Heavenly Lit

To a varying extent, every sitting takes energy. Ashton, with her uninhibited posing, earthy attitude, and all around fun demeanor, is wearing me out in a good way. I didn't want to devote the entire sitting to fetish photography, so I opt for a simple setup -- placing the big soft box overhead.

I don't know how to express this, but some models just give you incredible amounts of energy. Ashton excels at this. It seems a shame to get her to pose quietly under the soft box, but I'm getting pooped. Every sitting tends to wipe me out --

I'm thinking aesthetics,
I'm thinking techniques,
I'm entertaining the model,
I'm communicating concepts,
I'm checking exposure,
I'm jumping around trying variations & new angles,
I'm wrestling with the lights & backdrops & equipment.

If you've hosted a sitting, you may understand what a three ring circus it can be.

I call this "the hair tent picture"; it's a favorite from this sitting.

When I was in California, I utilized overhead lighting more. Today, I have a boom arm that I can attach to my most sturdy light stand -- you put the strobe head at one end & a 10 pound counterweight at the other, then you wrestle & adjust until it is balanced, and then you have to position it properly -- not always easy when a big soft box is connected to the strobe head. Despite using a sturdy light stand, the whole thing feels precarious, and it takes quite a while to get things adjusted. In California, I had a boom arm attached to the wall -- that made things much easier, but to date, I've been reluctant about attaching that boom arm to my living room wall. The wall is beautiful, with a paint effect that makes the wall look like parchment, with a picture rail over 8 feet from the floor, and with coved ceiling (the top of the wall curves into the ceiling without a sharp corner). At this point, I don't want to mess with that.

Does it bother you that you can't see much of anything? Ashton's face is nearly obscured, and you certainly can't see enough to determine that she is nude.

If you can't make a sexy picture of Ashton, you are doing something wrong.

My top priority for every sitting is that I want the model to leave feeling appreciated & respected. As such (and because I'm shy), I often don't challenge a model much. Ashton, however, is a force of nature. She is so confident, friendly, fun-loving, earthy, and supportive (oh, yes, and gorgeous), she tends to be up for anything. That confidence of hers is a license to experiment -- I love the hair dance images we did during our first sitting and I love the orange slice images we did this time. Ashton is a photographer's dream model.

Reminder -- there are lots of additional images from this sitting in the Out Takes Galleries, and a single page of images in a "secret" gallery.