Abby: Yes, this white getup caused non-stop problems for me... I just could not get it exposed correctly (white's hard like that - you want it to show up as white on film, but you still want to see detail in it, a tricky balance). In fact, I dicked around with the exposure so long, that I only had time to do a very short shoot with Mianna, cos then Joanne arrived, and we shot their landmark GG scene.
1382 - 1395, Michelle
Elvaar: From Mianna to Michelle is like switching from Mork
to Mindy. She seemed too delicate to plant in the garden like a
pretty shrub so we produced a lovely soft sheepskin to protect her
bum from the pernicious garden pests, but what we didn't notice
'til the end of the shoot was the rug itself, having been stored in
the shed for several months, had been infested with tiny bugs and
verily disintegrated as we gathered it up. Dont worry, we drove
Michelle through the sheep dip after the shoot...no, really.
You'll notice Danny popping up frequently in these pics, holding her special Nakediser. It works a treat. And her cue card, which we use to shut up models like Mianna - 'just read the card honey, nothing else'.
Abby: Michelle was the first model we shot on that trip to Melbourne in January 2002. She was also one of the best. Like so many models, she moves around a lot, and despite repeated attempts to find her for another shoot, we cannot. But that's ok, cos even though I used the shittest piece of hardware Canon ever made (550ex camera mounted flash) the shoot turned out great. Like Briana's shoot a year later, the low contrast auto setting results in a boring shoot technically. Luckily, the model makes all the diff, eh?
That's onetime assistant Serena holding the fleccy board.
1396 - 1410, Michelle and Ginny
It was freezing the day Michelle did her thing on the sheepskin but
by the time we got to a duet with Ginny a few days later it was
stinking hot again and that room was like a sauna once they started
wrestling. Ginny is one of those quiet, co-operative girls who sets
about her work conscientiously but youre never sure whats going on
inside her head. It could equally have been 'god this girl is hot,
and to think Im being PAID to do this' or 'shit, I forgot to tape
Buffy tonight.'
Abby: The first set of flash gear I ever bought were used for the first time on these shoots in Melbourne. Until that time I had been using 'hot lights', more often used in film, TV, and theatre (I have a theatre lighting background, so using those lights was a natural extension for me).
I spent a fair bit of money on them, but what I did not count on was them not being up to the task. With hot lights, I had been able to snap happily away as much as I wanted, but with flash heads, the more you snap, the hotter they get... until they overheat, and then shut down for 20 minutes 'til they cool down. In a shoot of one model, this is annoying but not disastrous. But in a GG shoot, it's a big problem - as soon as the models get into it, the lights fail, and we take a 20 minute break.
This happened at least three times in this shoot, and I was so damn angry with the gear, it's all I remember. Now, of course, I have kickarse flash gear, that can do about 80 frames a minute all day long (not that i need to shoot that much, but it's nice to have some overhead).
1413 - 1419, Ming
Abby: I don't remember anything about this shoot! Oh my god. I
am forgetting shoots! I am only young, too young to start
forgetting things like this! :( Sorry Ming.
1420 - 1452, Nadia
Elvaar: Ahhh, Nadia. Nadia is very, very classy and loads of
fun. I can even let you into a secret Abby is hot for Nadia. Here,
she spends a rainy day playing with the furniture. She doesn't look
too comfortable on the wavy chair and we nearly gave up on the
pointy chair, as she was about the fifth model we'd attempted to
decorate it with, but she worked out without much difficulty how to
make it look elegant. The chair. Im talking about the chair. LOOK
AT THE CHAIR.
Abby: Elvaar, Shhh. Nadia is a babe, and yes, I do like her. I am ever so proud of the lighting in this set - note how there are very few reflections on that glass (well, in the actual shoot - there are plenty here in backstage, of course)? Hard to do! Also, to get the rain-soaked trees correctly exposed, while Nadia herself being a little brighter...
1454 - 1490, Phoebe
Elvaar: Phoebe is another quiet one. Abby had had a bad day and
Phoebe was about a zillion hours late, again, so we threw her in
the deep end - put some gutshaking doof-doof on the stereo and
asked her to dance for the video. The outcome made awful viewing
but it loosened her up and this shoot on the bed (from which we
coined the phrase mattress moppet) was one of the best we've done,
I think. We wrote about it somewhere else I'm sure, but I'll repeat
that the most memorable aspect of that night was the delightful
aroma which followed Phoebe. I think we made a mistake with her
hair though, it looked so cool before she plaited it. She's sort of
like a bleached Wednesday Addams.
Abby: You'll note in this shoot, that the 'quality' changes? I used to take a bunch of stills during the shooting of video, and to do that, had to increase the ISO on the camera up to 1600 (ie, really sensitive). I dont do that any more, cos my camera makes a huge racket, and stresses out VidDude no end (he has to edit out each shutter sound!).
Phoebe unfortunately felt the need to shave her bum cheeks and even her knee caps, which resulted in that ugly rash all over. We usually ask models not to shave, to avoid rash (a bit of regrowth is preferable to rash, IOO).
Abby: Yes, this white getup caused non-stop problems for me... I just could not get it exposed correctly (white's hard like that - you want it to show up as white on film, but you still want to see detail in it, a tricky balance). In fact, I dicked around with the exposure so long, that I only had time to do a very short shoot with Mianna, cos then Joanne arrived, and we shot their landmark GG scene.
1382 - 1395, Michelle
Elvaar: From Mianna to Michelle is like switching from Mork
to Mindy. She seemed too delicate to plant in the garden like a
pretty shrub so we produced a lovely soft sheepskin to protect her
bum from the pernicious garden pests, but what we didn't notice
'til the end of the shoot was the rug itself, having been stored in
the shed for several months, had been infested with tiny bugs and
verily disintegrated as we gathered it up. Dont worry, we drove
Michelle through the sheep dip after the shoot...no, really.
You'll notice Danny popping up frequently in these pics, holding her special Nakediser. It works a treat. And her cue card, which we use to shut up models like Mianna - 'just read the card honey, nothing else'.
Abby: Michelle was the first model we shot on that trip to Melbourne in January 2002. She was also one of the best. Like so many models, she moves around a lot, and despite repeated attempts to find her for another shoot, we cannot. But that's ok, cos even though I used the shittest piece of hardware Canon ever made (550ex camera mounted flash) the shoot turned out great. Like Briana's shoot a year later, the low contrast auto setting results in a boring shoot technically. Luckily, the model makes all the diff, eh?
That's onetime assistant Serena holding the fleccy board.
1396 - 1410, Michelle and Ginny
It was freezing the day Michelle did her thing on the sheepskin but
by the time we got to a duet with Ginny a few days later it was
stinking hot again and that room was like a sauna once they started
wrestling. Ginny is one of those quiet, co-operative girls who sets
about her work conscientiously but youre never sure whats going on
inside her head. It could equally have been 'god this girl is hot,
and to think Im being PAID to do this' or 'shit, I forgot to tape
Buffy tonight.'
Abby: The first set of flash gear I ever bought were used for the first time on these shoots in Melbourne. Until that time I had been using 'hot lights', more often used in film, TV, and theatre (I have a theatre lighting background, so using those lights was a natural extension for me).
I spent a fair bit of money on them, but what I did not count on was them not being up to the task. With hot lights, I had been able to snap happily away as much as I wanted, but with flash heads, the more you snap, the hotter they get... until they overheat, and then shut down for 20 minutes 'til they cool down. In a shoot of one model, this is annoying but not disastrous. But in a GG shoot, it's a big problem - as soon as the models get into it, the lights fail, and we take a 20 minute break.
This happened at least three times in this shoot, and I was so damn angry with the gear, it's all I remember. Now, of course, I have kickarse flash gear, that can do about 80 frames a minute all day long (not that i need to shoot that much, but it's nice to have some overhead).
1413 - 1419, Ming
Abby: I don't remember anything about this shoot! Oh my god. I
am forgetting shoots! I am only young, too young to start
forgetting things like this! :( Sorry Ming.
1420 - 1452, Nadia
Elvaar: Ahhh, Nadia. Nadia is very, very classy and loads of
fun. I can even let you into a secret Abby is hot for Nadia. Here,
she spends a rainy day playing with the furniture. She doesn't look
too comfortable on the wavy chair and we nearly gave up on the
pointy chair, as she was about the fifth model we'd attempted to
decorate it with, but she worked out without much difficulty how to
make it look elegant. The chair. Im talking about the chair. LOOK
AT THE CHAIR.
Abby: Elvaar, Shhh. Nadia is a babe, and yes, I do like her. I am ever so proud of the lighting in this set - note how there are very few reflections on that glass (well, in the actual shoot - there are plenty here in backstage, of course)? Hard to do! Also, to get the rain-soaked trees correctly exposed, while Nadia herself being a little brighter...
1454 - 1490, Phoebe
Elvaar: Phoebe is another quiet one. Abby had had a bad day and
Phoebe was about a zillion hours late, again, so we threw her in
the deep end - put some gutshaking doof-doof on the stereo and
asked her to dance for the video. The outcome made awful viewing
but it loosened her up and this shoot on the bed (from which we
coined the phrase mattress moppet) was one of the best we've done,
I think. We wrote about it somewhere else I'm sure, but I'll repeat
that the most memorable aspect of that night was the delightful
aroma which followed Phoebe. I think we made a mistake with her
hair though, it looked so cool before she plaited it. She's sort of
like a bleached Wednesday Addams.
Abby: You'll note in this shoot, that the 'quality' changes? I used to take a bunch of stills during the shooting of video, and to do that, had to increase the ISO on the camera up to 1600 (ie, really sensitive). I dont do that any more, cos my camera makes a huge racket, and stresses out VidDude no end (he has to edit out each shutter sound!).
Phoebe unfortunately felt the need to shave her bum cheeks and even her knee caps, which resulted in that ugly rash all over. We usually ask models not to shave, to avoid rash (a bit of regrowth is preferable to rash, IOO).