Ah...the light!

Yesterday, my favorite muse wanted some pictures. It was late, and we were really tired, but how can you say no to beauty?
As always, I wanted something unique for her. I had just finished another photo shoot the day before, my studio area was a mayor disaster. (I hauled 500 lbs. of sand in my studio, to make a dessert set) and it was cold. Sometimes you just need to stand still and let inspiration come to you. open your mind's eyes and ears.
It came to me, an old technique that I hadn't tried in years. A very classic painting look. It's called light painting or painting with light. Requires long exposures, a source of continuous light and a model who's able to be still for a reasonable amount of time. Well, I had my trusty Mag-lite, my muse and a pool green background. That's all it took. Love the feeling of the image. like a painting. an eerie feeling. dark yet warm.
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Now it's Burlesque time!

I'm so excited! I'm finishing the Burlesque set. it's all about fun and color! More to come soon. email me if you'd like to be one of our first Burlesque customers!
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Don't let your customers eat the set!

Or maybe just a little bit. But this time, my model was having way too much fun with my set. She even tried to eat my lightbulbs!
All joking aside, all my models and customers always ask me where I get all this weird ideas. I honestly can't answer. They just come, pop right in my mind. While I drive, in a meeting, while waiting in line for subway... I can say now that photography has officially taken over my life. Like it was a secret at all. I though I'll write something about the use of space. People always get surprised when they come over to the studio. Very small, but extremely flexible. Even more improvements to come. I'll keep posting it. For now, a picture of the birds that survived Rebecca's hunger...
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Take a look at this place. Ugly, uninviting. The thing is, any place can become great. it just takes some imagination. not even a lot of gear.
While traveling in Mexico, a friend of a friend knew somebody who owned a coffee shop. I though that would be the perfect place for a shoot. The place was small, hot and really not all that inspiring, but a little of monkeying around, two flashes and some gels, and Voilá!

Something absolutely different and much more inviting was created.Now, I'm usually not into going and asking people to borrow their coffee shops. I must admit that this time, I just went with the flow. Model was a last minute friend of somebody I knew, my lovely assistant was and old friend who didn't work that day, and for my surprise, the owner of the joint said yes to let me borrow it. So, sometimes, all you have to do is ask.
I love this image, but I love more how it was created. with the bare minimum of equipment and a lot of fun.
Adrian

People are not what you usually think they are...

And this is a good thing. It kills me not to be able to show images of our last shoot, but my lovely assitant/wife suggested me to blog about how people are not what you believe they are.

Like, our last customer, a very successful doctor, who wanted a gift for her husband. Our session was so great, and she was just not what I think of my doctor when I go to an appointment.
So we take one aspect of somebody's (our doctor) and we take for granted that she's all seriousness 100% of the time. Well, here we found she wasn't. She did great and sadly I can't post her pictures. Looks like a lot of people still are unable to separate work from private life. However,
more images from other shoots soon!

Chronicle of a shoot

I though people have questions. I though people want to see what is like to have a boudoir shoot. So I found these images, and though they gave a good idea of what the shoot looked like. Now, let me explain that day.

This was a location shoot. Meaning, I had to haul two bags full of gear. Actually, I had to fly with them. Flashes, stands, batteries, lenses, cameras, backups, filters, the works. It was heavy.

I met the model once before, and then the day of the shoot. That's it. We worked in her hometown, and her boyfriend was with us all day. he actually helped quite a bit, drove and helped setting up lights. This particular session lasted about 9 hours, we stopped for lunch and to get another memory card and then kept going another 7 hours. Many pictures on my site are from this session, because I just loved it. We did indoors, outdoors, risqué, classy, raunchy, the works. Actually one image of this session got published in a French magazine.

When I see the images, the settings are really not all that difficult. I realize I can shoot anywhere. We made it work in an abandoned house, at the beach, next to a family who didn't have a clue what was going on, in a warehouse and in a bathroom. We created some sets, and just used the rest. Go, check it out, put some lights and shoot. that's pretty much it. The vision just comes to me. And this model just went for the ride. She wasn't shy, she was focused and she knew what she wanted. And she got it. So, this is what a guerrilla shoot looks like.

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Casting call!

We have a now project, and we're requiring many ladies for great pictures.
This is a project that requires candidates to have unique looks, and to be comfortable in their own skin, alas, proud of how they look.
We're not looking for model type females, but normal looking, girl next door, short, tall, petite or curvaceous. our project's purpose is to bring awareness of how the media has skewed our perception of what's normal and beautiful. We want to reclaim sexiness for everybody who's not a model, bring it back to the rest of us.
If this idea sounds appealing, and you're willing to participate, you could receive a free session, and free prints, professionally taken of a boudoir session.
Please get in touch with us!
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Website almost decent!

I've been working on the website. For this one, I'm doing all the code and HTML. It's been so long that it's taking me a while to remember how to do it! Regardless, the site now looks almost presentable, the pictures now have a nice frame and now I can add both landscape and portrait format, instead of just landscape. Took me a while to get the buttons for the home, nudes and blog pages.
Now I need to go through my files to select some good images to have. Installed the Google tools, submitted the site to Google search and a couple search engines and now, it's all about improving SEO!
Watch out, here I come!

Making changes

Spent the evening making changes to the studio. It always thrills me to make things easier. To streamline my work flow. I usually design most of the gadgets and things like furniture and much of the equipment. I designed some rails system to change backdrops easily. Tomorrow I'll start working on new backdrops and a modular concept I've had in my mind for a while.
I'm really excited to get ready for the next photoshoots!