Meira & Nick

Mer is a close friend and someone that I've photographed many times. I've photographed her alone, and also with other women as well. We had talked about doing a shoot with her boyfriend Nick before, but it took a while before we finally got around to it. Both the sentence that starts off this post and the images that follow are very similar to my post and images from yesterday. This is not a coincidence- Mer & Izzy (she is in the previous post) have a lot in common, and this shoot and the other bear a marked resemblance to each other. The chemistry is the same. The same intensity is there as well, although this does come at least a little bit from me- while I tend not to interfere during these couples shoots, I let them know in the beginning what I'm looking for. I like for there to be a push & pull, a realness without posing, and I tell them to ignore (as much as possible) my presence. I also like consensual violence, which I think makes for more dynamic images. That request does not seem to ever pose much of an issue with the people I've been working with lately...

Meira

Mer moved to Chicago earlier this month, so I will only be able to shoot with her during her occasional visits back to Philly. Sadness.

Meira

Mer is one of my closest friends. She is probably my favorite person to shoot with. Shoots with her are always very laid back and typically without any agenda- pick up the camera and shoot. I always get something good, but if I didn't I don't think that she would mind, which is why I never feel any pressure. Not that I usually feel much anxiety over shooting anymore. I used to get anxiety about any upcoming shoot, but nowadays I only get anxiety about something that has to be done exactly right with a very demanding client. Still, shooting with someone new, I always feel a need to really impress them (not necessarily a bad thing...). The fact that they perhaps have never done a shoot before only adds that much more pressure.

Meira

Mer is one of my closest friends, and she is probably my favorite person to shoot with. We've done every type of shoot together- pinup, fashion, portrait, abstract bodyscapes, as well as many erotic shoots. Shoots with her are always very laid back and usually without any agenda- pick up the camera and shoot. This shoot seems to be part of an emerging series featuring toys...

Meira & Mara

Mara had seen some of the photographs that I took of Meira, and mentioned that she would really, really want to shoot with her. The feeling was mutual for Mer, so that was easy. In fact it always seems to be easy to get two girls to do a shoot together– I can't recall ever getting a decline after suggesting it. It's actually much harder to get a guy to do a shoot with a girlfriend or wife. The woman is always game– it tends to be the guy who is apprehensive. Guys tend to not like having their performance documented. I actually had a few shoots not materialize because the guy got cold feet. It was something that was a bit frustrating at first– getting guy/girl shoots was something that I really wanted to add to my portfolio for a couple of reasons. One reason was aesthetic, as I wanted some balance, since a lot of girl/girl looked unbalanced. The most important reason was that I knew that once either a woman and/or couple viewed my portfolio, and saw some images like that, then they would be inspired to try it as well. Which is exactly what happened. People don't always know what they want until they see it. Not everyone has the imagination to envision possibilities, nor do they necessarily want to be the first to try something new. But when they see a good example of how it will turn out– it definitely breaks the ice. That's how I wound up doing so much erotic photography in general. It's a domino effect. When people see my work, they often get a very visceral reaction. They say "Oh, I want to be involved in that!".

Meira

Some more Mer, some more windows. I love the diversity of characters that occasionally appear in the window. The fact that there can be two separate scenes happening simultaneously- the characters down on the street, and the model inside- and that they often have nothing to do with each other, really amuses me.