I am going to jump out of order now and tell a story. This story is about Kelly’s glitter shot. A lot of my best stories are about Kelly. I think it is because she and I got along so well together and she is such a confident and fun person, and we shot a lot.

I don’t allow escorts at my shoots. The model has to come alone, or with another model who is posing. I have lots of reasons for this, but those don’t matter right now. I found out after our first or second shoot that Kelly’s boyfriend, Mike, was an MMA heavyweight cage fighter. Later they would get married and he would be on the Ultimate Fighter reality show. But at this time they had been seriously dating a few months. I asked Kelly to bring Mike to a shoot we had scheduled so I could photographer them together.

They arrived and I photographed the two of them and Kelly and him separately. I really was not too thrilled with some of the shots because he is so much bigger than Kelly and I could not get them to look symmetrical, at least to me.

After I shot them together and took them to shoot some more bikini it was time to do the glitter shot. I will write later about just the glitter shots. But I was doing a series where I covered the model in glitter, kind of like bodypainting. I wanted to do an Irish type shot with Kelly’s red hair, so I bought some bright green glitter. The glitter shot is the last of the day because it is incredibly messy and the model can only get it off by taking a hot bath. The way I do the glitter is to lay a backdrop on the floor, cover it with plastic, lay the model down on it, then she covers herself in baby oil and gets into the pose I want. She has to remain still while I then sprinkle the glitter in the patter I want, making sure to cover the nipples and vaginal area with a thick coat so nothing shows. I like to shoot the shot with the models legs spread as that adds to the interest even though you can’t see anything. The glitter is actually spead on thicker than most bikini material.

Another thing you need to know is that, after asking if I can touch her and getting permission, I often put models in poses. When moving them I often say, “you have my permission to say ‘oooo…baby’ any time I touch you.” Or something like that to get a laugh. I had told Kelly that at our first shoot and I remember it because she responded with, “I’ll keep that in mind.”

We finished shooting and Mike went to sit in a corner of the studio, about 25 feet away while Kelly was undressing and I was setting up the plastic and the lights. I decided I should get Mike involved so I asked him to come spread the baby oil on Kelly. He did it, then went back to the corner and started doing something with his phone.

I had Kelly lie in a pose with her hands above her heads and her legs spread out a little. I started sprinkling glitter on her chest and worked my way down one side and then the other side. The final spot to sprinkle the glitter was on her vagina area. Now What Happened next is rather crude and I guess I should warn you about the bad language, but this is what really happened, bad words and all.

I sprinkled the glitter on Kelly’s vagina and it fell off. I noticed her vaginal area was dry. I turned and yelled, “Mike. You forgot to put baby oil on Kelly’s pussy.”

“I’m sorry.” Was his short reply.

“Mike, you’ve got to come rub baby oil on her pussy or the glitter won’t stick right.” I explained.

He did not hesitate, or even look up from whatever was keeping his attention on the phone. He yelled back, “You do it.”

I was kind of shocked. I thought he misunderstood. I explained, “But Mike, you have to the RUB the baby oil ON her pussy.”

“You do it. You’re the professional.” Was his reply.

Now I was kind of confused. This was not what I was expecting and I was not really sure Kelly wanted to me to do that. I raised my voice even higher, “But you have to rub……………”

“Jerry, he’s playing a game on his phone,” Kelly said in a calm voice. “He ain’t comin’.”

I looked down at Kelly and could tell she was not upset. So I turned to Mike, “I’m going to enjoy this.” I yelled back at him.

“knock yourself out buddy.” Was his reply, “I’m not the jealous type.” Now that was an understatement.

I turned to Kelly and while pour the baby oil in my hand to rub on her I looked her square in the eye and said, “When I am rubbing your pussy, you had better say….’oooooo…baby’ to me.”

Kelly smiled and as I quickly rubbed the baby oil on her she moaned in mock orgasm…….”OOOOOOOHHHH………baby!”

Kelly's glitter shot.

This blog really doesn't need but the first shot to explain. I thought I would show you a picture I took earlier in the shoot of Kelly and Mike.

I was really searching for models quickly. I needed them to show up and shoot bikini. So I called on some that I had already worked with. Reina, who I blogged about earlier, agreed to meet me to shoot bikini. But she only had one bikini and she could only meet me during the afternoon.

That presented a problem. I still was shooting everything on the P (Program) mode of my Nikon camera. And I was using a flash because I was basically shooting the sunset bikini shots. I was terrified of what to do during a clear sunny day while trying to get bikini shots in the afternoon.

Reina showed up on time and was ready to shoot. I decided to just go ahead and treat the shoot like it was a sunset shot. I had the flash mounted on the stroboframe and I just started having her pose. I was also under a deadline because this was being shot during my office hours at work and I had some stuff I was trying to get done. So we had to get it right quick or she was not going to make the calendar and I was going to be struggling even harder to finish it.

She started posing and I started shooting. Ok….I have to tell you that I got another bikini shot that I love to this day. But instead of just writing about it here, I am going to add more information on the captions so I can kind of illustrate what I mean.

Show incredible creativity I have Reina pose by the same log that I had Erin pose on a week earlier. This was only made not stupid because I really knew I had a shot of Erin that did not involve the log that I was going to use for the calendar.

This pose just won't cut it. I have her right knee hyperextended and awkward looking. And the crap in the background is a visual mess.

Notice how awkward she looks. I have her leaning back on the tree with her arm and shoulders. This pushes her hips toward me. I am shooting her from a position that is about navel high and so her hips are made to look huge. And the girl was tiny.

This is it. I love this shot. I told Reina to play with her top. It tied in the front middle between the breasts. She untied it and was playing with it when I noticed a barge behind her on the river. I had her sit on the log and lean into me. this made the hips small instead of huge. I was having problems because as she played with the top her nipples were popping out of it. I told her to pull it tighter and she did just as the river boat was behind her and the wind blew her hair. Sometimes everything goes right. And the flash worked right too.

I decided to try a sexier shot by having her open the bottom and lay it on the same stupid log. I was really not being very creative. She did it, but was stiff and unhappy about it. And having her open the bottom and lay it on the tree forced her to sway her back to push her groin against the tree so the bottom would not just fall down. This made the thin girl look 15 pounds heavier.

I finally got away from the log. I backed her up against a tree and got an angle so you can see the Memphis Pyramid behind her. I did a number of shots standing below her where my camera was the heighth of her hips. This one is ok because I stood up and shot slightly down at her and had her move her hips sideways to me and back some to thin her down.

I was really focused on getting the girls all shot for my first calendar. So I had “casting calls” posted on Modelmayhem, and, because I found most internet models don’t read casting calls, I was sending messages to models in the area I thought might be interested. I was getting good responses.

Then I had one of those “aha” moments……

I had been talking to a model on Modelmayhem named Tonya for about a year. She was cute and my friend Erick had worked with her and said good things about her. But she would not commit to a shoot with me. Then when I told her about the calendar she wanted to shoot.

So…..that is it. You have to offer them something besides pictures, especially if they are experienced. I knew money worked, but that was really expensive to pay the models. And paying them did not add anything to help me. I realized a lot of models wanted to be published. To be in something they could show their family and friends and say, “see I am a real model.” And I did not blame them. I wanted to be published too, so I could show people and say, “see I am a real photographer.”

But I needed shots in lingerie and implied nudes as well as the bikini for the calendar. I had decided that I wanted to be different. I did not like full nudes and everyone and all girls would shoot bikini. But if I could get the gorgeous southern girls that were around me to do implied nudes that would be different.

My “aha” moment was that I could make the bikini shoot for the calendar part of my shoot with any model who came to work with me. Instead of having models drop in and shoot bikini and leave, I could tell them that they could shoot for the calendar as part of a regular shoot with me. And I included dresses, casual, lingerie and implied nudes as part of that shoot.

Tonya was the first one who came to do one of these shoots, which has become the main thing I do. We started with dresses, went to some casual looks, went to lingerie and some implied nudes and then I took her to Mud Island to do the bikini work. It went great. The model was eager to shoot to get a chance at being in a calendar and I was getting a whole array of styles for my portfolio. We were both happy.

Tonya was a tiny girl. I bet she did not weigh 90 pounds. We had a pretty good time. I had been thinking about doing a series of full nudes that would be fun looking. I figured she must have tiny friends too. As we were driving back from the bikini shoot, and she was worn out because we had been going non stop for 4 hours. I told her I wanted to do a nude series and that I wanted to know if she had a model friend that would do it, and that I would be willing to pay the model.

She did not even hesitate. “If you are paying I will do it.”

“But you don’t have any nudes in your port and you said you don’t do nudes?” I responded.

“If you are paying I will do it.” So we set up a nude shoot for the next week. And that shoot will be the subject of a blog soon.

I am not showing the dresses I shot with her. I liked her tiny body in a lot of the outfits at the studio.

A tux and bow tie.

This was all stuff that was at the studio. A bow tie. A ribbon to tie around her chest. Some stockings and a thong. She had a lot of energy and really loved posing.

Same series without the bow tie and stockings.

She brought her own lingerie, something many models her age do not own.

A couple of the implied shots using her lingerie.

Two of the bikini shots from Mud Island. But I did some recent editing to the last one.

I was now focused on getting those 12 shots for a calendar. And since it was going to be a girls of the Mid South calendar, I had to use local girls. If I had started earlier I could probably enjoy getting it together, but I started late and had to get this done.

I contacted Annika, who did a prior shoot with me in the studio that I have already written about. She was happy to come shoot, well as happy as she could act about shooting with me. She wanted it clear that she did not want to do anymore of those “revealing” photos. Although she told me she really liked some of them, but she just did not want anyone seeing the shots.

Now I had started thinking things about putting the calendar together. I wanted different locations, different poses, different sizes of girls, different bikinis. I had to be mindful that I did not shoot the same bikini on a number of models. So for the shoot with Annika I decided we would meet at mud island and go to an area near the bridge I had noticed when I had been there for some bicycle races.

We met. We went. It looked like a weed infested mess. But I was determined to shoot there so I would have a different background. I would put the bridge behind her. Now I know it is really better to do the same pretty background over and over than have an ugly background for the sake of diversity. I could tell Annika was less than excited about our location. However, she did not complain. I have noticed that models who are shooting for a calendar or publication that you are producing and choosing who will be in it do not complain much.

I also decided to shoot her from different angles. I had so much success with Erin, who I blogged about earlier, leaning over me and shooting her while I was on my back, that I decided to try some with Annika. Unfortunately Annika did not lean over me. Maybe I did not direct her to do that. Maybe I was trying for a different look. I forget. But the lower angle shots are terrible, as you will see below.

The entire shoot only took about 30-45 minutes, and that was with two suit changes. I had my pictures and she went home and I started working on getting the next model for the calendar.

Annika with the weeds at her butt, tree on one side and bridge on the other.

An unedited, and less than flatter shot of her. But I include it so you can see just how terrible the setting was. I should have moved.

I thought this was the best shot of her for the shoot. Can't and won't say anything nice about the background.

Different, and not as flattering, bikini. Same bad location.

The bikini is not one I like. The horizontal stripes just don't go well with a short model. And this angle is horrible. I bet I told her to straddle me and lean over and she thought that was strange. Or maybe not. I would love to blame someone else for this terrible angle and shot.

This is one tiny model. Otherwise and angle like this would make her butt and hips look huge. I tried, but this angle and I never would work right.

My plan to shoot and publish my own bikini calendar was in full swing. But the guy I was going to do it with backed out. Being determined, I decided to just do the whole thing myself. Now the first problem is that none of the models would believe I was really shooting a calendar, or so I thought. I had seen a lot of photographers say they were “test shooting for a national calendar” and had no publications and were just trying to get the models to pose. Well I started putting out casting calls on Modelmayhem.

But one of the first models who agreed to shoot for it I found on Myspace. Now I don’t even remember how I did the search, but one day I found a whole lot of women on Myspace in my area who said they were interested in modeling. I wrote a number of them. Casey, who I talked about earlier was one, and the only other one was a 21 year old woman named Rachel. She did not have any professional shots on her Myspace page, but she was gorgeous.

So we talked a while and then set up the shoot. Now I was in a hurry to get this done so I agreed to meet her one morning at 9:00 at her apartment which she said was by a pond. I told her we could shoot there. I got up and drove in at the appointed time. The pond, was nasty and ugly, pictures below. But I figured it was not what it looked like, but what I could make it seem to be in the pictures. Rachel showed up with a friend and a couple of bikinis. She had never modeled much. But she was beautiful.

We shot around the pond with me giving my usual loud and constant directions and feedback. I was pleased with the pictures overall. And I had her bring some dresses and shot her in one of those.

As I left the pond I thought to myself, “one down, and eleven to go.” I knew I had a lot to get done in the next 4 to 6 weeks.

Unedited shot showing the pond, the mud, the pondscum. Not the optimum place to shoot.

This bikini was the warm up. I don't like busy bikinis for calendars because they draw attention to themselves and away from the model.

This shot has Rachel posing and moving. The best shots to me usually come when the model is moving and posing. I call it the bikini shoot dance. And the solid color of the bikini really makes her stand out.

This shot to me was the best. The bikini accentuates her wonderful body and the background is cropped and shot at an angle that makes it look less like the pond it was. Rachel is an amazing beauty and almost every shot of her is good.

Rachel in her dress. Now that is one gorgeous woman. And she was really nice and easy to work with too.