Topless Beauty Image

The image above was one that I originally did for a magazine editorial in Milan. I remember at the time how I had really struggled to find a good model as I travelled from one agency to another. Part of the problem was that I was brand new so none of the bookers were feeling any need to be particularly helpful to a new guy with no real history of big jobs. The other problem I guess is that the magazine itself was very much a niche product aimed at the cosmetics trade rather than the general public, so the readership circulation wasn’t huge, though some lateral thinking might have helped the bookers to conclude that the few people reading the magazine were actually potential clients…

There came a moment when I was really fed up with the choice of models I was being shown and time was running short, so I went into a well known agency just as they were about close on a Friday evening and knowing that I had to complete the shoot the next day. I managed to pull the head booker to one side and tell her how incredibly disappointed I was with their choice of models and that I expected far better from a leading agency.

As a new photographer this was a risky strategy because I had zero clout at that time and could have completely alienated the head booker at one of the best agencies in the world, which would have been a major blow for my fledgling career. I must have struck a chord though because she took me seriously and clearly her pride kicked in, so she pulled out a book from under a shelf (literally) that hadn’t been on show before and told me “This girl is beautiful, we always have a couple in town”. She was right and I was able to book the model for my small editorial.

On the day of the shoot I remember I had been racing around like a maniac trying to get everything organised and I had really struggled to find any decent clothes because the job was low budget and there was no money for a stylist. The only logical solution was to shoot the model topless for the beauty editorial and thankfully she agreed. We proceeded to do a series of images and one of those was the one above.

I have often felt that far too many photographers portray a very negative image of the models they photograph and I am not sure that women really like this. After all, why would you want to be photographed by somebody who makes you look like you’re constantly miserable? As a photographer who genuinely likes women I find it natural to portray them in a positive light which is why I like to inject images with a feeling of freshness and optimism.

The image was eventually published and it led to an editorial with a better known magazine, but a few months after that it was seen by a leading advertising agency and I was asked to shoot an advertising assignment for Rimmel cosmetics along the same lines. The image from that subsequent shoot with a topless model was then used in several European countries to advertise a new range of grey coloured makeup that was in fashion at the time. Much of this and other stories are covered in my book.

Nude Photography For Advertising

The above nude image was part of a beauty assignment I did in South Africa for an Italian cosmetics client. The team which flew out there must have been about ten people but not everybody was there to work directly on the photography.

This particular day had been extremely hectic, since we were unable to start as early as I would have liked and there had already been a shoot on the beach that morning with the same model followed by another shoot at a rented house nearby. It then took an hour or so in the mini van to reach the final location before we started the hard walk up to the waterfall.

Time was running short since the light was starting to go and to make matters worse the waterfall was hidden in an area which would soon be cast in total shadow. It was clear that some of the team would arrive more slowly, but we couldn’t afford to miss the shot, so myself, the model and the assistant pushed forward with both the assistant and I carrying fairly heavy loads. I’ve mentioned it in my book where I discuss several examples in greater detail that it helps to be fit as a photographer if you want to get certain images and this was a shoot good example.

When we arrived, there were just minutes left to grab the image before the area became shrouded in darkness, so we found a suitable rock for the model to stand on, but I couldn’t quite find the angle I needed from the side of the bank, so I had no option but to go in the water up to my chest with the Hasseblad on a tripod. Remember that Africa is Africa, so standing in water like that for very long is never a good idea. You don’t know what what else might be in the water…

I wanted just a little blur in the water for good effect but at the same time I had to ensure that the tripod and camera didn’t shake too much with the moving water or the image would be ruined. I also wanted to avoid using flash or other artificial light so that we could preserve a natural look.

A couple weights were added to the tripod to maintain stability, but it was important not to add too much or it could have collapsed and I was in no hurry to see my beloved Hasselblad fall into the water. Light readings were taken quickly with the ever reliable Gossen Sixtomat lightmeter and I managed to race through about 30 images working at a fast pace before the last useful light disappeared. It was quite an adventure and I loved it!

Situations like this where a professional photographer is working outdoors in tricky situations with a nude model but has to come back with the images that a client needs for the advertising campaign are truly the best moments in photography from my experience.

It’s the times like these when you are under pressure but you know the possibility exists to get a beautiful nude image that makes it all so worthwhile. There is more information about this shoot and many others in the book.

This morning I received a letter from the insurance company for the renewal of the policy on my camera equipment, which I always do every year, though I have never personally had to make a claim. That’s partly down to luck but mainly down to a concerted effort on my part to make sure equipment is always well looked after. Nevertheless it is because of the story below that I continue to pay the premium every year…

A photographer I used to assist many years ago once went on a trip to Scotland for a commercial assignment and needed to take a picture of a nude model in a loch with a small boat and the stunning surrounding scenery as a background. That water and the cold breeze must have been freezing for the poor girl, so she was certainly brave that day.

At the time the photographer had an assistant with him (not me) who was fairly new and fitted a wide angle lens to the Hasselblad, but didn’t quite twist it far enough to hear that precise locking sound that every Hasselblad owner knows so well.

A few moments later the photographer began focusing the lens only to find his prized wide angle unexpectedly slipping from his hands straight into the dark waters below. They were on a small wooden docking point so the water below was quite deep and there was no way of seeing the black lens in the water below. I hate to think what that conversation sounded like.

No doubt feeling somewhat distraught the photographer called the local naval base later on that day and explained what had happened, asking if they might be prepared to look for it on their next naval exercise. Following this he thought nothing more of the matter until he received a call 2 days later saying that his black Hasselblad lens had been found in a terrible state by divers, having drifted quite some distance with the flow of water and asking what would he like them to do.

He called the insurers, who demanded to his amazement that an attempt be made to repair the lens, so after being rinsed in a bucket of fresh water it was duly sent back to the factory for a repair. The lens was gone for a considerable amount of time and in the meanwhile his policy was paying for the daily rental of the equivalent lens. Eventually when his refurbished lens was returned it cost about $1 less than a new one and the rental costs for the other lens were about the same, so effectively it cost twice as much as a new lens bought from a shop.

The final chapter in the story was a letter from the insurers politely requesting that should he ever drop another lens in a Scottish loch, they’d prefer it if he left it there…

Something earlier reminded me of a funny story from many years ago and I thought it was worth retelling as a bit of fun to kick off the new year. Going back to the early 90′s there was a rather well known fashion photographer in Milan had just taken on a new assistant (not me) and had asked him to pack away some equipment that had to be transported to an assignment where they would be shooting a series of nude photography images for a beauty editorial.

The assistant looked around and saw a rather dazzling new Alfa Romeo spyder in bright red rather like the one that Dustin Hoffman drove in his film The Graduate. As he tried to get all the items in the baggage space of this tiny car the young assistant felt a mild sense of panic, but he didn’t want to look like he couldn’t handle the challenge, so he persisted and eventually managed to get everything in there. He tried closing the boot (trunk in the US) but it wouldn’t quite close since there was a metal camera case there that was just a little too tall to close easily.

After two or three delicate attempts he decided it would only work if he put some effort into it, so with an almighty thump he threw down the boot lid and managed to close it, leaving four neat holes in the boot lid of his boss’s new Alfa as the hard edges of the camera case poked through. As blind panic started to set in with the realisation of what he had done, his boss screamed from around the corner to ask why he hadn’t even started to fill the mini van yet…

Topless Glamour image for advertising

Topless glamour image for advertising

Earlier today I was sifting through a storage area underneath the stairs where I found a large box that contained roughly a dozen folders with a large chunk of my old film archives and it was a real trip down memory lane. In the first folder I found the transparency for this image which is actually from the very last job I did on film before my first experiments with digital.

This topless glamour style image was done on my Hasselblad 501CM with the standard 80mm lens which was a wonderful combination for images of this kind. The lens itself was beautifully sharp as you would expect from Carl Zeiss, but that focal length had a way of making bodies look slightly long and angular without any major distortion. Somehow I am never quite as satisfied with body images done with 35mm cameras and don’t think the elongated rectangular format does the female body many favours most of the time. Forgetting megapixels I just find it easier to work with the format proportions of medium format cameras.

Despite finding myself knee deep in boxes I felt inspired enough to leave it all for a while and make a scan to do some basic retouching in Photoshop CS4. It’s been a while since I had done any retouching on film and it’s enough to make me laugh when I hear new photographers complaining about sensor dust when you see what film was like. Even though these transparencies have been well looked after in clean new plastic sheets and never removed until today there was quite a bit of dust and general mess to clean up compared to most digital images I deal with today.

This particular job was done for a company in Italy as part of a catalogue to advertise the sun tanning product you see behind the model and the client wanted something sexy and glamour orientated with moody lighting.

I remember at the time having to do some research to work out the best way to do the lighting because I was concerned about the reflections on the outside of the product with it’s brushed aluminium outer shell. Just to really throw a spanner in the works the whole job had to be completed inside the factory which was far from ideal.

One major consideration with this particular job was to ensure that the model didn’t become sun burned so we were never able to shoot for more than a couple minutes at a time, continually checking to make sure she wasn’t getting burned.

The model herself was a Brazilian girl chosen by the client and I remember that particular day was really quite frantic. There were supposed to be seven images to do that day and instead we did close to fifty that all required various changes. I raced from 7.00am until after 10.00pm to get the job finished and then headed down the motorway from Venice to arrive home in Milan after midnight.

One very positive point I remember from that day was the assistant who worked tirelessly and made my life far easier. He was one of the one of the rare few you find who are are a genuine asset on any job.

This assignment shows that there are commercial opportunities for topless glamour style photography.