Whistler's Mom

He sent me a text of a plain gray room with a lonely chair in it.  You can always tell what he is up to because he speaks in photos.  Random texts of a flowered hat or a store display or a man on a bench tell his friends what he is doing.  It's a fun thing and he has sent some very interesting images.  It's his way of keeping in contact.

I replied to the photo of the gray room, "Whistler's Mother!" and within a few weeks we had gathered the missing items to recreate a modern rendition of "Whistler's Mother".  I like to refer to the resultant photo as "Whistler's Mom" and actually have it hanging in a place of honor in my living room.

The location is a little used stairway at Portland State University.  It's on the fifth floor, sort of.  The closest accessible elevator was two flights down.  Since he did not want an out of breath model, he brought along a friend to help carry and set up things. Curtains for the backdrop, paintings for the wall, a couple items for another planned photo and of course lighting and general photography equipment.  He had originally wanted to use another chair rather than the standard industrial school type chair that was there, but I talked him out of it.  I couldn't believe all the equipment he brought but understood his desire for perfection.  For him, a lot of the fun in photography is making the sets.  This just happened to be a set on location rather than a set in his studio. 

We paid for three hours of parking in downtown Portland but we were in and out of there in less than an hour.  We all knew our responsibilities and just got moving on as soon as we arrived. As soon as they had the curtain up and the chair in the right place, I sat down and started getting into character, concentrating on being at home, relaxed while my loving son painted me.  They busyied themselves with the placement of the paintings on the wall and the angle of the lights and such.  I had already studied and studied the original painting so I could get the curve of her shoulders and angle of her chin and feet correct.  All in all it was a stellar effort and while I adore the photo, my son thinks it makes me look old and stern.  "Yes, son...that's the point."  He didn't understand until I pulled up a photo of "Whistler's Mother" on the web.  "Oh, I get it now!" he said.

The photo on the wall in the room is also one of me, by another photographer. 

Lost in the Woods

It was an outdoors shoot and the weather man was calling for rain.  The day before it had come down in buckets.  The rain was so heavy that traffic was slowing down to 40mph just to see because the windshield wipers weren't keeping up.  A shoot in that heavy of a rain means a very wet model so I decided to tote around an umbrella and a change of clothing, just in case.  It was raining hard at my house, then just a bit drizzly ten minutes away, then only moist and overcast. It did rain quite bit in the valley but the shoot was up in the mountains and we rose above the rain and had a very nice shoot.

We took a path from city to ocean via back roads and forest service roads.  This is Oregon, western Oregon, so it’s green and hilly and beautiful with plenty of evergreen trees, ferns, vista of snowcapped mountains and because it is in the rainy season, there are small waterfalls all over the place and the low lands are getting somewhat spongy. I love it here.  It's so beautiful and being in the woods gives me a great sense of peace and of belonging.

We shot down by the river at first.  There was a large log partially in the water.  It was all moss covered.  I was wrapped in a sheer cloth and played my flute a bit.  I also had brought an earthenware pitcher and poured water on myself.  It was a good thought but I am sure the image won't come out.  Sometimes that's how it is.

We walked over to some Aspen further down and I waded and leaned on the trees.  It was simple and comfortable.  The cloth I was wrapped in this time was darker and shorter so the feel of the shoot will be very different than then previous one.  This was a little wilder, an untamed woman watching for danger or perhaps a fish to catch or just listening to the rushing of the water behind her.  This photo will come out well, I am sure.

We moved on.  I had shown the photographer a shot that I wanted to try.  It was of a woman simply garbed leaning against a very large tree as if the tree had wrapped her in its loving arms, as if she was clinging to its skirts as a child will do with its mother.  It's very strong and she seems so in tune with the tree, a druid perhaps, a wood nymph.  I hope I captured the feel for this one.

A few more sets and we started just wandering in his car along the deserted road.  We took a few less travelled roads and really got "lost"...as much as you can get lost when the GPS is telling you which way the road will turn next.  It was amusing though, she would tell us to turn right and we would look at a small path and think, "This car is not going to make it through that way!" and laugh.

The whole day was fun.  We talked and talked.  For perfect strangers we really connected quickly and I quite enjoyed the day.  It was a relief, as always, when at the end of the day, he said, "ok, well I can't wait until we can shoot again!"

Gift to Military Spouses

His casting call said "Gift to Military Spouses" and so I replied.  It was a number of weeks before we were able to schedule a shoot.  That one got cancelled due to my illness.  Finally, the day before the second scheduled shoot, I realize that I know little to nothing about the genre and haven't even considered what clothing to bring! I sent a panicked email to the photographer and he calmly replied, "Don't worry...we have sizes 2 to 16 already here."  Ack!  I was a size 16 once.  So I looked around and tried to find things that might work.  I love making last minute costumes for Halloween so it really was very much the same thing. I pulled a rabbit out of my hat and felt as ready as I could be for the next day.

When I arrived at the industrial building, I could not figure out where to park so I call him and he met me out front and showed me where to park.  When I got parked and got out, I felt incredibly flustered.  Usually I am fairly self assured but the concern with my size and age and wardrobe choices had me a mess. Also, my hair and makeup was being done there, so I was a blank slate, so to speak. There I was, older, heavier and uglier than he expected. I was not feeling self assured.

I did have a few ideas ready.  The shoot would be pinup and Hollywood glamour.  The pinup had me most worried about costuming but I had a few military pinup ideas and outfits.  For the Hollywood glamour I had a nice basic formal gown.We went inside and looked at my ideas book and the clothing that I had brought along.  He liked the ideas and we discussed which would work best and how he can make changes as needed using photoshop. He showed me some of his current work including one cute Statue of
Liberty photo that he was about to enter into a calendar contest.  His work was phenomenal.  It was interesting looking at the before and after shots.

The hair and makeup artist arrived looking like a pinup herself.  She was simply adorable and I said so.  The photographer piped up agreeing and complaining that she never let him shoot her.  He also mentioned that she really needed some photos of herself on her Facebook advertising pages.  She got to work on me.  Hair was first.  My hair doesn't take a curl well so I warned her and she used extra styling gel.  When she started working on my makeup, I suggested to the photographer to "quick, get a shot now while she is busy concentrating!" We bantered back and forth like that a bit and she finally agreed to a couple photos of her in action.  She was afraid she would get distracted and ruin my eye liner or something but she didn't. 

Once I was all dolled up, she left and we got to shooting.  We did a bit of military pinup, a bit of silly pinup using and outfit from the studio and finally some Hollywood glamour in my formal gown.  When we were finished we took a cursory glance at them on his computer and he edited one that needed very little work and emailed it to me right then.  There are more coming and I can't wait to see the ones he decides to finish.  I am having him print one of the glamour shots for my husband.  I think he will like it.

Voyeur thru the Glass Block

I had the idea of using the glass blocks in my bathroom after a shoot where the photographer used tall grass in front of him to suggest a voyeur lurking and watching me from afar.  I thought that a photo taken from outside our bathroom window, viewing me thru the blocks might be fun.

We picked a day when most of my roommates were out of town so as not to disrupt them and distract us. The Photographer arrived bright and early.   He bustled in and got busy putting in lamps and other equipment into the bathroom.  I sat in the living room in my nightgown and bathrobe drinking my first cup of coffee.  I had been up till two so had only gotten six hours sleep.  The house was a disaster, laundry on chairs, dining table covered, unfolded blankets on couch and floor, cups, mail, shoes everywhere.   I am so glad that he has been to my place a couple times before and knew it is not how the place usually looks.  I excused it by saying that the house explodes when I am not around to clean up.  I have been home very little lately because of 12 hour work shifts and a bunch of modeling opportunitites.  Roommates, gotta love them.

One roommate did come home unexpectedly and headed for the bathroom but I stopped her and said, "You'll have to watch out for the lights and equipment in there, or you can wait for about a half hour."  She took one look in the small room and said she would come back when we were finished. The photographer messed with his lenses and other things in the living room. I could tell he was nearly ready for me, so I got moving and I brushed my teeth, put mascara and lipstick then stepped into the bathroom, tossed off my nighty and robe and stepped into the shower and pressed myself near the blocks. I heard him heading for the back door to get on the other side of the open window with the wall between me and the camera. I called to him to just leave the back door open and let the dogs in so they would not bother him.  I was glad the dogs already knew him.

The shoot went well, the lighting he had put near the mirror shined through our glass block wall and illuminated me well.  We took a number of shots, with different poses and facial expressions and angles but it was all very quick.  The set up took a lot more time than the shoot.  The image is somewhat risque but I still feel its quite intriging and tasteful.

Down and Dirty

Fun times, oh boy!  A photographer friend of mine and I were talking awhile back and I mentioned how much I like putting my feet in mud and that some day I want to get all muddy like those women who mud wrestle.  A few days later, he takes me out to a field near his studio and points at a fresh tilled patch of dirt.  I smiled with pleasure as my eyes lit up.  We discussed the logistics of getting water to the dirt and how to facilitate clean up afterwards and which lens he wanted to use so he could photograph my fun.  A couple days later I was naked and rolling around in the mud and it felt so good.  There were small rocks in the mud so the feel was extra gritty, not like the real smooth mud the wrestlers use.  He took shot after shot.  At first I did a bit of posing but eventually I just ignored him and luxuriated in the mud.  God it was good.  The ice cold water out of the garden hose for cleanup was NOT fun but the muddy time was great.

Your Eyes!

He said, "I want to showcase your eyes!  Your eyes!" I told him that would be fine and set up a meeting time.  I wasn't sure what he had in mind when he texted me to bring a sewing kit with black thread and also bring a belly dancing belt he knew that I possessed.  Belt?  For an Eye Showcase?  Ok, strange, but ok. 

I had a number of stops to make on the way to see him.  I rode the train in and the coins and bells kept jingling in my purse.  I wondered if my neighbors on the train could hear them, certainly they could but did they just think it a new train noise or did they wonder about the seemingly innocent woman who sat near, bundled against the weather and clutching a leopard print bag.

I had lunch with a friend.  Reaching in for my wallet set off the musical notes.  He did not ask.  He simply smiled and knew that sometime he would see the photographic result of the jingling.

I stopped at the hair dresser and exchanged business cards while setting an appointment.  She kept her composure and went about entering the data into their system.

A man stopped me requesting fifty cents as I stepped off the train.  The jingling was loud and I smiled in joy to the music as I dug out a dollar, happy that I had some to spare.

I arrive at the studio and the photographer sits me down in a spare room and shows me what needed sewn.  It was an Arabic style head piece. The head piece was a band that went around the head and was connected with thread to a rectangular piece of material that would hide the nose and mouth. It was very severe.  Now the belt made more sense.  He wanted me to wear the head piece and add the belt for a bit more interest.  We tried tying everything a number of different ways.  He would shoot and I would flash my eyes.  We would stop.  I would rearrange.  He would shoot again.  The best of the resulting images definitely showcase my eyes.  In one photo I look seductive, another I look strong and worn, and the third, I look truly exotic. 

The shoot was fun.  They always are.