I love working with Z. It’s awesomely refreshing to work with a female photographer. Especially a model turned photographer. It means the mood is relaxed, easy going and creative.
We started our shoot with mocha, I don’t think we have ever started a shoot any other way. Next we wandered down to the beach, ambling down with all the time in the world. Chatting and catching up after a years distance between us. The beach was empty and beautiful – as it was every day.
When the photos began we were both in the water, trying not to splash too much moving between poses. Coming out and drying off (thanks Mr Sunshine) before rolling around on the hard sand, allowing me to arch my back trying to mimic the view of the island behind.
A little more exploring found us interesting trees to work with. But these are some of my faves from the shoot – I still haven’t been able to narrow it down any more then this. I love them all!
I felt so lazy in Mission Beach. There was this calm about me that was indescribable. I think humidity does this to me, the feeling of the surroundings literally hugging you and making you feel all warm inside. I think the images I made here were tapping into that. I kept wondering how I could create a haze in my daze. I want to go back… now.
One of the places where this becomes most evident is at Zoefest. At Mission Beach this year, on meeting our diverse group, my first thought was – we’re all so different! How are we all going to get along for 10 days?
I needn’t have worried. The problem, it seemed, was how to keep us away from each other. How to stop our post-slide show chatting and get to bed at a reasonable hour. Wrapping up great conversations and actually, y’know, go out and shoot. Turns out when you get together with friendly people who all share a common love of creating beautiful images, it couldn’t matter less where we went to school or how we pay our bills.
No disrespect to the wonderful photographers at our event, but one of the things I enjoy most is meeting other models. Ah, the life of a fine-art model is a solitary one. Working with multiple models is not unheard of, but it’s hardly the norm. We’re often admirers of each other’s work, but it’s rare that we’ll get to meet. One particular model and I had been working with the same photographers for years. It wasn’t until this year’s Zoefest that we actually got a chance to sit and talk. And when models get together, we have a lot to talk about…
At Mission Beach, I also got to spend time with two awesome people who have experience on both sides of the lens. They are models who are also photographers, or photographers who are also models (I’m going to avoid using a cutesy portmanteau like ‘modelographer’ as I value my life). They are great fun to work with and have unique perspective. They give direction on a shoot knowing how a pose feels, not just how it looks. And they understand the concerns of a model completely – from, “This isn’t my best angle†to “I might look awesome on this slime-covered jagged rock, but we need to act quickly.â€
Below are a few images created with these two talented photographers.
Oh all the Polaroid Negatives to wade through… All the 120 and 35mm to develop. My lab will rescue me. But, in the mean time… here are a few finished works from me. Thank you to the models. More coming soon…
