I found Corinne on a local
modeling web site. There are a few such sites in
the Portland, Oregon area, managed by local
photographers. There are a few photographers in
the area, ranging from fine art figure photography, to
good quality erotica, to girl-girl adult web
sites.
I
e-mailed the photographer on his
web site and he was kind enough to forward my
message to Corinne. My message included the
following information:
- My name, e-mail, &
phone number,
- My web site URL,
- What I had in mind -- in
this case, a paid "get acquainted"
sitting, featuring fine art figure photography.
I didn't include a proposal
for compensation -- I figured we could talk about that
if/when she contacted me. Corinne didn't
currently have Internet access, but she did call me a
few days later -- I gather that the photographer who
hosted the modeling web site gave her some idea of my
work.
At
any given time, I might have up to 2 or 3 such
"feelers" out to new models.
Corinne contacted me & requested that we
meet to determine whether we wanted to work
together. As I mentioned on the previous
page, I don't know why more models don't do
this or request references. Ideally,
every model who works with me will leave
wanting to work with me again -- at a minimum,
I want all models who work with me to leave
feeling respected & well treated, so
finding references isn't a difficult thing for
me.
We
met in late February, and I liked her right
away. I showed her my house (because
this is where we were going to work), showed
her some of my pictures, and even showed her
my web site. We chatted, getting to know
each other. Two things were of interest
for me:
- She got
laid off from work on the day we
met. Having been laid off
myself late last year, I could
sympathize. I, however, had
been planning on retiring right
around now anyhow, so I am in no
hurry to replace my lost job
ever. On the other hand, she
was a bit concerned about how she
was going to meet her rent.
(She has since found another job).
- She has a
significant tattoo on her right
hip. I hate tattoos, in
particular, I hate photographing
them. But hopefully, I could
work around it, especially if I
positioned the main light to the
right of the camera.
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So, we decide to
work together & we set up a time the
following week, on 3/3/3.
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If you've visited my
web site, which by now is approaching
"vast", you will understand that I'm
not bragging when I say that I've photographed
dozens of nude women. What might surprise
you is that I do get a bit nervous immediately
before a sitting.
First,
I've got to get things ready, which is a bit
of a production:
- First, I
have to push the furniture in my
living room out of the way.
Some just gets pushed to the
walls, others get dragged to the
adjacent room. I need a good
amount of space for the lights
& to get the appropriate
distance between the model &
the camera.
- Then, I
have to drag all the studio
equipment down from the upstairs
guest room, where it is usually
stored. This typically
includes the following:
- The
camera, it's tripod, and my
slight telephoto, normal, and
slight wide angle lenses.
- At
least three strobe heads with
varying sized stands plus the
power pack & all the
associated wires.
- Usually,
I drag down 2 to 4 different
backgrounds, depending on what
I want to do.
- Light
modifiers, including soft
boxes of various sizes, grids
& snoots & barn doors,
and reflecting panels.
- Props,
usually including towels,
which are much more
comfortable for the model to
sit on.
- Then I
roughly set up the first lighting
configuration.
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This is why I miss my
California studio -- in California, I had a
room devoted to studio work. It was too
small (only nine feet wide) with a normal
eight-foot ceiling that was a bit too low for
some configurations, but at least I had a pile
of equipment already present & set up, so
it was easy to get ready. Here in
Oregon, I really don't have a good spot to
dedicate for a studio -- the top floor is a
finished attic, with four foot walls that then
slant up to an eight foot ceiling; it's just
not suitable. So, I have to go through
this whole process which takes a bit over an
hour each time to set up, and typically after
a sitting, I'm too tired to put everything
away, and I leave the mess for the next day.
Then, I fret a bit --
I like to review what lighting setups I want
to try, because often, in the heat of the
moment, I forget some. In a first
sitting with a new model, I try of few basic
setups. For these pictures, after doing
the disrobing pictures featured on the
previous web page, I set up a simple setup,
featuring a large (4' x 6') softbox as a main
light with a spot light (created by placing a
grid in a small reflector) pointed onto the
background behind the shadowed part of
Corinne. Corinne is sitting on a small
bench, with a dark towel on top (the bench
itself would have been cold to sit on).
Here's a few more pictures using this light:
Corinne is
very "real". She has a birth
mark on her left breast. Although she is
very young, Corinne has a child, and her breasts
are slightly "deflated" & in
certain poses, she shows stretch marks.
When she saw these pictures, she immediately
pointed out the cellulite on her thighs.
She has a large mole or beauty mark at the base
of her neck, on the left side. While some
might consider all these things to be
"flaws", I choose to accept or even to
prefer them. You may notice an absence of
polished, highly glamorous, or
"enhanced" models from this
site. Somehow, such models feel somewhat
"unreal" to me -- my style involves
looking at the person, not just the body.
And here in front of me is a young woman who has
had it a bit rougher than most, struggling to
get by with grace & honesty. Life
marks us all, and those marks are often visible
on one's skin, and it is that which is the
source of beauty to me.
Continuing on,
I ask Corinne to turn around. I don't do a lot
of back photographs, which is funny because I like
backs, and as you can see, Corinne has a nice
one. Here's what I think is happening -- in
order to maintain a comfortable atmosphere during a
sitting, the model & I are carrying out a
conversation. Such a exchange is quite a
challenge to me, because I'm splitting my attention
between the talk, the technical aspects of the
sitting (e.g. exposure), and the aesthetic (e.g.
composition). Models are required to be
patient with me, because at moments, I may be
absorbed by other aspects of the
sitting.
But the
conversation is crucial to the sitting -- I want the
model to be engaged in the photographic
process. The conversation is a way to get the
model's brain in gear, and since I'm photographing a
person & not a body, connecting with the brain
is very important.
So, if a model
has turned away from the camera & me, it's that
much more difficult to carry on a conversation.
Corinne has a
very nice back -- nice muscles in her shoulders
& a very narrow waist. Here are a few more
pictures of her back: |
The
problem with asking Corinne to turn away from
the camera is that her large tattoo on her
right hip has moved from the shadow to the lit
side. We managed to hide the tattoo with
poses & shadows, but I simply find such
extra attention to be distracting. I
suppose that with infinite time &
patience, I could have reset the lighting to
keep the tattoo in shadow, but I don't & I
didn't. "Pace" is important to
a sitting, and my pace is fairly slow &
easy. Corinne is a young model with
youthful energy, and slowing the session down
any would have been too much.
Corinne was
constantly in motion during the sitting -- I'd
like to say that she was fidgeting, but
"fidget" has slightly negative
connotations. As a photographer, I like
having a model that moves around. A lot
of my kind of photography involves the
featuring of personality, and nothing does
that better than gestures.
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One last picture
using this lighting setup & the little
bench:
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Okay, in order to evaluate a model, I should photograph
her is a few different situations. So, we lose the little bench, change
the lighting, and try something new.
So,
Corinne rolls around the floor with me for a
while. Here's where I show my age -- I'm
not quite at the "I've fallen & I
can't get up" age, but I'm getting
there. This is unfortunate, because a
lot of models like to work on the floor -- I
was just thinking that Leona really looks good
on the floor. There's a little more
freedom on the floor -- on the little bench or
on a stool, the model has to sit still &
stay put, while on the floor, there are less
constraints.
Another floor
advantage -- it's easier to light the model
from above. My living room, which I use
for a lot of these studio lighting situations,
has a tall ceiling at 9'5" (at one time,
the ceiling probably was a little taller, but
the house is 113 years old). I believe
that we used a soft box on a boom arm -- even
though I was using my sturdiest lighting
stand, the whole setup was a bit precarious,
so we didn't use this setup much.
And that's another
thing I miss from my old California studio --
I had a boom arm attached to the top part of
the wall, just to the right of area occupied
by the model. This gave me a lot of
flexibility that I just don't have here.
And no, I'm not willing to permanently attach
a boom arm to the wall of my living room.
There are aspects of
this images that I like -- I like the
"realness" of Corinne's breasts,
especially in those where she is lying down,
and I light the splash of light on her hair in
this picture to the left. |
One last setup to
share. Originally, I wanted to do this
setup on the floor, like I did with Barbara
with this picture, but I just couldn't
figure out a way for me to get above Corinne
comfortably. So, we set up some strip
lights on either side of the model. I
have some sea shells & coral in a bookcase
in the living room, and I grabbed a few for
Corinne to hold.
I
study my own pictures a lot, trying to
identify habits & trends with the hope
that I can break some habits & increase my
versatility. One thing I've noticed that
I do is that I tend to photograph models from
a consistent distance, usually about 6-8 feet
away. So, that's a habit I could break
on occasion. In this case, I challenged
myself to move closer to the model, focusing
on a body part as opposed to a full figure
image.
I wanted to add the
coral element for a couple of reasons.
First, I like the contrast in textures between
Corinne's clear skin & the coral.
Second, as I mentioned, Corinne was full of
nervous energy, and by moving closer to her, I
needed her to be a little more still, so by
occupying her hands, I figured we could
counteract her fidgeting.
Not all images with
this final lighting setup utilized the
coral. Here's a final image for all of
you:
I like the subtle
& feminine musculature in Corinne's
figure, which is highlighted by her clear
skin.
Now I have to admit
that I got the sense that Corinne was more
than a little nervous during our
sitting. This was a little surprising,
because Corinne is experienced with some of
the more erotic photographers in the area,
having done some girl-girl modeling. I
get the sense that posing for fine art figure
photography was something more significant for
her, and she was anxious for approval. I
was happy to spend more time than usual giving
Corinne encouragement & feedback. |
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Assessment: It might not be
obvious to you, but I am still bothered by technical problems that have produced
substandard quality (to me) negatives. The good news is that I have since
figured out the problem -- I was using a bad batch of chemistry, and replacing
both my film & paper developers has resolved the problem.
Unfortunately, the negatives from this sitting are already effected and would be
unsuitable for fine art printing.
I think Corinne is a little self
conscious about what she perceives as flaws -- for example, she simply doesn't
like her legs. On the other hand, I see a young woman trying to live a
difficult life with grace. But to be honest, I don't like working around
tattoos. This is a bad combination together, making our
"chemistry" together a little forced -- something that probably isn't
apparent with these images. In fact, I really like some of the more
portrait-like images on this page, especially the ones where Corinne was on the
little bench, facing the camera.
I've got a few photographic commitments
coming up, including a return visit with Leona & photographing some
(clothed) portraits for a friend's wedding. Also, this is a transitional
time of the year for me -- Once daylight savings happens, I start thinking about
getting out of the studio, doing either natural light setups in the house,
setups in places other than my house, and maybe/hopefully outdoor photography
(once it gets warmer). At some time, I believe Corinne & I will work
together again, but unfortunately, we won't be able to do that anytime soon.
What do you think?
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