So December comes round again and it doesn’t seem long since the last time, only so far there’s less snow…and long may that last. Today my car decided that one of the windscreen wipers would pack up, 3 days ago a roof tile blew off the neighbours roof during high winds and dinged the wheel arch. Yay!!..happy xmas me!…lol. Anyways December so far hasn’t been too terrible, especially as I got to shoot with Chrissie Red again…yes again, I know but when you have a top model on your door step it’s difficult not to book her….and realise how lucky you are to have her here. I also ran into a photographer called Dave Hunt at a competition, what a revelation!…..he judged the inter club comp between Dundee, St Andrews, Cupar(? not sure on that one) and Perth. I had been losing my faith in judges especially after one of the judges during a previous competition admitted that he didn’t know how to judge my work (at least he was honest). This time though the judge was spot on with everything, I don’t think there was anything I disagreed with….he was looking for a story behind the images, it had to be more than just a pretty picture….wow……..nudes were judged on the merit they deserved…double wow! ….talk about a kindred spirit there! he definitely restored my faith in judging because after seeing the recent PAGB results for 2010 I was completely and utterly dismayed!
Only about 10-15% of the PAGB results were actually photographs the rest were digital art, don’t get me wrong, digital art is great, fantastic even but its not a photograph.
The view at my house over the river Tay at this time of year is sensational and it will last for about 5 months, lovely sunrises and sunsets, golden mornings and pink evenings. Every day is different, and I for one never take it for granted.
So back to my shoot with Chrissie Red, I had this idea about using red rope in an old dark building for a while and I knew Chrissie’s new home was being renovated so I told her the idea and we set up a shoot at her house. Originally I had the idea of using her hallway for a backdrop but after trying it out I realised it wasn’t going to work so we went into the loft…..wow!!….what a place for a shoot!!
The loft had 2 skylights which lit up her body beautifully but also made the colour of the rope stand out, now those of you who are of the ‘interesting’ persuasion may be thinking bondage but I choose to avoid that and show that there was no ‘restraints’
Ok so it was bloody freezing in there and Chrissie did extremely well considering the conditions, and after a quick warm up we went for a shoot in her hallway using another skylight….isn’t natural light fantastic?!
Ok time for a change of scenery, we drove to my house…I gotta say a lot warmer…lol, we planned to do some semi nude images with material such as scraves and blankets. We got warmed a bit with a snack and some hot chocolate, then on to the next session. Taken in my conservatory with natural light, using the closed blinds the room becomes a natural light box.
This is only a small selection and I have plenty images for future competitions, but more over I had fun making images with someone who has become a firm friend, and that is more important than what anyone thinks of the images we have produced….we?…of course!, it’s always teamwork when working with an outstanding model of Chrissie’s stature.