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Here's a surprise
-- during her junior year abroad, Jessica got a tattoo on
the inside of her left wrist.
Actually,
she told me about the tattoo soon after she got it.
She knew
how I feel about tattoos.
I'm going
to attempt to confine my comments about her tattoo in the
next few paragraphs only.
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One of the
reasons I dislike tattoos in photographs is that they draw
your eye, even if they are only partially visible.
I am observant, and I notice that marking on her wrist.
That tattoo isn't contributing to the image, and the viewer
might wonder exactly what that is. |
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Here's a close-up
of the tattoo. It's a heart over or pierced by an
anchor, with a banner that reads "courage"; in
addition, there's a bit of a brown haze around some of the
edges. I think the haze looks like a bruise.
I've got to
admit that there's a lot about tattoos that I don't understand.
For example, why do people tend to get tattoos on parts
of their body that they can't see (like their shoulder blades
or their lower back). To her credit, Jessica's tattoo,
on the inside of her left wrist, is on one of the few parts
of her body that she can view entirely. However, when
Jessica bends her elbow & brings her tattoo to her face,
the banner reading "courage" would appear upside
down to her. Why? Because her tattoo artist
says it's traditional. Why the anchor? Same
answer. What's with the brown haze? Same answer.
All of which makes me wonder how much of the tattoo is Jessica &
how much is her tattoo artist?
Another reason
I don't like tattoos is that I feel like I'm photographing
someone else's art.
Okay -- the
tattoo will pop up in future images, but I don't want to
talk about it any more.
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In the end,
the tattoo is somewhat small, and there are poses that we
can use to hide it from the camera's lens.
What
a marvelous figure Jessica has!
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Here's something
that happens to me once in a while.
Most
photographers are trained to fill their viewfinder with
their intended image, making use of as much of the image
surface area as possible.
But I "cut
my teeth" on a rangerfinder camera -- it's viewfinder
wasn't exactly accurate. So, I got in the habit of
stepping back a bit, including more in the image on the
negative and cropping down to the best image.
Every
once in a while, I "see" a picture within the
original picture -- I see an interesting cropping.
Here's a case in point -- what would this original image
here on the right look like if I crop it closer, cropping
out Jessica's jeans. Look below to see the answer.
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Here's an especially
alluring image of Jessica. The one below ain't half
bad either.
Photographing
nudes can be a challenge -- often, a lighting setup that's
good for the face isn't good for the figure, and vice versa.
Here's one of these situation where the light works well
for both face & figure.
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As a fellow
photographer, I'm taking the time to collaborate with Jessica
more than I typically do when I hire a model. I'm
showing her many of the images on the digital camera's LCD
screen, and we are making decisions together.
We like
this light -- it's unusual, and the shadows are pretty fun.
We decide to change the setup slightly by changing her clothing.
Here's
a transition photo, and I really, really like it.
It's a semi-unguarded moment, and it has the feel of an
old master painting.
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Here's the
outfit we settled on, a form fitting translucent tank top &
nothing else. I figure that if you want to produce
sexy pictures of a woman, you need to photographer her semi-
or nearly nude: you've got to engage the viewer's
brain. A fully nude picture doesn't leave anything
to the imagination.
So, we
have a bit of fun.
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Don't ask.
All I can say is that we have fun during these sittings. |
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You'll recall
that I'm using three flash heads (on either side & above
the camera position). I should mention that each strobe
head's light isn't radically modified. In the previous
images, I believe that there are grids on each head's reflector
to semi-focus the light. For these images here, I've
removed the grids, and that creates more distinct shadows.
If Jessica stands a little bit away from the back wall,
we create interesting overlapping shadows.
I like
this effect.
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I like
that the white tank top covers without concealing.
I think
these are very sexy pictures.
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I like this
image, above; in particular, there is a very sophisticated &
adult look on Jessica's face. I decide to try a few
more digital variations on it. More variations of
this image will appear in the Out Takes. |
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One last
picture for this page. Keeping with the theme of "trying
new things", this pose is somewhat new for both of
us, where Jessica is back against the wall & leaning
forward towards the camera. Coupled with the somewhat
harsh lighting, I think this works really well.
This
pictures works for me -- that intense look on Jessica's
face shows an intense connection, that top reveals her stellar
figure, and her bottomless-ness is exciting. I am
proud of this image.
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