I received an e-mail from a fabulous fashion model (Kelli Brook) I had worked with many times and she wanted to know if I was up for a shoot with her? She informed me that she wanted to shoot some nudes and she thought as we are great friend and that I had done a lot of shoots like that (Known for shooting sexy images of women) I would be just the photographer to do that with. I jumped at the chance to work with her as she is a fantastic model and shooting her nude would be smashing. We talked about what sort of images we could do and she wanted to do something you might see in a magazine in Europe, I had seen some images of a model that gave me some ideas, so we made plans to drive out to a dry lake bed were a lot of photographers have shoot at from around the world. “It’s the go-to spot in California”
Now this location was not a cheap the permit to shoot there is $150. for the day and $15. To enter the park, you also have to carry one million dollars in a liability insurance.
We drove out to the location and there was no body about so it looked like we had some privacy and we would have no interruptions. When you shoot nudes that is the last thing you need. If you are a model and want to do this sort of shoot it is best to take a friend with you if you have not known the photographer for very long.
Once we got all the clothes and other props ready, I looked for the best view that was going to be in the background and because it was getting later in the day the sun was going to dropped and give us the very warm and golden light which was what I was looking for. One of the other things I was also looking for and is deal with going to this location was the cracked ground which would play a big part of the look. The cracked dry ground would also kick light up as a fill light. One of the outfits was some old used jeans. “If you are a true Fashion Photographer you have a pair in your collection” We started with them to get relaxed with the location and then we switched to the poses in the bondage gear and last but not least just shoes and the latex gloves.
The makeup for the bondage was very heavy around the eyes for my fashion look & as we got started the wind came up and we got some fantastic shot with her hair flying about.
I think the look of just nothing out there in the background makes focus go to your subject so there is nothing of a distraction for the viewer. When you are at this location the sun will go down very quickly so have your shots planed out and keep working the model with her pose’s and get a flow going and you will end up with super images like we did.
