December 2018 and its a very mild one so far but still cold enough to run to the warmth of the studio. As an extra I managed to organise a portrait workshop for Dundee Photographic Society at the end of my shoot with Keira. All in all a seven hour shoot for Keira. However on the morning of the shoot I woke up with another idea (as I usually do), I had a notion to do a quick documentary slide show on how to shoot and edit a nude model from start to finish. So I headed down to pick up Keira from the train station, on the way I called her to see if she was ok with doing this idea at the last minute. And Keira being Keira is always up for an adventure and creative shenanigans readily agreed. We took turns at taking pictures of each other in amusing ways and gradually we built enough images for a docu/show. You can see the AV in the 2019 AV section called ‘How to shoot Art Nude’

How to shoot Art Nude

This blog though is about our regular shoot on that day and the workshop after it, so we pressed on after our usual cuppa tea. Again single lighting to begin with, floor work for the most part,

This image below is the one chosen for the Docu/show called Solitary Grace…..

Moving on to some spotlight lighting for some real dramatic content…..

Some dark edgy dramatic portraits…plenty of darkness…..and hidden things.

After a good break with much talk and even more cups of tea we move onto some clothes and overhead lighting and more spotlight.

And one final nude before the portrait workshop begins…..

Sadly our shoot came to an end all too soon, however the workshop was soon about to start, a quick bite to eat and little run through of the proceedings before attendees appeared. I will only add a couple of images from there because this blog is already very image heavy.

Well I think its fair to say that Keira wow’d everyone on the portrait workshop with her unearthly stamina and energy, and they were bowled over with her modelling ability and posing skills. Everyone seemed to love their time and I think they got some stunning images as well as some insights and lessons on the hows and whys of studio work, plus and importantly, how much a professional model can add to an idea or theme.

I think everyone should have the Keira experience, highly recommended to all.

Well into October and it was studio time with Rachelle Summers. By this time I’m still on a shapes and single light project, and I still had some ideas left to try. These took a long time to set up but the results were well worth the time taken. Rachelle did fantastically well at the awkward posing angles. We started off slow and deliberate, warming up into more demanding posing and shapes.

Moving on to the pearl skirt for some movement and drama…..

The some clothed and lingerie images on the table, outfits from Nix Brown….

Then finally some 3/4 length portraits using horizontal clam shell lighting….using bits and bobs from a recent vintage clothes fare

Rachelle and I have worked together on many occasions and this is probably our 14th shoot, or maybe more. In this shoot we really did take more time than usual getting angles right and the lighting just so, it was more demanding on both of us, more so for Rachelle as some of the poses were really quite strenuous to hold. Getting the lighting right before Rachelle got too tuckered out was also quite pressuring, many breaks were needed for both of us. In the end it was well worth the effort and we still had time left for ad hoc and experimentation in our final hour of the shoot.

Considering we have worked together so often we can still knock out some creative work and there seems to be no shortage of ideas on both our parts. Top class model, highly recommended.