Shoot Date: June 24, 2010

There’s something special about Lore.

It started when she commented on one of my pictures on Model Mayhem, and I saw a very intriguing avatar of her rocking it in a trash-bag. No, really! One of her designer/photographer friends whipped up these avant-garde outfits from trash bags and tin foil. And there she was, modeling the hell out of it, with the fiercest attitude. I knew I definitely wanted to shoot her, so I sent her a message and we set up a date.

This was my second collaboration with the marvelous and creative Phi of Phi’s Pretty Faces. Just as with our first collaboration, Yessie, our three personalities clicked beautifully, and we all had a blast gabbing as the make up went on and the hair went up!

This shoot is particularly special to me, because it was really the first execution of a concept I dreamed up pre-shoot and brought to life with the help of my model and MUA. My other shoots thus far had been mostly model-style portraiture (a favorite genre of mine), in which most of the details (such as location, poses, and wardrobe style) were determined by factors other than my own creativity. But in this case, I really had a style and feel I wanted the photos to evoke.

Phi interpreted my rather vague descriptions beautifully, and created the perfect rocker style. I couldn’t have even imagined the style coming out so right – both in the intense eye make up and in the gorgeous curled faux-hawk she created. And Lore has the most gorgeous, natural red hair I’ve ever seen:

The concept centered around an edgy, metal/rocker feel. The location was the top floor of a parking structure, at sunset, with a backdrop of shiny corporate buildings. I was holding this ideal vision of what I wanted, and man if Lore didn’t give it to me exactly:

I can’t even express how giddy I was when I was editing these images. To see the visual embodiment of the concept I’d been ruminating on and mentally nurturing… it was just mind-blowing. And I honestly couldn’t have had a better model for this shoot. It was like Lore and I were connected, brain to brain, and she kept giving me the exact poses and attitude that I wanted:

But at the same time, while appreciating her following my vision, I also love letting models do their own thing. Yes, it’s nice to direct them to get the pose you want, and sure, I do that sometimes. But I also value the fusion of two uniquely creative minds. See, I would never have posed a model like this… and I never would have gotten this shot! I love the detail in Lore’s poses. Note how her left heel is slightly lifted, millimeters from the ground:

But I must say, I think the show-stealer from this shoot is the following image. The fierceness of her attitude, the motion in her pose, the lighting of the sunset, the colors of the foliage behind her, the angle of the framing, the rebel faux-hawk curl, and the glint off of her shiny (sexy!) heels (which I asked her to bring)… it just adds up to more photographic satisfaction than I think I can bear:

On second thought, I’ll bear it gladly. And with much giddiness. :D

My vision being fulfilled, Lore and I decided to play around with some other ideas as the light faded:

Due to some garish yellow paint in the parking garage, I decided to give this shot a bit of a cyanotype feel. It came out with a very 60s spy feel, to me. (Okay, minus the modern cars in the background… :P)

And since our shoot started a little later than planned, we were soon testing out night photography! I had only done one previous night shoot, and with a bit more light, so we had some struggles trying to get good images. Luckily, Lore and I were getting along swell, so we just had fun playing around:

Also, note her necklace in the following shot. It’s from her own independent jewelry label, Rawwrkat. Yep, she models, makes jewelry, writes, learns languages, sews… the list goes on. My kinda girl! I’ve got lots of admiration for the way she lives her life.

After a very satisfying few hours (Lore arrived for make up around 5, we started shooting at 7, and ended after 9), we packed it up and headed back to the car… only to discover that the gates to the structure had been lowered, and the pedestrian doorways had been locked! Slightly panicked -since both of our cell phones, wallets, etc were in the car (lesson well learned!)- we tried to wave down people inside the structure, but were ignored. We were glancing around at all the closed or closing businesses, pondering our fate, when Lore (ever cool-headed, and apparently having been in this situation before) insisted that we try every door. We found an open one. Oh the relief! While Lore was uncertain, I was pretty sure the gate would lift as we drove near it (not entirely sure, but surely hoping!), and it did. So we ended our fun shoot with a little adventure!

I really clicked with Lore on a personal level, in addition to being impressed with her modeling, so you’ll definitely be seeing more of her soon. (In fact, since I’m writing this post weeks after the actual shoot, I can say that I just sent her proofs last night from our second shoot, on July 17th! She was, again, amazing! Can’t wait to blog about that day! 5 models, 9 hours, tons of fun!)

For more images from Lore and my first shoot, with make up by the incredible Phi, view the slideshow: