One of the models I've shot before, Joyias, raises critters. Her critters include snakes, tortoises, tarantulas and several other crawlers. I've been wanting to make her with a pair of the critters, a snake in particular, and I finally got the risk a few weeks ago.
After discussing the shoot possibilities, we settled on 1 snake and 1 tortoise.
Joyias had an idea for a special shot she wanted to do that was reminiscent of an old Ivory Soap television commercial. Sounded good to me, so we loaded up and headed up to the SOPHA studio, in Manchester, NH, for the shoot. My friend Kelley-Sue came on to assist, act as creative director, and of course. wait for it, wait for it. herd turtles (well, a tortoise to be exact)!
For the concept shots that mimicked the TV commercial we used an antique chase lounge that is one of many props at SOPHA. Allison changed while I set up the lights and moved the chase onto the set.
For the shots on the white background I used and AlienB in a 7 foot Octabox softbox to get some nice soft light.
For this view I was lying on the ground to get my perspective eye to eye with the tortoise, and let him (yup, this one is a male) the chief issue of the film with Joyias in the background. By doing so the tortoise looks much larger and has a commanding presence. In reality, he is about the size of a football, and dang near as fast!
BTW, the guy is a Redfooted Tortoise, and yes the red spots are pretty cool.
The next shot also mimicked the commercial. However, for this one Ichose to have a landscape version to build a lager view of the wholechase lounge and I just loved Joyias' smile.
Throughout the shoot, Kelley-Sue was literally herding the tortoise tokeep him on the set.
This guy was headed for the edge all the time.He was much faster than I thought a tortoise could be. Those stubby little legs can really move.
We all had some good laughs at Kelley's expense. Thankfully she has a great sensation of temper and just had fun with it.
Psssst - I heard a rumor that she now has her NH Turtle Herder's license!
Well we could not offer all the session to the tortoise so it was time to work in the snake. And this is no little snake, it is an Albino Burmese Python that is around 8 feet long. Makes for a handful when you are trying to sit with him (at least I think its a him).
So Joyias changed costumes and proceeded to let the snake wrap itself about her. Joyias takes modeling direction very well, but the snake was more inclined to just do whatever 8 foot snakes want to do, so I just looked for good opportunities for nice graphic designs as Joyias hit lots of poses for me. One thing that makes this shot, below left, more interesting is that snakes tongue flicking about trying to pick up scent.
By positioning the lights so it put a light, diffused shadow on the reason I added some depth and property to the photo. I also like how the light wraps around her leaving some shadows to add depth as well. I don't think the snake was really interested in those subtle touches though.
Next we decided to give the snake some scale by comparing it to Joyias.As said before, this guy is kind of long. I worry how he is wrappedaround her foot and doesn't seem to beware that he's being held up likethat. Very still and collected critter if you ask me.
The next shot ispretty much how I had conceived it and envisioned it in my mind before arriving at thestudio.
For this reason I used an AlienB shot through a 4 x 8 foot section of blackcorrugated plastic that had a series of 3" or so holes in it in rowsfilling the whole sheet. I set up the AlienB about 8 feed from thesheet with barn doors on it to control light spill and used it bare bulbfor harder light. I set the solid thing up at an oblique angle to thewall, knowing that the holes would create light and tone that wouldhint at snake scales by the work it would make. For the foregroundlighting, a softbox with another AlienB was set up to camera properly and athird AlienB was set on the report to open the snake. I was onceagain sprawled on the grace to get the right perspective.
Two more shots for your enjoyment on a blue background. For these, the little set up was the Octa to camera left on low power with Joyias about 8-10 feet from the black cyclorama background. Rim lighting was with an AlienB in a stripbox to camera left as well. For the snake/tortoise the stripbox also provided light low to the history to make the critters.
This was my first hit with critters of this kind, and I have to say I'm anxious to do more with them as well. I'm not a big fan of snakes, having grown up in the South (Alabama) where there are poisonous snakes. I'm proud of myself for not run from the studio flailing my arms about and call in terror! I think Joyias and Kelley-Sue might just be happy about that too since I didn't embarrass them that way. I really had a big time with this point and make notes for the next shoot now that I get more experience with slithering and scampering models - and of form the beautiful Joyias too!
It just happens that Joyias raises all those critters for her own pleasure but she also rents them out for shoots and movies. So, if you are in need of a lovely model, and critters for your shoot, you can contact Joyias on ModelMayhem. Tell her Dave Headley sent you. That might not get you a discount, but it might just get you a really interesting photo shoot. You won't be disappointed.
If you get ideas for a portrait, portolio or themed shoot of your own, contact me and let's discuss possibilities. I'm open to any idea, concept or report and can do location and studio shoots both. See the Link page for my all my contact information.
Expand your horizons, test your fears (I've almost quit shaking from the snake encounter) and most of all have fun with your photography.
dkh
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