Prancing around naked in my studio is always a lot of fun. Most girls start out asking for a robe and within minutes they’re sporting nothing but a smile. Before Simone and I got crazy with the whipped cream shooting our take on Herb Alpert’s album cover (see yesterday’s post), we tried to capture the more serious moments in between the silly… so here’s the beautiful dramatic side of Simone…
Uh ohhhh, the silly popped out 🙂
“Whipped Cream and Other Delights” by Herb Alpert’s Tijuana Brass… seems this album cover really affected a lot of young lads during the mid-60’s. Including Simone’s husband Nick when he was a preteen. Nick recently confessed to Simone that he felt stirrings for the first time in his young life when he saw this image. So when it came time to decide on a gift for her soon-to-be husband, Simone decided to recreate this iconic image with my help.
Ps. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Simone resembles the woman on the cover exactly.
What really intrigued me about this shoot was the “Other Delights!!” – I wanted to really make sure that Nick was provided with some Other Delights and that title wasn’t just an empty promise, as before. Well, we wound up with so many juicy sexy hot bonus de-lightful images that I need to post this shoot in two parts. More to come tomorrow!…
Warning: my site honors the human form in all his and her glory aka: nudity!! Hide the children.
This Saturday was one hot afternoon! In more ways than one. I did a shoot for my dear best friend Haldane, a fierce cyclist, and his woman, Kristy, an all-around incredible girl and cyclist as well. H and K met almost a year ago “through a friend of a friend” and they couldn’t be more made for each other. K loves photos, and wanted fun shots of the two of them together… well, I’m your girl. I traveled down to their stomping ground, and we shot around Old Town Orange…
… then we moved the party to Shady Grove, and fair enough, they did tell me to bring my “hiking shoes” but… whew!… that’s all I’ll say because I’m still out of breath.
I really like this pair of shots… the movement and sensuality in them both. So I’ll call this version “Sexy Autumn”…
And I posted this pair as a perfect example of the choices photographers make when editing… this one seems brighter and cheerful to me, like “Happy Springtime”… I like the Autumn version better, what do you think?
Get a room already!!!
And off into the sunset!.. My favorite shot…
Giovanni Nicola Meola was born in Teora, Italy in 1890 and arrived at Ellis Island March 14th 1904 with his parents. He was only 14 years old, and his occupation was listed as “Boot Black” – a person who shines and polishes shoes. Nine years later he married Filomena Melillo and proceeded to have ten kids – the ninth was my dad, Thomas John Meola.
My dad used to tell me stories of how he spent time as a kid during the depression at my grandfather’s store, a combination shoe shine shop and candy store in Newark, NJ… where my dad enjoyed giving free candy to poor kids and drinking wine with his dad in the back room next to the pot belly stove. Maybe for this reason, I’ve always loved shoe shine guys – or any skilled laborer really. I enjoy watching a person work in their surroundings, the tools they use, how they’ve perfected a technique… just as I like to watch artists sketch a drawing.
I’ve been planning on shooting a series of shoe shine shops and the men that run the joints… I’d like to think I’ll publish a book someday, titled “Boot Black” of course. I’m experimenting with sepia for this project to lend it an old school warm and worn look. First up is Minas, the shoemaker next door to my photo studio.
Minas is such a character… he’s Armenian and arrived in the states 13 years ago via Moscow. Minas watches my back and my shop, takes Fed Ex deliveries when I’m not there, makes sure that my shop is locked up at the end of the day, and helps me move heavy furniture. Most importantly, he tells me jokes every time I see him.
A few tools of the trade…
“Christina, what are you still taking pictures for?”
And then he sends me on my way with a joke…
Minas has such a thick accent, I only catch about 25% of what he’s saying. Every time he tells me a joke, I laugh my butt off the whole time because I can’t even understand a word, but his delivery is priceless.
