:: W4B photography's companion blog ::

:: Saturday, June 03, 2006 ::

For all things, there is a first time

I had mentioned previously, I think that I was thinking of booking the top floor of the Arts Project as a studio space for some photography. That was last Thursday. I picked up Mandy at her place as she was going to be my photographer's assistant. We headed downtown and unloaded the gear from the CRV in the Galleria parking and walked up to TAP at the corner of Clarence and Dundas. It was fairly warm up there and we needed to blast the windows open to make it a little more bareable. The space is gorgeous. Huge 10 foot high windows. Brick walls. Lathe and plaster. And it was all mine for a few hours.

Tony Pacheco has asked me to do a CD cover and perhaps some liner photos, and some promo stuff for him and the space had a Springsteen video feel to it. We discussed some ideas and got down to shooting. We got some great shots over the space of 90 minutes. But until he has seen em, I am not going to post em as this is his baby. I will blog about that when its cool.

Now, part two. I had wanted to do this for some time, and when I met Ms Safire about six weeks ago on Myspace she was looking for a photog and was going to go out of town to do photos for her portfolio and for a couple of things she is interested in participating in. We met up for coffee late one nite and I was taken by her intensity. She is a really attractive and fit woman and very focused in what she wants. She also dances. We were looking for studio space so when TAP came to my attention, I thought while not ideal, it would be pretty cool to try out. I wanted to do it right and we discussed some shots - a few outfits for her and also some black and white figure studies for myself.

I had never tried that particular aspect of being a photographer. But as there is a first time for everything, and I had a willing model, I got down to it. Ms Safire showed up about half an hour after Tony left. She brought several outfits and we picked and chose a few as we had about an hour to shoot before we got booted.

Mandy knew what to expect and I had seen Safire before, but moments after coming up stairs and picking her first outfit, Safire simply changed out of the dress she was wearing and into her bikini right in front of us. Not the normal thing for Mandy - or for me, and perhaps Mandy was momentarily taken a bit off guard, but she was a good sport and was a real pro. She was helping with the lighting and the set up and fixing outfits and being a great all around assistant. I really could not have done the day without her!

Safire and I did some preliminary shots in the outfits we selected, and as we were running out of time I wanted to get some nudes in as well. We set up in the best section with the best light. This was of course by the windows. Anyone looking up would have got an eyeful I am sure as she was standing in the buff in various poses. :)

I got into it fairly quickly. I realized after getting over the momentary and obvious "ok how do I do this?" that I get with everyone, that I could give some good directions and come off with some rather good shots. And this was confirmed when I got home and reviewed them. Safire was great to work with and is a really cool woman.

It was all quite tasteful and I tell you, if you are a photographer, and want to try nudes, get someone who is comfortable with their body, comfortable being nude, and find a good private location with good light. All that would make it a whole lot less awkward that it might otherwise be. You might not get kick ass shots ( so to speak) right off the bat, but hey, showing up and clicking is sometimes half the battle.

Safire, Mandy and I were quite pleased with the results of our hour and we are looking forward to the next time. Safire and I have already thought up at least three or four more projects. More to follow fore sure.

Carpe Diem

:: Mike Wood 22:15 [+] :: 1 comments
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1 Comments:

Followed to your blog from flickr.... nice to read the world behind the photogs - thanks for sharing and keep up the fantastic work.

Cheers.

By  Anonymous, at 6:25 AM  

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