Blog: 31 December 2008

Stone

At the request of a number of print collectors, here's another gallery of classic b&w shots from my work for Penthouse, a few years ago...Stone was 19 at the time and had never done professional photos before, which was true for most of the girls I worked with in those days. I think you'll agree she did a very nice job. (This series ran originally in "Penthouse Letters") As we turn the corner into January, don't forget about my fine art print sale, and also the upcoming workshop on Jan 11.

Natalie Redux

Today, I'm posting a huge 10-page presentation gallery of nearly every shot (over 200 photos) I've ever published of my most well-known model, Natalie, as well as a few I've never shown before.There's a wide variety of scan sizes (and qualities) here, since some of these were done several years ago. (Dates on photos reflect dates of publication, rather than dates of sessions.)I'm posting this now, just in advance of my Holiday Print Sale, at the request of several print collectors interested in reviewing all her available images. This gallery is currently viewable by the general public, until the first of the new year. For those who may want to purchase prints*, the sale is a 2-for-1 offer on limited edition black and white silver prints, and a discount price of 75. on FCA prints. All prints are signed. Just send an email for more info. (Purchase links will be posted shortly) *A word to collectors: with major photo suppliers disappearing rapidly, it may not be long before we're unable to find paper and chemicals to make darkroom prints. Buy now before it's too late...

Normandy N1

Today's gallery is a group of more candid shots from the Normandy adventure. These were taken in between "official" sessions - which at times can make them more interesting, and even more erotic than the posed and rehearsed sets we normally shoot.

Luk B1

You may recognize the hotel background in this set of images from a Bangkok shoot a few years back. It's the same room that was used for the session with Jet in our 10-07 update. These are best described as nude portraits, rather than an erotic fantasy. The Thai girls were not at all used to professional cameras or to posing as "models". The shots therefore are sometimes more revealing and compelling than, for instance, the photos from a typical hot session with one of the Eastern European fashion models. My personal picks among these photos would be the series from #757 to #767 - the overall feeling of looking at those is pretty close to what it felt like to be there shooting her.

Cassandra C1

I shot Cassandra using my traditional canvas backdrop, and I chose to do this one in black & white. She's worked with Playboy in LA, and I think you'll agree she's got the perfect body for it. I have 4 very nice sets of this model, so we'll probably see her again here. (Look for the video from this session in her model profile, showing the whole shoot from start to finish)

Athena SF1

Today's gallery comes from a series of sessions I call the "White House Nudes". These were shot over the course of several years in a big white mansion in the San Francisco hills. The models were non-professionals, although certainly not shy about their bodies. Athena was one of the more adventurous of my subjects, and brought her own interesting equipment and toys. As you'll see, these images are a bit different from my recent color work in Europe - primarily due to the fact that I was still shooting 120mm Plus-X film and using the old faithful Hasselblad.

Jet B1

One of my first shoots using a digital camera was back in early 2002, in Bangkok. Some of these sessions have already been posted here in the Archive, and others are now being revamped to suit the new size and format - such as this one of lovely 18-yr-old Jet. I photographed about a dozen "models" on each of three trips to Thailand. I hesitate to use the word "models" since these girls had never posed for professional photos before, and had very little notion of art or eroticism. You may be able to see, in the progression of the session, how Jet goes from being timid, to more confident, and then to having a fun time. I'll post a few more of these in the coming weeks, and I think you'll see a similar transformation with each girl.

Laura P1

Here's an uncharacteristically (for me) candid series of Laura at a recent shoot in Prague - starting with some shots done within minutes of her arrival, removing her street clothes. The second part was done as she shaved in the shower.In both cases I think you'll note a refreshing break from the usual blatant erotica, in favor of a more intimate and "real" sensuality. (

Christelle C4

Here's another session with Christelle shot on my original canvas backdrop. You'll notice a difference in color compared to last week's set of Heather. This is due to using a different "white balance" setting in the camera. I like both the cool and the warm tones resulting from this adjustment - in truth neither is exactly accurate in rendering the real backdrop color, but what matters most to me is the final impact of the images. (

Heather C3

Heather returns for a session with my old, original canvas backdrop. I normally tend to stay away from props, especially hats, but for some reason this bizarre chapeau she brought to the studio seemed to fit with her wardrobe, and with our mood, so we shot without removing it the whole afternoon. I got to use one of my favorite Randy Newman lines: "You can leave your hat on."

Amber C7

Here's another nice series of Amber in the studio. I get a lot of positive comments whenever I post a set of Amber photos. Also, some of you may be interested in seeing another side of her, at her own site, called SpankAmber.com

Ronni N2

Come along on a photo safari as the photographer attempts to focus a new 400mm Nikon VR lens. This exercise contains a few artsy fuzzy pictures, but eventually results in some sharp images - and in any case the journey is quite pleasant, as we track lovely Ronni strolling down a sunlit forest path in the Normandy countryside.

Adriana P2

Here is the remainder of Adriana's first photo session - a series of candid shots showing her shaving on set in front of a vanity mirror. I liked the combination of innocence, sexiness and matter-of-fact pragmatism in this series. Rather than thinking about how she was going to look on camera, she really got totally involved in the task of shaving - giving us, the viewers, that tantalizing feeling of observing an intimate act.

Adriana P1

Adriana is a Greek college student, modeling to make some extra money. She wasn't quite sure whether to shave her pubic hair, or let it grow in more for our session (which I'd requested); consequently, she arrived in an in-between state, with sort of a 5-o'clock shadow. To make the best of the situation, I decided to shoot her as she was, but to also shoot her shaving after that. So Set #1 has some very nice posed nudes of this beginner model, and Set #2, coming in a few days, shows a candid series of her shaving herself and showing off the smooth results.

Layla C6

Having some technical problems this week - G5 crash, and loss of "presets" - so we have a new gallery format for this shoot with the very popular Layla. Let me know what you think.

Sara P1

Picture yourself in a small European hotel, somewhere on the Mediterranean coast, on a warm summer afternoon. You're travelling for a few weeks with your new Italian girlfriend, Sara, and you're just taking a few casual snapshots as she takes off her dress and settles down on the bed...That's exactly the feeling I had as I made this series of shots. Sara has the aura of a real woman - not so much a fashion model, or a nude web star, but someone with some real character and true sex appeal.

Keira P3

Here's a sample of what you can get with the absolute simplest studio lighting setup, even 5000 miles from home. This was done in a large apartment with white walls. Two large softboxes were positioned a few feet from the model, camera left (although one light source would also have worked nearly as well) and I was about 15ft back for most of the shots.Because the walls serve as reflectors, the light on the model turns out fine from almost any angle, and also wipes out most shadows on the rear wall. If you don't have a huge apartment, you can just scale down the shoot to either portraits, or waist-up images.

Mikelle P2

I shot Mikelle with a Nikon D300, in color mode, and then converted to grayscale for this gallery. I think the lighting here lends itself to this process - white walls, full frontal strobes in softboxes, very flat and even. This is from a March location shoot in Prague . These sessions generally run about 30 to 45 minutes, so I don't get a lot of time with each model. Mikelle is quite experienced with fashion and glamour, so we were able to get quite a few very striking shots - some just fun and sexy and others very explicit.

Lola L4

I've shot this model 5 or 6 times and loved it each time. She calls herself Lola, for obvious reasons. In person she's exactly the way she appears in the pictures: young, happy, pretty, very sexy - but I don't think she's ever said a word during our sessions. She smiles and nods, and follows directions, but she's probably the quietest girl I've ever worked with.

Dara C1

Here's a change of pace - a b&w series from one of my "observer" workshops. A group of photographers gathered in my studio to watch and learn some of my basic techniques, from making and using a canvas backdrop to shooting film and Polaroids with a Hasselblad. The results of this workshop were quite satisfying, and some of these shots have appeared in various photo and fetish books. I've also included a few proof sheets in this gallery, to give a better idea of the progression of poses and angles involved getting "just the right shot".

Keira K P1

I've just returned from a marathon shoot in Prague - photographing a new crop of Eastern European models. And from my totally biased and unscientific polling, Keira seems to have won the hearts of a majority of the Private Archive members, so here she is. This was an unusual encounter, since she'd written to me weeks before saying she had just started modeling and was hoping to work with me. It was a nice coincidence that I was already booked to do the Czech shoot in March, so we immediately added her to the schedule. For those who need an excuse to look at the pictures, you can study the difference between these, done with the new Nikon D300, as opposed to my other recent shots, using the D2X.

Viki ampamp Dawn

When shooting in a new environment, I often try to get the models to stand in for some lighting tests, before we really get going on the actual shooting session, since I hate to have to stop and adjust lights during the shoot. In this case, I was fortunate to have two models hanging around, although as you'll see, one of them needed a little help getting undressed.

Guest Gilbert

Today, I'm presenting a guest gallery of enchanting work from a new book by a fellow photographer. Jack Gilbert is the founder of Michelle7.com, one of the web's most influential sites devoted to artistic nude photography. He is also responsible for a related site, Visions of Ophelia, which focuses on his own visions of beautiful young women. The new book, of the same name, is a wonderful collection of black & white nudes and semi-nude portraits of girls on the cusp of woman-hood, photographed with obvious appreciation for their unique mystery and magic. Book available from amazon.de

Adriana L1

At the ripe old age of 26, Adriana is considered nearly over the hill in the modeling world, but there's certainly no sign of it in this set. This gallery comes from a recent shoot just outside London. Adriana was with us for a couple days, and I did four long shoots with her, but I think this simple natural light series, shot in the smallest bedroom, is my favorite. The wardrobe was little more than cut-off jeans and a blouse - which I often find more erotic than any wild fetish outfit - and she has a sexy maturity you just can't find in teenagers.