In Memorium

Granny, as my mother was called for the last 28 years of her life, passed away a year ago today. I miss her as much now as I did on the day of her funeral. I used to call her every Sunday morning and while I had my coffee, we would chat for at least an hour about the family, our lives, politics and a myriad of other subjects. She loved jokes and always had a new one to tell me every week.

Granny was frank to a fault, but loved with all her heart. She was definitely not a perfect person, but she loved her kids and her grandkids and would have done anything to make us happy. She used to spend hours and hours down in the floor playing with my kids, and they always loved it when she came to visit us, even after we moved to Oregon and they grew up.

She gave me my love of books and classic movies. When I was young, I can remember sitting in her lap and watching old movies on a small B&W TV while she explained the plot to me.

I was standing beside her as she was ironing clothes on the day that JFK was shot, and I remember asking her why she was crying...and she told me someone was trying to kill hope.

She was the artistic person in our family. She could sew, paint, and she loved to handcraft decorations for all her children's homes. Once she got onto a kick of making stuffed rabbits in cute outfits and sent so many to my house that I swore the things were breeding when I wasn't looking. She painted a mural on the whole side of my aunt's shed and though she didn't start painting until very late in her too short life, she had a great flair for color and a wonderful sense of perspective.

The last time I saw her, she called me her angel and told me she would meet in the next life. She was my mother, my friend, and I miss her.

Writing and Blogging

I enjoy writing articles about photography and events. I've written several lens reviews, a series of articles on composition, and some reviews of various events around Oregon and Washington. I've been so busy this summer, though, that I've fallen behind on the list of articles I've been meaning to write, but I'm sure as soon as the winter rains set in, I'll be able to catch up pretty quickly.

I have review articles on the EF-S 17-55 f/2.8 IS, the EF 16-35 f/2.8L and the 24-70 f/2.8L lenses pending, as well as a review of the Canon 40D and the Canon 1DsMK III camera bodies in the works. As I've never reviewed a camera before, that should be a fun challenge.

I'm also planning to write an article about Crater Lake (if I can ever get back down there to shoot), an article on Barefoot Glamour, and maybe a basic studio lighting primer.

Other plans for the year are a potential Glamour Workshop, some pin-up shoots in the fall and winter, and at least one fair or festival. I might also hook up with my friend, Jim, and see if I can do some band venue shooting. That's quite challenging and he's been practicing for a few years now and seems to have it down to an art. I want to learn some new tricks from him.

I'm also open to suggestions about new writings. If any of my readers (all 3 of you) have any ideas of what you'd like to see me write about, please, by all mean, let me know. I'm always looking for new ideas and concepts.

A Little Break

I've been taking a bit of a break from my photography projects. I shot quite a lot in March, June and again in July completing several shoots in those months. But I had so many images I needed to process, that I decided it would be best if I worked on those instead of shooting new material.

My plans were to begin shooting again this weekend, but I was unable to schedule a shoot with one model and I had to cancel a shoot with another as I had an unexpected business trip out of town that left me with no opportunity to adequately plan the shoot. It was probably fortunately that I rescheduled as the weather this weekend has been quite hot and humid and I'm sure the model would have wilted during a two hour shoot. She was very gracious about rescheduling and aware that I only did it to make sure we would get the best images possible from our shoot.

I did manage to make it to the POTN (Photography-on-the-Net) shoot in the Columbia River Gorge yesterday. It had been planned for several weeks and it was quite fun to meet some of the people with whom I've been chatting with online for so many years. There was 8 of us total from across the Northwest and we met at 7 am at the Vista House at Crown Point State Park. From there we had a wonderful view of the Columbia River Gorge. Our next stop was Latrourell Falls and then we made our way down the Gorge to Sheppard's Dell, Bridal Veil and Wahkeena Falls before heading out to Hood River for lunch and what we hoped would be some kiteboard shooting. In the image above you can see all of us (well, except me) shooting at Latourell Falls. I also got to experience the thilling adventures of the "Boring Boys" and their no holds barred approach to photography. I think they managed to dunk a good bit of themselves and their accessories (though not their cameras or lenses by sheer luck) before the shooting day ended.

The image to the left gives a bit of insight into the Boring Boys' approach to waterfall photography (wetter is better).

Lunch was good, but alas, there was no wind so our time together ended after lunch and we went our separate ways. although it seems I've been asked to host a glamour and nude workshop for some of the guys sometime this September. That should be fun to plan and execute.

In the meantime, I'm trying to schedule at least three more shoots before the end of the year for this year's projects while at the same time, planning lots of time to spend with my current and future grandchildren! Wish me luck.

Past Glamour

I've been seriously shooting for about 30 years now. I bought my first SLR camera, a Canon AT-1, in late 1978. I have always been interested in photography, though. I can remember running around my neighborhood as a kid and shooting images with a small camera given to me for a birthday. Of course, back then it was all black and white and I doubt any of the images have survived the intervening years. In the late 70's, before the birth of my first child, I got very serious with my photography.

I can't say I was any good back then, but I sure enjoyed it. I bought all the books I could find that explained the basics of photography. I took courses from the New York Institute of Photography, and though I had a young family to support, I managed to acquire a decent set of lenses and a 2nd body.

Even back then I primarily enjoyed shooting outdoor glamour and nudes, and I worked with quite few models over the years. I got my first break with models when I moved to Upstate New York and I was able to work with several young ladies from the local area. I was able to get a few of those images published, though the tear sheets are long gone from my portfolio.

I did have one advantage that helped me improve my photography. I had, and still have, a lovely wife who was alway willing to pose for me. In fact, the image you see here is from 1986 (well after our third child) and taken along a rural river in Georgia. She was 26 at the time and this was taken at about 7 am in the early morning light. Back then she didn't mind getting up very early and jumping in a river for me. She's not so keen on it these days, though if I beg enough she'll do it.

In any event, I still love shooting outdoor glamour and nudes, and I still love shooting with my wife. And here she is 20 years later:

Continuing the Project

The Fae project is continuing, although at a slower pace. I was supposed to meet with the next model yesterday, but had to cancel at the last minute due to a family emergency (all is under control, so no worries there). The next shoot should be quite fun as the model is both lovely and enthusiastic and the Dance Fairy is the concept we're planning to shoot.

I have two other models who have expressed interest in the project, but neither one have been available for setting up the final logistics, so I'm unsure with those images will be shot, but I'm hoping to get at least 3-6 more concepts shot before the end of summer, including a reshoot of the Spring Fairy.

The image to the left is from my Art Fairy shoot. I have quite a few more images to process from that series, but I'm quite pleased with the ones that I've processed so far. I've made several prints from that shoot for my portfolio and they work quite well as part of the series.

I think for the future images, I'll cast and interview for a specific concept, meet with the model at least twice before the shoot, and have a more detailed script and at least one assistant for the shoot. That will go a long way toward making the shoots more productive and easier to post process the images.

I'm a Grandpa (Again)!

My son, Jeremy, and his wife, Kristin, had their first child this afternoon. Jocelyn Serenity weighed in at 5 pounds, 3 ounces and is 17 inches long. She looks a lot like her daddy when he was her age, but only time will tell if she keeps the resemblance.

Her mommy went into labor early this morning, but managed to deliver after only 11 hours. Our youngest daughter, who spent 29 hours in labor with her first one, was quite envious, and she's quite proud to finally be an auntie.
She's due with our first grandson in a few weeks, so maybe she'll have a faster and easier labor this time. For her sake, we certainly hope she follows her sister-in-law's fine example.

Mother and daughter are doing fine, and there's a proud new daddy in our family. Of course, Papa and Grandmama are pretty delighted too and quite anxious to get our hands on the little one. That will have to wait a bit though as she is several hundred miles away in California.

They're all planning a visit to Oregon at the end of September, but we just might not be able to wait that long. I think there might just be a road trip in our near future.

War

I finally got back out of the house to shoot this weekend. I drove up to an SCA event just north of here to visit with some friends and do some photography. It was a rather small event, but fun to shoot.

Several friends of mine are members of the SCA and they invited us up to camp with them, but unfortunately Wanda wasn't feeling too well, so we had to decline. We did make the attempt to go together on Saturday, but she couldn't stand the twisty ride to the site, so I wound up going alone.

The event was held at a park where the old Trojan Nuclear Power Plant used to be. It's a very lovely park right on the Columbia River and several nice ponds and fields on the grounds. It was a very good site for the event. The only drawbacks were the mosquitoes, which weren't too bad while I was there during the day, but I imagine they were much worse at night, and the continuously flying fluff from the cottonwood trees that surrounded the site. The fluff as so bad that at times it almost looked like it was snowing in July. If you look carefully at the photo to the left, you'll see some of it in the air around the fighters.

The event centered mainly on combat between armored groups, though there were a number of other smaller activities on the schedule. I hung out for the afternoon, watched some of the events, visited with some friends, and then called it a day. It was nice to get out of the house, but I sure wish I had been able to take Wanda with me.

The Art Fairy (and Bubble Fairy 2)

I had the opportunity to work with another lovely model this week. Ashley helped me with my latest shoot, the Art Fairy. Our initial plans were to shoot River Fairy on Sauvie Island, but I opted for this more logistically simple shoot due to time constraints and since I had already shot two water based themes recently. This shot is one of the infrared images we did during the session. The full color images were quite lovely too.

I reshot the Bubble Fairy as well, since I wanted a 2nd version with a different look and a different model. While the images with the original model were quite good, they weren't quite in line with the rest of the images in the series.

Ashley was quite fun to work with and very professional. She's been modeling for over 4 years and brought the look I wanted to the session. Her long, curly hair gave me a different look to work with, though I had to remind her a few times to uncover one of her ears so I could give it a fairy point in post -processing. Toward the end of the shoot we were joking about "give me some ear."

I have no other shoots scheduled for the rest of July. That's not to say that if the opportunity arises I won't shoot, but rather that I need to catalog, back-up and begin post-processing the images taken so far. I do plan to do several more session in August, and I'm especially looking forward to shooting Dance Fairy with Krisa and another concept with Megan K.

The Early Bird Get the Light

Sometimes you just have to get up early to get the right light. These images were taken at 5.03 am last Friday morning as I was traveling east along the Suislaw River leaving the coastal city of Florence and driving inland. I just happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Nymph in the Waterfall (NSFW)

I was driving out toward Tillmook today and I decided to stop and do some photography at a little waterfall I know of that sits quite a bit off the highway. It's easy to get too and is quite beautiful. As I started to shoot, I noticed this lovely creature just in the edge of my vision. If I tried to look at her directly, I simply couldn't see her, but fortunately I had my infrared camera with me and a round of wide exposures caught this image.

Of course, this is the lovely model Holly posing for my Waterfall Fairy. We had quite the fun shoot today at this little secluded waterfall, and Holly was quite brave, even to the point of braving the very cold pool of water at the base of the waterfall and getting quite soaked in the process.

We got a lot of great photos and I look forward to processing them when I get home from a short business trip. In the meantime, I'll just have to settle for downloading them and viewing the thumbnails. The image above is a very quick edit. The final image will look much better.

Rest and Relaxation (NSFW)

I've needed to take some time today to rest my knee and recuperate from 5 straight days of

shooting. I also get to spend the evening keeping my granddaughter and so I had to move a project interview to accommodate that as well. I'll have to say the model was very nice about it. I try very hard not to reschedules shoots or interviews unless I absolutely have to do so, and this was simply a day that it was required.

I had a great shoot on Thursday with Adonna. We went out the the Oregon Coast Dunes Overlook in Florence. Her mom acted as my assistant and we managed to shoot for about and hour despite the 30 mph winds and the subsequently blowing and abrasive sands. Adonna was a very game model, despite the cold wind and the harsh environment. We tried every pose I asked her to shoot, and although I didn't get as many shots in the session as I normally do, I think I got more than enough to choose a great Sand Fairy shot (and create and gallery of excellent images). I'll also be managing Adonna on OneModelPlace and I hope I will be able to help her establish herself and a model in Southern Oregon.

On Friday I got to work with one of the best models on Model Mayhem (well, that's at least my opinion). Wolfpup modeled for my Water Fairy. We had a great time shooting in the shallow waters of Spruce Run Creek and she was absolutely accommodating and easy to work with throughout the shoot. She contributed her own ideas to the shoot and moved easily from pose to pose to pose.

Although it was quite the drive from her location to where we got her into makeup and another significant drive to our shoot location, she kept up her end of the conversation along the way and make sure I was comfortable shooting with her. I certainly hope and expect to use her again for another Fae aspect and for my pin-up projects that will start in the winter as well.

Today I found my Autumn Fairy for the re-shoot. Autumn Fairy was the first of the sets that I shot back in 2006. At that point, I had not completely determined all the unifying elements used in the photo sets, therefore I intend to reshoot that particular session using a different model and bringing in the new elements (tule material, body jewelry, and artistic nudity). I've also found a better pair of wings and garland to use for the images.

Tomorrow I shoot Waterfall Nymph (Fairy) with Holly Johnson (who did just a fantastic job with her test shoot), and on Thursday I'm have a shoot planned with Ashley Haven from Model Mayhem. We were originally scheduled to shoot River Fairy, but I may have changed up my plans somewhat - we'll see. River Fairy seems like a very attractive shoot to me, but that will be my 3rd water related shoot in a week, so I'm might want to try something different. Ashley seems to very laid back and willing to shoot whatever I like. In any event, her portfolio has some very professional images and I'm sure we'll have a great shoot.

Of Bubble Fairies, Spring Fairies and Teenage Girls

I shot today with a couple of young ladies in Culp Creek Oregon. Heather contacted me via a castings call on Model Mayhem and wanted work with me - she especially wanted to be part of my Fae Project. I was hesitant at first because she is only 17, but she assured me that her mother was all right with the nature of the shoot and would be there during the shoot itself. Her enthusiasm for the shoot got her the gig and I agreed to travel down to her area to shoot as it was on my way to Florence where I would be shooting tomorrow anyway.

Last night, Heather contacted me and asked if I could find a spot in the shoot for her friend Morgan. Although it was a very last minute shoot and I had almost no time to arrange a costume and define the poses for the shoot, I agreed and told her we would meet in her area for lunch today and I would brief her, her mom and Morgan (who is 18) on the project and the concept as a whole.

During my talk the girls listened and I thought they understood what was involved with the project as a whole and the elements that interlink each of the photo sessions to the project as a whole. These are the materials used for the costumes (tule is used as fairy garb), jewels on the face and sometimes the body, and some degree of tasteful nudity in that the Fae are not clothes conscious and where whatever comes to hand. Heather's mom certainly understood and it seems she was reasonably impressed with my portfolio.

I'll give the girls credit. They did a great job in applying their makeup to my specifications, including the jewelry, the art crayon on the eyes, and the false eyelashes. I carefully went through the materials that would be used for the shoot and how they would be draped on the body. This is the part where it appears they stopped listening and came up with selective hearing because when we actually started shooting they balked a several of the costume changes I requested and for which I had pre-briefed them ahead of time. It seems they had their concept of the shoot and it almost but didn't quite mesh with mine.

We continued to shoot, nonetheless, and I worked hard to make sure we got some wonderful image. The shoot didn't start well either and the girls had planned to shoot down on the river which would have required a hike down a steep bank with all my gear, nevermind me being able to get down the bank and back up with my bad knee. So after driving about 15 miles to their shoot site, I had to call a nix on that and we had to drive 15 mile back to where we started (about 3 minutes from the hotel) to Morgan's parent's property where we ultimately conducted the shoot.

I had Heather run through several variations of the bubble fairy. It didn't quite work the way I planned because neither of the bubble machines I brought with me was able to work in the wind that was blowing. Morgan had to ultimately blow bubbles with a wand while trying to judge how the wind was blowing so as to get the bubbles to float toward Heather. It wasn't an easy job at all, but she doggedly kept at it and I'm pretty sure we got some good shots.

I then had Heather do a version of Spirit Fairy with elemental jewels. I'm sure I got a number of good shots from that set of photos. Heather changed wings a few times and I even got to do a couple of costume changes.

Then it was Morgan's turn. She got to wear the most elaborate wings for her Spring Fairy outfit and I worked to get several good backlit images for her. Heather's mom spent most of her time helping me with the reflectors and watching the girls costumes and wings while I concentrated on the composition and lighting. There was some pretty good teamwork in place for the entire shoot.
Of course, the girls at first told me there was no time restraints on our shoot, but then told me they needed to be somewhere a 8 pm, and then it was no, we need to be finished by 7:30 so we can get dressed, and somehow that turned into we really need to be finished by 7 pm so we'll have time to get back, dress and put our make-up on. I raised a couple of daughters myself, so I can't say I was surprised. I do hope they had fun with the shoot though. I'll have to say, I probably won't do a two model shoot in the future unless I'm working with older, more experienced models. This isn't to say the two girls weren't good models, but rather it's much more logistically challenging and time consuming to work with multiple models, especially when they have only just started modeling and haven't learned the ropes and unstated rules of professional shooting.

The images posted above are just quick grabs from the shoot. I picked them at random just to show some of the looks we were able to capture. With proper post processing on the skin, wings, faces and background, there will be some great images out of this set.

Tomorrow I have an afternoon fashion shoot and then a Sand Fairy shoot in the evening. Wish me luck.

Summer Fairy

The Summer Fairy shoot went quite well. Ashley made a superb fairy and was quite comfortable in the costume. She's a little body shy, but was able to overcome her reservations with some exposure. No doubt that she will be an excellent figure model in the near future.

It was a great shoot. Not only did my friends Mark and Gabi generously allow me to use their property, the came down during the shoot to offer us cold water and assistance. Ashley's friend, Anessa, did a great job with the make-up and the reflectors, then Mark took over as my "Camera Bitch" making sure I had the right body and lens close to hand during the shoot.

Afterwards, Mark, Gabi and I discussed the shoots that they would be participating with - Mark as the Forge Fairy and Gabi as the Combat Fairy. We also discussed my concept of Wanda as the Earth Fairy rising from an earthen pit. Without a doubt, they are some of the best and coolest friends we have ever had.

I'm off tomorrow for some shoot in Southern Oregon. So it's best that I'm off to bed for now. I need to get an early start tomorrow as I'm expecting to get two shoots in during the day.

Busy, Busy, Busy - Photographically and Otherwise

After not shooting for my fairy project for over a year, it seems things are picking up. So far this year I've shot Garden Fairy and Woodland Fairy, and I'm scheduled to shoot Summer Fairy, Bubble Fairy, Sand Fairy, Water Fairy, and Waterfall Nymph this week, as well as River Fairy next week. Additionally, I have models lined up to shoot Dream Fairy, Dance Fairy, Earth Fairy, Forge Fairy, Rock Fairy, Combat Fairy and Spring Fairy in August. After that, I'll probably need to take a break for a while to process the images and decide which ones should be included in the book and the calendar. In the meantime, I'm definitely staying busy with the shoots.

I did a test shoot with Holly yesterday afternoon. She is going to be my Waterfall Nymph (Fairy) which is planned to shoot on Sunday. I also interviewed Jane, who has some great ideas and the look for the Rock (Music) Fairy, and with Krisa, who had some great concepts for her Dance Fairy. I actually had a beer and was able to have a long and entertaining conversation with Krisa whose enthusiasm was quite contagious.

The photos you see here are some infrared shots from my test shoot with Holly. I'll be incorporating infrared into the future fairy shoots for an alternative look to give a more ethereal feel to some of the images. I'll be trying that out this afternoon when I shoot Summer Fairy with Ashley (a new model). Ashley is actually in the downstairs bath with her friend putting on the makeup for the Summer Fairy shoot as I edit this entry.

So, I have a very busy week ahead and with any luck I'll be getting some great images for the project and will have a lot of fun with some great models as we work together to create some exciting and fun photos.

Unfortunately, my right knee is still giving me significant issues (severe pain and muscle spasms which are exacerbated by walking), but I'm trying to bull through the pain and the limp with my trusty cane until I can get back to see my doctor on the 18th. Unfortunately for me, I'm one of those photographers that just loves to kneel or squat to shoot low angles of their subjects and my knee just doesn't work that way right now. Nevertheless, the shoots must go on.

Infrared Photography

I've long been interested in infrared photography, but it's always seemed such as hassle to me. Back in the film days you had to buy special film, then load it in basically darkroom conditions. On top of that, certain cameras couldn't use the film because they used infrared beams in the body to count the frame advances. Finally, to shoot with infrared you had to use a special R72 filter to let only infrared light into the camera, which meant you had to pre-focus before you put the filter on and that your exposure would be extremely long compared to
a normal exposure.

In most cases, the advent of digital cameras didn't change things much really. While the digital sensor is, in fact, sensitive to both visible and infrared light, camera manufacturers place a filter over the sensor that among other things, removes the infrared light. So, while you didn't need to load the film in the dark, you still had to use an R72 filter to remove the visible light and exposures were still lengthy. Some cameras were much better than others at capturing infrared. The Olympus C2020Z, which I owned for a while, had a good reputation for IR photography, though I never actually used it for infrared.

What did change, however, was that the IR filter in a digital camera body could be removed and replaced with a sensor cover that did allow the infrared (actually Near Infrared) light to pass and all0ws for infrared photography without the use of an R72 filter and with normal exposure times. The image above is a test shot from my Canon 20D DSLR which has had this conversion completed. It was just returned from Lifepixel today (after about three weeks away) and this was taken in my back yard with a Canon EF 50 f/1.4 lens and converted to B&W. The image below was left in color and the red and blue channels reversed to make the sky blue vs. red.

This is going to make photography a bit more fun this summer, and I plan to use the converted camera extensively, but not exclusively, as part of my fairy project. It will also be fun to use it for some landscape photography along the Oregon Coast and for my planned trip to Crater Lake National Park.

Bad Knees and Photography

Bad knees and photography don't go well together. I spent 21 years in the US Navy, much of that on sea duty aboard submarines. Those years of climbing vertical ladders and standing for hours on end on steel decks left my knees in less than ideal condition. Of course, packing on the pounds after I retired hasn't helped much either. But, other than stiffness and the occasional arthritic flare up, I've been able to enjoy walking, hiking and photography with no issues.

For the last couple of weeks, however, my right knee has really limited my mobility. I didn't injure it, but suddenly it began hurting intensely - to the point where it was affecting my ability to sleep and inducing muscle spasms in my leg. Kneeling was virtually impossible, and I had to resort to using a cane to walk any significant distance.

Fortunately, I was able to get in to see my doctor the day I finally decided that it wasn't going to get better on its own. His diagnosis was gout! Gout? Holy Cow. My aunt and mother had gout and always talked about how painful it was. I know understand their pain. I'm currently on very strong anti-inflammatory meds and painkillers, but honestly, they don't help much. I just hope I can get this under control soon because we have our annual 4th of July cookout/party this Friday and I have several photo shoots I want to do over the next couple of weeks, and for anyone that has ever shot with me, you know how much I love to kneel and get low on the ground for a photo shoot.

Lately, it's been tough to even play with my granddaughter, and chasing her has been nearly impossible. Still, I can pick her up, hold her and hobble slowly over to the tree to let her climb. I better get this under control before the next two come along at the end of the summer, or I'll be in real trouble.

Busy Week

It's been a very busy week. I owe several long e-mails to some friends, my to-do list seems to be getting longer instead of shorter, and it would be nice to get more than 6 hours of sleep in a night.

The week started out with a sick daughter and keeping the grandbaby all weekend and though Monday. I didn't mind that at all, but when they're two years old, it's all about them. You don't get very much accomplished beyond playing with the two-year-old. Actually, I love it and I'm not complaining. That was the best part of my week.

On Tuesday, though, I had to go on a three day business trip to California. I had several meetings during my stay there, but I managed to spend the first evening at my son's house. Since I wanted to spend some time with him, I really didn't do much work after the normal workday ended. I played Rock Band with him, then we went out to dinner with some friends of his, and then we came back and watched a Meg Ryan movie I've never seen before.

Although it only took me 45 minutes to drive up to his house from the San Jose Jet Center, it was a 2 hour commute back to San Jose the next morning for my meeting. The traffice was absolutely atrocious, and I had been warned that it would be. What I can't understand is how people put up with that. After my 8 years of a 4 mile commute to work and back, I certainly couldn't handle it.

My Wednesday meetings went well, but I still had much to do. I spent most of the evening working from the hotel. The internet connection there was terrible, though, and I had a heck of time getting much done. I didn't even try to work on any personal stuff. Finally I had to call it a wash and get some sleep.

Thursday meant travel back to Portland, and although the flight isn't that long, dealing with traffic getting back from the airport can be a real chore. Add to that, the cramped seating space aggravated my right knee and the arthritis in it flared up and I was barely able to walk. The rest of the afternoon was packed with meetings and phone calls as I tried to follow up on some time sensitive information that I required.

On my return Thursday, I discovered Wanda had a new "project" in mind which included me completely reworking one of the upstairs bedroom. She wanted to convert her craft room into a combination hobby room and kid's bedroom so we could have small guests over for the weekend without them having to sleep in the floor or on the couch. In fact, even as I write this, Ben's kids are sleeping on the floor and the couch in my family room after a long night of pizza, chips and Rock Bank.

Ben is, of course, my oldest daughter's boyfriend. The two of them had a work party to attend last night, so we agreed to watch Stephanie (13) and Trevor (11) both of whom are great kids. We also had our grandbaby again, so we had a full evening. My son had got me playing Rock Band, a music game for PlayStation 3, while I was visting his house, and I thought it would make great entertainment for when we have both kids and adults over for parties or just an evening with friends. It's quite fun and Stephanie, Trevor and I had a blast pretending to be a Rock Band. Makayla, the two-year-old, loves music and she was dancing all over the place. At some point during our play, Wanda got out the video camera and was recording us all. I'm sure that blackmail video will show up somewhere on the internet.

But I digress. Friday evening and Saturday morning was spent working on Wanda's projects. We finished cleaning out the garage, and then we went a picked up a set of bunkbeds for the room (which took a couple of hours due to evening traffic). On our return home, I spent much of the evening trying to copy all her files from her desktop over to her laptop, since part of the plan was to retire her desktop computer so she could use her small desk as a craft table in the closet of the bedroom. I also managed to find time to put together Makayla's new tricycle for her birthday today, as well as a Radio Flyer Wagon for her to use here at the house (and to carry my photo gear when I'm shooting out in the field - it's dual purpose toy).

Most of the day yesterday was spent putting an overhead light into the closet space so she would have light in her craft area. I'm wiring a combination switch and outlet so she has both light and power where she needs it. The problem is deciding how to route the wiring so that it remains primarily within the walls as it's an add on and I really don't want to crawl around in the attic insulation to make it happen.

Still, I did manage to spend quite a bit of time with Makayla yesterday. She led me on a merry chase through Home Depot when I went back to get some fasteners, and together we planted 25 Nasturtium seeds in peat pots so she can watch them grow over the summer.

And today is her birthday. We'll be going to a party later this afternoon and we have lots of presents to open, a Nemo birthday cake to eat, and games to play and pictures to take. It will be fun, but I don't know when I'm going to get to finish wiring that light!

Woodland Fairy Shoot

After nearly a year and a half of not being able to shoot anything on my Fae Project, I have been lucky enough to shoot two sets of photos this week. I've already written about shooting Garden Fairy with London Andrews, and then on Friday evening I got to shoot Woodland Fairy with Lilly.

I did a test shoot with Lilly at the beginning of the month. I showed her the wings, the costume design and the shoot materials during our test shoot and we agreed that we would shoot during the next good weather day. That day took nearly two weeks to arrive.

Lilly had never modeled before, but was excited to experience her first shoot. We did the make-up (ferns stenciled on the legs and body jewelry around the eyes) at my home before we headed out to the rural location where we were planning to shoot.

We had wonderful weather and the drive out to the shoot location was through a wonderfully scenic part of rural Oregon. Lilly and I chatted on the way out and I learned she was planning to run a half-marathon the next day. As you can see from the image, she's a fit and lovely model and a great choice for a woodland fairy. Her dark hair, eyes and golden skin gave her a look that was both exotic and a natural fit for the forested environs where we were shooting.

Though it was her first shoot as a model, she did quite well. We kept the costume changes and adjustments to a minimum and concentrated on integrating the poses and facial expression with the scenery on the hillside where we were shooting. Lilly was game to try most poses and was willing to pose among the ferns, tree stumps and various other vegetation. She did get cold toward the end of the shoot when the sun got lower and the breeze picked up a bit, but we shot just about everything I had planned and I was very pleased with our first shoot together. I have lots of images to work with and the one you see above was a very rough and quick edit of a random shot.

Garden Fairy

I got to shoot with the most amazing model yesterday. London Andrews was everything I had hoped for and more. She was extremely professional. She could self-pose with exceptional proficiency. She even did her own makeup and hair. And to top it all off, she was intelligent, fun to talk to, and a lady in all respects.
I wished she lived in Portland so I could use her as a model more often.

She was orignially scheduled to be my Summer Fairy and I was going to shoot her out in the woods in Gaston. But the weather was just too chancey, so we wound up shooting in my backyard, which is small but quite photogenic.

We went through several costume changes (and three sets of wings), and she was game for just about anything I asked of her. She's definitely a lady in all regards, and I'd recommend her to any photographer who wants a classy model for a photo shoot. Even the test shots for exposure came out great (see the image above and to the right).

I'm more than willing to shoot with her again, bu alas, she tells me that she's retiring form modeling at the end of this year. What a loss for us those of us with an interest in glamour photography!

Test Shoot with Lilly

I did a test shoot with a new model on Friday. Lilly is a lovely, slender girl with long dark hair and beautiful brown eyes. She has agreed to be one of the models for my fairy project and I think she's going to make the perfect woodland fairy.

We did our test shoot in Cathedral Park under the St. John's bridge. It's one of my favorite places to shoot, and I've shot several models there including Sierra, Autumn and Gabriell. If offers a great variety of settings which include a small beach along the river, several wooded areas, park benches, a dock, willow trees, an open fields, a concrete pavilion, and the bridge struts itself.

Since Lilly was test shooting for a woodland fairy, we stuck to the wooded areas and primarily concentrated on how she self-posed, how well she took directions, and how her skin and hair tones stood up against the wooded background. I have to say that everything was excellent. She also got into character and worked at showing me some fairy moods (curious, reflective, frightened, etc.). Her skin and hair tones stood out quite well against the green backdrops and complemented the dark brown of the tree trunks and limbs. She has a natural ability to pose, and can get into character quite easily provide a variety of expressions. She also has the ability to express emotions with her body language, which will help a great deal as we get into the actual shoot.

I brought all the costume materials to show to her, explained how we would proceed through the project, i.e. how the materials would be used, what kind of makeup would be involved, how we would progress from the fully covered shots to the final artistic nudes and got her opinions on the make-up and costume materials. She told me that after seeing the materials I had accumulated for the project, she was quite excited about moving forward with the shoot. Now it's just a matter of location, weather and timing.

My daughter's boyfriend has offered the use of his mom's property for my projects. His mom, a very lovely and nice lady name Shannon, has a lovely home on property out in Gaston. On the hill behind her home is a trail that leads through a heavily wooded areal with old trees, stumps, ferns and everything else one would need for such a shoot. Additionally, she has a large cleared area on her property that would work well for some other projects I have in mind.

There are other options too. There is a large wooded plot of land across from my house that might work well too, though not was well I think as the property in Gaston. Additionally, I have a friend, Mark, who lives up on Bald Peak, and I have permission from him to use his property for several shoots as well. In fact, the first fairy shoot (Autumn Fairy) was shot on his property. Another friend of mine, Dave, has offered me the use of his land as well, and I'm sure there are a couple more friends who would be willing to allow me the use of their property for a photo shoot. So, I'm lucky in that regard.

My only problem right now is a location for my water fairy shoot. I need a shallow steam of water that's fairly isolated. I have a spot in mind, but it's a distance away and is near a state campground, so it's not as isolated as I would like, though I have shot there in the past. You can see an example image from that location directly above. During the shoot where this shot was taken, the model and I were undisturbed and the closest people were three fly fishermen several hundred yards downstream. They didn't notice us at all during the shoot, or if they did, they sure didn't seem to mind. So, I'll probably go for a drive, despite the high gas prices, and make sure the area is still suitable before actually shooting there, but it would still be nice to find someplace closer, if possible.