Inna Comes Clean

Frequent visitors to my web site might be getting tired of me throwing models into my shower / steam room. To these folks, I say, "Bah!" There's a lot to like about my shower photography:

It's warm & cozy in there.
It's a unique setting.
I get to sit close to the model -- here's I'm less than 6 feet away (I'm using a wide angle lens).
It's a convenient spot to get models wet.
I haven't fully taken advantage of the possibilities yet.

In any case, Inna & I plan to finish our first sitting together here in the shower.

'Taint braggin' if it's true: I've had the pleasure of having extended conversations with dozens (hundreds?) of beautiful naked women. In some cases, I'm always aware that the woman is nude, but in other cases, somehow the woman doesn't "feel" nude at all. I think the difference is simply confidence.

Inna is one of the "doesn't feel nude" type of models. She is just so comfortable without clothes. That's very appealing to me.

I always like playing with wide angle distortions when working here in the shower. I'm pretty much forced into using a wide angle lens -- the shower & steam room is big, but not that big. Here, Inna is about an inch or two away from touching the camera lens.

I do miss the pivoting / tilting live preview screen of the point & shoot camera. In order to obtain some unusual angles, I just have to guess with the DSLR, because I just can't maneuver my head behind the camera (or at right angles to the camera, using the special accessory). I am saving up for my own Zigview S2 -- that's probably my holiday gift to myself.

You've got to be careful with the wide angle lens distortion. In those pictures where Inna is kneeling & leaning back (and with the camera low like I like it), her legs are distorted & look a little too large. So, I guess the rule of thumb is this: a lot of distortion is better than a little distortion.

Here, with Inna leaning forward, the distortion isn't so apparent.

Here's a good example of what I was talking about. With Inna leaning back, her knees are significantly closer to the camera than her shoulders, and thus, her legs look a little large to me. It's not too bad -- in fact, I like this image a lot.

So, what's the solution? Ask the model to turn away a tad, so that her legs aren't pointing towards the camera lens.

This is actually the steam room, and there is a glass door leading into it -- you can see the door over Inna's left shoulder. Outside the door, I have a medium sized soft box on a lightstand, and the soft back is up towards the top of the door. That way, when the model is on the bench, the light looks natural. But with this setup, I think that the light here on the floor is very nice (as long as the model doesn't hide her head in that shady corner behind her).

Time to get wet.

Getting wet is problematic:

The glass door is closed, and this is a steam room. When the model uses hot water (and why shouldn't she?), the steam room gets, well, steamy. Not only does the steam room fog up, but the camera lens itself suffers from condensation.
We've got to be careful to minimize getting the camera (and me) wet.
Makeup tends to run when wet.
As soon as the model gets wet, and we turn the water off, the model starts to get cold, regardless of how warm it is in the steam room.

Note: we don't use the steam generator, for a lot of reasons. It takes a while before it gets really rolling, it creates a hecka lot of steam (I wouldn't be able to see Inna even though she's standing less than 5 feet away), and it gets awfully hot in the steam room (I like it hot, and it gets up to 115-120 degrees in there).

Still, for a steamy effect, all we need to do is run the hot tap water for a few minutes. Learning how to utilize the steam effects is another matter.

Nude + Wet = Sexy -- at least that's my theory.

I like this picture -- it looks like Inna is touching my chin. In practice, she's touching the bottom of the lens. There is no touching during my modeling sessions -- those models have cooties.

Back down on the floor -- this time with a wet model.

I really like this image. That wet & predatory look is pretty intense. Normally, the slight angle to the image would drive me crazy, but somehow I don't mind it this time. This is one of those pictures where I was "shooting from the hip" (i.e. not looking through the viewfinder) -- there just isn't room for me to be down there low on the wet floor.

Yes, this is a favorite.

Inna stands & wets herself down again. As I've said, once a model gets wet, she'll get cold unless you continue to refresh the water. Here's, she's standing on the floor (as opposed to sitting on the bench) -- this moves her closer to the glass door & the light source, when makes better shadows, I think. I also like that you can see the water beading up on her skin.

One last picture -- once you get a model wet, you have a limited amount of time to work before she just gets too cold to work.

So, I ask Inna to lean in, as if she were going to kiss me, and she obliges. Look at those luscious lips!

But to be honest, as hot as she looks, she also looks like she's cold, doesn't she? So, we call it a day.

What I knew before we met: 1) Inna had a body type that was different from what I was used to, and 2) she wanted to create images that were more sensuous / erotic than the typical "fine art" photograph. So, I didn't know what to expect.

But I found Inna incredibly easy to be around and to work with. She was so comfortable with her body. She was expressive & willing. I really enjoyed working with her. Sadly, she's since moved away from this area. I hope she returns for a visit -- I would love to work with her again.