Playboy Bunny Shoot?

I have not written for my blog in some time.  I recently spent a few days with a new friend who mentioned some things she'd read in my blog, and it pleased me to hear that she'd read that.  My main purpose in writing here is to express what's going on with my thinking and emotions as I consider, prepare for, execute, and post process a shoot.  It has pretty much been my assumption that people, if they read my blog, were mostly coming here to see if I had any more titillating images to view.  Heck, I admittedly pepper a few images in here, in part, for that purpose (of course, everything is rated PG).

Today I feel like sharing some recent experiences, so I think about where to write them down.  I open up by blog, and I am happy to see that quite a few people have been viewing my pages, even though I haven't put any new entries in here for months.  The fact is, I love to create images.  It could be images through the lens of a camera, or through my words.  If there is an audience, that is really appreciated, but in fact it is secondary to the creation itself.

Onto the topic of the day.  Shooting a Playboy model.  That's what you all tuned in for, after all.

Time Spent - Not Wasted

Here I am at "The Coffee Society", not far from my home, enjoying one of the best lattes in the area, and preparing to do a bit of writing.  I have to admit that I particularly enjoy doing this, even though I look back and see I haven't made an entry for a good many months.

I just got back from taking a run in the slight drizzle, after waking up from a long nights' sleep.  I look in my living room, and remember that I still have to take down my studio setup, which is in that state due to a photo shoot planned for yesterday that never materialized (I think the model was abducted by aliens - that is the most common cause for photo shoots being abandoned - scientifically proven).

Here's a shot which partially shows the setup I put in place:

It't a bit dark, I know, but the idea is to give just a rough sense of having a setup in place.  It's really expensive to rent just about anything in the San Francisco area, and I can't afford to rent out a studio full time.  So I have enough space in my house that I just move all my furniture somewhere else, then set up my backdrop and studio lights to create a photo studio.  It's not perfect, but I get pretty decent results, and I know it's more than many other people in this area have.  So I count my lucky stars and make it work.  (Of course I would love to have 2000 sq. feet, with 18 foot ceilings, etc.).  Plus I'm forced to be innovative - that's not a bad thing.

Working With a Pro

I love working with the models and developing beautiful images together - something that hadn't existed before we put our efforts together and created something the world would never have seen before.  It's a process that gives me a big charge, and even though I like to work with new models, even those that have never taken part in a serious shoot before, there is a distinctive freedom, almost a luxury, in working with a real pro.  I had that pleasure this past weekend.

Through circumstance and a bit of luck I was able to book some time with the lovely Ms. Jacqueline Tang.  We had exchanged a few emails, but since she's not in the San Francisco area full time these days, it seemed it would be difficult to arrange.  However, I got a note from her a few days before this past weekend indicating that she'd be in the area, and had some time to shoot.  I didn't have anyone booked that day, so we quickly put a plan together.

Give the Model Copies - or Not?

Up this this point, I have consistently - each and every time - provided models who've worked with me a copy of every photo we've taken in a session.  Every one of them, except for those I've culled right off the bat for being little more than a waste of storage space (flash not firing, eyes blinking, out of focus, etc.).  The copies I send the models are "as shot", except for maybe doing a white balance adjustment.  They're not large copies, usually between 640 and 1000 pixels on the long side.  Still, large enough for the model to have a good idea of how the shot came out.  There are a lot of reasons I provide these to the model, though recently I'm rethinking this.  Should I really be doing this?

Reflections from Recent Trip - Second Installment

I left Bangkok after having completed a shoot with Nardia and Nattimus, bound for Hong Kong. I didn''t have any shoots lined up in Hong Kong, nor in any cities in China for that matter. I'd had a few email exchanges with some models discovered through Model Mayhem, as well as a couple referrals from another photographer in Hong Kong, and an (unsuccessful) attempt to connect through a Chinese language MM equivalent. However, none of these resulted in a clear agreement to shoot, or were in some indeterminate state before I'd actually arrived in Hong Kong.

It would have been quite easy to arrange for shoots in Hong Kong proper, but I had avoided plans to shoot there. Hotels in Hong Kong are just incredibly expensive and/or small, so I didn't want to fork out the huge cash outlay just to shoot in a decent place in Hong Kong, especially because I'd been to HKG so many times already. Also, since I'm able to speak some Chinese (Mandarin), and always trying to learn more, I really wanted to go into China where I would be more compelled to use my Chinese. I also had plans to visit a friend who is currently living in Zhongshan (a small city not far from Hong Kong, but in China), so I figured I'd go up to Guangzhou after visiting my friend.