thomasholmphoto

Staircase Mistress - BTS

The Endless Sinner, brilliant as always.

The Staircase Mistress

The incomparable Endless Sinner on a fabulous staircase in an Airbnb I stayed in some time ago. The light here comes from a medium-sized (about 120 cm) matte silver umbrella from Balcar, probably about 30 years old, which they unfortunately no longer make. The matte silver adds a bit more punch than a matte white umbrella, but not as much as a shiny silver, where you can often see multiple shadows from the different triangular panels. I find this to be just right.

Red non-underwear - Teaser

A couple of shots of the wonderful Cassie, check out the full 9-pic (7 + 2 on Discord) series, and the BTS movie available for the Photographers and Vault tiers.

Red Non-underwear - BTS movie

Here a craool 2-camera BTS movie with Cassie wearing "nonderwear"

Red non-underwear

Cassie brought this set to one of our shoots, and as I’ve previously stated, I’m not a massive fan of lingerie.

But the whole point of underwear like this is to look sexy, and I know better than to decline a women who want to feel sexy for a shoot (wonderful things can happen when they are in that frame of mind).

And this occasion was no exception, but in retrospect, the location was not the best background for the intimate feel of this set.
I’m sure a lot of people will never even notice the background, though. 😉

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The Sunny Rock

This shot with Wiana was initially meant to be a booty shoot.

However, with the strong sun behind me, it turned out more explicit and lacked aesthetic quality. So, we changed the direction and shot her from the front, facing a new challenge: Normally, I’d lean her head back for a more sensual look, but when I did that, the light came from below her jawline, illuminating her face - like kids do at Halloween with a flashlight under their chin.

Still, I was determined to make it work, so I jumped up and down and around on the rocks until I found a good vantage point and had her look down instead.

And that’s me in a nutshell:
You’ll always find me circling the model in all directions, and, if possible, from different heights, to find a better angle. Over time, I’ve learned you never really know the best angle to photograph from until you've tried them all.

Red Body

Isabella Chris (Formerly known as Belzen) brought this red body to a shoot, and we decided to shoot something usable on Instagram. (*)
I think we shot 10 frames, as I’m just not into lingerie.

I mean, it’s a nice enough image with nice lighting from the window, but I’m not into fashion-like imagery like this.
It boils down to my idea that images should have a purpose, explore something or someone, or tell a story, and I think I’ve shot too many commercial pictures like this to see or want to get involved in that exploration.
What do you think?

(*) Case in Point.
Here is my current Instagram Profile - Please follow if you don't already.
My previous profiles with 135K, 56K, 30K were closed. And the latest Commando.art with 11K were slashed about a month ago .
These days, I believe only AI algorithms decide if you follow the rules or not, and if you complain, the AI takes another look and decides whether it is right or wrong.
I don't know their algorithms or programming, but I do know that I have both carefully read and have been following the rules as I understand them in a very strict manner but to no avail. Anything with Nudity is essentially at risk, images with any kind of fabric, seethrough or not, seem to be fine.

I also believe that for people who like nudity, the future is Bluesky...

Riding the Nautilus

I shot this in 2017 with Roarie Yum at a fantastic place called Little Finland.

Little Finland isn't in Scandinavia, but named because it’s “the land of fin’s - on rocks"), and it is located in Nevada, USA.

I read somewhere that it was once connected to the Valley of Fire, and looking at a map, I can see how that could be, given the movement of tectonic plates and the fact that both spots are the only ones with red rocks.

Having been to both places, I notice a lot of similarities.
But more importantly, there is one distinct difference: Little Finland has a ton of rock formations that look like mythological creatures, and I haven’t seen even one of those in the Valley of Fire.

Victorious Decay - BTS movie

BTS from the first set I shot with Emma Helena.

Victorious Decay

Victorious Decay

Emma Helena is a posing machine, and since this is the first shot we did together, and I didn't know her when we met, I mostly let her freestyle to see where that would lead. Then we evaluated (I shot tethered in the studio), found some favorites, and refined those over a couple of iterations. I lit with a 60x180cm Elinchrom indirect Lightmotif softbox from the side, you can see the specifics in the BTS movie (on the photographers and vault tiers).

Long Hair Don't care - BTS movie

BTS movie from shooting Lilith with a Fresnel spot.

Long Hair, Don't Care - Teaser

Two pics out of the full set with Lilith Etch.

Long hair, don’t care

Here is a studio set with the Lilith etch, which was really prompted because she had grown-out hair (but whatever excuse is needed to shoot with a great model and friend works for me).

This set, just like the one published 2 days ago with Georgia Brown, was lit with my large Fresnel spot, but here I used it to amplify the shadows rather than trying to get rid of them.

There is one important lesson to be learned here:

It’s not terribly important what light modifier you use; it’s much more important to find out what you can do with each one of them.

I’ve been shooting a lot of nudes over the years, and one way I like to stay on my toes is to set up a certain modifier and force myself to make something usable with that lamp. Sometimes that pushes the boundaries of what you thought that modifier could do, and that is a valuable addition to your mental knowledge about lighting.

Unattended Asylum - BTS

A nice 13 min BTS movie with Silas.

Unattended Asylum

I really love the cinematic feel of this, achieved with a close vantage point to the model and using a Signa 35mm ƒ1.2 to blur the background. In postproduction, I enhanced the light coming through the windows, giving it a dustier look that further draws attention to the model.

I do like images where you can imagine a story, and this one falls in that category in my opinion.

Booty On Eames

This set with Georgia Brown was lit with my large Fresnel spot, similar to what was used during Hollywood's golden age of film noir.

I positioned the lamp very close to the camera to minimize shadows on the body, similar to a speedlight, but with the added softness of a larger light source.

And then I used a large rectangular softbox to illuminate the shadows ever so slightly to be able to have just a little detail present.

For this pale look, it really helped that Georgia has very light and clean skin, as every tiny blemish becomes visible under this kind of lighting.
The only caveat is that I had to selectively dampen the background, effectively reducing contrast (darkening the light and lightening the dark), because it had to much contrast with the shadows and structure of the background, which distracted from the model.

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Booty On Eames - Multicam BTS

BTS movie with Georgia Brown paying tribute to Charles Eames (or some such thing), being lit by a Fresnel Spot.

Zsan at Las Grietas - BTS Movie

A nice little BST movie from shooting Zsan at the canyon

Zsan at Las Grietas

Zsan at Las Grietas

Here is a nice mini-set with Zsan of Sweden shot after one of my Lanzarote workshops in October. Las Grietas is such a magical place to shoot with a very surreal background. The high contrast can be challenging; once the sun hits the top of the cliffs, the contrast toward the bottom of the canyon can easily become too high for even the best cameras out there.

Come fly with me

I've just returned from Lanzarote, doing some (pretty awesome) workshops. One of the pleasant surprises I had while there was that Georgia Brown was up for doing some shibari sets.

Previously, she did not like to be tied up, and her personal boundaries are not to be tampered with, in my opinion.

I asked her what made her change her mind, and she told me a photographer had previously asked her, and had told her that she would be able to move and get out of the rope anytime, which turned out to be not true, and since then she had mentally connected being tied up with being tricked.

But after seeing me do a set on The Endless Sinner, she wanted to try suspension. I told her she would absolutely not be able to move, and she was fine with that, trusting me and all.

And she absolutely loved suspension..

On a personal note, doing Shibari near the equator in the sun should not be taken lightly. It will get pretty warm, and dehydration is a real concern.

Come fly with me - teaser

GEorgia Grown a bit tied up during some downtime at our Lanzarote Workshop

Come Fly With Me - MTS movie

BTS movie with Georgia Brown's first Shibari suspension.

Black Tie Event

I’ve done a fair share of shibari by now, and one of the things I like it the almost unlimited variations in designs you can make.

This is “just” a pretty little thing, where the front and booty are definitely nicer than the back.

The challenge is that each rope is 9m / 30’ and if you don’t need more for a design, you need to find a way of disposing of it, which often is the back.

The light here is daylight from my studio windows, and I shot these with my Sigma 50mm ƒ1.2

In many cases it helps to make the model stand out from the background.

What are your thoughts on shallow depth of field?

Taking shelter

couple of months ago, I was shooting with Lilith Etch around the old runway near my studio,

and we captured a lot of shots in various locations, including this one. The background features

an old F-16 fighter jet shelter, and you might recognize one of its siblings in the Shibari set I

posted about a month ago, with Lilith suspended from the roof.

When I photograph models, I always try to integrate them into the environment, but you can

probably imagine there is a huge size difference between Lilith and the Shelter. While being about

20 meters away, integration is pretty hard. So we decided on a pose where she’s touching the

ground and the line leading to the shelter, trying to mimic the shape of the shelter roof, which I

think works quite well.

What do you think?

Message in a Bottle - BTS

18 min BTS (2 camera setup) from the Message in a Bottle shoot with Wiana. I was testing some cameras here and unfortunately it screwed up sound a bit, apologies for that.

Message in a bottle

I was staying at this Airbnb in Sweden with Wiana, and the last day, the weather sucked, so we decided to shoot some indoor shots before checking out.

We found this carafe in the kitchen closet, and knowing that if filled with water, it would work as a magnifier. And knowing Wiana well and knowing she is not in any way shy, I thought we might make a fun little series out of this, and we did indeed.

Diccord:
For Photographers and Vault tiers, check out the bonus material on Discord.

Don’t know how to connect your Patreon with Discord (or set up a Discord)?

Read this guide.

Goddess Georgia

In my recent Location workshops in Lanzarote, we had plenty of opportunities to make group images with up to 4 models.
For the first workshop, we were in a huge lava cave. I placed the models on this big rock; the light was amazing, and I asked the group, "Who wants to start?".
But nobody wanted to begin; they didn't know what to do.

The issue with shooting groups, assuming you want the images to be good, the photographer needs to create a scenario that allows the models to interact.
Sure, you can have 4 models doing their own thing with an acrobatic pose, but in my opinion, almost all those pictures seem pointless and something's "off" about them.

And that something is that they are not engaging either with the environment or with each other. So I quickly improvised a scenario where Georgia Brown was the "goddess" and the others were sitting and kneeling in front of her, looking up to her.
It's not a rocket-science scenario, but it's enough to get started, and within a few minutes, I shot the image above.
The point is, you just need to give the models somewhere to start, and then things will evolve, and you can correct to your liking.

And after this, everyone created some awesome images, some much more interesting than this, which always makes me happy: When I conduct workshops, the point is not for me to shoot and make great images except to show ways that work. The point is to convey my knowledge so the participants can grow and create awesome images.

The Other models are The Endless Sinner (left), Wiana (middle), and Zsan of Sweden (right).

Herodiade In Red

Hey Everyone, it's been a hectic few months making my new book, doing 3 weeks of workshops in Lanzarote, launching and marketing the Kickstarter campaign for Dopamine Driven Art, and now packing and shipping 300+ Packages over the next 8-10 days. After that, I'll get back to a bit more upfront Patreon information, and some longer multicam videos (and hopefully also catch up on sleep).

That said, I shot this set with the amazing Herodiade on Lanzarote a few years ago. I very rarely shoot lingerie, but I did like this bodystocking she brought, and if you look (very) carefully at the images, you can probably guess why.

Lightwise, these were shot near midday, so the sun is very high in the sky, and as always, that requires special attention to where and how shadows fall. Because of the bodystocking, it's mainly the face and bum I had to pay attention to, so it still works. Btw: if you check Herodiade's Instagram, you'll discover that her profile picture is from the same series.

As always, if you want to see more images of a particular model, or from a particular place, either click the tags or write the model's name, "Herodiade" or even "Lanzarote" in the search field, and everything with that model/place will come up.
I put a lot of effort into tagging all models unless they prefer to remain anonymous.

Rope Dessous

I hosted a Model Studio Day with Gracie Sweet some month ago.
The last participant, who I know well, asked if I could do a rope harness and I did, and got to shoot this short set on the side of what he shot.
Daylight from the windows in my studio just like Yesterdays set.

Check out the BTS video on the Photographers and Vault tiers.

Anna Opsal Roped In

A bit of a long'ish BTS movie with Anna Opsal getting roped in.
Enjoy.