Miami Vice Part 1 (Chilli Rating - Two Chillies)

WARNING CONTAINS NUDITY

This is the second of the three shoots that I did whilst in Miami.
The model is a full time professional glamour and nude model and who goes by the name of L.Shima.  This is her [website.] <-- click link

Shooting Shima was a lot of fun, she is constantly on the move and never needed any direction. Sometimes it was actually difficult to catch the perfect shot since the poses weren't static and often I wasn't quick enough to grab the shot at the right time.  But it certainly produced the type of images I was looking for in terms of energy.

Miami Heat (Chilli Rating - One Chilli)

Contains Lingerie (NSFW)

I was away on business for the latter part of February and beginning of March.   The last leg of my trip was in Miami.  I arrived around midday on Saturday and since my meetings weren't starting until Monday I planned a few shoots.  Miami is not quite Vegas, but its more Vegas than it is Bermuda, so I decided to shoot some less conservative content.   I did 3 shoots, I'll post them in order of conservativeness.  So for this shoot I'll rate it at One Chilli, with a "almost suitable for work" grade.

Art Nude with Ashley - (NSFW)

WARNING: CONTAINS NUDITY

This shoot with Ashley is a concept that I have been wanting to do for a couple of years but never found a model interested in doing it properly.    The intention was to create something resembling a piece of modern art with a nude model at the center of it.  I really wasn't sure how it was going to turn out but I knew that I wanted a white canvas and to throw and splash different colour paint over both the model and the canvas.  I wanted to create a piece of art that was almost indistinguishable as to what it was.


 

Ashley's story - Perfectly Flawed (NSFW)

WARNING: CONTAINS NUDITY

Ashley was back on the island for a month and we decided to do a shoot.  We originally chatted about doing a topless mermaid shoot inspired by a drawing that Ashley had found.  Long story short, we couldn't get a mermaid tail, so Ashley opened up to me and suggested this shoot.   This is Ashley's story and I'll let her tell it from here on.

The Juliana Gibbons Collection

I started the New Year off in style with a big shoot and a great team.  The idea for the shoot came about after I saw and loved the Juliana's collection at the Evolution Fashion show which was held last July.  After the show I got in touch with Juliana and we started planning the shoot.  As I was already fully booked for the summer we arranged to delay the shoot until Juliana returned for the Christmas break.  (She's studying in NY at the Parsons, any project runway fans will be well aware of what that is).

Beauty Shoot With Sophie Fraser Smith

This was the second time that Sophie and I had shot in 2013.  The first shoot was a fashion/swimwear shoot that we did in August, after that shoot Sophie expressed an interest in doing a beauty shoot.  We decided to shoot during her Christmas break and Christopher Vee  said that he wanted to do the make-up and  had a concept in mind.   The concept was to be based on a piece of jewelry that he had purchased on his travels.    I asked Jennifer Williams from Inner Sanctum to style the hair.  The shoot was done at whitespace* studio.

Toxic Rose with Savannah

This shoot with Savannah and Toxic Rose was first discussed back in 2012 when I saw the Toxic Rose collection in the Evolution Fashion show.  However, various factors meant it got put off several times.  Fortunately everything came together this December as Ed had a new line of clothes in for Christmas and New Year and Savannah was back on the island for the holidays.  As this was Savannah's first shoot I wanted to keep it simple and age appropriate so I decided to go for a studio shoot inspired by Teen Vogue / Nylon magazine .

Designs by Dean with Sarafina

I arranged this shoot with local designer Dean Williams when I found out that he was creating a collection for the annual Bermuda Society of Arts Fashion Show which took place in November.   Some of the items from the show had already been sold by the time we came to shoot.  Fortunately, some of my favourites were still available and Dean managed to borrow the already sold pants for the shoot.  I did a casting call for the model and we chose Sarafina from the dozen or so models that applied. 

Angels and Demons with Jessica Sinclair

The planning for this shoot started back in the summer of 2012 but was postponed for various reasons, mostly weather and availability.  The concept changed slightly from a whimsical white dress in a field with a castle in the background to what we have here which is a good versus evil concept.  The plan was always for Jessica to make the outfits herself which involved a big tulle skirt and a corset top.   We finished the look off with a some head pieces created specifically for the shoot by Avarie from paradise flowers and also  found some dried vines at the location which we ended up using as a crown for some of the evil looks.

Cosmopolitan (NSFW)

This shoot was Brittany's idea and was loosely based on Mario Testino's "Only girl in the world" shoot for V magazine (with Rihanna and Kate Moss).  Brittany suggested we use Alyssa as the other model and I asked Susan Thomas if she would be able to assist with the fetish style looks.  We needed a cool location for the shoot and Alyssa got permission to use Cosmopolitan night club.  Denny the owner, was great.   He opened up the premises on a Tuesday night, they are closed on Tuesdays, turned on all the strobe lights, turned on the music, provided liquid refreshments and then left us alone for 2 hours to do the shoot.

Avarie's Beauty Shoot

This shoot with Avarie was done at the end of August.   The concept was a collaboration between Avarie who created the head piece and make up artist Christopher Vee.
It was a fairly quick shoot to do, as there was just the one look.  With beauty head shots, there really isn't that much variety you can do in terms of different poses.
We did the shoot at whitespace* studios and I chose to use a coloured backdrop.  I picked Olive green which seemed to work best with the golds and purples of the head piece.

End of Summer Shoot with Sophie

This shoot with Sophie was done at the end of August and was the last of my outdoor summer shoots.  We wanted it to be an editorial style shoot and tried to collaborate with a couple of stores for outfits, unfortunately we weren't able to acquire anything suitable, so instead we pulled together a couple of simple looks from Sophie's own wardrobe.
The inspiration for the shoot was a simple beach and dunes shoot with a slightly desaturated/low contrast colour scheme.

Terrracotta Tones with Karina

This shoot with Karina was organised at very short notice.  I'd asked her for a shoot when we met at the meet and greet a couple of weeks earlier.  Then when she emailed me to set something up I was really busy, so I gave her a proposal. I told her that if she could come up with a concept, provide me with inspiration images and pics of all the outfits that she was going to wear,  acquire a MUA and find a suitable location, then I would consider shooting it, providing it was up to the same standard as all my other shoots.

Lillian's Surprise

Its been about 3 years since I've shot with Lillian.  That was back when she was still an amateur and still learning how to model.  Since then she's been working as a full time model in New York and is currently signed with Trump Models.   She was back on the island for a family visit and we managed to fit in a last minute shoot the day before she left.  Lillian had provided me with some inspiration images that were fairly commercial in nature and quite casual looks.

Desiree's Tribal Tribute

Now that my schedule has eased up a little, I'm finally getting chance to catch up on the backlog of the summer shoots.  This shoot with Desiree was shot back in mid July.  We had originally planned to shoot this concept back in March and April but had to cancel about 5 times due to bad weather or someone on the team feeling unwell.   In the end we put it off until the summer and hoped for better weather.  Which we got, it was as hot as hell.

The concept was Desiree's, she had several outfits that she wanted to shoot that were African inspired and she wanted to shoot it in the woods at Southland.   I'd never shot in southlands and knew it was going to be a quite challenge to try to balance the contrast between the really dark shadows and the strong rays of sunlight that come through the gaps in the canopy above.

Androgyny by Rayneisha

When I asked Rayneisha if she was interested in doing a shoot this summer,  she told me that she
really wanted to do something with an androgynous theme.  So I left it up to her to find the clothes and inspiration images and I pretty just had to turn up and shoot it on the day.   Afroditi offered to do the make up and between her and Rayneisha they came up with a look that met the theme.

Rochelle - Airport Dump Shoot

Rochelle was one of the first models I ever shot with, way back in 2008 when I was still learning about lighting and had minimal retouching skills.  Since then we have shot at least once every year until last year when she won Miss Bermuda 2012 and wasn't allowed to shoot with anyone other than on official Miss Bermuda business.
So now that her reign as come to an end we get to shoot again.  Congratulations also to Katie Arnfield, Miss Bermuda 2013. (Katie - looks like we'll have to put shooting together on hold for a year)

Goodbye Crazy July !

This blog post is just a quick update on what I've been up to in July and will explain the lack of recent blog posts.  I predicted at the end of June that July was going to be a hectic month and so it turned out to be.  It started with the Evolution Fashion Week.  The schedule was bigger than previous years, with additional weekday evening shows leading up to the main event on Saturday night. 

Jesenia - Beach Shoot

Jesenia was visiting Bermuda last month, she was here with her boyfriend who was teaching the Bermuda Mens Rugby team whilst she was teaching the Bermuda ladies.  In her spare time she is also a competing fitness model.

She contacted me and asked if I was available for a TFCD shoot.  As it happens I had just had 2 shoots for that coming weekend get cancelled, so I had a free weekend and agreed to do a quick shoot on Saturday morning.

Christopher Vee offered to do the make up and Jonathan decided he could spare a couple of hours away from his studying to help assist.

Eva - Dip in the Pool (NSFW)

WARNING: CONTAINS NUDITY

This is the final set from the shoot that I did with Eva last month.  After the shoot at the beach we returned to the house where Eva was staying and she wanted to do some test shots in the water, with the intention of doing a full under water shoot at some point when she returns (and assuming I buy an underwater housing).  We also did some statuesque style shots at the side of pool just before we wrapped it up for the day