2022

Floofie as a Flapper

My first shoot of 2022 began with a studio shot with two of my most reliable and steady models. I've been shooting with Floofie and Merrique for over 10 years now, and they've never failed to delight me with their poses and the images I get from the shoots with them. The concept for this first shoot was a 1920's Flapper Pinup. They both nailed the look and the poses. It was a great first start to the shooting year.

My wife and I had been working on remodeling our home for most of the first six months of the year, and we really didn't finish with all the remodeling until the end of July. So, the shoots I've been able to complete have been a nice reprieve from the hard labor at home. So far this year, I've been able to complete five shoots so far this year with several more planned before the end of September. Including two with models I've never worked with before. 

I've already worked with one new model this year, and did an initial test shoot with another. Gwen, the model I shot with for the test, has a lot of potential, and I'm hoping she'll develop into a new regular model for me. Her experience in modeling is primarily in figure modeling for drawing classes, but she has a good look and an strong interest in photography and modeling. Unfortunately, she was waylaid by the Covid virus and so has been unavailable to shoot for the past couple of weeks, but she has recently recovered and will be shooting soon, I think.

As I continue my posts, I'll talk about each of the shoots in more detail and I hope that it will give any readers some inspiration or at least some ideas for different concepts and techniques. My goal is to post at least once a week until I've caught up with this year's shoots, then perhaps return to semi-regular postings about glamour photography, editing and shooting techniques, and general photography concepts as well as some new equipment reviews. In the meantime, enjoy these additional shots from the 1920's Pinup Shoot.

Merrique

More Merrique

 

2021

Joey in 2021

When summer break (and my freedom from school arrived) I was sure I'd be able to get out and do some glamour work, but if you read my last post you'll already know that the shoots I was able to accomplish were done before the summer break. No one was going anywhere that year - we were wearing cloth masks and gloves to go to the grocery stores to survey the sparsely stocked shelves and very limited and rationed supplies of toilet paper, paper towels, and sanitizer. Models adapted and remote shoots became a process. It was not a great summer. 

When the school 2020 -2021 school year the school district was far more prepared and the online school work was far more structured and interactive and we all became super proficient with Zoom meetings and submitting lessons online. Those lessons included written assignments, videos, photos and believe it or not, nature walks. The lessons were time consuming, starting at 8:30 am and finishing up usually after 5 pm. Of course, everyone was still social distancing and very few, if any, models were posing in person. In December, when vaccines became available, I hoped things would get back to normal, but the limited supply meant younger, healthy people (like models) were the lowest priority and so for modeling and glamour photography nothing changed. 

Bree Summer 2021

Fortunately, as 2020 segued into 2021 vaccines became more and more available and in the summer near the end of the school year, things were looking a lot better for glamour. I managed to get five shoots done in the summer of 2021 - examples of which you can see in this post. Only one of the shoots was with a new model, Cat, but three of my favorites came to my rescue with their willingness to shoot. 

Unfortunately, in the late summer, early fall, the Omicron variant of the Covid-19 virus became predominant and out of an abundance of caution, my family decided I would continue to coach my granddaughters until at least Christmas, and then until Spring Break, and then, ah, heck, just finish the school year. Now, I won't say things are back to normal by any means. Vaccines and boosters are readily available to those who need and want them, and while I try to be apolitical in my blogging, the anti-vax idiots are keeping the virus dangerous with by incubating new mutations of the virus in their bodies, and yes, continuing to fill up hospital beds and morgues. 2022 is looking a lot better, though and I've been shooting pretty steadily for the past few weeks. More about that in my next post.

Cat

Joey in September

Floofie (Kira) in her Studio

2020 - Global Pandemic - Year 1

Lust - Merrique

The twentieth year of the second millenium of the Common Era was almost a total bust for me photographically.  I did exactly two glamour shoots the entire year. One was a Patreon set for my friend, Merrique, and the other was a socially distanced, outdoor shoot during a lull in the pandemic. The rest of the time was primarily spent coaching my kindergarten and 2nd grade grandkids with their online studies while we were doing our best to deal with the pandemic conditions.  

I did do a bit of editing and cataloging and, of course, I continued to take photos of my family events and portraits of my grandchildren as opportunities permitted. I did a fair amount of walking and biking, but most of the summer and into the fall we were plagued with heavy smoke from the many wildfires in the surrounding areas which made landscape photography nigh impossible. It definitely impacted the ability to breath out-of-doors and made for some unusual sunsets and sunrises.

Danielle at Sauvie

Fortunately, my one outside shoot happened in May before the wildfires gained a significant hold. We shot on Sauvie Island, one of my favorite places, and even though the model and I stayed well apart (separate vehicles to the area), we got some lovely images. I also found out where the exact boundary of the clothing optional area was located thanks to a friendly ranger.

Along with the pandemic, we had the utter chaos of the election cycle and all the idiocy that typically goes along with it. This time, though, it was exacerbated by the lies and venality of the former president and his cult of ignorance. Fortunately, there were enough sane voters left to oust the previous president, though the Big Lie continues and he continues to babble his nonsense on the right-wing networks that will have him.

That's enough about 2020.  I'll discuss 2021 in my next post.  At least I'll have a few more images to share.