Monthly Archives: December 2019

EFIAP/d2 – Job done!

So this year back in April 19 I got my Platinum level FIAP certificate, and I wrote a blog declaring that I would go for the first Diamond level, the first of 3 ‘advanced’ levels. It was a tall order, I would need 50 awards using 15 different images in 5 different countries. Now normally that would be very tricky to do in a year, however it was worse because I had to start in April and submit in the beginning of December which left only 8 months rather than 12. However I finished the requirement in less than 4 months, I attained 50 awards using 29 images in 9 countries.

Since I finished EFIAPd1 I started on the Diamond level 2 at a more leisurely pace and finished it in less than 5 months. Again the requirements were the same for level 1. For those who don’t know the FIAP system…it’s a bit complicated and daunting to start with but basically it’s a numbers game and strategy is needed to achieve the stated requirements without spending a fortune on salons.

The Diamond level is all about awards rather than acceptances, acceptances don’t count at all, though they can give you a good indication to which images are working well. I’ve listed the images that have gained awards in the Diamond level 2, all are nudes/models. The list is in alphabetical order with no preference for any image, some got more awards than others but that does not mean the image is any ‘better’. Some have won Gold medals and some have won ribbons, but it must be remembered, it’s a numbers game…it’s better to get 3 ribbons than 1 medal etc etc. In saying that, it’s always nice to get gold medals and blue badges.

All the World Dead without Stories – Artemis Fauna
Artemis in Orange – Artemis Fauna
Attic Light – Artemis Fauna
Daughter of the Moon – Stephanie Dubois
Finesse – Lulu Lockhart
Firefly – Ivory Flame
Gemma in Feathers – Gemma Huh
Gemma in Red Velvet – Gemma Huh
Hold Against the Wind – Ivory Flame
Latte – Stephanie Dubois
Moon through a Dragonfly’s Wings – Katy Brankin
On a Misty Morning – Keira Lavelle
One of the Missing – Madame Bink
Red Lips Wet Hair – Jane Bennet
River Sisters – Scarlot Rose and Rachelle Summers
Simply Helen – Helen Stephens
Soul Train – Ivory Flame
The Bone Caves – Scarlot Rose and Rachelle Summers
The Lace Blindfold – Amber Castle
The Lure of Light – Helen Diaz
The Maker of Electric Dreams – Ivory Flame
The Rejection of Light – Stephanie Dubois
The Scars we don’t See – Tillie Feather
The Touch of Scent – Savannah J Sapphire
Lilith Shapes – Lilith Etch
The Afterswish – Lulu Lockhart

And that’s it, a big thank you to all the models I have worked with, even if you aren’t listed above you most definitely have been featured somewhere and will be again. So what now then? well there’s still Diamond 3 to go for…..that is a further 100 awards using 50 different images in 10 different countries, at least I have 2 years to reach that level.

Flames in the Studio

A second shoot with Ivory Flame this year, this is unusual as Ivory Flame usually ventures North once a year so it was a real delight to be able to shoot a second time. It was short shoot this time as she had a few bookings during this period. Anyway we fell into the studio and got off to a good start….

Ivory Flame

A quick change to a lace outfit…….

Another outfit change, an outfit Ivory Flame brought with her….

Ivory Flame

Then the pearl skirt and a light change….

Ivory Flame
Ivory Flame

We were running out of time and only had a 10 mins before the next photographer was due to arrive…but we managed to get these images….

Ivory Flame
Ivory Flame
Ivory Flame

All too soon we ran out of time …again, as you do..anyway Ivory Flame had another shoot at the studio so I set up the lights for the next person and headed out with a camera full of fab images. I had an appointment with a Gin Bothy that I couldn’t miss. This was a fun day for many reasons!

Ava

About 3 months ago in September I got a message from a local model, looking to do a shoot. We had a chat and got around to doing a studio shoot on a gothic theme, which was handy as it was getting near Halloween by the time we got to the shoot. Ava brought a few dresses and I had two or three stashed away in the studio. It was a short shoot so we got down to business, I had the lights setup before Ava turned up…it wasn’t long before we got some good images.

A quick change of dresses….

Ava

A bit of a break the a change of lights and outfits again….and the old chair!

Time for some portrait type shots, with quick fire outfit changes….

So anyway I had this idea for something a bit more horror like…..but I left it til the end because it was definitely going to ruin her make up. I had a cut throat razor lying about from a previous shoot and a quite a lot of sticky gloopy fake blood. This was gonna get messy…..and it did.

Ava
Ava

All too soon it was time to ….erm…..clean up! and get the studio back to some sort of decent shape again. It was a fun shoot, albeit sticky! and Ava seemed quite ready to go along with crazy ideas, which is pretty much my normal mode. I highly recommend Ava to other photographers and hopefully we will work with each other again at some point.

Stephanie Dubois

So this October I finally caught up with Stephanie Dubois, we had kinda pencilled in a shoot earlier in the year but stuff happened , as it does, and it worked out better for both of us in the end. It was a joint shoot with my good friend Dionne Jones, who had been wanting to work with Stephanie for a while. The idea was to do a four hour shoot then finish off with a three hour portrait workshop for some members of the Dundee Photographic Society. Quite a full day really.

Anyhow, after a natter and a cuppa we got of to a good start.

Daughter of the Moon – Stephanie Dubois
The Rejection of Light – Stephanie Dubois
Stephanie Dubois
Search for Beauty, find your Shore – Stephanie Dubois

Slight different light set up for a dark and moodier feel…

Stephanie Dubois

After a quick break, we went for something a little different with skirts and a dress…

Stephanie Dubois

Then to finish off, a few portraits before the portrait workshop…..

Stephanie Dubois
Stephanie Dubois

Four hours were over way too quickly and we had to say goodbye to Dionne before the workshop. And after a cuppa and a break attendees started piling in, and it wasn’t long before we got started taking images again. Stephanie made it effortless for them to get great images, her modelling skills shone through and gave a good variety of poses, demonstrating what a professional model can achieve. I usually forget to take images during workshops but I managed a couple.

Stephanie Dubois

And so it ended, people went away mightily impressed and Stephanie headed up to her next shoot in the the wilds of North Scotland. It was good to see Stephanie again, we had missed working with each other last year, timings and such didn’t work out, and it’s always a joy to catch up with life and get together again. To anyone interested i working with Stephanie you can catch her of Purple Port, Highly Recommended.