Acting on Instinct, Pt. 3

LINK TO IMAGES:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftdzNjQkhWbndhNmM

In the summer of 2011 I was invited to visit my Alma Mater, Cornish College of the Arts in Seattle, Wa., to give a lecture about my recent “success” on an art based reality show called Work of Art. It was a silly reason to have gained some fame and notoriety for the kinds of work I had been doing for years and years, but I wasn’t going to pass up a free plane ticket and a chance to visit one of my favorite cities.

In between visiting some old friends and avoiding others, I decided to make the most of my time and do a few shoots while I was there. Sadly, I only had one nibble of interest, Sierra McKenzie. I had seen her work for a few years and was blown away by her unique look and style. She seemed sexy and confident, embracing her natural curves. Clearly, her voluptuous form made an impression.

On my last morning in town, an unusually overcast Sunday for a Seattle summer, I picked her up and we headed to Discovery Park. Sierra was just as beautiful and stroking as she was in her images, and I found her strong, confident personality a bit surprising. She was from Alaska, originally, having moved to Seattle alone on a whim in search of a better life. She had lived on friends’ sofas for a while until she gained her footing, and now was making a living as a freelance model. She had dreams of creating model collectives, designing clothes, writing books and blogs, and clearly wasn’t just a pretty face.

We eventually found a somewhat secluded, wooded area and grabbed the meager outfits and equipment each of us had brought. The day before I had purchased a big flowy blue dress from an old Goodwill store I used to love back in my college days, sneaking a plastic vine of fake leaves out of there as well, while she had brought a vintage, see-through dress that looked as though it were made of gossamer. We ended up only going for a two minute hike, both of us being lazy and tired after a long weekend. Almost by accident we found a good spot to start with, under a large willow tree that created an almost an entire indoor space under its hanging branches. Thankfully, she didn’t require any real direction and I was fairly confident in what I was doing, so within moments we were creating some magical shots. 

My goal was to make her somewhat of a wood nymph, and she easily slid into the role. In the beginning, I shot unusually dark, contrasting the deep shade we were in with her almost translucent skin. I was clearly in love with her look. We continued to shoot quickly, capturing greatness, and every few minutes we would decide to walk a few feet more, further back into the thick trees and tall bushes. 

At one point, we found a huge hedge of wild black berries, which are abundant all throughout Seattle, and I urged her to pick some and eat them right then and there, naked as she was. Sierra enjoyed playing with the juice and being a little messy with them all. The experience made me recall the time a friend and I spent all day picking blackberries many summers before because she wanted to make me a pie, since I had, as a California boy, had never tasted them. Only when the pie was made did I discover that I couldn’t eat them due to their seeds and a dietary restriction. Ah, to be young and dumb again.

I also began experimenting a bit with movement in the daylight. I had recently been shooting a lot of flash-drag effects, and for some reason wanted to see if it was possible to capture such effects with ambient light. I won’t say the results were 100% successful, but they are good enough to share. Let me know what you think of them!

As time went on Sierra changed her outfit here and there, shedding them completely when necessary, throwing out ideas, and sometimes becoming more and more stubborn or disagreeable, but always trying her best to remain polite and accommodating. I think this was due mainly to a difference of personality types rather than an actual disagreement about our mutual goals. She was loving what we were capturing, but continued to find fault in how I was doing things, my approach, or thinking maybe she just knew better than I did. She isn’t the kind of model to allow you to capture a lot of silly out takes, that’s just not her nature, or maybe just not with me. Either way, I remained cordial and understanding and chill as I always try to be during shoots, and the rest of the day went on without any major blow-up or incident.

(As a side note, I’ve worked with Sierra several times since, and eventually learned that her personality just lends itself to being a bit defensive. Judging from the challenging life she’s had to live, I can understand a woman needing to feel guarded yet defend herself when feeling challenged in this male-dominant world, though personally I think she might act out a little more than is required by most situations. I wish we got along better, I’d love to work with her more, I think she’s a great model.)

We eventually packed up our things and I took her back to where she was living, in Ballard, I believe. I was somewhat relieved to drop her off, but felt that confident giddiness that you can only gain from knowing you have been productive and have just fulfilled a creative goal.

What do you think of Sierra’s photos? Click on the link and please leave me feedback. As always, thank you for sponsoring my work and making what I do possible. I can’t tell you just how much all your support means to me. Keep in touch!

Here is the link again:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftdzNjQkhWbndhNmM