Shoot with Natalie Minx

I had the chance to work with Natalie Minx recently.  It was the first time I’ve worked with her, and I got the change to be the first to photograph her new look.  She’s a wonderful model to work with, and some nice photos from the shoot are below.  For part of the shoot, we worked around the concept of a person going through the stages of grief and you can see anger and sadness below.

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With the lack of winter, I’ve surprisingly not gotten outdoors yet this year. I had one scheduled back on the weekend, but weather didn’t cooperate.  I’m hoping Friday I’ll be able to break that trend and get back into outdoor work.  Several outdoor shoot planned already for the rest of this month and April and looking forward to getting back into the fresh air again.

Paper Masks–From Idea to Photos

Where do ideas come from?  In my book I discuss this some, but overall I find my ideas come from combining other elements in (what I hope are) new and interesting ways.  This shoot began when I decided to go out on a cold night in early January.  I was sitting in a bar and the video for “Du Hast” by Rammstein came on the TVs across the room.  I hadn’t seen the video or heard the song in several years, but in spite of barely being able to hear the song over the crowd it pulled me in.  In the video several members of the band greet a man while wearing masks cut off below the nose.  From the camera’s view these mask wearers get menacing later in the video.  I’ve seen the video a number of times, a friend loved the band and played them a lot, but something about those masks stuck with me this time.  They reminded me of Venetian masks, but aren’t quite those. 

I’d recently had being honest with someone backfire.  This left my mental state primed to think about masks and the way we often hide parts of ourselves from others and why we do so.  Being surrounded by couples enjoying a night out, people looking for love, people looking for lust, and people just looking to forget had the ideas of the various social faces we put on in mind.  The ideas of social masks came together with seeing those actual masks in the video and the idea came to me.  I excitedly described the idea to someone a few minutes later.  She didn’t share my excitement.  The idea I had was to take a photo of someone and use it as a mask.  In effect to mask someone using their own photo.

I first experimented with the idea a couple days later at the end of a shoot with Sarah.  I started basic here by taking a photo of the model’s face and then making a life sized print.  Then I had her wear the photo while taking other photos.  The results showed the idea worth playing with.

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So in a mid January shoot with Hannah Perez I worked on the idea more fully.  Instead of just using her face, I decided to take photos of much of her upper body and mix and match the photos on her to get different effects.  I photographed several body parts in different levels of zooms.  The difficult part came from trying to get the photos close to life size.  I didn’t want them exactly right as I wanted the body parts to be a bit smaller or larger than reality, but wanted them close to the real size.  It took some trial and error (and even getting out a tape measure to measure sizes) to get what I wanted.  We tried a few different combinations including taping the photos to Hannah while she knelt along with resting then on her as she laid down.

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Overall I’m happy with the results and have some ideas to explore this concept some more later on.

April in February

No I’m not confused on the calendar again, but recently worked with a new local model April.  She’s still starting out, but did very well in our first shoot together last weekend.  Looking forward to getting her back in front of the camera outside in a couple months when spring arrives.

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April Naomi

Lessons From Writing a Book

Early last year I got the idea to write a short book on photographing the nude.  I got encouragement to do so from a few models that I worked with along with a few other friends.  I started on the book in April.  In mid-December, I published it as an eBook that’s available as a PDF and for the Kindle and Nook eBook readers.  With a couple months past that date, I thought I’d share a few thought on writing a book.  These aren’t really specific to my book, but more general though I wrote my book with the idea it would be self-published from the start.

It Will Take Longer Than You Think

A good bit longer.  I started planning the book in April, but really got serious about writing the book in May.  I expected that I’d be done in August, but gave myself to the end of September as a buffer.  As I’ve already noted it didn’t come out until December, a month and a half later than my worst case estimate.

I completed the first draft in late June.  I sent copies out to some friends who’d agreed to review it.  I was a bit behind my plan, but not too bad at this point.  Over July feedback came in.  I took the feedback and made my first mistake by trying to hop around and fix things as I saw them while also addressing the feedback.  I tried to do all my edits at one time.  By late July the resulting second draft was a jumbled book that didn’t flow as well as the previous draft in spite of the other improvements.  I’d added new sections that didn’t fit well.  Things didn’t flow smoothly and build from early items to more advanced topics, but skipped around.  I knew the second draft wasn’t as good as my first, but I sent a couple copies out for review again.  The feedback on this version agreed with my fears.  The most accurate comment on the book was, “it wasn’t as clear as the first.”

By now we were into the second half of August, and I faced a choice on what to do.  I wanted to write a good book and if that meant being later than I planned, so be it.  I went old school by printing out the entire book on paper and bought a red pen.  For the next month I almost always had a blue folder with me containing that printed copy and a red ink pen.  I worked on the book just about every day.  I went through the printed copy several times.  First I clarified and reorganized the sections and filled in a few gaps to tie sections together.  Then I worked to improve wording and clarity.  Finally I went through to clean up grammar and spelling.  It now had more red ink than the worst paper anyone ever turned in during English class.  It took a bit more than another week to bring those changes from red ink on paper into my actual draft in Word.  It was now the end of September, around the time I ‘d originally expected to be done at the latest.  I had a much better book, but not a perfect one.

I had to put the book down to work on other things for a few weeks.  When I got back to it, I figured out what the earliest I could have a final pass to edit completed, finish getting the quotes and photos into the book, and get the preparation to sell it completed was mid-December.  I chose December 14 because it was my birthday, and I liked the idea of the final book as a present to myself.  I then worked to make sure the book would be ready to sale on that date.  Not just the final edits, but the web site and sales locations needed to be completed by that date.

I made the last change to the book on Monday, two days before the book came out.  That literally was just about the last possible moment.  The final sales setup I completed in the wee hours of the morning of December 14 with the live sales starting later that day.  The truth is that you’ll never be completely satisfied with your work.  Like a painting or photo project, you don’t really complete it as much as you call it finished and let it go.  I still feel like I could go back and do more work on the book.  Maybe that will be second edition.

Be Flexible

The book I had in mind at the start wasn’t the book I published in the end.  Sure most of the book is what I envisioned.  Before starting I built a list of topics to cover, and as I wrote I made notes of other topics to add that arose during the writing.  Probably 1/3 of the book’s contents wasn’t in the initial plan.  It needed to be there, but I didn’t see that until I noticed it missing as I wrote.

The biggest change I made in my concept occurred in September.  From the start I’d discussed the book with several models to get ideas of the things they wish new photographers knew.  Here I started to think of not just taking the advice, but quoting them directly in the book.  In the end I was able to work in comments from several models that I interviewed and quoted for the eBook.  I really think these quotes are one of the strengths of the book.

Get Help

Even with a self-published book you can’t do it all.  My best decision was to get a few people I trusted to give me feedback early on.  You need people who like you enough to be honest and not just tell you everything’s great.  I had three people who read the first two drafts and all provided feedback that led to a better book.  It was sometimes blunt, but that’s what I needed.  Like a photo you like because you remember the fun during the shoot and not the photo itself, you will fall in love with your own words.  It takes a lot of time to write a book and it becomes a part of you.  Getting someone else to look at your work, who doesn’t have that investment, and will give you honest and constructive feedback is vital.

The positive feedback also helps you keep going when frustration and aggravation set in.  Even a simple comment like, “I knew you could do this,” can help a lot.

Also know your limitations.  My design skills are okay.  I can put together a pretty good design given time (a good bit of my life has been spent building web sites), but I’m not quick at it.  So I hired someone to create a cover for the book.  That was the best money I spent on the book.  In the end I had to look at costs compared to benefits.  A cover was worth a little investment.  I would liked to have had a good copyeditor, but just couldn’t justify the cost.

It Will Suck Your Time

There were a few periods where it felt like I only went to work, worked on the book, and slept.  Social life?  Not as much.  Downtime?  Not as much.  Writing the book turned out to require a major commitment of time, and that time had to come from somewhere.  I turned down lunch invitations because I needed to spend that hour editing or writing.  I didn’t become a hermit or cast aside the rest of the world, but I had to make decisions on what I would do.  Sometimes I chose to go grab dinner with a friend, but other times I had to stay home and work.  If you’re ever went to college part-time, it’s much the same set of tradeoffs.  You have to balance what you want to do with what you have to do.  Sometimes the book had to come first, but at least twice I set the book aside for more than a week as other things in my life needed the attention.

Writing the Book Is Only One Part

What I screwed up more than anything was marketing for the book.  I put up a very simple site for the book during the summer.  It had a just a few words on the topic and a copy of a cover that I’d put together in about ten minutes (see above), but little else.  No sample text from the book, no photos from the book, no updates on the book.  In fact I didn’t update the site again until late November, a few weeks before the book was available.  In fact the book might as well have not existed as far as most of the world knew until about mid-November when I posted it here on my blog.  Next time I’ll have a cover designed as soon as I wrapped up the first draft and use the cover to build a web site that tied into the book and have it out there several months before the publish date.

One marketing thing I did right was my mailing list.  Before the book was available I had a place where people could sign up to be notified about the book.  A couple weeks before I started sending out info and updates.  On the day the book came out I sent out a message to everyone on the list letting them know.  I got a very good response and the majority of people who got the email ended up buying the book.

It’s not the Field of Dreams.  Just because you write a book, doesn’t mean people will come and buy it.  That’s the challenge I’m facing now, simply getting people to be aware of the book.

You Will Learn as Much as You Teach

I didn’t right a book to get rich.  I wrote it in hopes I could help other people learn.  What surprised me is how much I learned while writing the book.  It’s one thing to do something, but it requires more thought to describe to someone else how you do it.  It’s one thing to build rapport with a model, but another to explain how I do it for someone else.  It’s one thing to plan a shoot, but another to describe the process.

By writing the book I had to think about how I did things.  In some cases I liked the process and put it down.  In others case I realized places I could do things better.  I adapted.  Just by having to think about what I do, I had to evaluate it.  I think that doing this means I’m a better photographer than before I started the book.

I May Just Do it Again

So after more than six months of work, and so many hours that I really don’t want to know, I’d do it again knowing what would be involved.  Not only that, but I’m thinking about doing it again.  I have two ideas in mind and once I get a little more time behind me, I may just tackle one of them and start on the next book.

Fall 2011–The First of the Rest

The first of two final posts to highlight a few last photos from the last three months of 2011 that I want to share.  These didn’t easily fit into the categories of my other posts.  First a few of Charlie Kristine from November.

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And now a few of Kerri Taylor from December.

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First a few other photos from shoots with Melissa Troutt in October and December.

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First Short Movie

Still have another post or two to finish up my 2011 shoots and some 2012 ones to cover.  Over the summer I started experimenting with video.  As with most experiments there was more failure than success early one.  By late summer I felt ready to try a short film.  So in August I produced this short film I’m calling an erotic vignette.  It’s definitely not work safe, very erotic, and by no means perfect.  Still I’m happy with the results and feel I did capture the emotion and feeling I wanted in this clip.  So without further ado, here’s “Welcome Home.”

Starring Hannah and Jordanna

Copyright 2011 by Candid Vision

Fall 2011 Continues–In the Boudoir

In 2011 I focused mostly on shooting outdoor and artistic nude styled work.  I did work in glamour a couple times this fall while shooting with Charlie Kristine and Brynn Cook.  Boudoir is my favorite glamour style.  Whether or not nudity is in the photo, boudoir focuses on allure and seduction.  Sexuality is present, but subtle instead of in your face.  It’s a whispered promise, not an overt request.  I find it feels more flirty and real compared to most glamour which tends toward exaggeration and fantasy.

In the November shoot with Charlie I primarily worked on the idea of her with a man’s dress shirt and tie for our boudoir set.  Charlie again does a wonderful job looking sexy and alluring.  I’m not sure what it is about a beautiful woman wearing a man’s dress shirt and nothing else that just screams sexy, but Charlie pulls it off well.

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We also played with a few poses using the tie with a bit of a kinkier edge.  I like these in black and white.

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During my shoot with Brynn, we also explored some boudoir photos.  One of these I put in my Best of 2011 post and I won’t repeat here.  But a few others I especially liked from the shoot.  The first I think approaches the erotic, but still leaves more to the imagination than it reveals.

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Another few from the shoot playing with the perspective.  Looking down on the model from above adds an interesting element of intimacy to the photo.  It looks more that you’re looking down at the subject while above her, a perspective with obvious implications in the boudoir.

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Fall 2011 Continued – Water

One of my goals for November and December was to try to experiment with some new concepts and ideas.  I already posted about some work with the Japanese lanterns, but there were other concepts.  Another idea I wanted to work with included water indoors.

Most of my outdoor shoots are located near streams, lakes, or rivers because I enjoy combining the nude with water.  If we shoot, and the temperatures are warm enough (or even close to warm enough), then expect you’ll likely end up wet by the end.  Of course that only works for those months a model can comfortably pose in the water.  Even if the air is warm, the water coming down mountain streams can be much colder.  Really it seems that May through October seems to mark the limits with the first and last of those months being iffy.  For instance I worked with Keira outside on a comfortable day at the end of September on a day, but saw snow the next day.  I got in two outdoor shoots in October thanks to nice temperatures and luck.  Still in all three shoots there were limits to the amount of time I could get the models into the water due to the cooler air.

So, I’ve begun to explore working with water inside.  Again as with the first shoot with the Japanese lanterns, these are more experimenting with a concept than a refined idea.  First I tried shooting by dribbling water on a model.  Charlie Kristine did some nice work with this one as I subjected her to something a little too close to water torture.  I did get a few good images, but realized I’d need to go somewhere else to get the results I hoped.  And the table in the photo was not harmed creating this photo.

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Next I worked with Rachel Dashae for the first time and we did some work on the idea.  Here I put her into my shower.  Lighting the tiny bathroom proved to be quite a challenge, but again I was able to produce some results I liked.

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Last model I worked with this idea on was Xlcr Moon.  She brought the wonderful, and in retrospect obvious, idea of using oil to help bead the water on her body.  The results completed more what I’d been looking for in these shoots and this photo shows I think the best example of the concept.

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Catching up on Fall 2011 Continued–The White Light

In late November I walked into the town’s Pier 1 with the plan to buy a Japanese lantern.  I’d had the idea to shoot using once since seeing one at a friend’s home during the summer.  By luck I walked in right in the middle of a huge clearance sale on the lanterns.  So instead of leaving with one or two as I’d planned,  I left with about ten lanterns in various sizes from a huge sixteen inch to a few small four inch lanterns.

Nyxon got to be my first test subject as we shot together a few days later.  Lighting with the lantern turned out to a little tricky.  It puts out a small amount of light so it requires a very still model and longer exposures to get the effect I wanted.  Still putting the camera on a tripod allowed me to get a few interesting shots such as this multiple expose of Nyxon.  As before, Nyxon was a joy to work with given the experimental nature of this shoot along with some fake snow I’ll be posting more about later.

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Second shoot using the lanterns came during my shoot with Kerri Taylor.  Kerri and I had discussed shoots a few times before, but this was the first time we’d been able to connect.  Really enjoyed working with her, and she did well for the lantern portion of our shoot.  As always having done this once I was able to try some more interesting things with Kerri trying to take advantages of the strengths of the lighting.  I especially like the first one below where she’s looking up into the lantern.

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My third time working with the lantern came in a shoot with Melissa Troutt later in December.  Here I felt more open to trying some new ideas and playing with some new poses.  Here the idea was to pull more into her interacting with the lantern.  As always, Melissa did great work yielding the photos below.

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Overall I like the lantern.  The light is a bit harder than I’d expected, but I have some ideas to go from here.  I have an LED bulb that can do some color options that I think will be interesting to pair with this.  I also plan to explore adding in more lanterns.

Best Five Photos of 2011

The end of the year just invites reflection.  So on the last day of 2011 I’m going to look back at what I feel are five of my best photos of the year.  Notice the subtle shift from the title there?  Instead of just picking five photos, I decided to pick a few categories and pick the best photo in each one along with a little of the background behind the photo.  Fun thing is that since this is my blog I can be completely arbitrary and pick what I want.  As Mel Brooks said, “It’s good to be the king.”

My Best Photo of the Year

It came on a shoot in June, but this photo of Katlyn Lacoste I think has to be my best photo this year.  I thought so enough that I made it the cover of my eBook.  It’s not just me as 500px highlighted it in their “Fresh photos” the day I posted it to the site.  Everything just comes together amazingly with a great location, a wonderful model, and an amazing pose.  There were a number of great images taken here that day, but this one still stands out to me.

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Best Processed Photo

I normally don’t believe in a lot of processing.  I try to get the photo right in the camera.  Of course I’ll clean up blemishes, tweak lighting, and other things, but normally I feel the longer I spend on a photo in Lightroom or Photoshop, the worse the photo was.  This one is an exception.  I documented the shoot before, but loved playing with the multiple exposure concept with Melissa Troutt and feel this is the best photo.  I love the effect of the model photographing herself and want to play with the multiple exposure concept more in the future.

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Best Photo from Biggest Experiment

Most interesting experiment I did this year came when I did a shoot with Keira Grant, Hannah Perez, and Melissa Troutt back in late June.  Working with three models at once was an interesting experience.  It was very draining and required a lot of focus and work.  The results were wonderful, and I definitely want to try it again someday.  There were a lot of photos I could have picked to put here, but over time I’ve come to feel this photo best captures the idea of exploring the relationships between women.  What I think appeals to me also comes in other ways you can interpret the photo.  Why’s Melissa trying to pull away?  Why is Keria trying to stop her while Hannah appears indifferent?  So many ways you can answer those questions and each gives such a different story.

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Best Erotic Nude

I haven’t shot much erotic over the last year, but I think it’ll be something I focus on more going into 2012.  Something about the erotic is appealing to me again as it hadn’t for the last bit.  I did one erotic themed shoot this year.  I have a bit of a poor track record on my shoots with two models with an intent to explore erotic ideas.  Seems like almost every one has something weird happen.  A model doesn’t show, we get kicked out of a place, etc.  Shoots with no erotic plans always go smoothly.  This one went wonderfully though so maybe my curse is broken.  Again a number I considered here, but in the end I think it’s the eye contact between the models that brings me back to this one.  It feels like we’re peering in just as they lose control.

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Best Boudoir

The latest photo here, shot on December 23 with Brynn Cook.  I really love the intimacy of this photo.  It feels like the viewer is looking over at the model after waking in the morning.  I also feel the lack of nudity works as a strength since it gives it more of an intimate and less sexual feel.  I left in the cluttered background precisely because I feel it supports the casual feeling.

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Two Bonus Photos

Okay I lied about five photos.  Here are two photos that really don’t fit in the theme, but I still want to highlight.  See above quote about the king.

Best Rediscovered Photo

Reason this one is down here it that I didn’t take it in 2011.  In fact I rediscovered it when I was sorting images for my eBook.  It’s a wonderful image I shot back in 2008 with a model I’d met on a trip to Raleigh the month before.  I think this might be the first image (or at least one of the first images) that I really nailed the lighting exactly the way I wanted it.  Again perfect lighting, wonderful model, and just an amazing expression on her face.

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My Favorite Photo As I took It

Because it had been a long, hot day and this was very cold and refreshing.

 

Hope everyone had a great 2011.  Here’s to a even better 2012 (picture me raising the glass above).

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