Halloween 2009 ...

A rather magical time ...

A mysterious voicemail ...

A soft commanding voice ...

A full moon ...

A daring adventure in a world of Mystery ...

A Woman in the mountains ...

An invitation collide ...

An unexpected spectacle of mythical proportions ...

... the Beloved Lady of the Universe ...

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The images below are out-takes from the November 1, 2009 lingerie shoot for LuLa Lu

Model Heather Hartel

MUA Lauren Warner

The Red Knight - Part 1a

I'm repeating part of an earlier blog post to ensure an easier follow up connection with an upcoming personal story

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The Willy Vandersteen strip series "De Rode Ridder" or "The Red Knight" with over 200 albums published between 1959 and today has a serious impact on my life ...

Johan (John) , the Red Knight, is the main character in these strip albums. His character embodies the chivalric ideal ... brave to the point of intrepid ... loyal and of course, an expert swordsman ...

In most of the albums he's a traveling knight fighting all sorts of evil threatening peaceful communities ... his travel have brought him all over the world ... Egypt, South America, Atlantis (!) , China etc. ... even outer space figured as a background for a couple of stories ...

Chronologically the stories are placed from the 6th century to the 16th century, thus covering a wide range of historical events. King Arthur, Crusades, Battle of the Golden Spurs and 15-16th centurylife in Flanders.

These strips always featured gorgeous damsels in distress in need of rescue ... and were pretty much the sexiest books I got my hands on in elementary school ... lol ...

Relationships are purely platonic in line with the ideals of chivalric duties.

The Red Knight however is in love with Galaxa, the Faerie of Light. She can only appear for a few brief moments in Johan's world. Together however they fight evil and injustice in the hope to be joined together in a future ...

There is also considerable romantic tension suggested between the Red Knight and Demonia, the henchwoman from Bahaal, the Prince of Darkness.

Other recurring women in the strip are Morning Star and Isjtar, both loyal colleague faeries from Galaxia, always ready to give a lending hand when Galaxia is weakened in battles with Demonia.

As such these strips have appeal for both teenagers and adults alike ...

The women in this strip series do not follow the stereotypes of the historical background.

These woman are all emancipated, independent, love their personal freedom and all have important responsibilities to fulfill in the story.

Although The Red Knight often has to rescue damsels in distress, they are all strong women.

The Red Knight's unobtainable love for Galaxia is often the driver for his actions and needless to say that all plots have a happy ending.

* * *

The Red Knight is looking for a damsel that is not in distress ...

... but what would the Red Knight do with a damsel that is not in distress ? ...

* * *

Images from the August 30 shoot with Sarah Ellis and Kayla, make-up and hair,

Lauren Warner

The White House - Part II

Continued from "In the Shadow ..." (June 10, 2009)

* * *

I open the double door fully and let the light flow in ... I can see the 17th century fresco's on the left wall ... a woodsy scene with young women in pretty dresses with lots of ruffles ... wearing little cute hats ... their maids seem to be preparing a picnic .. couple of sheep in the background ... the rest is all faded out and was unrecoverable ...

I had discovered these fresco's after acquiring the house and scraping off some old cracked paint of the wall .. these wall paintings turned out pretty unique because of their size and quite a few art and historic architectural magazines were in and out the house to document the uncovering and restoration ...

I glance over the now familiar art and make my way down the entrance hallway to the right hand side kitchen door with window lights ... I'm trying to remember the name of the local painter to no avail ... I'm more pre-occupied with what I'm going to find in the kitchen after my last visit ...

I crack the kitchen door open .. it is dark inside ... no power yet and the only light comes in through the double door hall way and backyard kitchen window which Roman curtains are closed ... the clean smell of fresh lemon is puzzling ... no one was in here and this place is supposed to be a mess after my last visit ...

I ignore the clue and let my eyes adjust to the darkness before walking in ... I can see some light peering through the backyard kitchen window and I slowly make my way to open the curtains ... broken porcelain is cracking under my feet while I make my way ... this place is still a mess ...

Pulling the curtain open I can finally see the extent of the disarray ... broken plates all over the floor ... my eyes wander up to the cupboards ... all doors are closed and latched ... what the hell ?

The meat cleaver on the butcher block draws my attention ... there's blood ... fresh ... red ... my stomach turns for a split second but I decide to take a look at what's hanging in the cooking fireplace ... a skillfully skinned and cleaned hare is still bleeding out ... fresh kill... the fireplace is cold ... odd ... I don't remember seeing this scene last time I was here.

Before I can finish the thought, I hear the kitchen door slowly closing shut ... I check ... there's still no door handle ... I can't get out this way ... I cringe as I now need to make my long way to the other side of the house ... can't shake the feeling off that I'm not alone and that's no different than the past experience ...

I look over to the dark far corner as I know there to be the door to the hallway leading to the antechambers of the house. As I'm making my way to the corner, loud noises in the cupboards make me duck and close my eyes ... just in time ... dozens of porcelain plates fly across the kitchen and get shattered against the walls and various pieces of furniture ... I stay put till the violence subdues ... I stand up and there's one more layer of shards strewn over the floor ... all cabinet doors are closed and still latched ... it's erie quiet now ...

I quickly jump and stumble to the far door ... rattling and cracking porcelain shards on my way ... thankfully this door is not locked and I step in the hallway, quickly closing the hallway door behind me ...

To be continued ...

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Image above shot on July 19. Model is Kayla, make-up Lauren Warner, styling Seema Hamid. Hat design Jasmin Zorlu

Studio Shoot - July 18-19

Two beautiful models graced my studio July 18 ... so nothing better than making this a 2 day shooting bonanza ;-) ... some images below ...

SaraLiz and Kayla ... make-up and hair by Lauren Warner (SaraLiz) and

Christal Saville (Kayla)

The images of me at work are all courtesy Ankha Desh who did an excellent job of watching my back and came up with some great prop variations for her own shooting sessions with the models.

On the 19th Seema Hamid joined up for wardrobe styling while Heather Hartel made sure I got my solo venti white chocolate mocha ... lol ...

Great images, great camaraderie and

no drama ... just the way I like it ... this team performed flawless and we got some great images to boot ... what else ;-)

SaraLiz and me ... this was my second shoot with the Florida based pro model ... beautiful, gracious, great posing and easy to work with

This image and next are (c) Ankha Desh

Chimping ... SaraLiz and Kayla delivered great team work on their first shoot together ...

No time to loose ... shoot Kayla while Seema is fixing shoes ... this was our 8th shoot together ... like I wrote a couple of weeks ago ... watch ...

Seema did a fabulous job mixing and matching wardrobe, shoes and accessories ... I had the pleasure working with her before at the Salton Sea shoot ... she's highly recommended ...

Swamped with retouching ...

... didn't realize it was that long since I've posted anything ... a matter of life interfering with passion ... ;-)

* * *

More chair pictures ...

Kayla on her first shoot ... beautiful and talented ... will shoot again ;-)

Make up by Lauren Warner ... more chair images shortly ...

Continued

China Dragon

 ... is no more ... closed their doors because they couldn't afford the new lease anymore ... figure it out ... the lease owner increased the lease fee rather than adjusting it to business ... 

Three empty locations now in the same strip ... doesn't make sense in a depression ... 

I will need to find another source of good fortune cookies ... they were the best ;-)

*   *   *

Model in the images is Deb F ... we did a full day portfolio shoot in studio and on location a while ago ... wonderful work of the model ... make up by Lauren Warner ...

Hard drives fail

This week was hard drive failure week ... 

The RAID that has giving me problems finally decided to give up on me ... the controller board gave each drive a different name ... and ... voila ... instant data inaccessibility ...

Slowly rebuilding partition tables ... don't have the money to have this done externally ... two full shoots are at stake ... everything else is double backed up ...

Today brought a hard drive failure at my office ... at first Excel would give up on me and then each Microsoft Office application would slowly disintegrate and  send error message to the server ... we've all seen the crash messages at some point in our lives ... ;-)

Uninstalled the full Office suite and that was not successful ... hmmmmmm .... that didn't sound right ...

Turn the computer off, wait 15 seconds, turn on ... Windows's greeting screen pops up and then the dreaded sound of a hard drive trying to find the right track ... over and over again ...

IT is rebuilding my computer, rebuilding my data and hopefully I'll have my quarter end files back in time for corporate presentation ... keeping my fingers crossed ...

Not sure about the line up of planets and moons here ... something is going on ...

*   *   *

Model is Keira Grant ... nope ... she has nothing to do with the hard drive crashes ... ;-)

We worked together many moons ago and we'll work together again shortly ... 

Make up by Lauren Warner.

Continued ...

My boudoir ...

I had the privilege and pleasure to work with two extraordinary models a couple of weeks ago ... 

Carlotta Champagne and SaraLiz were visiting San Francisco together and I couldn't resist scheduling a photo shoot in my boudoir ... 

Make up by Lauren Warner.

Both models are highly recommended to work with ...

To be continued ... retouching many more images from this session in due time ... there are also many more images from one on one and location work ...

All image were shot with natural lighting through a single window ... no flash, no reflectors ...

The sun would peer through the window from time to time which would make finding the proper lighting balance quite challenging in this overwhelmingly red and black decorated setting.

The key objective from this session however was interaction without making it a girl-on-girl shoot ... 

Shooting one on one is easy ... shooting two or more models and have them connect with the viewer is a different challenge for all involved ...

Carlotta and Sara are pro and have no difficulty following directions in a creative way ... they both added so much to the shoot ... thanks ... looking forward to the next session ...

My crows ...

... are back ... they're waiting outside my office around my car ... they follow when I walk the 3/4 mile to get lunch ... the three of them fly ahead ... wait on the fence posts and then fly ahead again ... when I'm on my way back, they do the same thing again ... they are extremely playful ... ;-)

Where have you been ... ;-) ... craa ... craaa ... craaaaahhhhhh ...

Bringing my camera tomorrow ... let's see if you still want to play ...

*   *   *

Fortune cookie of the day:

You will have much to give thanks for this month

So true ... so true ...

*   *   *

Kevin, Lauren Warner's husband passed away last Sunday night ... he'll be missed by quite a few of us ... hugs to Lauren, Oliver, Zoe and the rest of the family.

*   *   *

I like big hair ... the images in this blog post are from my shoot with Kristin ... She's fun to work with ... make-up by Gina Novotchin and hair by Lorenzo ... I always wanted to shoot hair like this ... lol ... thanks team !

Slow day ...

... raining ... cold  ... 

Yesterday we had snow in the hills in some places at the 2000 ft level ... has been a while since I've seen snow here ... ;-)

Some more work with Jillian Ann from our most recent photo shoot ... enjoy "The Piano Lesson" ...

Happy Valentine ...

All days are Valentine days and today is no exception ... 

*   *   *

Fortune cookie of two days ago ;-)

Now is the time for peace in your life.

Go along with other's ideas [in bed]

Adding [in bed] to any fortune cookie makes them sooo much better ... 

*   *   *

Another pic from a shoot with Jillian Ann ... make up by Lauren Warner ... 

These images were lit with a single tungsten lighting up a dark scene ... no tripod,  ISO 3200 ...

The ability to shoot in pretty much any lighting condition with even make shift lighting is a feature I wouldn't want to miss anymore ...

These images are from the most recent shoot with Jillian Ann ... "The Piano Lesson"

Stay tuned for more ...

I am bliss ...

... is a Chocolate-Hazelnut Mousse pie ... I got to savor one in Cafe Gratitude ;-) ... after a shoot with Jillian Ann (MUA: Lauren Warner)

Never has raw vegan tasted so divine ! ... this is a must taste dessert even if it is the last dessert you'll ever taste ... 

Ingredients: rich cacao and hazelnut mousse topped in coconut meringue in a hazelnut-macadamia date crust ... 100% vegan ... 100% raw ... sweetened with Yacon syrup ...

Best ever dessert ! ... taste is absolutely fabulous but the texture is unlike anything I ever had ;-)

"I am bliss" is a most appropriate name for this delicacy ;-)

The above image from Jillian is from our first shoot ... quite a few months ago ... stay tuned for more ... (MUA Lauren Warner)

Primal scream

Worked with April and Lauren Warner yesterday ... Lauren came up with a fun make up concept for April and April lived her emotions ;-) ... this model doesn't act it ... she lives it ... raw

This series was pretty much shot on the street in San Francisco ... onlookers didn't believe their eyes ... ;-)

3 minute shoot, 3 primal expressions ... fear ... anger ... pain ... 

None of these images were posed ... they were lived ... the way I like it ... love photojournalism ;-)

April models fashion, fine art and she just starred her first leading role in an indie film.

Thanksgiving 2008

Thanksgiving 2008 was a different experience thanks to an invitation of NatLight Studios to participate in a city shoot ... and what it shoot it was !  Images below show me in action and are courtesy (c) of NatLight Studios. 

Model is Sarah Ellis, make-up by Lauren Warner.

It is inevitable to have a few funny things happening during a public shoot.  

First of all, our ad hoc "audience" was always very respectful and at no time were there any disturbances.

The shoot was always low key when children were in the neighborhood.

At times the crowd would applaud the model after the location session.

One young gentleman asked me if I would shoot him just when we were moving on to another spot.

I had given hem my business card and he called within 5 minutes to find out where the next shooting location was going to be ... ;-) ... we made a fan !

All had fun and we shot some top notch images.

No animals were harmed during this production ... (j/k)

Ms Susie B - Part Two

Susie had invited me to tag along on her shoot with NatLight Studios on Saturday afternoon, the day after Halloween.

The photographer had OK'ed it and Lauren Warner was going to do the make up.

It is hard to resist an invitation like this ... exploring a new studio, meeting new people and watching a model and make-up artist I love working with.

It was raining like hell, the first major rainstorm in the Bay Area of this Fall ... traffic was light, no issues to reach the Cotton Mill Studios.

NatLight Studios came up with a great concept and had indeed hired the right make up artist to pull this off.  As soon as I saw the sketches Lauren had made for the NatLight Studios idea my eyes lit up  ... wow ... lol ... what a concept ...  what a ghostly creation ...

During the make-up transformation we had plenty of opportunity to talk shop and to get to know each other ... nothing more fun than exchange stories and talk photography techno-babble while backdrops and lights are readied ...

A couple of minutes in the shoot Jim invited me to shoot along ... my heart skipped a couple of beats but this is something you don't have to ask me twice ... 

I'm very grateful for this opportunity ... needless to say that this was a fun shoot ... the images speak for themselves ...

Thanks Jim ... Life is good !

*   *   *

That afternoon I also had the opportunity to meet Craig Morey.  He's one of my inspirational photographers and I'm well aware of his work as I purchased a few of his photography books in the past and I subscribe to his newsletter.  I especially like his classy B&W art nudes and the light bondage photographs ... all about female beauty.

I actually tried to attend one of his workshops in late 2005, well before I started photographing models, but I missed the boat ... hopefully Craig will set up some new workshops in the near future ...

All by all, a great afternoon and evening ... time well spend with new friends ...

Continued ...

Thursday, October 2, 2008

Feeling a lot better, my body is returning to normal, emergency room visit didn't shot any signs or cardiac enzymes ... just a major anxiety adrenaline overdose ... weird what emotional upset can do to you.

*   *   *

Worked a couple of hot issues at work, nothing major but it shows once more that proper project management of large engineering projects remains a difficult thing to do regardless of how dedicated the team is.

*   *   *

It feels so good to have friends take you out for lunch ...

*   *   *

Finished some more retouches of the shoot with Sarah Ellis and her "virgin model" friend Rachel ... lol ... I still think fondly about this shoot and all the new friendships this brought ... there were a lot of "first's" happening that day ...  all brought good things ...

Although this was Rachel's first shoot ever, the deep friendship between these two models showed through and resulted in an interaction that would be difficult to achieve by any other means.  I was my privilege to capture this.  

It is once more not about the posing but again about the connection.  Make up by Lauren Warner.

I also blogged about this shoot on August 26, 08.

Continued ...

Saturday, August 30, 08

Didn't get to do any edits last night after all ... got sidetracked ... in a good relaxing way ...

Today is shopping & cleaning day. Getting ready for a shoot tonight ... concept, accessories ... filling in two storyboards ...

Working on shoot prep for an October concept.  Called April ... She's good to go for that concept ... need one or two more models for that shoot ...

Long night ahead, still need to make up for the edits from last night ... these are fun ones ...

*   *   *

Betcee May and Lauren Warner arrived on time and got to work after quick introductions ... it's always good to see how professionals "click" in no time.  It's my third shoot with Betcee May  and my fourth with Lauren Warner.  They both know by now what I'm looking for and I trust Lauren will do a stellar job on Betcee.   I'm shooting Betcee May today with a beauty make up accentuating her mostly blue eyes while keeping the long curly flowing hair.

The first concept is shot outdoors.  There's a hill across my studio and that hill overlooks Alameda creek all the way till Coyote Hills at the bay.  Magnificent view but it takes a half hour climb to get there, a little over a mile with 800 feet of altitude difference.

Before we left for the hill, Sarah Ellis arrived and it was wonderful to see the mutual respect between the two models and the excitement for a duo shoot.  What a team !

The pictures to the left feature Betcee during the climb ... something she did with flying colors on sandals.  This girl truly grew up in the outdoors and I had the pleasure seeing her in action on steep riverbanks a couple of months ago.

When we got back Sarah Ellis was in the Dior make-up chair and Lauren was finishing off with the hair.  In the meantime I shot a couple of new backlighting set-ups with Betcee.

Soon both models were interacting in front of my lens in a splendid exchange of looks, intertwined arms and ... of course ... laughs.

Finished the evening with some Sarah Ellis solo work.  Black leggings, black heels, ethnic jewelry and my wrought metal iron chair.

Never got to do my edits ...  talked with Nicole in preparation of our next shoot ...

More pictures later.

Continued ...

Wednesday, August 27, 08

Isabelle Reneaux graced my studio.  Tiana Hunter sent her my way.  Thank Tiana.  Lauren Warner for make-up and hair.

Isabelle got directed on the wrong BART train ... slow start, rocky start ... but that changed quickly after the first ice was broken and connection was established between the three of us.  The Dior make-up chair from Lauren does miracles ... lol

A crocodile and banana SMS cracked me up.  Don't be jealous.  Prop for the day: artichoke.

No pictures to share yet, that will take some time.  Happy though with what I've seen through the view finder.  Isabelle was on fire in the outdoor shoot on Mission Boulevard.  A 15 minute concept.  

We just stopped shooting and I had removed my memory cards out of the camera just in case ... yep ... a red and blue light cruiser rolled up and the officer walked up to us.  Totally ignored me when I tried to intercept him.  Walked right up to Isabelle and Lauren with a grin and a smile on his face.  I knew we were OK.

Isabelle and Lauren handled it perfectly.  Couldn't have done it any better.  The officer was totally professional and understood the boundaries and the law.  Expressed his concerns for the situation.  Promised to be more discrete in the future.  Be polite, be courteous, don't argue.  Thank God for understanding officers.

Back in the studio at 7:00pm ... dealt with a minor disturbance ... concisely ... don't sweat the small stuff ... peace of mind is so much more important ... good night ... I'm exhausted.

Continued ...

Tuesday, August 26, 08

Meetings, phone support for Europe and Asia and fielding little distractions in life ... sending some travel money to Amarilla (my daughter) for her trip to Belgium next week ... 

My friend Greg sent a model my direction and I agreed to do beauty shots for Katie.  Picked her up from BART, Rachelle Dalton did her usual make-up magic and we got some great images that will definitely be an addition to Katie's portfolio.  Happy.  

Just checked Greg's online portfolio and it seems we shot Katie in a similar outfit, similar pose ... ohh well ... great minds playing here ... lol.

*   *   *

Beauty shots have taken on a different dimension since my duo shoot with Sarah and her friend Rachel a couple of months ago.

Sarah had asked me to shoot her friend Rachel.  Rachel had never done a shoot before.  I had never shot a model "virgin" before.  

I was totally honored by the request as I'm not the only photographer in the area ... so ... this was very a very special occasion to start with.  In addition, I was blown away by some of the make-up work Lauren Warner did on a Paige White shoot with Sarah ... so, I hired Lauren Warner for the job ... another first.

Rachel left, Sarah right in this image of the shoot.

This shoot was a blast.  we started out with a more natural look for starters but I gave Lauren free range in regards to the beauty look.  Rachel got comfortable within 20 minutes with the idea of being in front of a camera.  She is beautiful and exudes confidence ... a radiant presence to be reckoned with ... just can't wait to see what develops over time.

The duo images from this shoot are over the top ... the friendship and love between these two models is showing through ... a connection I'm afraid only women know how to share.  

Granted it was my first duo shoot, maybe I'm a bit overly sensitive optimistic ... nevertheless, this shoot once more changed my perceptions of what can be achieved ... and that's a wonderful feeling in itself.

Continued ...