Shooting as Fun and Therapy

Wanda is away for a couple of weeks. Her mother took a severe turn for the worse and she made snap decision to make the trip back to Georgia. It was certainly the right decision, given the circumstances, as her mother almost died before the doctors got her stabilized. She's out of the hospital now, but Wanda needs to remain with her parents for a while longer to assist with setting up her mom's home therapy and to help get both her parent's affairs in order.

Her mothers sudden turn was precipitated by a fire that destroyed both their outbuildings, included her father's woodworking shop and resulted in the lost of several thousands dollars worth of equipment, as well as many precious family heirlooms. The stress of the event (which has been determined to be arson), was just too much for her mom who has been chronically ill for several years now.

I have, of course, had more time on my hands with Wanda gone. We talk every morning, and I'm doing a lot of on-line research and paperwork for her parents, but given the three hour time difference, my evenings are mostly free except when the grand kids are here (a couple of nights each week so far). To get my mind off things and to give me something to work on while she is gone, since I've cleaned the house, the yards and the garage already, I took a road trip on Sunday and then shot with a young model I'm helping to get into the business on Monday and Tuesday.

The road trip was quite relaxing. I took Hwy 26 and Hwy 6 to the coast and it was a gorgeous spring day for the trip. From Tillamook, I took the Three Capes Scenic Route and did some photography out at Cape Mears and the lighthouse, then drove down the coast to Florence to meet my model and spend some time with her parents.

The model, Gabriell, is a lovely and talkative young lady, had expressed an interest in modeling part-time to earn extra cash. She is quite photogenic. I've known her for several years and Wanda and I are great friends with her parents. I photographed her for her senior portraits last year, and she was the Sand Fairy for my ongoing project. I definitely wanted to have a discussion with her parents before the shoot to keep them in the loop and to explain what we would be shooting, especially since I expected that Gabriell would be interested in the more lucrative areas of modeling (glamour and artistic nudes), based on her previous history. Of course, it was just fun spending the time with two good friends and chatting about life and family as well.

On Monday we got an early start shooting per our shoot plan, and headed out to Collins Beach, on Sauvie Island. As you can see from the image to left, Collin's Beach is a Clothing Optional area. The look on Gabriell's face was something to see when she saw the people on the beach, but she was quite game to get started and we got some great shots. The day was beautiful with a clear sky and wonderfully, warm weather and we had great views of Mount St. Helens and other peaks in the background. We spent about 3 hours shooting there in various outfits, and I think we got a number of great images for Gabriell's portfolio.

Here are just a couple of shots from that session:



Over the remainder of the day and the following morning, we got quite a number of additional images, but I haven't had the opportunity to process any more of those (the grandchildren have been staying with me since Tuesday), but I certainly think that this young lady has potential and with some hard work, she could make some real money as a glamour model for local artists and photographers.