A Perfect Day Part II

After a morning spent working with three models by available light, I simplified the process slightly for a short evening session, working with two models with a single studio flash. Gilda and Miles had both expressed an interest in modeling together for me, so after a New Year's Day dinner with my family, I met up with the two models and turned the guest room at Miranda's into a makeshift studio.

Digital original, 5 frame stitch

I have mixed feelings about studio lighting for figure images, but for photographs of couples, they are in fact my preferred tool - using studio lighting permits me to focus on the pose and composition of the models and not have to worry about the lighting (usually my frustration with studio lighting is the incredible focus it places on the importance of pose but, with two models, the poses seem to happen spontaneously).

Digital original

The set-up for the session was quite similar to the morning's - I put the studio flash behind the bed so the light would flow across the bed and models, providing a sense of shape and form. I'd left the white sheets on the bed from the morning's session, but wrapped the back of the bed in a black sheet to simplify the space some. Where the session differed greatly from the morning, however, was in the posing which focused on the interplay between the two models; in many ways this is easier than trying to create abstracts or stylized images.

Even though Gilda had little previous experience with modeling, there was little time spent working on poses during this session - with couples, I tend to just let the space and moment dictate the position of the models, and only when I see small adjustments that need to be made to the pose do I make suggestions. With few exceptions, all the images during this session grew out of simple suggestions such as "lie down and cuddle" or "Gilda, why don't you just lie on your side facing me, and Miles can lie down behind you " - everything else just fell into place, generated by the natural chemistry between the two models.

Digital original, 5 frame stitch

Because of the tight time-frame (we were borrowing part of Miranda's house, after all), I opted to work only with the digital cameras for this session; several times I saw images that would have worked well if translated  onto the large format camera, but the slower pace of that tool wasn't appropriate for the session and would have locked us out of working with as many poses and possibilities.