Ok, I have a wine glass in my hand and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire on the TV. I'm as ready as I'll ever be.
(Classy as fuuuuck)
I've been LOVING the blog themes that @missy and @rambo have been choosing each week, but I'm a bit slow to the party and only realised where the themes were posted a few days ago... so this will be my first.
MY FAVOURITE SET AND THE DAY I SHOT IT.
(I would first like to mention that I'm using the British spelling of "favourite" as opposed to US "favorite" as my dictionary on my phone is set for UK English and it's the way it's taught in South African schools.)
Enough of that, I'm pedantic.
This was an INCREDIBLY difficult theme for me for several reasons:
1. I have shot 8 sets in my SG career (technically it should be 9 but that was self-shot and so embarrassing that I never sent it to MR, even though it was accepted by SG. They were kinder about it than I am.)
2. The 2nd set I shot was by a douchebag of a tog that did great fashion editorial images but was really quite useless at the SG style of shooting. He sent it to me unedited (lazy bastard) and I had to tweak the light etc with my limited knowledge of such things. The styling as well was something that seemed awesome in my head but didn't result in a set I was happy with. PLUS I was stupid enough at the time to sleep with the slimeball and SO SURPRISINGLY I never heard from him again.
3. I have shot the majority of my sets with @talamia and she is so amazing that it's very difficult to choose between her sets.
4. I shot a set at the London SG Shootfest at the end of 2013 with @ayah, and what with having a big audience of beautiful babes watching me shoot; the set being a relaxed outdoors set where I got to crawl around in ripped leggings like a kitty in the freezing cold and how we only really chose a theme 5 minutes before shooting before because the light was going; it was wildly exciting and totally different from my usual exhaustive planning of sets. It still grieves me to this day that this set won't see the light of day for some time. Poor, lovely Ayah showed me the beautiful set and then had her camera stolen with the memory card in it a few hours later. We have sworn to reshoot it, however, so I'm optimistic that this won't be the end of the tale.
This is the only picture we have of the set, an unedited portrait that I just love. I was wildly drunk the night before and only had about 3 hours sleep but that adds to the feel of the set.
5. There are a few of my sets in post- production with @talamia and I don't want to let the proverbial cat out of the bag in terms of the themes because that would spoil the surprise.
6. Also, I'm a right indecisive bird and even deciding on what to have for breakfast takes me a good half hour every morning.
HOWEVER, taking everything into account... I would say that my first set that I shot with @talamia, Blind Devotion, is still my favourite set.
There are so many reasons why I love this set, I'll first tell you about the day I shot it, which is quite an adventure and adds to my love of the set.
@talamia had flown down from Johannesburg to shoot with girls in Cape Town and I was lucky enough to snag her and persuade her to take naked pictures of me. She had the scary task of tackling Cape Town's public transport system, which is pretty horrific. She met me in the centre of Cape Town, with the understanding that we would be going to the house of a tattoo artist friend of mine, the wonderfully talented Milo Marcer.
Neither of us had been to that part of Cape Town using public transport before so we bravely hopped on a Golden Arrow bus, 40 year old monsters with the noisiest engines and criminally dangerous drivers. We had a vague sense of where we were headed And had several confusing changes of transport before we were trudging down the road, semi-lost in the suburbs with @talamia and her equipment, me and a big sports bag full of clothing options and girly beautification tools.
We finally arrived at Milo's house, at which point we declared that we were taking over the top story of his house and I was going to get naked in his passageway. He looked quite nervous at the idea of walking in on us shooting and so stayed firmly away in his study, no doubt trying very hard not to think about what was happening above his head.
It was my first time shooting with @talamia but I felt instantly at ease. She was armed with nothing but her camera and natural light, not that she needs anything else, the clever minx. I never realised how sexy undressing could be until that moment and as the shoot progressed, I became more and more flustered which is why my cheeks are strawberry red in this shoot. (Disclaimer: no make up blush product was harmed/used in the shooting of this set). By the end of the set we were both fanning our faces and I was firmly and irrevocably in love with @talamia.
I put my clothes back on and then promptly took my pants off to shoot a promotional photo for Milo's tattoo portfolio, don't ask. It was actually very tasteful is all I'm gonna say.
Then Milo fed us tea and pasta, which I devoured like a ravenous model.... oh wait. Haha.
We have shot loads of sets since then but this one will always hold a special place in my heart because it was one of the first times I felt truly beautiful in front of camera. I knew then that I was hooked for life. I like getting naked and proud of it!
I will keep shooting sets as long as people want to see me nekkid, and probably even when they really don't.
Now I'm going to go and make make something crafty out of egg boxes. Intimidating, but I have dutch courage in the form of Merlot.
Night night pretty people. ♡♡♡♡♡
P.s. Speaking of sets, my latest addition to the collection, Tides of Passion is awaiting your eyeballs. Look at it, love it, leave a comment and I'll be eternally grateful. I do love it so.