Okay, I am very sorry! It’s been just over a year since I wrote anything in this blog. I have no excuse. I can write, I have stories, but I simply am such a lazy person when it comes to this sort of thing. I’ve not been so busy that I can’t do this. I just procrastinate. I think “I will write a blog entry, just after I’ve binge-watched 10 episodes of Brooklyn Nine-Nine and then edited some photos and cooked some food and gone to work etc…

I am a very bad man. I’m sorry

So anyway, this past year I have had a fair number of shoots and this post will highlight just one of them, good friend and relatively new model Alex. She had done a shoot a while ago while at college helping a friend out, and had some interest in trying out more so I convinced her to come along to my studio for a shoot. And she liked it. No, she loved it. And did a second shoot, and next week we are shooting for the third time.

Every so often you do meet someone who just has a bit of a knack of doing something very well, and Alex is very much one of those people. She has this wonderfully mesmerising look about her which I loved lighting. Because she is also a friend of mine, she was also quite happy to let me wing it and try out all sorts of crazy stuff. Some worked, some didn’t but that was more down to me just throwing things at her and seeing what stuck. Luckily more often than not we had successes.

I am so excited to see what we come up with in a weeks time, and I promise to be a bit more regular on posting here! in fact, if there is any particular article you wish me to write, say my thoughts on the industry, how to’s and interviews with models and photographers, please do let me know.

---

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

So a little while ago a new model got in touch with me. Her name is Katherine. She was new to the modelling scene and my shoot was to be her first proper shoot.She had done a little portrait work for a friend, and also did a fashion show thing for someone else where photos were being taken, but never actually a studio based full on shoot. When a model tells me that the first thought that pops into my head is “she will need a lot of directing” and “a lot of the shoot will be more practice than anything actually usable”. Because a fair amount of the time that is usually the case.

Oh holy hell was I wrong.

The plan was a lingerie level shoot, and as usual when a model arrives, we have a good natter for a bit beforehand. Bear in mind that this was a collaboration shoot so there was no real time limit for us. On a standard shoot typically a model will arrive and the shoot starts pretty much straight away. But when collaborating I like to sit down with the model and get to know her a little bit. It aids with the planning and also builds up a bit of a rapport going into the shoot. Also, in the case with Katherine, it helped to calm her nerves a little, because she was understandably a little anxious, being her first time.

She had mentioned a while ago prior to the day that she would be interested in perhaps doing some concealed nude work, but that would depend on how she was feeling and on the day she was very much in the lingerie level camp.

But by the time the shoot started, she changed her mind. She thought ‘fuck it, I’m doing concealed’ and the plan of action for the shoot changed. I told her “if you are doing this, in 15 minutes you won’t even notice or care than you’re naked”. And sure enough, 15 minutes later, she was totally into the shoot, and not even slightly caring that she was standing in front of my naked.

And my fears also about Katherine being inexperienced and requiring a lot of work also went in those 15 minutes. I was beginning to think I would need to call bullshit on not having modelled before. She was an utter star. Yes I did need to direct somewhat at the beginning – basic poses, head positions, working with the light, but in a short time the direction lessened and she started to exhibit a natural ability to pose, picking up quickly what worked best for her. This was going to be a fabulous shoot.

She loved some of the ideas that we were bouncing around, and the more we shot, the more excited she got seeing the back of camera images. Some models as the shoot goes on begins to wear down – it is hard work after all – but Katherine seemed to feed off of the shoot setups. It was fantastic, and eventually I had to call time on the shoot! She would’ve gone on for ages.

Rare is the time you meet a new model who shows natural talent for this industry, and she is both willing to learn, not afraid to ask questions, and quite literally puts 100% into the shoot. Before we had finished our shoot we were planning our second one (April, in case you were wondering!).

The average number of images I get from a shoot with a new model is usually around 10. So far I have got 21 edits from this shoot, and I haven’t finished yet – there are still some sets I haven’t touched yet!

---

Katherine Rose’s portfolio for enquiries and bookings can be found here – Purpleport

---

This is the question model Reii asked me a couple of months ago on Facebook.

“From time to time I do, why?” I replied. Some of you will be thinking that I asked a stupid question at this point, but read on!

“I’d like to do one, are you interested?” she replied. Bear with me, I still didn’t ask a stupid question!

“Really??? A long time ago you did one and you said you hated it, and you would never do one again.” Now you see why I asked why!

“Yeah, I didn’t enjoy it but I’d like to try again, see if doing a shoot with you will be better.”

Now there’s a challenge…

You see Reii had done a girl/girl erotica shoot about a year or so ago and since she had not done one before she wasn’t sure what to expect. Now I don’t know the details but she came out of that shoot thinking it wasn’t for her Perhaps it was the rapport with the other girl, direction (or lack of) from the photographer. I don’t know. But when chatting to Reii she made it quite clear back then that she had zero interest in doing another one. So when she asked it did throw me. Normally I am chasing her for shoots, not the other way around! But challenge accepted, and I said I would sort out finding another model. A date was set and off I go.

When doing a girl/girl erotica shoot, you cannot wing it. That straight off the bat is one thing I had to sort out, because winging it is normally how I shoot! But I have done a few of these now and know the requirements. Also it’s the little things you have to take into account too. Little being the operative word. Reii is 4′ 11″. You can’t put her with a model 6ft tall and expect magic to happen because the posing will become a nightmare – unless you restrict yourself to certain setups. So firstly I had to find a model who not only is happy to work to nude, erotica, does girl/girl shoots but is also not too tall.

I found a model who was around 5′ 7″. A fair bit taller but met all the other requirements and also had a great place to shoot at. I have worked with her several times before and at the location so I knew I could work out the height issue with little problems. So ideas were bounced back and forth, introduced Reii to the other model and got chatting.

And then nothing. The other model stopped comms. No warning, no explanation, no reason as to why, but simply stopped responding and refused to reply to any messages, texts, calls or anything.

Now models, if for whatever reason you decide you do not wish to proceed with a shoot, have to common decency to speak openly as to why. Don’t just stop communicating without saying a thing. That’s shameful, disrespectful and unprofessional. That of course applies to anyone in the industry.

But this left me with the task with only a couple of weeks to go to find another model who met all the criteria. But boy was I lucky! Charlie Wild, another model I have worked with before (and also on a girl/girl shoot previously) was available, but only for a limited time on the date the shoot was planned for (Reii has a packed diary so moving the shoot wasn’t an option). I’ll take that chance for a couple of reasons:

1. At 5′ 2″ Charlie is only 3in taller than Reii, which is much preferred!
2. Reii is fairly inked, and so is Charlie, so that would match better to the look.

The downside was that we lost the location. A good number of weeks of planning and ideas down the pan because we were without a location to shoot. There wasn’t enough time or money to sort out another place to shoot. So a studio shoot it became. But dammit I was gonna make the most of it!

But while planning the shoot, I wanted to move a little away from erotica and try to be a bit more ‘arty’ about it. All the previous ones I have one have been out and out erotica, intimate, sensual, nothing pornographic. But this time I wanted to get some pictures that also might be a bit more fun, or just different to the norm. I hope I managed to convey my intentions in the photos!

Reii and Charlie hit it off straight away, which was a huge relief. When I organise a shoot, I always allow pre-shoot chat time so that I can get to know the model (if I haven’t worked with them before) and get a feel for what they like or not. And I think it’s vitally important to ensure this time is available when doing a duo shoot. Otherwise you are essentially asking two strangers to be up close and personal with each other which is not the best way to go!

The shoot itself was a huge success. There was no moment when the two models felt uncomfortable with each other – in fact it was the other way around and it was like they were the closest of friends! I just wish I had more time to do all the ideas I had. But at least both models are happy to continue with our shoot on a later day.

So that’s about it! Enjoy the photos and watch this space for the second part of the shoot!.

---

Reii’s portfolio can be found here – Purpleport Portfolio
Charlie Wild’s portfolio can be found here – Purpleport Portfolio

---

Wow, what a weekend!

Kelly is not only a fantastic model, but also a close friend of mine. So to have the opportunity to spend the weekend with her at her place was a no-brainer. I was gonna be there come hell or high water!

For a change we had a bit of a plan, I turn up early Saturday evening, we eat, shoot outside in the dark, back, relax, sleep, then shoot the following day. It didn’t quite go that way though:

8pm – home and food ordered (Chinese – NOM!).
9pm – food arrived.
10.30pm – went out to shoot.
12am – back home and decided to shoot some more.
1.30am – carried on chatting and drinks while watching a film.
2.30am – Kelly got sleepy so she went to bed.
7am – I was awake and prepping.
10am – Kelly awakes.
11am – video shoot.
12.30pm – more food and chat.
2pm – afternoon shoot.
5pm – shoot finished.
5.30pm – 1 hour live broadcast on Instagram.

So as you can see, quite a busy weekend. If there’s one thing we learnt though, is to switch the primary shoot day from the Sunday to the Saturday. Not to maximise shoot time, but simply so we can properly have some fun afterwards with food and drink! Yeah, we are so professional! But I gotta say the photos were simply phenomenal.

And this is the thing I love about working with models who are friends as well. There is a whole different atmosphere during the shoot. In fact it isn’t even a job, it’s friends hanging out who just so happen to also produce photos for the enjoyment of others. What is also nice is that when you have worked a few times with a model who you really click with, it means you don’t have to worry as much about experimenting more with the more crazy ideas.

What is also nice is that the model themselves have a lot more trust in what you are doing when you want to experiment. There’s nothing worse for a model than to work to say concealed nude levels but a photographer to snap (and even worse post) images that show more than the model was happy about. There’s really none of that when working with a model who trusts you entirely and who you get on so well with.

What was a great bonus on the shoot is Kelly’s place. It’s a lovely home, and with lots of space, large windows, good sized bedroom and Kelly isn’t someone who likes lots of stuff in there too, so it was very easy to move stuff around to get the shot needed. I hope to shoot there many more times, I know there is still so much I can do at that place!

So that’s about it! Enjoy the pictures, we very much enjoyed making them!

---

Kelly’s portfolio for more images and booking can be found here – Kelly Hathaway Portofolio 

---

Hello! Okay so straight off the bat I wish to apologise for not posting anything in a while. I have no excuse – I had been lazy.

Not that I had been lazy with shoots. Not at all! I have lots of posts to catch up on, but today I shall be talking a little about my most recent shoot with a wonderful model, Sophia West. A dancer by profession, this was the third time I had worked with her, but there had been a two year gap between this one and the last one (I did a dance video with her the last time, click here to see that).

A lot had happened in that time. When I last worked with her she hadn’t done too much modelling, and didn’t even have a modelling name. I normally recommend models have a modelling name, especially with the internet, as a way to kinda keep their personal life a little separate from their modelling life. It’s not perfect, but it does help. So through our chat during the last shoot I helped her choose her new name. She loves it now.

After our last shoot she started doing a lot more modelling, moving up from lingerie and topless to nude, and dear God, she has a phenomenal figure for nude work. During the two years she did get a lot of shoots in, but for various reasons I won’t go into here, we never did get another shoot in, kinda loosing contact over that time. Well that all changed a month or so ago when I fired off a random ‘hello!’ message in her direction.

So a few messages, a date sorted and a couple of ideas in the bag (though not too many, I usually make it up as I go!), she came down to visit me.

And what fun we had.

When I first met Sophia, she was already a good model, but in two years she now knew exactly how to pose to make the most of her figure, great makeup skills, a good collection of outfits and a wicked smile that looks perfect.

I had a couple of ideas in my head for the shoot, including a couple of outdoor setups that could be done in a few minutes. Luckily days before the shoot I saw a coat in a charity shop that almost perfectly fitted into the design I had for one of the setups. I don’t know if I have mentioned it before, but I always recommend hitting the charity shops for outfit ideas. You can get some fantastic stuff for peanuts.

For the rest, go to Primark!

One other setup is the car shot. That was done right at the end of the shoot. I had intended to do it at the beginning, meeting her at the car park with my camera and just rattling off the shots, but stupid me forgot to bring the sunglasses. No matter, just wait a few hours and get it then. The result came out better than I had even anticipated!

So that was about it, the shoot with Sophia. Because of the issues inbetween the two years (which again I won’t go into), we have a lot of catching up to do, and are already discussing our next shoot. I feel I might have to do another video too, as I am wanting to get into that a lot more!

---

Sophia West’s portfolio and contact/booking details can be found here – Purpleport

So one area of photography that I have had very little experience in is erotica. There’s no particular reason why but I think it was because for the longest time I was quite comfortable in my little home studio, but at the same time I knew that it would be useless for any form of erotica photography. I know, I tried it once and although the images were ‘good’, it felt wrong being in such a clinical place as a studio. Well that changed more recently when I found a lovely little location just outside of town, know to many of us in the circles I frequent as ‘Tims Cottage’.

It’s a tiny little place, but if you know how to maximise the little areas that are available you can get a lot out of it. So the location was sorted, now it was down to the models. I had done an erotica shoot there previous to this one, but it was a little ‘softer’ than I wanted. The images were great, but I knew I could do more. Funnily enough the model who got the ball rolling was a lovely girl called Kelly (Link to her portfolio below). She was the one who first suggested getting a girl/girl erotica shoot done. She had not done one before and was really interested what she could do. And she is very comfortable, confident and happy to try out most things!

The second model proved to be a little tricky. At first Kelly had a person in mind, who was more than happy to get involved. But about three days before the shoot the other model had to pull out. Sometimes these things happen and you just have to work quickly to fix the issue.

Then at the last minute Serenity stepped up to the plate. She too was more than happy with what was required, and had a little experience in it – although in her words “…none of the previous ones I ever did was this technical and posed so precisely!”. I’ll take that as a compliment!

So the plan was to really get quite erotic. Not pornographic – I didn’t want anything too visible – but the implication of passionate intimate moments between two lovers. And I think we nailed it. Even though the two girls had not met each other before, they got on like a house on fire. And were perfectly comfortable just trying things out and talking about ideas they had too.

All in all, it was a huge success. I was so happy with how the images came out! Kelly too really got a lot out of it, even mentioning that she got many more bookings purely off the back of this shoot (That goes to show that collaboration shoots can be a great benefit to models when done well!). Serenity too was extremely happy and immediately got back to me to work together again. So result for me too!

Woohoo! I made another video! this time it is called ‘Rage’, featuring model Ecce and using the theme music from the PC game Quake (edited by me). It was filmed at an old abandoned asylum which I am so using again! The place has so much potential!

Rage

Look at that, someone wanted to interview me about my photography. Awesomeness!

Click here to read Guffogg the Geeks interview!

 

Hello! It has been a while since I have written anything. I have been just so busy with the day job and shoots and finally the video idea that had been running around in my head for ages!

On the back of the dance video I had made with Sophia West many months ago I had wanted to do another, and while mentioning this to the fantastic model Anna Rose, I stupidly said “It would be great to do a dance video but all in one take!”.

She loved the idea and that was it, I had to do it. She would freestyle the dance and I would record it.

Now it was also a bit of an experiment for me too, as I have wanted to get a budget steadicam setup for future works and you kinda have to have one for a one take dance video! I will fully admit that the result is not 100% perfect – I did do many things wrong. Some of it I could cover up in post, the others only I will ever see and agonise about! But for your viewing pleasure, here is the dance video that we made!

Anna Rose – Freestyle (Explicit Lyrics)

But I’ll say one thing… 15 takes later and a dying model and photographer from all the hard work, I’m not doing that again!