No touchy! Noooo touchy!
Many thanks to Ivy for demonstrating that I do have two lights and I know how to use them. I’m such a one-light fanboi that even I will look at the results of a two-light setup and think, “Damn, why don’t I do this more often?”
Oh, and pearls. And jeans! Can’t forget those.
When pressed to name their favorite feature, people other than The World’s Best Asexual Erotic Photographer would probably point to any other part of this image than Jo’s hands. But for me, it’s the hands, all the way.
I adore photographing strong hands. Two of my favorite people in the world – my wife and my friend, Erin – are nurses and they have strong, weathered hands full of stories and character. Whenever I share a photo of one with the other the response is invariably “nursing hands!”
Why do I dig hands? Because if you hold to the old adage that “light illuminates, shadow defines,” then hands, with their veins, muscles, nails, fine hairs, tendons, and bones, all in extremely close proximity to each other, are infinitely more fascinating than, say, a thigh. This is the internet, so someone is going to take that as being anti-thigh and that is not the case, but hands have an additional benefit that thighs do not: they are mobile. With hands you can obscure, pinch, pull, squeeze, twist, dangle, make rude gestures, contain, barely contain, stretch, or even create a frame or leading lines. Look again at the image above. Can you do that with a thigh? No, you cannot.
Take that, thighs!
(Why do I get the feeling I’m going to have to pander to the pro-thigh lobby in a future post?)
All you have to do is spend 5 minutes with Miss Meccakhan to understand why she’s Everyone’s Favorite Feral Friend. The energy. The joie de vivre. The passion for her craft. The savviness.
It’s infectious as hell.
Know what’s better than seeing a photo of Ivy Sublime? Catching her act in person, which you can do, tonight, like, for real!
Raleigh-Durham peeps, Ivy will be performing in Creme Cabaret’s “Tropical Nights At The Ark Royal,” tonight, May 3, at 8:00 PM. Tickets are available via Eventbrite and at the door.
I’ve discovered I may not have the mental bandwidth at the moment to write, but I have tons of images I can post. So let’s lean in to this years’ theme and keep it simple, ‘kay?
Jo Rose is a multi-talented Durham-based burlesque performer, producer, aerialist, model…the list goes on. It’s hard to over-sell Jo, because she’s just so damn good at everything she does. She’s also a friend and my other photographic partner-in-crime, so I may be bit biased.
This was one of my favorite sessions ever. Ivy Sublime, the subliminal seductress, is a Durham-based burlesque performer and co-head of Luxury Burlesque. More on them later <wink>.