Opposites

The old adage that opposites attract remains true in all aspects and especially in photography. Powerful images from the likes of Helmut Newton and his industrial women series, Robert Mapplethorpe from his powerful nudes to his delicate orchids in B&W and many others show how something soft and beautiful when placed up against a contrasting opposite not only stand out but scream to the viewer about how a harsh background makes a soft subject jump out at you.

I recently had an experience with a couple of my models that happen to be roommates. The two young women are also my neighbors and I asked both to model for me. These two women are both full of energy and life; they both are very attractive in different ways. I had a certain expectation of how each shoot would go but as this was a “fun shoot,” meaning it was more just for each of us and no specific results were needed, I decided to start each out in a certain direction and then just let it go and see what we got for the final shots.

I was not surprised by the energy and life they both put into each separate session. These women are fun loving and full of positive energy. I did have a certain expectation in my mind though of where the shoot would go and boy was I wrong! The one that I thought would be all beauty and glamour turned out to be the intense dramatic images and the one I thought would be the lighthearted jump around and get goofy showed the beauty side. Not to say we didn’t get goofy, she made some faces in the beginning to get relaxed and those shots were fun and turned out well. However the images that stood out after the shoot were of a more sedate side of the model. Her intensity and strong features just screamed glamour.

I think the highlight though was the fact that each of them can do both just shows how even individuals can be almost polar opposites in life. The images of the women turned out better than I had anticipated and we were all very pleased with the final results. In fact both of their images are being included on some of my new marketing materials. Even my success coach (Beate Chelette) says that my new promo cards are some of the best I have done to date.

In case you like the images and the models, well, they will model for others but I have told them that I have to be their manager. 😉  A huge thank you to my models, Brooke and Sydni!