Inna, Downstairs

Inna is a well traveled model: she was born in Russia, raised in Israel, and was spending a few months here in Oregon. She has a "charmink" accent. Through one of the on-line modeling sites, we connected & agreed to a sitting. Inna has done a lot of fine art nude modeling, and she wanted to try a little more sensuously erotic posing. Well, I can do sensuous -- so we keep that in mind as we got to know each other.

I've often mentioned that my house here in Portland is an old Victorian and that the city has grown up to engulf it. I don't think I've often mentioned that the house is actually a duplex: the ground floor is a rental unit, and I live on the second floor & the finished attic above that. Each floor is around 1700 square feet, so with the basement, there's around 7000 square feet in the building.

At the time of this sitting, we were between tenants, and the unit was empty. The previous tenants did a good job of leaving the unit clean, so Inna & I start our sitting down here. This is the dining room, and through the double doors to the left is the living room & front window. Through the single door to the right, you can see the street entrance. And that's our lovely model, Inna.

I don't think I'll ever get tired of this "Getting Started" setup, where I start by photographing the model in the clothes she wears to my door, and then piece by piece, I photograph her while she removes her clothes. So, here's what Inna was wearing when I first met her.

Inna & I exchanged several e-mails, discussing ideas for our sitting. She had mentioned that she's done a lot of fine art modeling, but she wanted to branch out a little & do some more sensuous, slightly erotic modeling. What better way to start than to watch her take off her clothes. The loose knit sweater was shapeless, but once it's removed, we can begin to see Inna's womanly curves. I happily give her license to entice me.

Do note that we are using natural light for all these downstairs pictures. There is another Victoria next door (off the right side of the image) -- sunlight is bouncing off of its white walls & through the three dining room windows. Gotta love that natural light -- I've been using natural light a lot during this year's warm months.

With that even light, Inna is free to move throughout the room. She's coming closer. Gulp.

Yes, she is teasing me, which is consistent with the kind of images we wanted to make. I ask her for a peek down her top, and she obliges me. Breath-taking!

I encourage her to continue removing her clothes, and she decides that her slacks are the next to go. I don't mind. These "Getting Started" setups take a while to complete, and that's half the fun.

You know, I did think about doing the cliché setup for Inna's sensuous dance -- we could have used a studio setup in a bedroom, with deep & mysterious shadows. But I didn't -- that's too obvious for me. I like the "afternoon delight" feel to this images.

No, I don't mind her taking her time at all. I am enjoying the eye feast she's granting me.

I don't have a favorite body type. I realize, however, the lately I've been photographing thin & svelte models. I figure that that is either coincidence or that there is an American cultural stereotype that says the models should be thin & small chested.

Inna is soft, womanly, and let's say it, busty. Not only is this a welcome change of pace for me (each body type presents its own challenges to a photographer), it's also quite appealing. Inna is marvelously comfortable with her body, and that confidence is incredibly sexy. I like it.

Inna changes levels for me, and gives me this enticing pose & look. I like the discarded clothing on the floor -- that tells a little story. We'll play with that soon -- we just got to get more clothes on the floor first. To that end, I encourage Inna to continue with her little dance. She's PG-13 now -- it's time for us to get that R rating.

As she lowers the straps to her top, I anticipate my favorite moment of the whole sitting...

... when I catch a glimpse of her full & perfect breast. Now we are getting serious.

In short order, Inna adds her thong to the pile of clothes on the floor -- it's just as well, that thong really didn't cover anything. Now that she is completely nude, our imagination can take off.

So, here's the trail of discarded clothes leading to the model image. You know, on paper, I like this idea, but somehow, the execution here is only fair. I'm sure I'll figure out a better way to do this in a future sitting.

Now that we've gotten Inna naked, we move through those double doors & into the front living room. Here she's lit by that big window in the front of the house, facing the street.

I can fantasize about passers-by being able to look into that window & see what's going on. Makes me wonder whether witnesses would enhance my reputation in the neighborhood. But the reality is that the so-called ground floor is actually about six steps up, and the lower part of the window is above most people's eye level when they stand on the sidewalk. Also, there is a little courtyard in front of my house, so people don't casually walk up to that front window.

But just imagine what people would think if they could look through that front window right now.

Nice lighting, huh? Mother Nature makes great light, if you only know how to look for it.

It is part of my nature and my style to think about camera placement. Beginner & intermediate photographers tend to hold their SLR cameras up to their face, and to me, that often results in a camera perspective that is just too high. If you look down on a standing model, for example, her legs tend to look short & stubby. I like lowering the camera perspective, photographing a standing model from as low as her navel height.

So here, I move the camera lower. It's on my tripod, which is set at one of its lowest setups.

I like Inna's pose -- it's both open & discreet. I like the look on Inna's face -- kinda makes you want to crawl across the floor just to get closer.

I'm also a big believer in the "Less Is More" philosophy. In this case, since we were trying to make sexy pictures of Inna, I figured that making totally nude images of her wasn't quite as sexy as images like this -- where she's covered: you can see that she is nude and that she is just one hand drop away from revealing all her womanly charms. The idea is to appeal to the sexual organ between people's ears -- it gets you thinking.

I also like the direct look in Inna's eyes & her somewhat messy & out of control hair.

(And the texture of this blanket works well in this light -- you were looking at the blanket, weren't you?)

We try several images with this blanket.

We try a more relaxed pose, and in the images that follow, you'll see that the blanket slips on occasion -- whoops! I am enjoying working with Inna. She has a fine figure, a confident attitude, and perhaps most specially, an expressive face. I've worked with several fine & experienced models who tend to have wooden expressions. Not a problem here.

Throughout the sitting, the model & I are talking, and I try to inspire meaningful expressions from her. With some models, they concentrate on the camera & their pose, and as such, their expression rarely changes. With Inna, we are comfortable & relaxed with each other, and we manage to capture a variety of facial expressions.

Whoops! The blanket slipped. Let's take a closer look at that same image:

Inna raises up & shows me a bold & open pose, with the blanket providing the "Less Is More" element. I also like the expression on Inna's face.

There is something here that I don't like. I'm always aware (perhaps too aware) about tonal separation. Here Inna's left side disappears into the back wall -- both have almost the exact same tonal value, and as such, you can really not be sure about Inna's exact shape. I'm usually careful about that, but I'm using minimum props & equipment down here, so we move on. It's not really too terrible, but I notice it.

See? Here there isn't any problem with tonal separation. All it took was a slight change to the pose.

We move across the living room to the little entry behind the front door (off to the left side of the image) -- specifically, Inna occupies the little window seat. Diffused light streams in from the living room window (over my left shoulder) -- that light behind Inna is actually sunlight bouncing off of the Victorian house next door. The living room light provides the main light source, but the light from that window provides nice highlights to Inna's hair, chest, knees, and hand. Gotta love natural light, especially when it bounces so nicely.

Inna put this image on her One Model Place profile, and it was selected as a Showcase Image for the day.

We make a lot of exposures here in the window seat, but you'll have to go to the Out Takes to enjoy them (the Out Takes are available to those "patrons" who have made a donation to support this web site.

Lovely light! Lovely model!

I know we just got started, but I'm enjoying working with Inna a lot. She has a body type that is different from my typical model, but she is lovely, confident, and comfortable. We are connecting well & producing some great images.

I had planned on working downstairs only a little while. We started in the mid-afternoon, and the light here will start to fade shortly. Planning ahead, I have a couple of setups in mind for upstairs, in my home unit. We gather up the blanket, the camera, and Inna's clothes and wonder upstairs to see what we can find.

This sitting continues with Inna, Upstairs.