Blog: 26 Dec 05

Marina C1

Marina hasn't been up on the site for a while, so while I continue to prepare more Summer pics.....This session with Marina was one of the last assignments I did for Penthouse in my other Emeryville studio. This was also one of the first times I shot with natural light in addition to the standard "studio nudes" strobe setup. The photos with much brighter light and harder shadows were done against a bare wall near the windows of the studio, after we'd finished with the canvas session. Marina worked in one of the clubs with several of my other models, but I'd never taken much notice of her because her self-applied makeup was rather severe. Then by chance I happened to run into her in the daytime on the street, with a new haircut and just dressed in jeans and a t-shirt - and I was struck by how attractive she was without makeup - so I immediately asked her to model for me. (We did use makeup during the session, but tried to keep it toned down.) I now find her look to be quite enticing - rather innocent and young, but also very sexy and alluring. She's also one of the few models who's smile seems to make the picture stronger.

Summer C1

I know it's still cold outside, but nevertheless I'm announcing the beginning of Summer.These are fresh scans from one of my first San Francisco shoots for Penthouse. Summer has since gone on to become a rather famous film star, although her body has gone through some changes since these shots were made. More images will be going up later this week.

Nikki C1

This session was shot in Portland, for the Penthouse "Erotic Dancer" series. Nikki came to the studio early, wearing no make-up, and appeared to be much too young; however, having encountered this problem before, she had brought with her not only her drivers license and birth certificate, but also a photograph of herself with her husband and two young children - proving that although she looked to be about 15, she was actually 22. I'm including some images in this group that I would not normally show - smiling and rather awkward expressions - because Nikki was so happy and fun to work with. She had trouble containing her giggles and even in the most erotic poses, seemed more playful than seductive - so I'm posting some images that convey her spirit, rather than choosing only the "perfect" pictures.

Bonnie C1

I first met Bonnie on the set of the Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage. Midori brought her along to model for one of the chapter openers, and I immediately knew I'd want to shoot more of her than we'd planned to be doing that day. Almost a year later, the three of us got together again and did this shoot in a large open studio in San Francisco, with diffused window light and some harsh skylight sun. I particularly like the bright sunlight, since this is quite a departure from my well known soft box look. (This is all shot with natural light and a much more candid perspective than I use in the classic studio setting) Midori helped create a more rough and authentic Japanese bondage feel to the images - as opposed to my usual stylized studio shots. That means you'll see some real perspiration, some real stress in the model's face, some blown out highlights, deep shadows and some unusual angles. A few of my favorite images are: 4113 (great expression combined with a nice shadow falling across her face), 4135 (showing some authentic tension against the pierced nipples, although she didn't seem to mind), 4185 (back to my old square shape design), 4281 (again, more like my usual studio detail, this time with simple window light), 4305 (the shoot was nearly over, she was hot and tired, and still beautiful)

Bunny C1

I'm still in the process of hi-res scanning this classic Penthouse session with Bunny (I don't choose the models' names, I just report them) but I've become mesmerized by her great smile and lovely "derriere". As many of you know , I normally don't like big smiles on the models, but I made an exception in this case - she was just so sweet and happy to be chosen for the Penthouse series that I let her go on and on with that perfect ear-to-ear smile. And as I hope you'll agree, there probably isn't a better butt on the whole web. These images all come from the b&w Hasselblad negs, which take some time to scan and prepare, so your patience is appreciated. (Note to collectors: just as with the Yelena photos, I'm posting some of these new Bunny images in my eBay auctions, and they will also be available as hand-made fiber prints during the upcoming Holiday Sale.)

Leanan C1

Leanan is a sentimental favorite of mine - shot for Penthouse, for the Erotic Dancer series, this session was the first San Francisco shoot for them in the Studio Nudes style, and was done prior to setting up the Emeryville studio.

Alex C1

A few months back, I posted some private commission work I'd done in early 2005. These were two older models named Alex and Lia. Today, I'm posting some additional shots done this past August with Alex. She was so happy with our first session that she came back for more.

Mammoth Nudes

I've just received my copies of the new "Mammoth Book of Illustrated Erotic Women". It's now available in the US, the UK, France and Germany, under several various titles. Last year, I posted the images of mine that were requested for this volume, but I'm bringing them back up to the top of the list today. This is one of those huge collections (almost 500 pages) of work from 80 different photographers - about half in color and half in B&W . Click here to see the Amazon.com listing.

Guest Abby Winters

Abby Winters is an Australian photographer who photographs "real" girls (and girls & girls together). I don't know about you, but for me this is a refreshing change from all the cookie cutter Russian models we see way too much on the web.

Zanna C1

Zanna is one of those models who was reluctant to pose, had never done it before, but the images turned out even more appealing due to her slight awkwardness (imho) I'll also try to post some larger size scans from this session later this week.

Cleo C2

Today I'm returning one of my favorites - Cleo, in both b&w and color. The color shots are a bit older - my first experiment with a Nikon D-1 - after which time I gave up shooting color 35mm altogether.

Kumi C3

I was going to post a nice series of Kumi and Seven together, but discovered I also have a lot of separate shots of them from the same day. For these galleries, the rope work is by the infamous Midori; and these are still the Mondo Bondo documentary sessions from early August. Later this week, I'll post additional shots.

Friday C1

Here is the gallery of images from the shoot with "Friday" (members only). These are conversions from the original digital files, so you'll notice they have a different feel to them, compared to my Hasselblad scans. I would characterize this set as rather raw and earthy - both the images and the poses - but I think when you see the documentary footage of this model, you'll agree she couldn't be sweeter. (I hope to have some video samples posted in a few weeks) In answer to a couple inquiries, in our previous post (Friday BTS), that is Mike West, the rigger, pictured with the model, not me.

Friday C2 - BTS

Film director Tony Cane-Honeysett (well known in indy circles for his film "The Royal Academy") was here at the end of August following me around for a couple weeks. He seems to think my work with bondage photography deserves some attention, so he's putting together a new film, called "Mondo Bondo". (Look for it sometime next year, in big big theaters nationwide) We did a number of shoots for Tony's film, including a great evening with rigger Mike West and his favorite model, Friday. Today I'm posting some Behind-the-Scenes shots of Mike, Friday and Tony some of the film crew. I'll get some of my selected images from the shoot up shortly.

Felicia C1

Lora-Louise C1

Mike West, the rope guy, dropped by recently with a couple friends, Lora & Louise. Mike wanted to try out some new ties, and I was happy to document the event.

Justine C1

Today's update picks up where I left off back in January, with the remaining b&w scans from the session with Justine. You'll see a couple cameo appearances by Savanah, as well, since she brought Justine to the studio.

Tuesday C1

Tuesday makes another appearance today, appropriately on a Tuesday. In many cases, I debate whether to use the word "woman" or "girl" when discussing a model, but in this case (even though she is older than 18) I feel comfortable applying the latter. This model seemed, at times, to be just a girl who had grown up without quite realizing what to do about her sexuality. She had that innocence and awkwardness that we associate with "girlness", and which can be very alluring, but she wasn't quite sure how to pose like a woman. You'll see evidence of both characters in this gallery - just click back and forth between 44.03 and 44.05 to see what I mean. This will also be a bit of an experiment, comparing my scanning work from three years ago to my new Photoshop CS techniques. I'll be replacing the images of Tuesday with new versions over the next few days - see if you notice any improvement. Finally - I've narrowed down the August workshop dates to the first two weekends: Aug 6,7,13,14. Details coming soon.

Bergen O1

Asian Nudes

Private Commissions C1

I've been doing a few private commissions lately with women who are just a bit older than my usual subjects, and several of the sessions have turned out so nice that I asked these women if they'd consent to my posting a few samples here on the site. I'll start with Lia, and add some more in the next few days. (By the way I'm still working with both film and digital - these are the digital conversions, which in my opinion are still not quite on a par with "real" film.)

Savanah C1

Today we're putting up a collection of images drawn from several sessions with Savanah. These include a couple studio sessions and a couple rope bondage shoots with the infamous Fetish Diva, Midori. I also just noticed a group of unseen behind-the-scenes shots, and color images, which I'll get up later in the week. In other news, I'm looking for a few good interns to help out at the studio - if you have some free time, some experience with computers, and the ability to concentrate when surrounded by images of nude bodies, click here for more info.

Anne C2

I think I'm beginning to see a pattern here... I just noticed the thumbnails for the past 5 or 6 updates seem to have a rather obvious common theme. Not that there's anything wrong with that. So unless there are any objections, here are a group of color shots of Anne and a close friend. As I recall, we started out with a few standard portraits, which quickly degenerated into repeated nipple biting. There's a sequel to this series, too - perhaps later in the week... See if you don't agree, these are the best lips and teeth on the site.

Courtney C1

I've had several great shoots in recent weeks, which we'll be getting online soon. In the meantime, I've had a request for this session of Courtney, which was rotated out a few months ago. This is a private commission that resulted in some very nice shots, and fortunately the clients were happy to allow the work to be made public.

Emily C1

Another of the "private commissions" from the Playboy sessions last month - Emily is a former elementary school teacher who always wanted to be photographed like this. She started out a bit shy, but a couple hours later we were helping her schedule an even more explicit session.

Molly C1

I'm adding a few more images to the Molly black & white gallery. These are scans of the Hasselblad negs being prepared for printing.

Dustin C1

I don't suppose I'll get much sympathy for this, but I just have too many women coming in to the studio these days, asking to be photographed naked. I can't keep up! I just completed a really nice series of a new model, Dustin, all wrapped up by rigger Mike West. I'll get at least a couple of those up today or tomorrow. Also, for those of you who ordered collector's prints during the Holiday Sale and have not yet recieved them, please rest assured I have not forgotten about you. The sale this year was more of a success than I'd anticipated, and with all these naked bodies in the studio, it's been hard to stay in the darkroom. In between the shooting sessions, I'm working on your orders several days a week, so you'll eventually all get your prints.

Anne C3

Alix C1

Playboy TV Sexcetera C1

As promised, I selected a few shots from each of the five Playboy sessions and posted them last night. The five models are Anne, Alix, Emily, Tess and Helena. Each will eventually have at least one gallery from these shoots posted. I'll be adding some of the b&w shots from the Hasselblad as well. The sample group in the current gallery should give you a good idea of what to expect. At the request of the Playboy producer, and several very willing models, we included a bit of rope and suspension work. These were rather quick sessions, about 2 hrs each, but I expect to be seeing most of these models in the studio again soon.

Playboy TV Sexcetera BTS

All about Me : Running a little behind this week, but I do have a good excuse - I've been followed around for the past few days by a crew from Playboy TV's Sexcetera show. We shot five different sessions and did numerous interviews over the weekend, and I finally have a chance to sit down now and update the site. The Sexcetera piece on me will run on the Playboy channel at some time down the road a few months - I'll try to get a few clips to post here when it's finished. Coming up soon, actual Naked Models from the Sexcetera sessions...

Jade C1

By special request, we're bringing back this series of Jade, from the WhiteHouse sessions. You'll notice that I was particularly fond of a certain view of this model - not that there's anythying wrong with that; I only wish I'd had time to do both sides equally. Coming soon, some new studio rope suspensions with Zille.

Nicolette C1

I'm posting a series today which was done in one of my Studio Nudes workshops. Nicolette is another of my lucky finds - a non-professional model who just happens to look great and feel comfortable in front of the camera. I asked her to come back for more, but she's moved on now to motherhood and family life, so it may be some time before we see her again here...

Molly C2

I just attended an interesting lecture by Greg Gorman, the famous photographer of the famous. He showed some of his great b&w portraits (see gormanphotography.com) and then illustrated his technique for converting digital color shots into very nice duotone b&w images. Those of you who've been with the site for a while know that this is an issue I've been experimenting with as I move more and more into the digital world. So it was fortuitous that I just happened to have some brand new digital images of young Molly - an artists model from out of town. We shot a few different things earlier this week, some of which I did with the old Hassy , but right now I'll post a few of the better digital color shots, and some b&w conversions (using the Gorman technique*). Those are going up today, and when the Hasselblad negs are ready, we'll compare them. *Greg has a PDF file on his site (see "Learn" in the navigation menu) which explains his process.

Helena C1

I've added the remaining Helena files today, which completes her gallery. For those of you compiling print orders, these will be the last uploads to choose from, prior to Friday's Holiday Sale deadline, except for, perhaps, a few more Justine pics (although if you see something in the next week that you want to swap for, I can probably accomodate you.)