Had a model over for a shoot the other day and it couldn’t have started out worse.  On her way over her car started acting up and she had to take it in to get looked at.  She asked if I’d like to pick her up, told her to deal with her car first then we’d see.  She finally called back and said she got a loaner and would be right over sounding  very stressed.  To make a long story short she came over just as stressed as I heard over the phone.  My plans for a very lovely shoot had run in to the reality of her day and there was nothing for me to do but go with her flow, first I got her a glass of wine. 

    We started talking, heard about her car, husband and the new job she was starting.  Asked if she’d had any lunch, got her some salad I’d made and another glass of wine and suggested she get out of her clothes and put on a loose blouse, silk no less.  Made her feel special and sexy while she ate..., I could almost see her mood change.  Meanwhile I just talked, in no hurry just making conversation with a lovely woman in my pajama top.  Told me how she had to shave that day because having pubic hair was making her nuts.  I laughed and told her how I was disappointed to hear that she done the job herself, that I was expecting a great tale of the waxing she had been planning. 

    Only when when she was ready did we even start to shoot polaroids, after I had tied her hands behind her back with my necktie.  A shoot is very much like seduction except on a much more cerebral level.  Even though my model was experienced in bondage situations, never before had she experienced the feel of silk.  For me personally I don’t find the attraction to industrial level of bondage, not handcuffs or chains or even ropes.  They look too painful and demeaning, I like the idea of a shared experience, of the person giving their consent to be tied.    And I love the sensuality of silk, the feel and look of each loop passing smoothly over each wrist.

    Because I need her consent, her active participation to the physical act of being tied, I needed to touch her, to help move her into each position she was relying on me to do the right thing.  Hence the need not to rush her, to make her feel relaxed and comfortable with me and to trust my motives.  And to allow her to feel sexy and protected in relationship to me.  Because we’re friend’s professionally I made sure that she knew that this shoot was going to be about her sexual side more than anything.  Over a series of nice quite lunches I drew her out, share more information than I’m used to and made a nice connection.  So when the time came for the shoot I was calm and relaxed and gave her time.  A lesson for the wise.
    I’m used to shooting commercially and I’ve had a hard time to get into the flow of shooting artistically.  Along with exploring her sexual side I wanted to explore an arty side of myself, to get some motion, a blurring of that picture perfect commercial side I’ve done forever.  I’d thought of this shoot for a couple of month, planned the technical side.  I was using flash on camera to boost my light and placing the model so it wouldn’t show as much.  Then for the shoot I had to let that planning and knowledge drop into the back of my mind and work with the model.  It was too much to remember so I had to trust that my planning had worked and concentrate on the living, breathing person in front of me. 

    That she was nude didn’t escape my notice, neither the fact that she is so lovely.  I really felt blessed in the circumstance of my job, my craft and to have the artistic freedom to just play.  Now that I’ve gotten film back I’ve not been in a hurry to do anything with it.  I have the luxury of playing with my images, of using that same sense of play to try different effects.  Of just letting things settle in my mind and imagination.  I am truly blessed with the model I know and with my skills such as the are to do what I do best, which is to play.