Gummy Worm

Working with models multiple times is quite a challenge. For the first couple of sittings, we are just trying to get to know each other and to figure out how best to work together. Then, if we make it to the third or fourth sitting, things get interesting. In particular, I want to set the bar higher and to produce images that are more challenging in some way.

Well, for this sitting, there is both good news & bad news in this area:

The bad news: Working with the new camera is a challenge in itself. Frankly, I don't want to be thinking about the camera -- I want to be focused on the model & on the aesthetic aspects of the sitting.
The good news: Natalia & I are working closer than ever before.

Okay, this final idea came partially from wanting to put the new camera through its paces. I did want to use the second lens.

Here's my thinking that generated the basic idea: I've got plenty of pictures of Natalia's overall figure, and I thought to focus on one particular feature of hers. I chose her lips -- she has a full & sensuous mouth. Now, I've seen tons of close-ups of lips, and I just didn't want to repeat that idea -- it's been done enough, and I doubt, even with Natalia's yummy mouth, that I could improve upon them. It is my style to occupy the model's brain, to keep her busy doing something. My solution: gummy worms.

When I explained that I wanted her to play with some gummy worms, Natalia said, "Okay", but I'm not sure she got the concept fully. But she was game, and she tried it out.

It takes us a little time for us to warm up to the concept, but that's okay with me. Sometimes, the process requires that you make lots of exposures before you get to the heart of the concept.

To be honest, I don't know how many gummy worms Natalia had to eat, but she went through them rapidly. I had envisioned that she'd play with each worm for a longer time, but she didn't, and I didn't tell her to do anything differently.

It's interesting. Sure, I often ask models to do something, to keep their brains & hands occupied, but in addition, we stumbled upon an activity that engaged one of Natalia's senses, her sense of taste. That added more benefits.

We work the concept, trying angles & variations. Natalia is too quick for me, pouncing on each gummy worm like a hungry bird. I wanted to catch the worm just before Natalia captures it in her mouth -- I come close, but I never did quite get it. Still, my failure wasn't a big deal -- we got a lot of fun exposures.

Natalia is enjoying herself.

Or she's feeling a little silly.

Or both.

Skin, lips, worm, and bracelet: what's not to like?

Normally, I tend to ask models to remove all jewelry & accessories. I don't know why I didn't today.

Getting models to remove jewelry can cause problems, in that sometimes jewelry gets left behind. When Natalia was here months ago, she lost a bracelet when we were working in the Close Canyon. I returned it to her this time.

There! I did catch her in mid-pounce.

I do like this lighting, and I expect I'll use it again, but when I do, I think I'll add a secondary light behind the model, illuminating the backdrop. That will give a little tonal separation between the model & that background.

I do like these strong shadows. I had a medium sized softbox suspended on a boom arm just above my head -- it was fairly close to the model, which helped create those strong shadows.

(No real worms were harmed in the production of these images).

I don't know how many gummy worms Natalia consumed, but it was several. I liked the portraits we did earlier, so we do a few more.

Okay, sometimes the choice of lighting puts some constraints on the posing. This is one of those times. With the light coming from above, I had to ask Natalia to "cheat" her face up a little bit. If/when she kept her face level, there were too many shadows.

This pose emphasizes Natalia's lovely neck & sensuous lips. Makes me wish I was a vampire.

I really, really, really like this image. The nudity is just secondary, but the lighting & the interpersonal contact makes it special to me.

We might be done with the gummy worms, but I wasn't done feeding the model. Getting Natalia's taste buds involved was nice -- several of these images had a sensuous feel primarily because we were engaging her senses.

So, I figure I'd feed Natalia an orange. The first thing she did was this. I asked her if this was how she ate oranges. No, she replied. This is how she ate oranges when people were photographing her eating oranges.

Other than scaling the pictures to fit on this page, this is a relatively unprocessed image. Boy, those colors look good on my snazzy new monitor.

That was a good orange!

Natalia was quick with the gummy worms, but she took her sweet time with the orange. We made a big lot of exposures. I was trigger happy.

Good orange. I kinda like catching Natalia in mid-chew.

Eating that orange is messy work. Notice the drop of juice on Natalia's neck?

Fear not -- the orange is all but consumed.

All gone.

Bonus Pictures!
There's still a little time left in our sitting, and I didn't want to feed Natalia anything more (until dinner, that is). So, with a slight adjustment to the lighting, we finish today's session on the big comfy chair.

I'll admit that I'm kinda on auto-pilot at the moment. We are continuing to make exposures because a) I've been enjoying my time with Natalia a lot, and b) we had time left over in our scheduled time. Natalia is either indefatigable, or I'm just not challenging her enough to wear her out. My typical sitting is scheduled for three hours, and I'm beginning to think that perhaps I should cut that down to two.

I do like the lighting here. It makes Natalia glow.

I had an especially good time with Natalia. I felt that we grew closer. I got to put the new camera through its paces. We tried some ideas, some of which were a tad crazy. We produced some fun images.