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.

Putting a calendar together of my photographs of girls from the area sounded easy, but I had to get the girls to come pose. I put out a “casting call”, meaning a notice of a possible job or project, on my portfolio’s on the networking sites. I quickly found that not a lot of local models read casting calls. So I also started sending messages on the site to models telling them about the project.

I had previously shot Kori and Destiny in bikini, so I just told them I was going to use their shot. They seemed excited, but not really convinced I was going to do it.

The way people shooting for calendars and other projects usually do it is they put out casting calls and have the models submit a photo and some information. Well I already had their photos from the online portfolios, and the information I needed was there too. Their age and location was about all I cared about knowing. Then the usual course is to set up a few days where the models can come “test shoot”. That means you take some test shots and see if they will look good. Then finally you pick the ones you want and set up the actual shoots.

This seems like a colossal waste of time to me. I decided to do it differently, I would set up shoots with models, and as part of the regular shoot I would do bikini shots for calendar submission. If the model, or I, did not like the shots we could shoot again. This way I was convinced I would attract more models to shoot with me in general. I was right. They would come if I offered a calendar submission shoot as part of the regular shoot.

One thing I was up against was a lot of photographers on these web sites will put out casting calls that they are shooting for a “national bikini calendar” and have the models come do “test shoots”. But the whole thing is a farce, they have no contract for a calendar and they never print it. They just trick the girls into posing for them. So the models on the site are wary of such ploys, at least the ones who are experienced are wary.

The first model I set up was Erin who was living in Mississippi just south of Memphis. She agreed to meet me on Mud Island with her husband, Andy. As I have said before, I don’t like escorts but this was before I had gotten so dead set against them, so I didn’t complain. I had my partner in the calendar come with me to hold the reflector, and mainly to see what all went on at a shoot.

We shot a few dresses and then bikini. When shooting out on location the girls have to bring a big T Shirt to put on and change under, or they change in the car if it is close enough. I have had models refuse to shoot with me because they thought changing in a car sounded “creepy”. Those are girls who see all the television shows and think that everyone goes into dressing rooms to change clothes.

The thing that shocks most people, and shocked the guy holding the reflector, is that as a photographer you give directions to the model and they do what you tell them. “Untie the bottom and play with it,” is a direction that I give often at bikini shoots and it is just outside most men’s experience when a beautiful woman who is half your age and barely dressed does what she is told. He liked holding the reflector.

I got a shot at this first shoot for my calendar that ultimately became the cover. But these were done before I figured out I could use the sun and the Mississippi river to look like a ocean sunrise.

I always liked to start shoot with the model in a dress. My theory was she felt more comfortable with something on at first and would relax. Erin really looked great in her little black dress.

I was on the banks of the Mississippi river. There is a lot of crap around and I thought it really did not look very good, but had not figured out how to deal with it. This was one of my first shoots there. I did have a lot of sun and shot most of these on Program.

I loved this shot. She is standing on some driftwood.

Another angle of the driftwood. It is starting to get near sunset and I am using my flash here.

Kneeling on the grass with the bridge. It was an ok background, but the wind was kicking up.

I did some more edits recently on this shot, but I loved the hair.

The sun is setting so I turned Erin so her back was to the horizon and used the flash. I shot it on Program, but it really caught her tones well.

A cropped version of this ended up being my first calendar cover. I decided I wanted sexier shots than others had in thier bikini calendars and thought this set the tone. And I just loved the shot and the way it showed how beautiful Erin is.

I love this shot. I am also kind of proud of it. I laid down on the ground on my back and had her straddle me and lean over and pose. Her face was almost directly over my camera and when it was in focus it made her waist and hips, which were small anyway, look tiny and out of proportion. But the sky and hair made the shot work for me.