Sandra (18+)

Nikolai · September 5, 2009

Being UE has one huge advantage - I can shoot midweek. :wink :rofl

#1: Dgrin, meet Sandra. As you can see, she's not your typical runway model. Actually, she's a writer (funnily, so is Danielle:-). But she liked my ideas, was eager to play along - and I totally didn't mind shooting (beats browsing "dead" job sites 100 to 1:-)

#2: She liked playing in my pool, too (and who wouldn't, given the triple digits weather):

#3: But at some point the playtime had to end and we had to get back to work:

#4: Our primary shoot theme was "Hats". Our first character was "Slutty Hamptonity":

#5: IMG_0585.jpg

#6: IMG_0575.jpg

#7: Then we switched to the "Mad Hatter". We started with military green:

#8: IMG_0647.jpg

#9: But later switched to more bloody red:

#10: IMG_0672.jpg

#11: IMG_0669.jpg

#12: Then it was turn of the famous Soviet Army fur hat (and AK-47 as a staple accessory). Here's Sandra playing a sentinel:

#13: Don't mess with the naked ladies in the fur hats!

#14: Finally we did a few bodyscapes:

#15: IMG_0789.jpg

All in all, this shoot would probably never get a High Artistic Merit Award. But it was fun, and it made us laugh a lot. Hope it would cheer you up, too!

Enjoy! C&C welcome!

This post was made with the assistance of Star*Explorer

cwhite · September 6, 2009

I love these!! It's a welcome change to see a beautiful, voluptuous woman, with a truly natural body. I wish there were more series like this one, showcasing the average woman and her body (not that there's anything average about this stunning woman). Absolutely fantastic!!!

Ann McRae · September 7, 2009

Nice work Nik - and she really looks like she had fun. It is also a nice change to not see the really angular (uncomfortable) poses.

ann

sweet caroline · September 7, 2009

I love #3- too bad about her fingers. I also like #2. I 'm not a fan of the first hat set, but you got some great expressions in the "Mad Hatter" series. The bodyscapes are gorgeous.

Caroline

Nikolai · September 7, 2009

cwhite wrote:

I love these!! It's a welcome change to see a beautiful, voluptuous woman, with a truly natural body. I wish there were more series like this one, showcasing the average woman and her body (not that there's anything average about this stunning woman). Absolutely fantastic!!!

Chris, thank you!

As I said, she is not a stereotypical "Hollywood model" (19 y.o, 6'0", 120lb, etc. ). Older, shorter, "thicker"... Mature "next door" woman, not an bulimic "valley" girl. But I liked working with her a lot, and decided at least some of our work is OK to show...

Nikolai · September 7, 2009

Ann McRae wrote:

Nice work Nik - and she really looks like she had fun. It is also a nice change to not see the really angular (uncomfortable) poses.
ann

Thanks Ann!

I thought you liked my poses

:cry

Nikolai · September 7, 2009

sweet caroline wrote:

I love #3- too bad about her fingers. I also like #2. I 'm not a fan of the first hat set, but you got some great expressions in the "Mad Hatter" series. The bodyscapes are gorgeous.

Caroline

Thanks for stopping by!
Yeah, sorry about #3... I kinda treated the whole "pool" sequence as a bunch of snapshots, so my framing was definitely not as precise as I do in the studio

. But in the end I loved the softness of the body and figured out I wouldn't cause too much harm if I post these "snaps" too.
I was surprised mysef about "Mad Hatter" series. They came out nicely.
And the bodyscapes - yeah, totally. Fun to prepare ("ice, ice, baby" + "oil, baby, oil"), fun to shoot, fun to postprocess, fun to share, fun to look at...

codiac2600 · September 8, 2009

Interesting series but only one catches my eyes...

It seems more like a playful day and less of a photoshoot IMO. The pool shots are just fun and not portfolio worthy, but fun.

90% of the pictures on the backdrops have a lot of strange pixelations that I can't put my fingers on. It seems like you exposed well on the subject, but not so well for the backdrop and it gained noise and loss of detail. A lot of it seems that she is too close to the backdrop, maybe only a few feet when you truly want about 5+ feet from the end of the sweep to the model.

The images with the fancy chains the lighting is too flat, makes the subject uninteresting.

You came back with the better sculpted light in the next series, but the added color lights are just distracting and seem to have no reason, but just to be there.

The soviet photos are lit with the lighting being brightest on the midsection of the model where it's more pleasing if the face is the brightest point instead of being led directly to her chest/stomach.

This just doesn't seem like your normal work and I hope I don't offend with my opinions.

Nikolai · September 9, 2009

codiac2600 wrote:

Interesting series but only one catches my eyes...

It seems more like a playful day and less of a photoshoot IMO. The pool shots are just fun and not portfolio worthy, but fun.

90% of the pictures on the backdrops have a lot of strange pixelations that I can't put my fingers on. It seems like you exposed well on the subject, but not so well for the backdrop and it gained noise and loss of detail. A lot of it seems that she is too close to the backdrop, maybe only a few feet when you truly want about 5+ feet from the end of the sweep to the model.

The images with the fancy chains the lighting is too flat, makes the subject uninteresting.

You came back with the better sculpted light in the next series, but the added color lights are just distracting and seem to have no reason, but just to be there.

The soviet photos are lit with the lighting being brightest on the midsection of the model where it's more pleasing if the face is the brightest point instead of being led directly to her chest/stomach.

This just doesn't seem like your normal work and I hope I don't offend with my opinions.

Chris,
thank you very much for your comments. Very solid points on all accounts. And no offence taken!

sherstone · September 13, 2009

My favorite of this series is the bodyscapes. Looks like it was a very fun shoot!

Nikolai · September 13, 2009

sherstone wrote:

My favorite of this series is the bodyscapes. Looks like it was a very fun shoot!

Thanks, Sean!
I do agree that the bodyscapes probably carry a "higher artistic merit" than the rest. However, I feel like I'm getting into the same rut with them (only so many ways to capture a female bosom in black and white with a minimalistic lighting :-), so I'm trying to explore other oppertunities... Bodyscapes, like highkey, are easy-sure-thing once you learn how to do it, and they do tend to produce consistently nice-looking results, but... How many of them can one person take:-)

Once again, glad to see you here in GF section, I'm anxiously waiting for more inspirational work from you!

sherstone · September 21, 2009

Nikolai wrote:

Thanks, Sean!
How many of them can one person take:-)
Once again, glad to see you here in GF section, I'm anxiously waiting for more inspirational work from you!

You have a point Nik, and I agree experimentation and exploration of new things is always a good idea. Since they obviously are not your favorites from this shoot I will say out of the others that, #13: Don't mess with the naked ladies in the fur hats!, is my favorite shot due to it being a very dynamic pose. The others are "fun".

Thanks for the Welcome.

Sean

Nikolai · September 21, 2009

sherstone wrote:

You have a point Nik, and I agree experimentation and exploration of new things is always a good idea. Since they obviously are not your favorites from this shoot I will say out of the others that, #13: Don't mess with the naked ladies in the fur hats!, is my favorite shot due to it being a very dynamic pose. The others are "fun".

Thanks for the Welcome.

Sean

Sean, glad you picked that one. I personally see it as one of the best from this shoot. And don't get me wrong: I love bodyscapes, but I guess it's just I have a little David Bowie in me that tells me to get out and explore...

rmwphoto · September 28, 2009

Hey Nikolai
I have a question about get the water beads just rite ,I was wonder if you use
baby-oil then mist water or dry skin then mist water.
I am hopeing to do a shoot like that one day .
Just seen some cool pics where the beads of water look really cool in
some other bodyscape pics.
Just wondering.

Nikolai · September 28, 2009

rmwphoto wrote:

Hey Nikolai
I have a question about get the water beads just rite ,I was wonder if you use
baby-oil then mist water or dry skin then mist water.
I am hopeing to do a shoot like that one day .
Just seen some cool pics where the beads of water look really cool in
some other bodyscape pics.
Just wondering.

It was much simpler than that. As it was one of those 100+ days, we took frequent breaks with her skinny dipping in the pool (as a cooling measure and some more photo fun). Before we started the bodyscapes we rubbed the baby oil in her upper torso (boy, it's a hard job to be a model photographer:-), she quickly jumped into the pool and we only rubbed her with the towel everywere else except the areas in question (again, why don't I have an assistant? I have to do everything myself, arrgh:-).
And then quickly proceeded to the shooting stage.

Misting is also possible but it creates a different droplets structure.

HTH

canoesailor · October 14, 2009

Nice Pics
Great Photos and a beautiful model -
I always prefer natural normal women as nude models they seem to have a joy about posing.

John T

Nikolai · October 14, 2009

canoesailor wrote:

Great Photos and a beautiful model -
I always prefer natural normal women as nude models they seem to have a joy about posing.

John T

Tnak you for your kind words, John!

TNTATC · November 16, 2009

Came across a few posts of yours on other photographers and you have a lot of nerve. Your first shots should not be on here 1-3 are horrible there is no art or skill in those shots just pics of a naked woman, creepy. Your others with the camera added little to show off any lighting or editing experiance. I understand that you enjoy to look at nude women but lets keep the site clean, it's for (Photography)

System · November 16, 2009

Ouch....

Kyle D · November 16, 2009

I think that was a little uncalled for...

kdog · November 16, 2009

What's troublesome about TNTACT's post is that it's not so much a critique of the photos as an outright personal attack. This business about him seeing other photos of Nik's in other photograper (sites?) and that he has "a lot of nerve" sounds like stalking. Or jealousy perhaps. Either way it's abusive, nonconstructive, and not within the spirit of Dgrin.

ian408 · November 16, 2009

TNTATC wrote:

Came across a few posts of yours on other photographers and you have a lot of nerve. Your first shots should not be on here 1-3 are horrible there is no art or skill in those shots just pics of a naked woman, creepy. Your others with the camera added little to show off any lighting or editing experiance. I understand that you enjoy to look at nude women but lets keep the site clean, it's for (Photography)

You knowingly wandered into a password protected area of the site. And I should add the thread title also warns of what you might encounter.

What did you expect?

dlplumer · November 16, 2009

Lots of fun Nik. My favorite is #13

Kyle D · November 16, 2009

Maybe we should stop feeding the trolls?

Nikolai · November 16, 2009

dlplumer wrote:

Lots of fun Nik. My favorite is #13

Thank, Dan!

Sandra (18+)

Comments