A Thin Line.

I ran into a friend I hadn’t seen since April a few weeks ago. As we talked about what one another had been up to since the inevitable question came up “So how is the photography coming along?” I began to detail the various things I had been doing including some of the nude work. I told her I was looking to go outside the lines and take new chances. She looked somewhat shocked and for a moment, even speechless. Then she said it “Oh my God. You have totally crossed the line.” I laughed it off but then found myself explaining and even defending the change. Later that week I had drinks with a long time friend who by all means knows me as “A good guy”. We talked about said conversation and some of the opportunities I’m being offered. She loves me and my work. So I totally trust her instinct. She said “You could never be that guy.” meaning I’m no smut peddler. There isn’t going to come a day when I wake up and decide to forgo portraiture to go into the Adult Film industry. Though I enjoy shooting nudes and have no issues with it (growing up in my home my Mom had Vargas paintings and still has pinups and nudes in her home.) but I want to keep it artistic. There’s a line and it can be a thin one at times. I’ve pretty much decided what side of it I want to dance on.

Iya Turns Up the Heat.

After playing matchmaker for weeks. The dye was set and I had Iya and Steph scheduled to shoot a new project together. As of late I’ve been getting a lot of requests for boudoir, fetish and sessions that sit firmly on  the kinkier side of the fence. Often being asked to play matchmaker. It’s not easy playing matchmaker and it’s something I’m definitely not used to. But like most things, I’ve learned by doing. I had worked with both Iya and Steph in the past. Both unique and beautiful in so many ways. Together, the possibilities were endless. Everything was set. The day, time, clothing, props. Everything was ready. Then the morning of the shoot came and at the very last minute Steph tells me she can’t make it. Her son had gotten sick the night before and took a turn for the worse that morning. I totally understood. Shit happens and when it happens, you deal with it. I notified Iya and prepared to face the day. Almost instantly Iya got back to me. “My emotions are in this shoot.” I still want to do this. Even if it’s solo” My senses and excitement came rushing back and I met up with Iya.                                                                                    During During the original two sessions with Iya, communication was minimal. The first time we met it was all business. “Devay”, translated from Russian is “Let’s Go”. The second time she kept calling her boyfriend in Russian to assure him he was safe. In the back of my head I heard her say. “I’m here now. I’ll leave the door open so you can kill him.” But this time it was different. She was radiant, beautiful and in even better shape than before. (If that was even possible.) We were talking like old friends and laughing. Iya was teaching me Russian and being downright chatty. Though we missed Steph dearly, we had a great time and got a tremendous amount of work done in minimal time.                                                                                                       We plan to reconvene in a few weeks. I’m sure that by then we’ll have even more ideas. As i began to go through our session I couldn’t get over how many amazing images we created. Narrowing it down to the best of the best, to the one’s I loved and then finally down to my absolute favorites was quite a task. Here are just a few.