A Few Photos Outside with JEM

April 11, 2012January 6, 2014 bill 2 Comments

I always enjoy the first time I can get outdoors and shoot. This year my first outdoor shoot was with JEM in mid March. She admitted up front not to usually do outdoor work, but I’d caught her in the right mood. The warmer than normal spring weather probably helped since it felt more like April or May than March outside the day we worked together. I took JEM to a favorite spot and near the same place I’d had my last outdoor shoot of the fall with Adrina Lynn. She did wonderful work and glad to be outdoors again.

Shoot with Natalie Minx

March 14, 2012July 12, 2012 bill 1 Comment

I had the chance to work with Natalie Minx recently. It was the first time I’ve worked with her, and I got the change to be the first to photograph her new look. She’s a wonderful model to work with, and some nice photos from the shoot are below. For part of the shoot, we worked around the concept of a person going through the stages of grief and you can see anger and sadness below.

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With the lack of winter, I’ve surprisingly not gotten outdoors yet this year. I had one scheduled back on the weekend, but weather didn’t cooperate. I’m hoping Friday I’ll be able to break that trend and get back into outdoor work. Several outdoor shoot planned already for the rest of this month and April and looking forward to getting back into the fresh air again.

Paper Masks–From Idea to Photos

February 28, 2012July 12, 2012 bill Leave a comment

Where do ideas come from? In my book I discuss this some, but overall I find my ideas come from combining other elements in (what I hope are) new and interesting ways. This shoot began when I decided to go out on a cold night in early January. I was sitting in a bar and the video for “Du Hast” by Rammstein came on the TVs across the room. I hadn’t seen the video or heard the song in several years, but in spite of barely being able to hear the song over the crowd it pulled me in. In the video several members of the band greet a man while wearing masks cut off below the nose. From the camera’s view these mask wearers get menacing later in the video. I’ve seen the video a number of times, a friend loved the band and played them a lot, but something about those masks stuck with me this time. They reminded me of Venetian masks, but aren’t quite those.

I’d recently had being honest with someone backfire. This left my mental state primed to think about masks and the way we often hide parts of ourselves from others and why we do so. Being surrounded by couples enjoying a night out, people looking for love, people looking for lust, and people just looking to forget had the ideas of the various social faces we put on in mind. The ideas of social masks came together with seeing those actual masks in the video and the idea came to me. I excitedly described the idea to someone a few minutes later. She didn’t share my excitement. The idea I had was to take a photo of someone and use it as a mask. In effect to mask someone using their own photo.

I first experimented with the idea a couple days later at the end of a shoot with Sarah. I started basic here by taking a photo of the model’s face and then making a life sized print. Then I had her wear the photo while taking other photos. The results showed the idea worth playing with.

So in a mid January shoot with Hannah Perez I worked on the idea more fully. Instead of just using her face, I decided to take photos of much of her upper body and mix and match the photos on her to get different effects. I photographed several body parts in different levels of zooms. The difficult part came from trying to get the photos close to life size. I didn’t want them exactly right as I wanted the body parts to be a bit smaller or larger than reality, but wanted them close to the real size. It took some trial and error (and even getting out a tape measure to measure sizes) to get what I wanted. We tried a few different combinations including taping the photos to Hannah while she knelt along with resting then on her as she laid down.

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Overall I’m happy with the results and have some ideas to explore this concept some more later on.

April in February

February 20, 2012July 12, 2012 bill 4 Comments

No I’m not confused on the calendar again, but recently worked with a new local model April. She’s still starting out, but did very well in our first shoot together last weekend. Looking forward to getting her back in front of the camera outside in a couple months when spring arrives.

April Naomi

Fall 2011–The First of the Rest

January 28, 2012September 13, 2012 bill Leave a comment

The first of two final posts to highlight a few last photos from the last three months of 2011 that I want to share. These didn’t easily fit into the categories of my other posts. First a few of Charlie Kristine from November.

And now a few of Kerri Taylor from December.

First a few other photos from shoots with Melissa Troutt in October and December.

First Short Movie

January 21, 2012September 13, 2012 bill Leave a comment

Still have another post or two to finish up my 2011 shoots and some 2012 ones to cover. Over the summer I started experimenting with video. As with most experiments there was more failure than success early one. By late summer I felt ready to try a short film. So in August I produced this short film I’m calling an erotic vignette. It’s definitely not work safe, very erotic, and by no means perfect. Still I’m happy with the results and feel I did capture the emotion and feeling I wanted in this clip. So without further ado, here’s “Welcome Home.”

Starring Hannah and Jordanna

Fall 2011 Continues–In the Boudoir

January 12, 2012September 13, 2012 bill Leave a comment

In 2011 I focused mostly on shooting outdoor and artistic nude styled work. I did work in glamour a couple times this fall while shooting with Charlie Kristine and Brynn Cook. Boudoir is my favorite glamour style. Whether or not nudity is in the photo, boudoir focuses on allure and seduction. Sexuality is present, but subtle instead of in your face. It’s a whispered promise, not an overt request. I find it feels more flirty and real compared to most glamour which tends toward exaggeration and fantasy.

In the November shoot with Charlie I primarily worked on the idea of her with a man’s dress shirt and tie for our boudoir set. Charlie again does a wonderful job looking sexy and alluring. I’m not sure what it is about a beautiful woman wearing a man’s dress shirt and nothing else that just screams sexy, but Charlie pulls it off well.

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We also played with a few poses using the tie with a bit of a kinkier edge. I like these in black and white.

During my shoot with Brynn, we also explored some boudoir photos. One of these I put in my Best of 2011 post and I won’t repeat here. But a few others I especially liked from the shoot. The first I think approaches the erotic, but still leaves more to the imagination than it reveals.

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Another few from the shoot playing with the perspective. Looking down on the model from above adds an interesting element of intimacy to the photo. It looks more that you’re looking down at the subject while above her, a perspective with obvious implications in the boudoir.

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Fall 2011 Continued – Water

January 6, 2012September 13, 2012 bill Leave a comment

One of my goals for November and December was to try to experiment with some new concepts and ideas. I already posted about some work with the Japanese lanterns, but there were other concepts. Another idea I wanted to work with included water indoors.

Most of my outdoor shoots are located near streams, lakes, or rivers because I enjoy combining the nude with water. If we shoot, and the temperatures are warm enough (or even close to warm enough), then expect you’ll likely end up wet by the end. Of course that only works for those months a model can comfortably pose in the water. Even if the air is warm, the water coming down mountain streams can be much colder. Really it seems that May through October seems to mark the limits with the first and last of those months being iffy. For instance I worked with Keira outside on a comfortable day at the end of September on a day, but saw snow the next day. I got in two outdoor shoots in October thanks to nice temperatures and luck. Still in all three shoots there were limits to the amount of time I could get the models into the water due to the cooler air.

So, I’ve begun to explore working with water inside. Again as with the first shoot with the Japanese lanterns, these are more experimenting with a concept than a refined idea. First I tried shooting by dribbling water on a model. Charlie Kristine did some nice work with this one as I subjected her to something a little too close to water torture. I did get a few good images, but realized I’d need to go somewhere else to get the results I hoped. And the table in the photo was not harmed creating this photo.

Charlie Kristine in Water

Next I worked with Rachel Dashae for the first time and we did some work on the idea. Here I put her into my shower. Lighting the tiny bathroom proved to be quite a challenge, but again I was able to produce some results I liked.

Rachel Dashae in the Shower I Rachel Dashae in the Shower II

Last model I worked with this idea on was Xlcr Moon. She brought the wonderful, and in retrospect obvious, idea of using oil to help bead the water on her body. The results completed more what I’d been looking for in these shoots and this photo shows I think the best example of the concept.

Xlcr Moon in the Water

Catching up on Fall 2011 Continued–The White Light

January 3, 2012September 13, 2012 bill 1 Comment

In late November I walked into the town’s Pier 1 with the plan to buy a Japanese lantern. I’d had the idea to shoot using once since seeing one at a friend’s home during the summer. By luck I walked in right in the middle of a huge clearance sale on the lanterns. So instead of leaving with one or two as I’d planned, I left with about ten lanterns in various sizes from a huge sixteen inch to a few small four inch lanterns.

Nyxon got to be my first test subject as we shot together a few days later. Lighting with the lantern turned out to a little tricky. It puts out a small amount of light so it requires a very still model and longer exposures to get the effect I wanted. Still putting the camera on a tripod allowed me to get a few interesting shots such as this multiple expose of Nyxon. As before, Nyxon was a joy to work with given the experimental nature of this shoot along with some fake snow I’ll be posting more about later.

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Second shoot using the lanterns came during my shoot with Kerri Taylor. Kerri and I had discussed shoots a few times before, but this was the first time we’d been able to connect. Really enjoyed working with her, and she did well for the lantern portion of our shoot. As always having done this once I was able to try some more interesting things with Kerri trying to take advantages of the strengths of the lighting. I especially like the first one below where she’s looking up into the lantern.

My third time working with the lantern came in a shoot with Melissa Troutt later in December. Here I felt more open to trying some new ideas and playing with some new poses. Here the idea was to pull more into her interacting with the lantern. As always, Melissa did great work yielding the photos below.

Overall I like the lantern. The light is a bit harder than I’d expected, but I have some ideas to go from here. I have an LED bulb that can do some color options that I think will be interesting to pair with this. I also plan to explore adding in more lanterns.

Best Five Photos of 2011

December 31, 2011September 13, 2012 bill Leave a comment

The end of the year just invites reflection. So on the last day of 2011 I’m going to look back at what I feel are five of my best photos of the year. Notice the subtle shift from the title there? Instead of just picking five photos, I decided to pick a few categories and pick the best photo in each one along with a little of the background behind the photo. Fun thing is that since this is my blog I can be completely arbitrary and pick what I want. As Mel Brooks said, “It’s good to be the king.”

My Best Photo of the Year

It came on a shoot in June, but this photo of Katlyn Lacoste I think has to be my best photo this year. I thought so enough that I made it the cover of my eBook. It’s not just me as 500px highlighted it in their “Fresh photos” the day I posted it to the site. Everything just comes together amazingly with a great location, a wonderful model, and an amazing pose. There were a number of great images taken here that day, but this one still stands out to me.

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Best Processed Photo

I normally don’t believe in a lot of processing. I try to get the photo right in the camera. Of course I’ll clean up blemishes, tweak lighting, and other things, but normally I feel the longer I spend on a photo in Lightroom or Photoshop, the worse the photo was. This one is an exception. I documented the shoot before, but loved playing with the multiple exposure concept with Melissa Troutt and feel this is the best photo. I love the effect of the model photographing herself and want to play with the multiple exposure concept more in the future.

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Best Photo from Biggest Experiment

Most interesting experiment I did this year came when I did a shoot with Keira Grant, Hannah Perez, and Melissa Troutt back in late June. Working with three models at once was an interesting experience. It was very draining and required a lot of focus and work. The results were wonderful, and I definitely want to try it again someday. There were a lot of photos I could have picked to put here, but over time I’ve come to feel this photo best captures the idea of exploring the relationships between women. What I think appeals to me also comes in other ways you can interpret the photo. Why’s Melissa trying to pull away? Why is Keria trying to stop her while Hannah appears indifferent? So many ways you can answer those questions and each gives such a different story.

Best Erotic Nude

I haven’t shot much erotic over the last year, but I think it’ll be something I focus on more going into 2012. Something about the erotic is appealing to me again as it hadn’t for the last bit. I did one erotic themed shoot this year. I have a bit of a poor track record on my shoots with two models with an intent to explore erotic ideas. Seems like almost every one has something weird happen. A model doesn’t show, we get kicked out of a place, etc. Shoots with no erotic plans always go smoothly. This one went wonderfully though so maybe my curse is broken. Again a number I considered here, but in the end I think it’s the eye contact between the models that brings me back to this one. It feels like we’re peering in just as they lose control.

Best Boudoir

The latest photo here, shot on December 23 with Brynn Cook. I really love the intimacy of this photo. It feels like the viewer is looking over at the model after waking in the morning. I also feel the lack of nudity works as a strength since it gives it more of an intimate and less sexual feel. I left in the cluttered background precisely because I feel it supports the casual feeling.

Two Bonus Photos

Okay I lied about five photos. Here are two photos that really don’t fit in the theme, but I still want to highlight. See above quote about the king.

Best Rediscovered Photo

Reason this one is down here it that I didn’t take it in 2011. In fact I rediscovered it when I was sorting images for my eBook. It’s a wonderful image I shot back in 2008 with a model I’d met on a trip to Raleigh the month before. I think this might be the first image (or at least one of the first images) that I really nailed the lighting exactly the way I wanted it. Again perfect lighting, wonderful model, and just an amazing expression on her face.

My Favorite Photo As I took It

Because it had been a long, hot day and this was very cold and refreshing.

Hope everyone had a great 2011. Here’s to a even better 2012 (picture me raising the glass above).

Category: shoot