Are models like buses?

So last week I was feeling slightly down. I had no models booked. I had a few showing interest but they were either not responding or having a dippy day.

Model: I love your work and would like to shoot with you
Me: You have an "I don't do nudes" notice in your port. I shoot nudes. Are you happy to shoot nude with me?
Model: Cant you read you pervert, I said I don't do nudes!

This would be laughable if it weren't true.

This week the tables have turned and, thanks to Lin, my schedule is full until Christmas, unless anyone wants to pay me for a shoot :) . Yaaaaayyy, I'm happy again.

I've decided to post up one of my modified art nudes. I think that photoshop is a great tool and could be seen as a way of expressing an artistic idea that could not be created physically. So, while many photographers don't like images that are 'shopped', I think that it has its place and I kind of like this image. I hope you do too.

Photography On a Budget

We have three fantastic children. Gorgeous, talented, brilliant and extremely expensive.

My oldest son is due to go up to secondary school in the autumn. The local high school (the only state school in the area) is one of these “super-schools”. Very very large and very druggy. There are numerous knife attacks there. The playgrounds are fenced in by security fencing that they use in prisons (I’m not exaggerating here) and all classrooms and playgrounds are monitored by CCTV. All years are kept separate from each other. We enrolled our two boys on a self defence course (now an orange belt, allow me a maternal “glowing with pride” moment) in preparation, but the oldest was really dreading starting there in September.

So in the end we simply couldn’t face putting him there and have opted for a private school instead, which is going to be mind-blowingly expensive for 3 kids. But at least I know they will be happy there. It’s the best I can do for them. Not sure how we’re going to pay for it though. Let’s hope Richard’s photography takes off big time !

So we are faced with the unfortunate task of budgeting the photography. Mercifully we have just finished kitting out and upgrading the studio, which is now looking very plush.. Yes I could bore you with details of camera upgrades, new lenses, lighting, backdrops, props etc, but I find that immensely boring, so I’ll leave Richard to blog about that. Suffice to say we are several thousand pounds lighter of pocket, but the studio rocks !

However, I rather do like booking beautiful and talented models for him to photograph. We are certainly getting some lovely models who wish to be photographed by him (income, at last !) but as we view this primarily an art project, we do believe in booking (and paying for) some fantastic models which catch my eye. I do love to scout for models….call it my hobby, if you will. I see a beautiful model, and think wow, Richard could really do something fabulous with her (photographically I mean. If he tries anything else, let’s say I have a considerably history with martial arts. But no he’s far too professional to even consider anything like that)

Anyway, I am setting myself a strict budget for additional photographic equipment/props/models etc. Whether I stick to it, we’ll have to see. We accountants are notoriously bad at blowing our budgets.

Before I sign off, here is the latest picture of ME, ME, ME looking like the accountant that I actually am. This was his first attempt at fashion…..not bad at all !

The First 12 Months

Today finishes my first 12 months in my new photographic life. It was a year ago today that Lin gave me my birthday present of a Canon 350D with which to take up the photography hobby that I put down years ago. The intention was for me to document our lives, get out more and take some nice pictures. I don’t think either of us could have imagined the journey that we were beginning.

I have read more books and articles than I can remember, moved from shooting landscapes and insects to building a fully equipped dedicated studio and shooting the revealed soul of my subjects. I have moved from the 350D to the professional 5D with L series lenses. But most of all I have changed the way that I look at the people I photograph.

I guess that my photographs will mean more to me than anyone else because each one reminds me of the person who was photographed. The point at which our lives touched for a few hours and we shared a vision. My aim with my photographs is to take that point of contact and immortalise it in a way that allows the viewer to also feel that they are part of that moment.

It’s not all been plain sailing.
When two people change their way of life, to encompass previously unimaginable territory, there is bound to be friction. But this friction has brought us closer together and given us a greater understanding of both each other and ourselves. Despite all the friction though, Lin has always given me 100% support, without which I would not be were I am today.

We have also had a lot of fun. It is a great experience to meet people. Photographing people without the armour of makeup and clothes, while bringing out the essence of who they are, seems to make people more willing to connect. Thus we both feel that after a year we have made many new friends who, I hope, we will see again.

What lies in the future? Who knows? Given the changes that have occurred in the last 12 months it’s anyone’s guess. Let’s hope that it continues to get better and better in the way the last year has.

Telling the Friends

How do you tell your friends that you do art-nude photography ?
Especially when one of your friends is a really devout Christian, would never dream of taking her clothes off, EVER, and certainly would never expose her flesh to the world. And who (But I might be wrong here) has given every indication that nude photographs are porn, no matter how tastefully they appear.

The theory goes that if you tell your friends that you do something controversial, they should accept you for who you are.

But this is the Norfolk “yummy mummy circuit”. Large country houses. Ladies who lunch, ladies who send their kids to posh schools, ladies who sip Pimms and nibble on cucumber sandwiches, whilst wearing floaty flowery dresses, and whose husbands compare the latest 12 bore, and discuss shooting rodents. I kid you not. Places like this really do exist in rural UK.
(Note I’m only like this strictly on required social occasions and after many glasses of chardonnay to bolster acting abilities. I do it for my kids, I tell you)

Anyway, sorry about that. I got drawn into a rant about the yummy mummies (this won’t be my last rant on the subject, so get used to it).

Where was I ? Oh yes, a good friend will not judge you (or if they do, they won’t show it). They simply accept that this is what you do…..

So how did it go ? Well I broke her in gently…”Well, you know Richard is learning photography now ? Well, he is studying for his LRPS and branching out into model portfolios……Here is an example of the last 3 shoots he did” And I explained in detail the reasons we thought it was art, that Richard was not a GWC, that he’s not remotely interested in drooling over models, that’s it’s all about creating beauty and art, and that he just loves to make women look beautiful….…etc etc etc

To give her credit, she was very courageous. She didn’t say much, but she did ask to see the studio God knows what she thought she’d find up there, bondage stirrups and furry handcuffs, perhaps. (No, no, just lights and a grey backdrop. Don’t get your hopes up). She’s still talking to me (well, emailing me, but it’s a start). So far, the signs are good, and I’m being hopeful. I’d hate to lose her as a friend.

Of course, her husband now thinks that we photograph “girls privates” for a living, and that the book I loaned her about cooking last week, was actually a lesbian love-fest novel. Frankly, I detect that he’s not too keen !

And we won’t be invited to any more dinner parties. Not that I’ve been to many anyway, since our last one of two years ago (a classy toga party) where Richard had too much wine, spent all night telling the yummy mummies’ partners just what he thought of their parenting skills and their 12 bores, and then finished off by ……but no, we won’t go there. All in all, we don’t have a good record of fitting into the posh Norfolk circuit, do we ?

The opposite end of the forum is friend number 2, who is a politically correct artist, musician and psychologist, my oldest friend for 25 years, a wonderful guy who lives with a beautiful and talented girl at the opposite end of the country. I had no qualms about telling him everything, showing him my blog, photos of me, absolutely everything. Well, you don’t hide anything from your best friend, do you ? If anyone is cool with this, he would be.

You know what’s coming next huh ? Well, he SEEMS O.K about the whole thing….and they are being frightfully polite. My blog apparently was “touching” (whatever that means), and he admires me for “coming out” (maybe he’s been reading the lesbian love-fest novel too) but let’s just say that they were going to come up and visit for a weekend, and yet they are evading the “let’s make a date for you to visit ?” question.

Why does everyone think this is about sex and porn ??? For God’s sake, doesn’t anyone get it ? It’s ART folks, ART.

Lack of illumination

Today's post is about lighting problems. As any photographer will know, photography is about light. The model is important, the pose is important but without the right light there is nothing. No light equals no photograph.

One of my lights decided today that it would prefer if the modeling lamp was on at full power all the time. This makes it very hard to decide what the end result of the shot will look like. Add to that the fact that it no longer bleeps when charged and I decided it has to go back and be replaced. Interfit are generally pretty good warranty wise so I should get it back in a week or so. However, for that week there will be little shooting as I don't fancy doing single light shots.

It does drive home though that I should invest in some more lights, and given that while I'm generally happy with the Interfit strobes I should probably go a little more up market. So I'm going to invest in some Elinchrome strobes. They are a bit more powerful than the Interfit and have more control. Four lights should give me more flexibility as well.

I have posted up the first of what may become a series, its called 'Insanity'. For those that wish to know there is almost no photoshop in this. There was a little use of the clone tool to fix some blemishes and levels but it was created in a single shot out of the camera. I hope you like it.

The Avatar

On Model Mayhem, the avatar is the thumbnail photograph next to your user name. A good avatar (despite MM's horrible compression) will entice viewers to click on your profile, and read more about you. An avatar should reflect the best of your work, and can mean the difference between work or no work for photographers and models alike. An avatar should be changed fairly frequently as the photographer’s abilities improve, and he gets new, fresh and exciting images that can enhance the portfolio.

Of course, avatars mean different things to different people.

When we first started Fluffytek, the deal was that I would always be Richard’s avatar. A photographer’s avatar is much more than an image to me. It reflects the very favourite image of the photographer, and is very emotive. Incredibly selfishly, if I was the avatar, I always felt that he was acknowledging me as muse and favourite model. O.K. this is incredibly silly, I grant you, but as I am insecure, it actually meant a lot to me

Unfortunately we have been so busy recently, that there have been several months where there have been no shoots for me. More importantly, no clothed shoots ! (All avatars cannot be 18+ images i.e. no nudes, and I mainly do art-nudes).
So although he has a growing portfolio, he has been unable to reflect the new (much better) images via the avatar because of our deal.
So I said, O.K. replace the avatar with the new stunning portrait you have done of our latest model. Wow, she is a beautiful lady as this picture below demonstrates.


Anyway, this was clearly a step too far, too quickly for me because it resulted in me being pretty miserable and insecure about my face (remember half my face is paralysed, hence irrational security problem).

Cue, change avatar back to Lin.

I recognise this was pretty silly on my part, in fact the whole “deal” thing was pretty silly. I wonder if any other models feel this way if their partners are photographers ? Or probably they are more professional than me. But the question is, if I used one of my images from another photographer as my avatar, how would that make him feel ? Pretty miffed, I can tell you.

Anyway, we are at an impasse at the moment. Clearly we need to do some more shooting with me and his new photographic skills. My portfolio could do with a serious update anyway. And this time I must wear clothes in the shoot (yeuch !)
Theory is a fine thing. I bet I wind up naked.

As to what we do about the avatar when I turn old and crabby (well I’m already crabby, but when I become too wrinkly to be a model and Photoshop no longer performs miracles), I have no answer……

The Birthday Present (pt 2) - The Photographer, The Model, The Muse and The Photographer

Well the present was a double surprise really. I had a wonderful time and learned something I didn't know about chaperones.


I spent some time with a wonderful model, she has a great personality and seems made for being in front of the camera. I got some great shots that I'll be posting in the next few weeks.

I did find though that I have trouble working with a chaperone in the same room, it throws my thoughts as I begin to wonder what the chaperone is thinking. This might not matter normally but if the chaperone is a photographer, and has much more experience than you, it puts all sorts of strange things in your head. "Does he think the lighting is right?", "does he think the pose is right?" , etc. So although he was a great guy, I learned that I don't like chaperones in the room. From now on they can sit in another room. But this in itself causes a problem. Who chaperones the chaperone ?

This is something we are going to have to give consideration to over the coming months.

However, having said that, there was no problem with either the model, who was wonderful or her chaperone, and I had a great experience for my birthday.

The Birthday Present

I have bought Richard a model for this birthday present next week. Not to keep mind you, just to borrow for a couple of hours. She is really beautiful – I mean it – I’d kill to be able to look as stunning as that.

No I’m not going to tell you who it is as this will ruin the surprise.

I picked her, contacted her and chose the outfits (and I use the term “outfits” loosely, because they are really pieces of string in varying colours!). This will be a new erotic style for him, and we are really looking forward to it. Plus I’ll be in the shoot too from time to time, albeit covered from head to foot in red lycra…….

Every man’s fantasy perhaps…..naked & lycra ladies and erotic art for his birthday, and all he can obsess about is the lighting. I kid you not ! Really, he’s only talking about lighting and his ruddy sensor cleaning experience this weekend ! Men!!!

Still, this should be a fun shoot.

Happy Birthday Babe !

Whats the point?

This is my first ever post to a blog and given the nature of what I do I thought I'd give an explanation of why I shoot nude art.

Nudes currently appear to be everywhere, top shelf magazines selling soft porn, men's 'lifestyle' magazines with their 'tits 'n' ass' and all of it is designed to sell the idea of sex and thus the magazine. So from this you might imagine that the only reason anyone would want to photograph someone without clothes is to sell sex.

Well, for some people that's undoubtedly true, but it wasn't always that way. Throughout history the nude figure has been seen as a thing of beauty, not as a trick to separate a punter from their money. The Venus De Milo is not seen as a sales ploy for a magazine, its seen as art.

So what am I trying to do?

In today's society people judge you by your image. The clothes you wear, the watch on your wrist, hair style, make up, handbag label. They will form an opinion of you by what you surround yourself in, your car, your house, your neighbourhood. None of these things are actually relevant to who you are. Most people have grown so used to the idea of the image they create around them that they have forgotten about the beauty they have within. This is a beauty that doesn't need make up, or clothes, or cars, or watches. Its what we were all born with. This is what I want to capture. I want to strip away the trappings of the image and capture the real essence of the subject, photograph their soul if you like.

I wish to show those who reveal themselves to the lens, who will show their real selves, the beauty they may not even have known they had.

This is a quote from SirenSong, a model who I was fortunate to work with, it sums up why I do what I do

I just went for a lookse and I am a little stunned.
.
I have to be
honest there was a part of me that was more than a little nervous about doing a
bare faced shoot but really I am ..well its going to have to be dumbstruck.
.
I am rather taken aback by the fact you've managed to take pics of me
with no make up on ..and I really like them.(the two I mentioned I love
actually!!)
.
and that really doesn't happen everyday thank
you..seriously thank you..

This is exactly the point.

Model Recommendation - SirenSong

We had a great shoot last week, with a fabulous model called Sirensong
I can't recommend her highly enough...she is professional, punctual and a joy to work with, as well as being beautiful both before and after removing her layers (makeup and clothes!).
Plus she is an amazing person to talk to.....a real fun shoot ! Book her. You won't be disappointed :-)

Getting started

O.K. this is going to take long time. Grab a cuppa, sit down, relax and listen to our story.

Once upon a time we were a perfectly ordinary couple who ran a computer software business in a remote park of Norfolk. We were well-qualified professionals with 3 degrees between us, happily married for eons with 3 kids, and lived a perfectly normal and average existence.

Then about a year ago, the husband (Richard), decided to dust off his photography hobby after a 15 year break. He duly purchased a suitable digital camera, obsessively studied every book he could think of, joined his local camera club and started photographing everything around him, you know, the normal boring stuff: animals, the kids, landscapes. I believe we even have some rather fetching shots of some insects: nude ones, mind you. No clothed insects here. He (Richard, not the insect) turned out to be rather good at the photography. In a short period of time he won the Wildlife Cup at the camera club for said insect, which sure pissed off a lot of people who had been going for years.

The First Art Nude

However Richard was not satisfied. He wasn’t shooting the type of image which spoke to him, moved him, reflected the type of art which he created in his mind. He set up a makeshift studio (now a fully equipped studio, but at the start you will appreciate the budget was low) and started to photograph portraits of friends and family. Initially (he’ll kill me for this) I have to say they sucked a little. But it was a vertical learning curve at that point, for both of us.
I had never modelled before in my life (well once, 20 years ago for an artist who had a contract for the company who made Sindy dolls, but let’s not go there). I had no experience, no fashion sense, no make-up. I was a mature model with a semi-paralysed face and 11 years of breastfeeding under my belt (grim, I tell you, grim). Still, in the spirit of “if he can make me look good, he can make anyone look good” I volunteered to practice posing in the studio against a hideous second-hand purple backdrop. I’d had a couple of glasses of chardonnay (for courage), the studio was swelteringly hot, and since he was my partner, I decided I was more comfy if I took my clothes off. The photos were very tasteful and seriously good for the first time. There was an epiphany. He realised that when a person took his or her clothes off, no make-up, no clothes, nothing to hide behind, he got to photograph the real person inside, not the image that they portray. That is Art.

Birth of a Muse

And things spiralled from there. Ideas flooded in for both of us. I love to make suggestions, to inspire ideas, to play. Not to tread on his toes, mind you. There’s nothing worse than a bossy model who thinks she knows best and tries to direct the shoot.
We chatted, we brainstormed, we schemed, we formulated ideas, we played, we realised that we could really do this together.

Could he do this without me ? Did he need a muse ?

Well, yes he could do this on his own, but two sources of inspiration and ideas are better than one. Without a muse, who does the photographer share his imagination with ? Who does he bounce ideas off ? It’s a lonely life doing this on your own. And it sure gives a relationship a whole new dimension, let me tell you. It really has brought us so much closer together, although initially it was certainly a challenge for me.

The Demon Jealousy

Initially I must admit that I had problems with him photographing other naked women. As he had just turned 40, I was convinced this was a mid-life crisis, and he wanted other women, or Naked chicks (“N.C.’s” as I called them).
I was partially paralysed (courtesy of a brain tumour several years back) with 3 kids and breasts that went south many years ago (grim, grim I tell you). Did he want someone else ? Was he (God forbid) a GWC (“guy with camera”, for non-photospeaking readers). No matter how much he reassured me that I was the only woman he loved and fancied, that it was all about the lighting, the art, capturing the soul in an image, I’m afraid that the demon jealousy ruled me.
This is a story that is familiar to many photographers and their partners on Model Mayhem (MM). The wife is consumed with jealousy. The photographer resorts to
a) Giving up the photography
b) Ditching the wife/girlfriend and doing it anyway on the grounds she should support and understand him
c) Doing it secretly without the wife or girlfriend’s knowledge.

B and C were out of the question (we run a company together, work together all day and have 3 kids). He offered, nay INSISTED on giving up too many times to count. I refused to let him stop. He was simply too good. He had too much potential. I believed in his vision, in his talent, in his ambition to be the best photographer he could possibly be. But still I couldn’t cope. The Fluffytek web site went up and down like a yo-yo. We argued, we raged. The kids avoided us. We talked all night for weeks on end. We drove each other mental, and frankly we didn’t get much sleep either.
The first shoot with another art-nude model was difficult for me, to say the least. She was a delightful model, talented and a real professional. But she was a the image of his ex girlfriend and I was upset for days afterwards and couldn’t look at the photos. When I eventually did, wow they were brilliant. Again, I refused to let him quit.
All throughout this process continued to brainstorm and we were flooded with ideas. As a team we worked brilliantly together. I was convinced in time that I would get used to other models being around.

I was right.
Now am free from jealousy…..nope, not a twang. Hurrah. For all you wives and girlfriends of photographers out there : stick with it. For all you photographers out there, include your partner in everything. The end result is worth it a hundred times over, I promise you. It makes you closer as a couple, it really cements the relationship. I am happier now than I have been in years.

We have realised that our roles in this enterprise are separate but complimentary. Him as the all important photographer and me as sometime model or prop, wardrobe assistant (I get to shop for clothes for shoots , yey ! No, not all the shoots are art-nudes you know), general assistant, administrator, running the business side of things, scouting for models, and of course, the all important muse. The Mnemosyne to Zeus, if you will.

The Shoots

Now I attend many of the shoots as assistant, but not all the time obviously, and certainly not to intrude. I get the added bonus of meeting the models, chatting with them, finding out what makes them tick. I must say, without hesitation, they are the most delightful people you could ever wish to meet. And such courage. I have such admiration for people who turn up to a relative stranger and take their clothes off. What guts ! Wow.

At the very least, on a shoot I provide coffee, reassurance and a chat (I make seriously good coffee – the real stuff).

Many models are understandably somewhat nervous and apprehensive, and it is our job to put them at ease and make the shoot as relaxed and fun as possible. The end result is a fun shoot, and hopefully some great photos that everyone is delighted with. And hopefully the end result is the all important ART.

And that concludes the story of the early months. Fast-forward to now.