Sureline Shoreline

I caught my own feet

standing there, slopped shanks

of wetness, poured over

with sea. I watched

the warm, feathery liquid

like wrapping fingers, like cotton

gently cover and discover

my skin to leave it

clean underneath. To dismantle

the cool, hard grits

of ground rock, between my toes

and leave me wondering

if this is what they talk of

when they talk of the acceptance.

If now, knowing myself -

my self - means before, I didn’t.

The thirties, they say. You know

what you want.

Yes. I walk into years

in my ice-cool blue dress

beautiful, bohemian, innocent, free.

... By Sjur Roald, shot in Norway, and it was the coldest beach I'd ever posed on:

And by Malvin Jan Dyb:

Anomaly

How to irritate models:
- Keep them waiting outside the front door while you stand right inside shouting and swearing loudly on the phone, then later mention that the session didn't start on time so you don't feel you're getting the full period shooting.
- begin the shoot (after barely a hello) by staring rudely at each model, listing aloud any perceived flaws or challenges.
- insult one model's hair colour and rant excessively about a previous victim's freckles.
- offer wine/beer 4 times in the space of a two hour shoot. And a whip.
- Spend a large part of the shoot photographing either up-nostril or downwards onto the models, paying little heed to any ideas of perspective or where the light is falling at any given moment and making sure to get at least 15 high-speed, near identical fires of each pose.
- spontaneously give free (misguided) critique and career advice to one of the best and popular international nude models around.
- admit, towards the end of the shoot, that the models are 'not bad, actually'.
- suggest implied non-consensual sex as shoot concept.
- ask, after all of the above, if either model would be interested in a second shoot sometime.

... Seriously, it's so extremely rare (as you can tell) that I don't love my shoots it became a comedy. We couldn't stop laughing by the end.

And to balance things out with a wonderful experience, here's something from two days ago, by Bjorn Hansen, who was creative, positive and pleasant, and whose request for a second shoot I very much hope to be able to take up!!

Earl Grey + Jacarandas

= happy model journeys.







As was fairly predictable, I'm loving Ozland so much that I've slightly extended my trip to include Melbourne and Canberra as well as Sydney twice. Just (im)patiently waiting for the inexplicably inefficient travel agency to confirm my flight home but 99% sure to be back at the very beginning of December. Will be floundering in jet lag for a couple of days thereafter, no doubt, but then will be raring to go for UK shoots! Please do email me to book something in for Dec or Jan! Would love to hear from you! :-)

And here's an image from Jeff Wack, made from something we did when I was in LA. Jeff's digital illustration is so well done, I think, and his commercial portfolio is truly impressive. I was telling a photographer recently about my embarrassingly narcissistic superhero dreams (I have saved the world many, many times) and that very day, this incredible image arrived in my inbox. Such a pleasure to be made into art work like this!

Greensleeves

I can't believe it took so long for Ken Pegg and I to work together - I have admired his beautiful, distinct photographic style for such a long time and eventually the time came to go to his house and play dress up. I actually thought I'd blogged these already... Oops! Luckily I have them saved on the tablet I'm travelling with and can publish them here now! Hope you like them!