I often marvel at how truly courageous many members of the SG community are.
Particularly the SG ‘models’.
I think there’s probably 2% of the world’s population that would be comfortable bearing their souls and their bodies in an outward environment.
Let alone in a situation where the reality of the moment (photos, videos) are preserved on the net for a significant amount of time.
It takes courage.
Self belief.
A large degree of self esteem also.
I don’t know how many people in this community truly give themselves credit for how amazing they/you really are.
Recently I had a profound experience with a truly lovely young woman - she's not an SG girl but she's many other amazing things.
We met recently through a photographic site and arranged to shoot at a Sydney beach location.
To my dismay as I got nearer to our meeting point the weather became progressively more and more depressing.
The windscreen wipers danced hypnotically across the glass.
Howling wind.
Driving rain.
It was miserable.
My mind was racing…how could I find a location (outdoor shoot after all) that would allow this poor girl some respite from the rain and still give us some memorable images?
Turns out, I needn’t have worried.
When I met Sass under a bbq marquee at a park near the yacht club she literally beamed when she smiled.
There was no way, I’d work out later, the weather would get in the way of her doing this shoot.
I liked her immediately.
We drove around together in the pouring rain looking for a shelter, an alley way, a break in the calamity somewhere that we could shoot in.
She’d packed, like she said she would in our messages previous, minimally.
“I’m going to be naked anyway,” she beamed.
Again, that beam.
In the short time we drove around looking for a location I could sense this enormous heart.
“Puppieeeeees” she squealed when we randomly saw this enormous pack of puppy dogs being walked in a park.
“Can I take off my dress and have a photo with them naked?”
If the rain hadn’t been coming in almost sideways by that point we should have just done it right there and then.
I didn’t want to seem like a complete weirdo right off the bat so I didn’t push the point, even though it was HER suggestion. (Damn it how epic would that shot have been now that I look back!!)
We drove around a little further and found a secluded boat ramp where the waves crashed hard into the rocks below – the wind whipped up the ocean and rain sprayed in all directions.
“I’ll just take my dress off and stand down there, you get the camera,” she grinned.
If there hadn’t been three or four cars parked right there with occupants and ultimately their Iphones poised it would have been the most epic moment.
I should have just gone with it – situation #2.
We noticed across the little bay a bunch of tiny boats up out of the water in a small enclosure.
The stormy skies, the colours of the timber on the boats and the rock wall as a background offered an immediate and unexpected option.
The location was just about perfect considering the cyclonic conditions.
Just below a street mind you, but it offered a bit of wind protection and a pretty epic background.
She was delightful.
Intrepid.
No real makeup required, gorgeous bouncy curls at the bottom of brown shoulder length hair and a smile that lit up the storm.
She shimmied into a simple white dress and we began snapping the initial shots on the ledge near the boats.
It always takes a little while (first 20-30 shots) for me to gel with a new model – until we both get a feel for what each other wants.
We shot some cute stuff without any real direction required from me.
She didn’t wear underwear.
The wind cheekily blew the dress to reveal a perfect, peach like butt.
We moved to a lower location down near the rocks and after several more shots I told her “you can probably take off the dress if you like.”
“Yay!” she giggled.
I’d clearly been holding her up with all this dress nonsense.
She peeled out of her dress to reveal a lithe, supple classic guitar shaped body.
I drew a breath.
She was so comfortable in her self.
It was chilly but she seemed unaffected by the cold.
She was now in her element – or so I sensed.
Between the spot near the boats, and then a move back to a rocky outcrop near the Sailing Club once more she moved, or glided really, elegantly in the face of the windy, stormy and inhospitable conditions.
Many people would have said at that point, as the wind gusted up and drove the rain right at her, that this was way too hard.
Instead, she steeled herself against the wet, arched her body and embraced the wintry air and water.
She has a poise, this young woman, in her body and in her soul.
An elegance, a sensuality, a spirit…a soul, that just oozes from within her.
I was fascinated and even respected her a little more that she places a small fee on sharing her art through https://www.uncouthgoddess.com and her patreon.com page.
I later that day became a member.
I like that she’s working quietly on building up a supporter base.
She's first sensual and that morphs into sexual - not the other way around.
I came away from the whole experience a little inspired, a little humbled and certainly reminded of how fortunate I am to capture the people and the images I often do.
Taking photos of a person without their clothes on is a privilege, not a right.
That’s something that I never take for granted.
They’re laying bare their soul, not just their body.
The more I learned about Sass the more I could see how fortunate I truly was to have her beauty flicker across my lens.
To spend a cold, windy, crappy day with a five foot something beam of sunshine.
And it got me thinking about how much I admire and respect everyone within this SG community.
If you’re bringing your wholeness because you want to share, and experience and stand boldly then I applaud you all.
I hope you enjoy some of my images with this gorgeous young lady who quite simply made my day.
I hope she makes yours as well.
