Today’s Post by Joe Farace
The digital camera is a great invention because it allows us to reminisce. Instantly. — Demetri Martin
Birthdays are magical things. Shortly after my recent birthday I heard from two people—a model and a client—that I haven’t heard from in a long time. This is what happened…
Remembering a Fabulous Model
In my posts either on #corsetmonday or my upcoming #seethrough series, wherever I post a photograph of a model that I haven’t worked with in a long tome I often express a desire to photograph them again—if only it were possible.
Wherever I feature a photograph of a model who I haven’t worked with in a long tome I often express a desire to photograph them again—if only that were possible, But it does happen. My recent shoot with Scarlet Ana was my second with her after almost seven years! But I hope that for our next I won’t have to wait as long.
I first photographed Tomiko Perry in November 2002 during one of the late Dave Hall’s group model shoots that were held in Arizona. In the first of two sessions we had that day she came out of makeup wearing a translucent blue dress with a lining. I asked her if the lining was removable and she said “yes” and I immediately have some backlighting shots in mind. You can see one of them here. (The moody portrait of her featured today is more of a side-lighting image.) I also got to phonograph Tomiko in 2003 at that same series of group model shoots for a series of nostalgia and different, for me, “cute shots. You can see one of those images here. Recently, she contacted me through Instagram saying she would like to work with me again in 2023 or maybe next year. I’m crossing my fingers that it will be this year. I’m sure we both have changed a lot since then. In looking at her Instagram images she’s only gotten more beautiful. Me? I’m older and am doing the best that I can. The photograph at right was made that 2003 Arizona model shoot and shows me along with several models showing their appreciation for the fine photographs I made of them. That’s Tomiko strangling me!
How I Made this Portrait
I first photographed Tomiko in 2002 on a movie set near Phoenix, Arizona using a Canon EOS D60-—not a 60D—with an EF 28-105mm f/3.5-4.5 lens that was my go-to lens for my portrait and glamour photography back then. (it may be because I didn’t have many lenses when I started shooting Canon SLRs.) If I was still doing a majority of my photography with DSLR’s, I might consider buying a used one. (Based on the next part of this post that’s a possibility.)
This portrait of Tomiko was a completely available light exposure of 1/250 sec at f/9 and ISO 200. No fill flash from a speedlight and no reflector. This image was during my run-and-gun phase of my glamour photography career, if that’s what you want to call it, that I talked about in this post.
Another Blast from the Past
Just two days after i heard that exciting news from Tomiko, I got a email message from an old client through this website’s CONTACT page. (You can use it too; just click CONTACT and tell me what’s on your mind.)
It was the great client and all around good guy who, for two years, I shot the firetruck glamour images for a calendar. You can see one of the images here and there; more next week in my “most viewed models post on Thursday. This was one of the most favorite assignment I ever had in all my years making photographs but at the end of the second calendar shoot, the client sold the enterprise to someone on the East Coast. That’s when the focus of the calendar shifted geographically. Goodbye, Joe.
So I called the client, let’s call him “John” and said “what’s up?’ He told me that when he sold the calendar project, the contract gave him fist refusal if the guy who bought it wanted to sell. And, you guessed it, that guy is thinking of selling it back to John, which puts me back in the pictuire, so to speak. Will the two guys come to an agreement, will I get to photograph some beautiful models for a new calendar? I don’t know. Keep reading and we’ll both find out…
If you enjoyed today’s blog post and would like to buy Joe a cup of Earl Grey tea ($3.50), click here. And if you do, thanks so much.
My book Joe Farace’s Glamour Photography is full of tips, tools and techniques for glamour and boudoir photography and also includes several images from today’s featured model shoot. New copies are available from Amazon for $33.46, as I write this. Used copies start around twenty-three bucks with the Kindle version available at $19.99 for those who prefer a digital format.