Candles with Xlcr Moon

After the shoot with Bree using candles, I decided to work the concept again with Xlcr Moon in another shoot. The setup I build much the same with the black flooring and black background. The main difference in these images came in planning to shoot them in color from the start. Moon’s pink hair provided a nice focal point for the color images. Adding color also made me feel more free to bring in some of the wood flooring in addition to the foam core such as in this first photo.

Xlcr-Moon-2014-03-13

Candle light provides a different color texture and feel to the images compared to working off traditional flashes. The dim light also meant longer exposures. Having models capable of holding a pose for a few seconds both here and with Bree let me take longer exposures giving the candle light time to provide a more even soft glow.

Xlcr-Moon-2014-03-9

As always you can see more from the shoot in the Members Area.

Candles and Bree

Working outside takes a bit of luck. The weather from November through February rarely allows outdoor work. Even as late as May an unusually cool snap can bring cancel or bring a planned shoot to an early conclusion. So it’s a bit of a surprise that I’ve worked with Bree Addams a few times, and we’ve been able to shoot outdoors each time. It was a near thing last time thanks to threatening rain, but the shoot worked out very nicely. This time though we scheduled to work inside for the first time.

We started working with candles as the sole light source. I used candles in one of my first nude shoots, and have always liked the combination of the relatively dim and unsteady light with the nude form. The light is very distinct from any other light source and can give some interesting effects. Having all the light on the floor around Bree lets the dark areas dominate the image, especially toward the top of each photo. I like the way it brings focus to her and the different perspective of being lit from below instead of above.

Bree-Addams-2014-03-1 

I used a textured floor to give something else for the candle light to play on. The flooring actually comes from foam core that was dimpled by stilettos in a shoot several years ago. I’ve found it handy for just these types of situations and keep it around. I like how these came out and the results inspired me to try some color variations in a shoot I’ll be posting images from soon. Also did some more traditional art nude work that day, but those will come later.

Bree-Addams-2014-03-23-6 

See more from the shoot.

Winter Time Lapse

I’ve been working to get something like this for a while and back in February everything came together. I was home for the day before the snow began and the forecast called for several inches of accumulation. So here’s a nice time lapse of a February afternoon where about three inches of snow falls. You can see a little melting toward the end of the video as it nears dark. Not to worry as more snow fell after dark ending with about seven inches in total the next morning. And for those who might not know, around here seven inches of snow pretty much shuts down everything.

Snowfall Timelapse February 2014 on Vimeo.

Work with Jessi June

I resisted the urge to come up with a month pun here since I used one last time I worked with Jessi. Winter weather has been rough this year, but finally spring seems to be winning out over the lingering cold weather. Not so much when I worked with Jessi in Nashville back in early March. I headed to Nashville for a couple days for a few shoots and to catch a Nashville Predators game (they lost unfortunately). My last shoot came with Jessi who I’d not worked with since last summer.

Jessi June 

The weather had been rather cold the night before. Walking back to my car after the hockey game in a brisk, cold wind the night before wasn’t fun. I woke in the morning to the oddest weather. The temperatures hovered right at freezing in the early morning with patchy fog around the city. While driving to meet Jessi, I saw several places where the fog had frozen onto the trees. The result made a number of beautiful wintry scenes. Because of traffic I never found a good spot I could stop and get a photo unfortunately.

Jessi June

Eventually though I made it to the shoot. While we didn’t have long to work together because of time constraints, Jessi as always is wonderful and it doesn’t take long to get great work with her as you can see from these photos from our shoot. As I left the temperatures had warmed up just a bit. One tree that had been coated in ice when I’d arrived now had those same ice chunks falling off covering the ground like hail. Winter hadn’t left yet, but at least it’s grip was loosening. Later this week I should have my first outdoor shoot of the year in a week that feels very spring like at last.

As always more from the shoot available on the members site at http://members.candidvision.com/2014/03/26/gallery-jessi-june-winter-2014/.