many other styles of stone. I've also had to look at Basketweave, Herringbone, Linen, Muster K, Step Running Bond, and Running Bond patterns using the various types of stones. This is not a simple project.

We looked at doing the job ourselves, but we simply don't have the expertise (or the backs) for that kind of labor, so she's had 4 or 5 contractors come out to bid on the job, and on Saturday she chose the guy who spent the most time explaining to her what the job entailed and how the various patterns would look - in other words, he spent more than 20 minutes measuring the area and simply providing her with a quote.

As part of the contract, we agreed that we would take out the existing river rock and provide him with a clean dirt area to level and fill before setting the gravel, sand and pavers. We thought, "Hey, a little manual labor will be good for us." Five yards of loose gravel and strained muscles later we're thinking, "Hey, we aren't as young as we once were!" The loose gravel came out, if not easily, at least without heroic effort. There is, however, the matter of the gravel that has been packed down into the dirt for the last 18 years. It's kicking our ass!

So, given that we want the project to start Monday after the 4th of July weekend, as well as realizing that if we want to keep our bodies relatively whole and not sore during the holiday weekend, we've hired some young labor to help remove the remainder of the gravel. I think at $10/hr it's a relative bargain, though I suspect it will take most of two 8 hour days to get the job done. Sometime, near the end of next week though, the side yard will have had a very large face-lift and will be suitable for the grandkids as a play area.

Unfortunately, as part of the project, I lost my vine covered arbor that divided the side yard from the backyard and which provided me with a lovely photographic prop. I put the arbor in over 11 years ago and had been carefully training the ivy to grow up one side, across the top, then down the other side. It was really looking good too.

I had thought we could simply lift it out of the ground with the vine still attached and move it to the side and out of the way during the construction process, since the lead runner was so thick and long. Alas, the posts of the arbor had dry rotted and all four broke off when we attempted to move it. Also, during the process of attempting to untangle the vine from the lattice work, the main runner broke (Wanda did it - not me!).

Removing the arbor does make the area look more open, but darn I'm going to miss it. It make a great background for photos. Just take a look for yourself:

Christine as a schoolgirl:

Holly from behind:

The Garden Fairy:

Ashley as the Bubble Fairy:

I'm really, really going to miss that vine covered piece of painted wood.

Woodland Pixie

2009-06-29T09:17:00.000-07:00

I finished another photo shoot in my Fae in All of Us project this past Friday. Once again, I shot the images in the wooded area at Dragonfly Landing, the property that belongs to my good friends, Mark and Gabi.

It was a wonderfully warm and sunny day for the shoot, which lasted about 2 hours. I had the model in makeup and costume by 4:15 and we wrapped up shooting by about 6 pm when the we lost the nice bright patches of sunlight that manage to pierce the thickly canopied wooded area. By the time we were finished shooting, though, the poor model was shivering, despite the warm wraps provided for her between poses.

Amy, the model, was genuinely sorry she was so cold, and kept expressing concern that her shivering would show up in the shots. She wanted to help me get some great images and she gamely pushed through the entire shoot without a single complaint. She was quite fun to work with and came up with some great ideas that contributed to the shoot.

A very slender and young model with golden brown dreadlocks and a natural look, Amy matched my mind's image of a Woodland Pixie, and when I saw her portfolio I felt she would be a great choice for this shoot. Based on a quick scan of the images from the shoot, I feel certain I was right in choosing her for this project.

Next up - Bambi as my Flower Fairy.

Thirty Years

2009-06-24T09:04:00.000-07:00

I've been messing around with cameras and making photos for over thirty years now. I purchased my first "professional" camera thirty years ago this month (I just came across the receipt). In the intervening years, I've taken tens of thousands of photos (or more), and lately I've been going back through the older ones, scanning them, and putting them in an archive. I've also been sharing some of them on MySpace and Facebook for smiles and grins. The older images have garnered some responses from some of my old high school friends, as well as some of my relatives and new friends.

In 1981, I moved to Upstate New York on an assignment as an instructor at the Navy Nuclear Power Training Unit in Balston Spa, New York. While I was there, I took a course in photography from the New York Institute of Photography, and then I began working with models and shooting weddings. I was all of 21 years old at the time, and photography was simply a way for me to express myself outside of work.

I think I've become a much better photographer since then, but I did want to share a few images from those first years and that first camera. Remember, these were scanned from prints that were quite old, so don't laugh too hard. :)

Toni was one of my first models. She contacted me through an ad that I placed in a local newspaper. I think I might have paid her something like $5 an hour to pose for me. She was a very sweet girl, but had an abusive boyfriend. She enjoyed modeling and could produce some very sultry expressions. She and her boyfriend lived in and managed a hotel on Saratoga Lake, but by the time I left New York, they were living in a small travel trailer somewhere off the beaten path. When she got pregnant with her first child, she inherited a lot of our baby clothes and toys that we no longer needed. I still wonder what happened to her. I hope she did well in life and went on to have a happy and successful career and family. I'll probably never know though.

Here are a couple more images of Toni which were shot in my attic studio:

Susan was another model of mine, but I only worked with her a couple of times. Not long after we started working together, she moved away to college. She was pretty, funny and smart. I'm sure she's doing well.

As you can see, I was still very much in a learning phase with my photography. While I knew the basics of exposure and composition, I hadn't had a great deal of practice yet.

Sue Gleason was my 3rd model in New York. I worked with her serveral times. We did at least three or four field excursions to shoot, including one up to Lake George where she startled me by stripping down and jumping into a cascading (and freezing) stream.

Sue was a hippie. I don't think I ever saw her in a bra - she preferred body suits and skirts, always kept one strand of her hair braided, and was wont to take off hitchhiking on a whim. I think she was the first model that ever tried to seduce me. No, it didn't work, but it wasn't for lack of her trying. :)

Here is Sue at a place called Rock City Falls, which was one of my favorite places to shoot:

Here is Sue, upstream from the falls posing on the log that you see Susan walking along in teh above photos:

And finally, here's Sue standing in the same stream. I can tell you that this girl loved being in the water....well, except for that one time she got into a pool of water at the base of a cliff, waded out about 20 feet until the water was up to her waist then realized, after the silt settled, that she had gotten into a pond of huge tadpoles. I never believed in "walking on water" until I saw her leave that pond. :)

So, there are a few memories and photos from the past. I'm sure I'll be posting more in due time.

Father's Day Shoot

2009-06-22T09:36:00.000-07:00

For Father's Day, instead of relaxing and watching movies, playing games, or just having some downtime, I spent the day prepping and shooting a set of portraits of my grandson (and his dad). First, I had to clean out the garage from all the yard items that were moved there the day before for my granddaughter's 3rd birthday party. Then I had to set up the backdrop, the fog machine and a set of gelled lights (one softbox with a flag, one gelled light on a boom with a 40 degree grid, another gelled light on a floor stand with a 30 degree grid, and the final gelled light on a floor stand with barndoors). Finally, I had to test and adjust the lighting.

The setup had to be right from the start, since I didn't want to unnecessarily subject my grandson to the fog, so I had my wife and daughter help me with the adjustments. Wanda was the stand in model, and my daughter operated the fog machine. I set the main exposure (the softbox) with a Sekonic L-508 light meter, then adjusted the gelled lights (height, direction and intensity) by monitoring the preview image on my digital camera (a Canon 1Ds Mark III with a 24-70 f/2.8L lens). The softbox strobe was an AB 800, the boom light was also and AB800, while the two floor lights wereWL 1600's. The softbox was triggered by a PW transceiver and the other lights triggered off optical slaves from the key light.

Here are the images with that setup:

For the remainder of the images, the gels and fog were removed, the black velvet backdrop was draped on a table, and the fire fighting gear was set up per Ryker's dad's specifications. I then added a large Photoflex reflector on the right side of the image to provide for more even lighting across the portrait. Ryker was getting a bit fussy by this point, but we cajoled him into some nice expressions:

For the final image, I pinned an American Flag to the background and lit it with a non-gelled AB800 with a 40 degree grid.

The lighting in the first two shots will be similar to what I will use for my Fire Fairy shoot.

Oh, come on! Let me catch a break!

2009-06-19T16:36:00.000-07:00

I can't seem to catch a break, photographically this week. I had scheduled for two shoots during the week, and both of them got canceled at the last minute.

Today's shoot, was literally at the last minute. I had been scheduled to shoot with Bambi, one of the lovely bartenders down at the local pub, for several weeks now. She was to be a flower fairy and we had picked out a killer costume for her to wear during the project. I had arranged to take the afternoon off from work to prep everything and to get us out to the shoot site while we had good light. Everything was going as planned until the clouds rolled in and the bottom fell out.

Fortunately, I managed to catch her before she got out the door to her place, though I did ask her if she wanted to be a Rain Fairy instead. She decided to reschedule, which I think was a wise idea given the buckets of rain that were dropping out of the sky. Since we were supposed to be shooting in a field of tall grass, it would have been a cold, wet and unpleasant experience even if the rain had stopped (which it didn't).

Of course, it also meant that I had to tell my friend, Mark, that I wouldn't need to shoot on his property after all. At least, I hope he got the message, since he hasn't been on YM all day today.

Earlier in the week, I was scheduled to do a fashion shoot with Gabriell, the lovely young lass in the image to the right. Everthing was on schedule right up until the morning of the day of the shoot when she fell ill. Apparently, she hasn't felt very well since. She was going to drive up to Portland for the shoot, stay here for the night, then drive back down the next day. We have also rescheduled.

I have a couple of shoots planned for next week. I hope the weather and the models' health cooperate. I haven't shot anything significant since the end of July and I'm getting a little anxious to shoot. If I have to keep rescheduling shoots, then they'll all pile up further into the summer and there are only so many days of good weather here in Oregon. It also means, that even if I'm able to get all the shoots in, that I'll have to put off post processing the images until the winter time. Oh well, such is life in the Northwest.

Provocative Photo - Through the Lens

Respect Your Models

Closing in on Year's End

Project Wrap-up & Interviews

Still Without a Studio

Summer is Definitely Over

End of Summer Shoots

Seasonal Changes

Sauvie at Dawn with Keira Grant

More Weather Woes

Time for Shooting

A Throne in the Woods

NW Glamour Workshop

My Waterfall

Cathedral Park Revisted

Get Your Critique Heard

Recovery and Summer Shoot Planning

Hiatus

Planning, working, and soon, recovering.

Oh, Summer, where art thou?

A Long Week

The Agony (and no Ectasy)

Catching Up, Yet Again

New Studio and Models

Finishing the Fae in Us All Project

Under the Bridge

Updated Deviant Art Portfolios

Christmas Pinup Day 10

Christmas Pinup Day 9

Christmas Pinup Day 8

Christmas Pinup Day 7

Christmas Pinup Day 6

Christmas Pinup Day 5

Christmas Pinup Day 4

Christmas Pinup Day 3

Christmas Pinup Day 2

Christmas Countdown

Kira

Leave a Comment

Studio Issues

Raiding the Archives

Seasons Turn

Hand Held High Dynamic Range Images

Fierce

Some More Recent Images

Dark Sorceress in the Glade

Alija - Sepia Warrior

From Some Recent Shoots

Wicked Kira

The Arsenal

Audi in the Glade

Sivonna and the Tree

Back from Belize

I'm off to Belize for a few days

More of Kira

Saturday's Shoot with Nicole

Friday's Shoot

Three Quick & Dirty Edits from Today's Shoot with Kira

Have a Great Independence Day Everyone!

Heather the Bubble Fairy

Cancelled Shoot

A New Project (sort of) and a New Model

Summer Fairy, Annotated

Sand Fairy Annotated

Annotated Image (Model Floofie)

Finally, A Shoot (Outdoors)

Sand, Sun & Sauvie Island

Bright Colors

Barefoot Glamour

March Images

A Busy Week

Muscles and Shadows

Women in Chains - The Latest Shoot

Model Works

Shooting at Home

A Fomer Model

Back to the Woods

Nicole

Vanessa the Sorceress

Samurai Warrior