Some weeks ago I was approached by a Palmerston North based Kiwi photo model via Model Mayhem. She was about to travel to Wellington for a shooting tour. I asked her if she was interested in an Inner Core and nude portrait shooting session and it turned out that she was.
In the past months my problem had been that I could not find people in Wellington who were interested in participating in my “Inner Core Project” or portraits, let alone nude shootings. So I decided to pay for her as a professional model instead of waiting longer for a free opportunity that might not come at all.
She had rented an Airbnb cottage in Wellington where the shooting could happen. It turned out that the place was very small which limited our opportunities of shooting from several angles. But the environment and light were nice.
Miss Renee Rose - Soft Pastel Colour Portrait
Miss Renee Rose is a model who has been doing photo work for 8 years. But it turned out that she had never done a nude shooting before. She told me that she wanted to venture into that part of modelling as part of her personal development and to become more confident and comfortable with herself. She wanted to push herself and try something that was out of her usual comfort zone. So she was a little nervous when we were meeting and she frankly admitted it.
We were able to create a nice and relaxed working atmosphere together and it felt good and safe and it was obvious that after the first nervousness Renee was feeling all right.
Miss Renee Rose - Soft Nude
After having dived deeper into model shooting I can clearly say that creating a good mood, a nice and particularly safe atmosphere is most important if you want to get good photos. You want your model to be relaxed and confident and trusting you as a photographer and person. I think, working with a person who “exposes” herself to us as photographers is a privilege that we should honor.
We had arranged for a 2 hour session and started with an Inner Core component. (If you would like to know more about the “Inner Core Project”, please take a look at the articles about it here in the blog.) Renee had brought some meditative music that she used to approach herself on a deeper level. After about 30 minutes she found that she had explored that part sufficiently. So we continued to the portrait and nude part of our work.
We had a lot of time to try out different poses, some garments that Renee had brought and also to explore her own ideas as well. It was easy and nice to work with Renee Rose and we both liked the collaborative way in which we could create pictures.
Renee Rose came across as a very sweet and soft person with cautious movements during the shooting process. This made me think that my usual contrasty and sometimes even raw editing style might not be the suitable in her case. So I thought about a soft, pastel toned editing scheme instead. I created a Lightroom preset with a soft rosé color combination. I had never used pastel colors in the past, but in Renee’s case it seemed to fit very well. She liked the style when she saw the first trial picture.
Miss Renee Rose - A “non-posy” pose - I love this picture!
Meeting Renee Rose was a lovely experience. I enjoyed working with her and I am very happy with the pictures that we could create together. And I learned a lot about the intricacies of modeling in the nude.
Thank you Renee Rose!
Here you find Miss Renee Rose’s Website, Instagram account and Facebook account, just click on the link.
Miss Renee Rose Website
Miss Renee Rose Instagram
Miss Renee Rose Facebook