Two Days, Two Shoots Redux

C'est La Vie

I do enjoy landscapes, but glamour photography is my forté, so I was glad to get back to it. K, modeling as C'est La Vie, was my first shoot of the week. Petite K has a charming smile and easily kept up the conversation as we segued through the costumes I had picked for our shoot. 

When I had shot with Jessa last month, she had brought a couple of her own costume items that gave me an idea for a new concept: goddesses of nature. Based on that, I put together this shoot thinking to expand on the idea. I did a little shopping on Amazon, got a few new props, combined them with some existing outfits and materials I had in my inventory and created something new to shoot. 

Wicked Goddess

Since it was the first time shooting this concept, not everything came together as I had hoped, but that was entirely my fault and certainly not the models. K did an excellent job, but at some point we had a loder gentleman that started watching us closely from a distance and even followed us around to watch K pose. That made her so uncomfortable, I had to speak with the man and politely ask him to leave us be. Fortunately, he got the message and wandered off. There are drawbacks to shooting glamour outside even on a nude beach. Unless you're on private property, and sometimes even then, you can't be sure you don't have an audience.

After I got rid of our audience, we continued the rest of the shoot without incident. I think the shoot went pretty well, all things considered, and I thanked K for her patience and persistence when the shoot was complete. Since she was a photographer herself, we discussed other places to shoot as well, and made plans to shoot again.

When I arrived home,  I set the images to downloading and started setting up for the next days shoot. Fortunately, I'd done most of the prep before leaving for Banff so it was simply a matter of printing the release, loading the costumes and props, and swapping out the batteries in the cameras and flash. 

Nanci on the Shore

Early the next day I picked up Nanci W (@ndu1 on IG) at her hotel. We'd been chatting for a while prior to the shoot and we had discussed using lots of colors in our shoot. I did my best to make that happen. We had a fun conversation on our way to the shoot, and I have to say she's one of the nicest and most cheerful model's I've ever had the pleasure to shoot. 

We had an absolutely fun shoot. Nanci is very experienced and it showed in both her poses and her expressions. She has a great smile, but she can provide both a serious and sensual look when asked.  

Graffiti Girl

I picked a spot near the Sauvie Spaceship for our shoot so we could use the colorful graffiti as a backdrop. Nanci really liked the ship as well as most of the costumes and props. There are too many great shots to share here, but I put a lot of the tamer ones up on my Instagram page and I have many more to share there and on my Deviant Art account. When our shoot ended, I told Nanci what a great time I had shooting with her and I promised we'd try to shoot again when she came back to my area. 

Have a couple of more images on me:

Glamour Hiatus

Banff was a fun break. I still did a lot of photography, but it was landscapes, no posing involved. We actually visited Banff, Waterton, and took a quick trip via boat on Waterton Lake to Goat Island in Glacier National Park on the US side of the border. We did some hiking as well––thank goodness for steroid shots for the knees. 

We stayed in a lovely B&B in Banff. Took a gondala ride up to the top of a mountain for an amazing view of the Canadian Rockies, then hiked down to beautiful lake for some more photos, before hiking back down the mountain for some lunch. 

We had poutine for the first time (delicious), tried a few craft beers, got a culinary tour of the Fairmont Hotel (again, delicious), and visited Lake Louise and Morraine Lake for short hikes. We had clear days for most of our visit, but when we went to drive the Icefields Parkway up to Jasper, the winds shifted and the smoke from the Canadian Wildfires to the east of us made visibility so poor that it wasn't worth the drive. 

We managed to get some nice shots of sunset from Lake Vermillion before we headed down to Waterton. On our way there we had to stop for a herd of bighorn sheep on the highway. All-in-all a very relaxing trip. 

Two shoots scheduled this week. One a day for the next two days with models I've not worked with before. One is from just across the river in Washington, and the other, from just across the border from Victoria, Canada. Time to jump back into glamour shooting with both feet. 

Two Traveling Models, Two Consecutive Shoots

Aim in Linen

This week started off with a bang! Earlier in the month, I had gotten requests from two traveling models that wanted to work with me. There schedules and mine were such that I had to work with one on Monday and the other on Tuesday. Each was a three hour shoot and at my age and with my knees, I simply can't do two shoots like that in a single day anymore. My knees are shot from too many years of steel decks and vertical ladders from my time in the submarine force, so it's difficult for me to walk in the sand or kneel for very long. Getting up from kneeling is even more difficult and I need a helping hand or a cane for that. Photography is, however, a passion so I continue to work through the pain. 

Aim in Lavender

Aim from Australia worked with me on Monday. Given the time of year and how close the river is to where I live, I chose my usual location for outdoor glamour and arranged to meet her near the shoot site. As usual, I chose early morning for our shoot and used a variety of outfits to show off her beauty.

Aim has a slender build, long hair, and an intense look. Her angular poses suit her body type and provide a sensual, provocative look. She would look right at home on the runway or on the red carpet, but was completely comfortable on the beach with me. I had a good time working with her and I was very pleased with the images we produced.

Jessa as Circe

On Tuesday I got to work with Jessa Ray Muse from Colorado. Jessa spends a lot of time traveling as a model and location scout. She runs the Muses of the West Adventures  photo tours as well as models. Jessa is that girl-next-door that you always wanted for your neighbor. She has a vivacious personality, a sweet face, and a lovely body. I truly enjoyed talking with her as we worked and her experience as a model made itself evident with her poses, expressions and easy movements.

Jessa

She offered great suggestions for our shoot and I incorporated her ideas into my concepts. One of her suggestions gave me an idea I'm going to try with my next model. I really can't say enough nice things about her. I'd truly love to work with her again if she comes my way. If you get a chance to work with her, don't hesitate to do so.

So, a lovely week for shooting has ended, and I don't have any more shoots planned for at least a month as I have some family event's schedule and then the wife and I are headed to Banff National Park in Canada for a couple of weeks, a trip we've been trying to make since before the pandemic. In the meantime, enjoy some more photos of Aim and Jessa: