Learning Curves

Okay so I shot my first nudes. Well, my first nudes of someone I'm not dating anyway. And I won't share them.

I want to, I'm kind of proud of how they turned out. I grew up with the fantasy of being a Playboy photographer and it felt kinda like I actually go to do that. But then, in the process of editing the photos and sharing them with Casey, the model for this shoot, I realized that as comfortable as she seemed to be posing for them, she wasn't super keen on having them be public.

So while I have the right to use the photos (and the release to back that up), I won't because I respect her wishes. Plus I'd like to work with her again. And I'd hate to have her tell some other model to watch out, he'll share stuff you don't want shared.

I took some non-nude shots that she vetoed, too. With my wide angle 11-16mm lens, shots I am way more jazzed about that the topless ones actually. But she thought the distortion of the lens (which was the point to my view) made her body look weird. So you don't get to see those even if they are even better than the nekkid pics.

I partly look at this as a learning experience. I had my strobes set in the wrong place, I had to do major white balance surgery in Photoshop because I screwed that stuff up, and I've recently seen pictures of Casey taken by another photographer who truly shames my work. That photographer offers a class I'm tempted to take because I almost didn't recognize Casey when I saw his shots, and I'd just shot her a few days before. He might have somewhat better gear than me but I have good gear, and I sure as shit can't blame the model.