When you work with someone so soon after the last time, you wonder just what you are going to write about them that is different. On top of that, how can a person change or grow enough in the short weeks between then and now that will enable you to render them in a whole new light. In the three short weeks since I last worked with Courtney, even the weather hasn't had the chance to change. But still, I just had to work with her again. The images I managed to capture last time were some of my favourites ever, though we were limited somewhat in our choice of context. Each and every image was shot in the same corner of the same front room...not a lot of room for context or difference. So this time, I decided to book us a suite at a Plymouth hotel, to see what contextual images I could capture this time. Just like last time, the afternoon started quietly. It isn't that Courtney is shy, she takes a little while to warm to the person whose company she is in. But when you reach that tipping point, she becomes your best friend and someone whom you can talk to about everything. She is an open, honest and thoughtful person, one whose looks do not do the person justice. She what I don't think I mentioned in my last write up of her, and something that I don't think many would work out, but Courtney is a Page 3 girl. Yes, thats right; for both The Sun and The Star. Thing is, she is capable of so much more than that awful, one-dimensional style of photography. She seems to know just how she looks best and how to stare into the camera instead of at it. Her look is sultry and sensual. It borders on sexual but stops just short of it, without her figure becoming the dominating factor in the image. No, her body never outshines the sparkle in her eyes that surprisingly enough were green this time. Last time, her eyes were a sapphire blue, this time an emerald green. For long periods of the shoot, I felt like I was shooting someone new. Someone different. I am sure you will see that too. So having picked her up from her house, we made the slow drive through the myriad of traffic towards the seafront and the hotel. The Grovesnor Hotel was located right on the edge of the sea and I am pretty sure we were the only two "guests" in it that day. The porter reminded me of Spike out of the film Notting Hill, played by Rhys Ifans and I am not sure what he made of the pair of us marching up to the best suite in the hotel armed with bags. Still, it didn't matter. Moments after arriving in the room, the camera was out and we were immediately taking photos. The hotel room featured a beautiful bay window that you can see behind Courtney in a lot of the images and also reflected in her dazzling eyes that had changed colour in the natural light. We both knew what we wanted to achieve, to somehow de-glamour this glamour model and prove to us both what she really could be. Although glamour has its place, it doesn't challenge enough to be considered artistic (in my opinion). Photography should raise a question, it should write a story. You should want to know what is going on behind the model, what is just out of frame, what is she looking at. There should be no fake smiles, no direct invitation into the image. It is not about what the model looks like, or about how nice her figure may be. No, it is about why she is there, doing what she is doing and how she feels about it. Anyway, the idea was, as I have said, to de-glamour a glamour model. I think we succeeded. So we took more photos, and more and more. 800 in total and I am absolutely shattered. I wanted to create something almost bridal, but with a hint of sexuality. I wanted her look to be angelic, with soft cotton whites and warm skin. The sun was out and peaking in through the curtain, so I took the opportunity to overexpose the images somewhat, allowing the highlights to become ever so slightly blown with her eyes picking up the highlights. This gave the images a delicacy, a soft, warm sheen that invites the viewer in. I wanted these images to be as if they were taken on a wedding night, by the husband of his new wife. I wanted them to honest and authentic, with each one appearing to be a still from some kind of movie. Something that makes the viewer feel they are simply watching a clip from a larger piece. So we continued to shoot, we barely stopped. When we did stop, we sat in a pair of armchairs facing each other and for a moment we must have looked like Morpheus and Neo, debating the depth of the would-be rabbit hole. We talked about life and love, the big things and the little things. We talked about the weird offers that her and other models get from strange companies and even stranger photographers. People who want to buy her underwear, or pay her to be photographed crushing little insects. It truly is a weird world that we live in. Then she dropped into conversation how she had just stopped seeing a premier league footballer (she was well aware of the cliché.) When I pushed her to find out who, she told me which team he played for...the team I support! I got excited, interested. I pressed further and finally found out who it was. I will not, for obvious reasons, declare who it is. But needless to say if you follow football, you will have heard of him :). Funnily enough, she offered to give me the black, sheer nighty that we spent so much time photographing her in. It was a nice offer, but I respectfully declined :). Working with Courtney today was one of the best shoots I have ever had and I have never come away with so many "keepers." I honestly did not know where to start, so I picked a "good" image, but certainly not one of the best. I wanted something that would start as a slow introduction to what I hope will be a series of images that become more and more flirtatious, ever more enticing. As the images unfold, you will see Courtney in a whole new way, with a sexuality that wasn't present in the last set. In this set you will see more of her, both body and personality and I hope you will find them as enjoyable as they were to take.
Vintage Contrast
