Di

Di had a cupping session (glass cups with a suction on top, which leave distinctive marks) the night before, which I was delighted to see. That, coupled with some other very recent markings, gave me a wonderful assortment of textures to work with. I was very happy with this shoot!

Cahira & Kiki

A lovely first shoot with Cahira & Kiki. I love the fluid, dance like feeling of movement in these. It's something that I'm always trying to get, but it's notoriously difficult to translate dance into a still photograph. Of course, incorporating the blur of movement helps, and I do sometimes use this tactic- but that often feels like cheating to me. Or even worse, it can seem like a cheap trick. When  I can get that feeling with out the blur, it makes me happy.

Meira & Nick, Part II

A while back I posted some images from the 2nd shoot with Meira & Nick, which where perhaps a little bit more romantic. Well, a little bit, anyway. These are a little more rough...

Izzy & Chelsea

For a while now, I've had this LARGE coffee table book on Pro Wrestling in my library of photo books. I never forget just how large it is, mostly due to fact that I carried it all around Boston after buying it at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts. It is half made up of 70's to 80's male wrestlers, and the other half is nude women "wrestlers" shot in Atlantic City hotel rooms in the 70's. Since the cover is an image of the women "wrestlers", it tends to get quite some attention. Everyone seems to be at least amused by it, although some absolutely love it. I've been meaning to do a shoot based on it for years, and I finally got around to it a few weeks ago. The results are only loosely based on it, mostly because the book's images are very amateurish. Not that that is a bad thing- they are amateurish in a spectacularly awesome way. I just wanted to take the idea, and do it in my own style. More interpretations will probably soon follow...

Setsuki

Setsuki is a circus performer, so whereas I usually do the rope work, this just her and a simple heavy chain that we linked up to the ceiling hooks. The brick wall, which is always behind the backgrounds that I typically use, is a nice departure. I've tried the brick before, and did not like it- I think that I got it right this time...

Heff

I feel as if I'm just starting to figure out how to best utilize my rooftop for getting the shots that I want. The first image is the decrepit wall that gets blasted with greasy exhaust from the Chinese restaurant below. That makes for a great background! The exhaust starts blowing around 4-5pm, so I usually shoot before then. The light is typically best before then, anyway. I love the fire escape in the second shot, but the stuff behind it tends to be too busy. Blowing out the detail- which isn't difficult, since the bars are so graphic & silhouetted, looks wonderfully simple. On the third shot, blowing out detail that is busy but accentuating detail that is textured, seems to work well. Shooting out there with Heff doesn't hurt, either...