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The Poppy and the Cage

So summer just begins and on a bright sunny warm day ideal for location shooting Ivory Flame and I head into the studio at Chris Scott Photography….cuz like, why be conventional?! Well it had been a while since we last had a real life shoot due to the plague years, so we had a lot of chinwagging to do in between scene changes.

Anyways, we play around with ideas and props that Chris had available in his studio.

Ivory Flame
Ivory Flame

A quick change of colour…..

Ivory Flame

Then for a complete change about we went green…..cuz like enviro friendly n such.

Then pinky peachy poppy colours….cuz it was that time of year..


Ivory Flame


Ivory Flame

Then lastly just to end the shoot…a little lingerie…

Then before you know it, it’s all over……..except afterwards we had chocolate puddings!

All hail the chocolate puddings!!..

Yet another adventure of the Flame kind, if you haven’t worked with Ivory Flame yet then you are missing out on something special…..I mean, get yer act together! and get yer own puddings!

Tryst in the Light

So May comes around and I get a message from Tryst saying she’s in the area and it seems a good opportunity for a shoot. This May tended to be unpredictable for the weather so the studio seemed to be the safest option. Chris Scott’s studio has excellent facilities so we invaded the place and soon got to work.

Mostly a return to ‘dark light’ with a single light source…

And a little mono work……….

Once we warmed up a little Tryst decided she wanted to try the lace blindfold…..

Then the purple robe….

Then the purple cape…..

And finally some three quarter length shots….

Tryst is good fun to work with, chatty and good company, and we got a lot of excellent images. She said she thought about moving from Canada to Glasgow so maybe there will be an opportunity for more shoots, certainly a model for other photographers to look out for, Highly Recommended.

The Flame and The Beloved

Back in February an opportunity opened up unexpected, Ivory Flame and Cariad Celis had a 2 hour slot free for a remote shoot at Aura Studios the next day and as I was free I snapped up the chance of a duo shoot. The sets included an old vintage style couch, a wicker (I keep thinking wicca!) basket chair and a massive window. With everything set up camera and lighting wise we got to work…..

Cariad Celis and Ivory Flame
Cariad Celis and Ivory Flame
Cariad and Holly
Cariad Celis and Ivory Flame

Then for a change of scene we moved the wicker basket chair into the corner and into the light…

Ivory Flame and Cariad Celis
Cariad Celis and Ivory Flame

Keeping the chair scene we moved away from the window light…

Cariad Celis
Ivory Flame
Ivory Flame

Quite a lot of editing went into the above images, lots of colour balancing to match the models skin tones, control of the light from the window etc etc …some colour maps and several textures added.

Then with time slipping away very quickly we managed to get to the massive window in the studio…

Cariad Celis
Ivory Flame

And so time ran out very quickly in the end but for two hours we got a lot done, and lots of soft scenes and emotional content. Pretty good going considering there was no planning or mood boards etc etc, we just winged it as we went. Obviously when working with professional models they make the shoot a lot easier and more fun. It was my first time working with Cariad and although we didn’t get to chat much she was lovely to work with, Highly Recommended. As for Ivory Flame, I got to work with her again a few months later, she is always a star.

Arabella

Earlier this year with Covid still an issue and raging through the world I saw an opportunity to work with Arabella on a remote shoot, having seen her previous work I snapped up the chance. I sent her a mood board showing the current project I was working on and she built a lovely set for our shoot.

Arabella

some mono work…

Some three quarter art nude portraits for a change of scene….

Some material throws….

Arabella

And finally…even more red, because why not!

Arabella

So…..time flies by as it usually does and soon the shoot was over. Arabella was lovely to work with, friendly and professional with a well justified reputation for poise and modelling ability. Highly recommended for any photographer looking for a remote shoot or in person.

Keira at the Hermitage

November in Scotland, usually cold and nasty, wet and yucky. However this time is was warm and fairly dry. On such a day I had a shoot with the ever lovely Keira Lavelle, so we took a chance on a well known and busy location at the Hermitage near Dunkeld. At first I intended to do mainly portrait with portable lighting, however as things turned out circumstances changed and we adapted accordingly. The main river that runs through the Hermitage is the River Braan and we used the rocks and the river as a backdrop..

Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle

There were far too members the public to do much more art nude…but we managed to snatch a cheeky couple of images anyway….

Keira Lavelle

By this time the forest was extremely busy so went for some portraits as originally planned..

Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle

We did manage to find a very quiet spot for at least 4 minutes before someone unexpectedly happened upon us…

Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle

Then onwards to the hermitage itself….a solitary hovel than was allegedly a home for a holy man….a combination of rock and stone structure, dark and moody…

Keira Lavelle

At this point we decided that we had scared the local population enough so we headed back to the car and drove (via the wine shop) to Port Allen reed beds…where we hardly saw a soul….

Sadly we spent far to long there and ended up way over time and by the time we got back it was quite dark indeed. I had promised Keira I’d take her to the local tea/coffee shop..but by the time we got there the shop had closed early due to Covid. A disappointment to be sure but I did post her some tea once I got back to the shop a couple of days later.

And so ended another photographic adventure, perhaps the locals have recovered from our visit!!

Elle Jones on Remote

So still in the Covid 19 era, summer of 2021 nearly over, lockdowns of some form or other still in place. In fact it was September, still warm and still balmy. Just right for a remote indoor shoot! Elle Jones was someone I had never worked before, of course I had seen and admired her work but never crossed paths. So it was with great delight that I found she had taken up remote shoots, after a few message we worked out a plan!…a grand plan!..kinda like a grand piano but without the piano! And the plan started like this…..

Elle Jones
Elle Jones
Elle Jones

Then we moved on to some three quarter length portrait type thingy ma bobs…

Elle Jones

Then with some flower props in art nude….

Elle Jones

Then adding some colour and a headpiece….starting off with some red!

Elle Jones

…then green…..

Elle Jones

Then to completely change things around we did some shots on the window sill, with lovely soft sunlight streaming through some lace to create a dreamy scene….

Elle Jones

It was a productive shoot but very relaxed as Elle is lovely to work with, she is friendly and professional, keen and eager to create the desired scene. Highly recommended, and if you get the chance to take her up on a shoot, remote or overwise then I would have no hesitation in encouraging you to do so.

The August Artemis

So despite a pandemic and when the rules allowed Artemis came up to Scotland for her usual August tour. And it started off as a warm cloudy day but then heated up into a blistering one. This tied in nicely as we organised a location shoot then a couple of hours in the studio. The location being a short walking distance from my house on the river Tay…

Then a quick scrabble over the scrub to an old horse stable and tool shed…for some textures…

Artemis Fauna

And of course a ripe wheat field just can’t be passed without doing something in it.

Artemis Fauna
Artemis Fauna

And finally a word of warning…..

So a quick dash back to the house then drive off to Chris Scott’s studio for some ..erm… studio work..

Artemis Fauna
Artemis Fauna

Then a slight change of scene but keeping the colour…

Artemis Fauna
Artemis Fauna

A bit of mono….cuz..cuz….I like a bit of mono.

Artemis Fauna
Artemis Fauna

A fun day as always and I left Artemis in the good hands of Chris Scott for a few hours.

Chris runs Chris Scott Photography, a local business that caters for all types of photographic requirements and you can find his details at https://www.chrisscottphotography.co.uk/

Artemis and I had another shoot the next day for a studio event for other photographers, in which she impressed everyone there with her skill, poise and professionalism. Roll on next August for another adventure.

Summers at St Cyrus

On a hot summers day in July I had a shoot with Rachelle Summers at St Cyrus, with Covid still a major factor I chose a location that was near Rachelle’s route through Scotland. Although it was a four hour shoot I chose to spend all day at St Cyrus shooting wildlife in the morning as it is a RSPB sight of interest. It was a stiflingly hot morning, albeit cloudy and misty, not only that all the wildlife had obviously decided to hunker down and hide. To get to the beach at St Cyrus there is a very steep cliff path downwards from the car park, it is not something to climb back up to at a whim with a heavy camera and a big wildlife lens.

When noon came I trudged up the path to the car park to get ready for the shoot with Rachelle, it’s a killer climb up on a hot day. Lens changed, snacks consumed, camera set for model work…and much water drunk! Not long after Rachelle and Mr Summers arrived and the skies opened up and the sun came out. And once more down the steep path we went, the beach that was empty in the misty morning was now fairly busy with tourists and holiday makers, however we managed to work our way round it….by hiding in the cave….

Rachelle Summers

As the tide was going it very fast we used it to get to some more remote places…

For a change of pace we moved to the beach for a while…..and a change of scene….

Rachelle Summers

We had a quick scout about the rocks to see if we could reach the waterfall to the north, the route was still blocked off by the tide, however we spotted a very small Rachelle sized hollow in the cliff…

Rachelle Summers

While we waited for access to the waterfall we headed back to the main cave, the water had almost gone….the tide was moving fast.

By this time there was a small route to the waterfall, leaving Mr Summers behind to guard some props and clothes, we picked our way over wet rocks to the waterfall.

Rachelle Summers

Time was marching on, as it does with it’s clumpy tactless boots, and we managed to get a few more images on the way back to the steep path….

I suspect this last image was in full view of the car park on the cliff top but Rachelle insisted on doing it, and who am I to let a lady down.

And so the shoot ended with more than a few laughs, rock scrambling, jellyfish, squidgy green things, much sogginess, towel wearing…….and of course all the wildlife came out when I left the big lens in the car!….It was all good though, and another grand adventure was bagged. It was good to see Mr Summers again too.

Natasha Oliver

So on the heels on the previous remote shoots Natasha and I made arrangements for a shoot in July, nice light during the day and some studio work in one of her rooms. We had a couple of hours so we got down to it, firstly some lingerie on the ivy chair in some window light.

Natasha Oliver
Natasha Oliver

We removed the chair and used the space for some nude work….

Then for a complete change, we moved to a bedroom with some soft cushions etc.

Natasha Oliver

Lastly we moved to Natasha’s studio, and after a ‘spider incident’ we moved quickly through some three quarter length shots and portraits. I suspect the spider was watching with interest from it’s hidey hole

Then before you know it time was up which gave the spider a break from cowering in a corner. I did suggest it would make a good pet but Natasha was having none of it! I’m sure it was looking for some TLC and a juicy fly.

It was a quick but fab shoot and Natasha was lovely to work with, I’m sure she will be doing more remote shoots and other photographers will be snapping up those opportunities. Highly Recommended.

Keira on the Beach

So this was the first 1-2-1 shoot of the year due to the pandemic lockdown relaxing, we were allowed to shoot on location but not yet in the studio, so off Keira Lavelle and I went to Kinshaldy beach for a seaside adventure. It was a bit of a hazy start with the promise of blue skies later. Ideally the plan was to adlib the sets and scene til we got to a place where could do some art nude if we wanted to. So on the way there we found some lovely little scenes….

Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle

And just a little behind me and the camera was another scene…this isn’t far from the car park so thank goodness it was a quiet day!

Once we got fairly far along the beach it seemed deserted….so we managed to mix and match some nude and clothing, someone also managed to construct a little wind break from washed up debris…

By this time I think Keira was dying to jump into the sea…. one of her favourite pastimes I believe, so we made our way to the shoreline….

There was a guy wandering about in the distance so we started off with a sheer dress in the surf…

Keira Lavelle

It turns out the wandering guy was a nudist, all he wore was a woolly hat which he hung on a stick before jumping into the water. Obviously he wasn’t going to be bothered about nudity so Keira removed her dress for some art nude…..

Keira Lavelle
Keira Lavelle

By this time the nudist bloke wandered over for a quick hello, sporting an erect and mediocre protuberance of a disturbing nature. This was our cue to pack up and go, we wandered back to car for a snack and a drink……dehydration is a major factor on the beach in the summer, it sneaks up on you without realizing it. After a quick review of the images we headed of to the forest, sadly I couldn’t find the area I had in mind but we adapted and improvised…..

Keira Lavelle

By this time the forest was quite busy but we were happy to play about in the trees with various outfits…also the sun came out and the forest offered some controlled light.

Keira Lavelle

And of course we chatted, laughed, snacked and clambered/stumbled over all manner of things. Shooting with Keira is always a fun experience, she has such an infectious zest for life and new experiences which is uplifting and joyful. However all good things come to an end eventually, we wandered back to the cars and packed up, wet things got dried, more snacks were eaten….and we nearly even forgot about the small pokey out thing on legs. Another chapter in the Adventures of an Art Nude Photographer I deem.

Kiera is up in Scotland a lot so you have no excuse not to book her, no excuse what so ever…cuz like you are missing out if you don’t, besides secretly you know you want to!

PS….it appeared I picked up 2 friends from that shoot, nasty ticks…..be careful at Kinshaldy, the little nippers are rife in the forest part!