The three hours Natalia and I spent shooting were so much fun. Though we had met on my doorstep for the first time five minutes prior. The chemistry and trust was almost instant. Most of our favorite shots were very natural and instinctive. I coaxed a few screams out of her that might have scared the neighbors a bit but the rest was me following her slight movements. I honestly believe that everyone is beautiful in their own unique and special way. (Yeah, sounds corny.) Natalia’s stood out. Her beauty, grace and strength are not easy to come by. A native of Estonia in Eastern Europe. She’s been living in and loving Hoboken since coming to the U.S.. I hope our creative paths cross again soon. Enjoy.
Tag: Eyes
The Beauty of Tanu.
I don’t get to work on many morning sessions these days due to conflicting schedules and the fact that most of the models I’ve met are not exactly morning people. This was not the case with Tanu . When we first exchanged schedules for the week, she suggested 9:00 AM. “Whoa, I said. Perhaps a bit too early for me to be at my best. We settled on 10:00 Am agreeing it would still give us plenty of time to get things done. When I met her at the PATH my first impression was her pictures didn’t even come close to conveying her beauty or personality. Tanu was awesome and our session conveyed it. Her expressive eyes and lips had me pausing to catch my breath. An absolute professional and a pleasure to work with. We stopped here and there but for the most part, we never really got off course. Tanu was born and raised in New Delhi India and lived in Brooklyn, NY before moving to Long Island City.
I hope to be doing a lot more morning sessions in the future. We’ll certainly see. I can’t think of many better ways to start the day.
Tara’s Head Shot session.
Early this afternoon Tara stopped by to have some head shots taken. After a failed start in the oppressive heat we moved inside to the cool, air consitioned studio and thing really began to click. Tara is the whole package. Fun, smart, talented and have to ever seen a set of eyes that were more expressive? We chatted about acting and movies over L7, Soul Coughing and Mazzy Star. What had started out as a hot and uncomfortable sesssion ended up with us rolling on the floor laughing.
Over the past year I’ve noticed so much improvement in my ability to take bad or difficult situations and flip them to a positive. Something I deem just as important if not more than actual photography skills.
Tara is one of the actors to be featured in the upcoming presentation of the Pulitzer Prize winning, Rabbit Hole. Which opens Friday October 1st at the Chatham Playhouse in Chatham, NJ.
Box Office Information – Online Ticketing
Performance dates are October 1, 2, 8, 9, 15 and 16 at 8PM and October 10 at 3PM. All performances are at the Chatham Playhouse, 23 North Passaic Avenue, in Chatham. Tickets are $20 for adults and $18 for youth/senior.
To access the theater’s online ticketing service, simply go to http://www.chathamplayers.org/tickets.htm and click on the “TicketLeap” logo. The service is available 24 hours a day, and tickets can be purchased online up until three hours prior to curtain on the day of a performance.
The box office will begin accepting phone reservations on September 21 at (973) 635-7363. For information regarding box office hours, please call the box office number listed above.
The Russians are Coming!!! The Russians are Coming!!!
Sometimes people take you out of your comfort zone. Challenge you and maybe even scare you a little bit. But when you think about it, that’s not necessarily a bad thing. Thus was the case with Iya. A beautiful woman just recently immigrated from Russia and looking to break into modeling. The day we met at the gallery I have to admit beings a bit intimidated. She had this vibe that straight out of a cold war espionage novel. Cold, direct and to the point. That initial day we hardly spoke. The language barrier and very “down to business demeanor: set the tone. We got some great images that day and both left very happy. It made me think. Imagine if we all lived in that safe comfort zone. Life wouldn’t be much fun now, would it?
It’s all about the eyes.
Everyone has their own interpretation of beauty and rightfully so. For me it’s always been about the eyes. Last week I worked with a woman who completely reenforced that feeling in me. The chemistry between Maria and I was almost instant. For someone who had never had never worked with a photographer she was incredibly instinctive, natural and beautiful on so many levels. Maria had sent me a few pictures of herself prior to our meeting and I was moved by what beautiful eyes she had. Upon meeting her I quickly realized the photos were just a small sampling of that. Maria’s beauty coupled with her amazing personality and quick wit made my job incredibly easy job. Early on in the session I was posing her and making suggestions but within minutes I had basically become a bystander who just happened to be lucky enough to have a camera. I’m hoping Maria comes back to the studio soon with that pretty pink dress she was telling me about. That would be a fun session to work on together.
Zoia saves the day.
Mondays are usually pretty dull around here. Even more so with the way the weather has been. Here we are in mid June and it’s rained just about every day. I was scheduled to meet Zola around 3:00pm so I decided to head out early to run a number of errands and take care of some business. On the way back into Hoboken I saw a Police car in my rear view. Barreling down on me at top speed with lights and sirens. I immediately did my best to pull over to the side to give him room only to realize he was gunning for me? As he approached, all five feet of him, he asked “do you know why I stopped you?” Okay, this is a test. Think hard James. “Ummmm, I have no idea.” I really didn’t. Waited for the light to turn green. Made a stop at the red sign that says “STOP”. Didn’t kill or maim any pedestrians. “You got me.” So he goes and tells me I failed to stop at the stop sign. COMPLETE BULLSHIT!!!!! I came to a full stop. There wasn’t a vehicle or pedestrian within a block of me. So I proceeded. Still I get an $85 ticket for my time. Only minutes later I park the car in the garage and go to cross the street. While a woman on her cel phone, driving an SUV, (You know the big ones that kill pedestrians?) runs the light and almost hits me. A block from the Police Station and not a cop in sight. Thank the Photography Gods for Zola. Not only did she arrive on time but she was gorgeous. This was my first time meeting her in person and it did take a little time to get into that comfort zone but once we did ……. It was great. We took some shots over at the Monroe Center. Came back to the studio and ended the day with some shots on my roof. It was an overcast day and rained on and off which made it perfect for getting nice shots. Zola has some of the most beautiful, expressive eyes I’ve ever seen. She came here from Russia some years ago and is studying at the Fashion Institute of Technology. I really enjoyed spending time with her and watching her reaction when we went through the session. Thanks Zola, you saved the day.
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