Double Your Pleasure?
This week's adventure: twice as many models in the room, half the shooting time!
There’s a scene in the 1999 cult classic film Office Space in which the protagonist, Peter Gibbons (Ron Livingston), asks his neighbor Lawrence (Diedrich Bader) what he’d do if he had a million dollars.
“I’ll tell you what I’d do, man: two chicks at the same time, man.”
Hopefully today’s post, the art-nude photographer’s equivalent of two chicks at the same time, would make Lawrence proud. To be honest, though, the prospect of working with two models simultaneously is actually more terrifying than exciting. The addition of a second model somehow seems not to double the difficulty of the shoot, but to triple it: I need to be mindful not just of each model’s pose and expression, but also the interplay between them, to say nothing of the usual concerns of balance and composition.
It won’t be shocking, then, to learn that this was not my idea; these two Ukrainian ladies (honestly I’ve met more Ukrainian women in the past few months than I had in the previous forty years, not that I’m complaining) were traveling together around southeast Asia and suggested that we all work together. The two of them know each other quite well and have modeled in tandem many times, which immediately removes a lot of the complexity of a shoot like this. They also proposed that we shoot for one hour and offered their accommodation as the location. Neither of those particulars is ideal for me, but in the spirit of wanting to keep things fresh and challenging, I agreed to one hour, two models, at their location.
…a location that turned out to be in the hilly part of central Hong Kong, up about two hundred stairs depending on the approach vector. Google maps plotted a terrible one and, accepting it uncritically, I climbed all of the stairs. In fact I walked past the place initially, so I got to redo part of the route in descent as well. All of this while carrying my gear in my brand-new Peak Design roller bag, which now became the least convenient way I could have chosen to carry my crap. Also it’s mid-day in mid-June, 86oF (30oC) and 90% humidity. The cherry on top: as soon as I arrive, I recognize that the building is a walk-up. ::chef’s kiss::
Mercifully, the ladies’ room was only on the first floor, but I was still a sweaty mess upon arrival. Having seen the building from the outside, I already knew what I was in for, and it’s exactly what I expected: a small space in an old building with sparse light and minimal furniture for scene changes. Other fun surprises included what appeared to be a small emergency-glass-breaking hammer on a chain hanging on a random cabinet and, to the complete befuddlement of the girls, a rather large hand saw hanging on the wall. 🤷♂️ I spent the first several minutes chatting with the two models, partly because I enjoy meeting these women and hearing their stories, but also because I needed a minute (or six) to try to cool off.
Inevitably we talk about the war. One of them still lives in Kyiv, steadfastly unwilling to leave, while the other has left Ukraine and is now living elsewhere in the EU as a refugee. Their stories of what it’s like are hard for me to comprehend as someone who has never had to endure anything of the sort. All I can do is listen, shake my head, express my support. We don’t linger on it – we’ve only got an hour on the clock anyway.
Immediately upon seeing the space, I knew that conditions weren’t going to be optimal for my usual shooting preferences. On a perfect day, there’s enough natural light that I can shoot at ISO 200 and dial in some positive exposure composition to make sure the images are bright, colorful, and dynamic. Today, though, it’s looking like an ISO 400-800 kind of day, and there will be no hopes of exposing-to-the-right. I’ve got my favorite ultra-fast Panasonic zooms with me, but I can’t shoot them wide open like I normally do: two models means two faces that need to be in focus, which means stopping down the aperture, which means slower shutter speeds. They settled around the 1/30 to 1/60 range, which is in the danger zone for motion blur (not from the camera moving, but the models). I tried to time my shutter actuations to capture peak stillness, but with two models moving independently there was still the occasional ruined shot.
For their part, the professionals got to work immediately, suggesting some ideas based on prior shoots in the room and offering clothing choices to start. The room was quite achromatic, so they briefly conferred before suggesting a black and white lingerie theme. We got to work against a suitably-lit wall, Katerina in white and Lee in black. The two of them work seamlessly together, although not always in perfect synchronicity – sometimes I had to discard a shot due to a mismatch in their poses, although each would have worked singularly. This is just because often each one couldn’t see what exactly the other was doing, and I wasn’t interjecting frequently to harmonize the scene. If I do another shoot like this in the future, even with two capable models who are comfortable with each other, I think this is something I’ll need to be more cognizant of.
After some initial standing-by-the-wall shots, I directed the now nearly-undressed ladies to the black leather couch, the only furniture in the room besides the bed, and we spent a good chunk of time there working different looks. Even though the small space made the working distances quite short, I still reached for my longer zoom to get some tighter compositions. The way they were posing and interacting was often sensual and intimate, demanding a close focus on their expressions and delicately posed hands. I also had fun shooting quite wide, exaggerating Katerina’s proportions and including the random objects and clutter of this weird little room. The walls, generally devoid of any artwork or other such décor, provided some texture and a neutral tone to keep the focus on the models.
Last stop was the bed, for which the girls discarded what remained of their lingerie for some art nude work before the hour was up. It was only at this point that I noticed just how extensive Lee’s tattoo is – as you can see, it’s an outlined floral scene that cascades down her right side, tracing lines down her thigh and even across her lower back. It’s quite striking – lovely, actually. “Some photographers don’t like it,” she offered, not yet sure whether I’m one of those photographers, given my reaction. I’ve heard this from nearly every tattooed model I’ve worked with – tattoos are a serious liability in the modeling industry – but I’m interested in portraying my subjects however they are, so it’s not a problem to me.
Anyway, back to the bed shots. This was the trickiest area for lighting, because it was closest to the windows, which did not have a sheer curtain to soften the sunlight. Like a light switch, the window light was on or off. I went with on given those options, but it meant that there was really just one well-lit area near the front of the bed. Unless, of course, some clouds obscured the sun, in which case there was no well-lit area on the bed. Again, I made peace with the scene and resolved to do what I could, envisioning these shots as a bit moodier, perhaps a bit dark, hopefully playing well in black and white. I did give a few directions now and then, just to get the girls cycling through a variety of looks before we had to wrap.
An hour wasn’t a lot with these two, but I think we all worked together quite well in the end. They asked to see the photos a couple times during the shoot (my favorite thing, you know! 😬) and were happy with what they saw, so I think we nailed it. All in all, then, a perfectly happy first time shooting two models. Top tip if you’re trying it yourself: find some professionals who already know each other, and if possible, hold out for a pair of Ukrainians.
