:good busy:

Despite any possible trepidation I may have felt prior to last Friday's photoshoot, I believe that it went pretty well. The plan was still for an outdoor shoot, and I had chosen a nearby place in mind to cut down on travel time, but considering how rainy it had been all week, I set up my lighting and such indoors just in case. When Friday arrived, the rain did indeed stop, but I received a morning text from the model asking if we could have it indoors instead, as it was still not terribly warm out. So it was fortunate that I had foreseen this possibility. If I'm learning anything from each successive shoot, it's how to improvise.

The model in question, Theresa, is another one of those who pretty much makes her living by traveling and setting up shoots in each city. She was slender and had quite a few interesting tattoos. Another reason for her wanting to move indoors was that she didn't want to be unclothed out in the chilly weather, which showed that a bit of miscommunication had happened along the way, as I wasn't planning on shooting her nude while outdoors, and the place I had in mind would've likely had a fair amount of passersby, so it's just as well that events happened up as they did.

We only had an hour and it went by quickly, which I think is a good sign that it went well, time flying when you're having fun and all that. No deep concept for this shoot, she just moved from pose to pose, and I got to use a few props that were as of yet unused; an interesting chair that I had found, a cow skull, and a top hat. The latter was a cheap Halloween costume version, now I want to seek out a real one.

I was going to have company afterwards to celebrate my birthday, and since I already had the lights and backdrop up, I said why not do another quick shoot? I've worked with this model many times before, so we just proceeded into it right away. Pretty much just more practice for both of us, but it was fun. The chair, skull and hat got put into use again.

In the aftermath, while I can appreciate the things that I did right - it seems that I work fine with just one light, and I put my reflector to use - I'm already looking to see how I can improve for next time. I still think I need better lighting. The ones I have can be harsh at times, and I don't always want extreme shadows. I did manage to diffuse it somewhat with a screen on the second shoot. And the plain paper backdrop is, well, a bit too plain at times. Time to find different ones. And oh yeah, that top hat.

I hated putting away everything when I was done. Again in an ideal world I'd have a place where this would remain set up. I actually got another modeling request the same day, so there's the possibility that it could all go back up again real soon. Would that most of my life was this way.

:flesh and frame:

The most creative part of this past week for me was allowing my own flesh to be a canvas; got another tattoo. It's a text tattoo, so some may not see that as visual as most, but I see it as no less. Some people these days even tattoo their entire backs that way, but who has time to read that? Heh.

Me being me, I agonized over both the typeface and how it was arranged. I toyed with it being wavy rather than straight, but because of its placement on my arm, it would get twisted when I turned it anyways. The artist who did it (Tara at Good Mojo Tattoos in Beverly, MA) does a lot of text tattoos (which is why I chose her) and says she's had to explain that to many people.

Also me being me, I'll need another one on the other arm, because I like symmetry. No idea if it'll be text as well. Hell, this one just came to me in a flash only a month ago.

For those who don't get the reference, it's from a song by the Golden Palominos called "The Ambitions Are." It's pretty dark but I'm taking the refrain in a more positive light.



I've been intending to hunker down and improve my photography, but as ever, trouble finding the time...I need to change some habits if I'm going to use the little time "allowed" to me. Gearing up for a photoshoot in early October, need to make sure I have all I need and make sure the lighting is better since it'll be indoors. I think I did fine last time, but there was definitely room for improvement.

Also trying out various print options. This one was actually printed on wood, I'm going to see what glass and metal prints look like.

I also found a few frames in my pile that are square, perfect size for an Instagram print. So I was thinking that I could print the most popular one and give it away here. And yes, this is my way of trolling for comments. Why be shy? Go to my Instagram page and tell me the title of the one you like the best on the comments below, the one that gets the most "votes" I'll give away, in some fashion that I haven't thought up yet.

:preyed upon:

Doing a little more work on the tattoo idea. There's more to it than this, but the mantis is the centerpiece of it. One problem I'm having is that I want an overhead view of one, but generally they're more recognizable from the side, and I certainly found that view shown the most in my photo research. The other problem is that I want the design to be somewhat "tribal," no shading, just lines, without it looking cheesy like too much of that style looks like now.

:bughunt:

Just a little sketching for a tattoo design.