Black Prom Dress Deborah

1. There's an interesting story behind this shoot. 

When Deborah arrived, she laid out her wardrobe where I instantly took a liking to her big poofy prom dress. Explaining that it as so new, she hadn't had time to get the darn thing tailored. 

I'm like, "I do have safety wire & we can synch you up that way." Yes, it would be a one outfit type shoot but whatever."

To my surprise, she's as nutty as I was & agreed. So I synched her up. Did some stuff on the Boston fire escape, did some stuff riding-but-not-riding a moped, playing hop-scotch (all not seen here btw), & typical-me windowlit stuff.

Below is the remastered version of her playing in the apartment windowsill, having a grand ol' time.

"Remastered" because I edited it many years later. My know-how had grown considerably since we originally shot.

& yes to get her out, I had to use my handy wire cutters.

2. I'm currently selling my work. If anything particular shot, any model, or any set interests you, please email me at farenell.photography@gmail.com.

Just tell me what interests you & I'll see what I can do. I try to work within people's budgets but I'm also not going to like give them away for pennies on the US dollar.

Harvard Square Hijinks

Sorry.

This past week I came down w/ some seasonal disease or whatever. I pretty much ALWAYS get something when the weather swings crazy from hot to cold & vice-versa. Gotta love livin' in the Northeast as well as being half dead & narced up on over-the-counter antihistamine while popping Vitamin C tablets likes its Halloween candy.

Going into photojournalism mode is always an adventure. I know I've said that before w/ my model shoots but on a scale of 1 to 10, my model shoots range usually range from 4.5 to 7. The more complications entailed, the higher it goes. Shooting news stuff ranges from anywhere from a 6.5 to 9, for the same reasons.

I just never know what kind of characters I'll encounter, what their reactions will be, how I'll deal w/ it, etc.

Which leads me into yet another entertaining antcedote regarding this image:



The image was taken this past summer during my stay in Boston. Its specifically at a park outside of Harvard Square.

The story behind this shot was that some old guy looking like a scraggier version of Robert E Lee was convinced I took a picture of him (I didn't). To appease him, I agreed to delete it & continued shooting. He caught on that I hadn't done so, so he asked to see me do it. I refused. He raised his voice while I continued shooting.

I pointed out that since all this was happening on public property & that I'm a taxpayer, I had as much of a right to take pictures as he does. If he doesn't like it, I encourage him to spend his time at his private dwelling.

He reminded me that he was in this neighborhood a lot & that if ever I was walking across the Harvard Campus at late at night, he wasn't going to get any help from him. W/o mentioning that I wasn't expecting to be at the Harvard campus late at night, I replied that I'd keep that in mind.

He raised his voice again insisting that I delete his phantom image. By this time, I shift my camera neck strap so its over my head & through one of my armpits because I'm thinking he's going to pull a "whoops" bump into me while slapping my camera to the ground. I continued shooting but in the end, it never came to that.

He soon left to go complain to a compatriot. I got what I was looking for, took that as my cue to go off on my own merry way.

So a refresher, while working taking pictures on the street,...

1. Knowing what one is allowed & not allowed to do will go a long way.
2. Though not applicable for this incident, acting/looking like you belong will illicit fewer questions.
3. Though not applicable for this incident, don't act like an asshole as your default position. Most people, like law enforcement, are just honestly curious as to what you're doing.
4. Hold your ground, if you think you'll go farther. Cut your losses, if you've met your personal threshold.
5. None of the above are absolute. Use your best judgement as it pertains to your situation.

I encourage you to opine, comment, whatever, so long as its civil.

Prom Dress Randomness

Anyone who has ever shot w/ me will know that I am horriblely, unpicky when it comes to wardrobe choices. Unless its a super specific idea where the wardrobe is essential for my big picture idea, I almost do not care. Bring what you have, I'll run w/ it.

Even before I began shooting Deborah, the day was what I describe as "blah". Major rainstorms. Cold, like (literally) 55 degrees in mid-July! I'm hungry because I still needed to go grocery shopping. No worries because I have a shoot later that day.

To make this story more entertaining, my model sends me a text that she's passed a certain subway stop. These were per my directions so I could meet her there BEFORE she arrives. So I sat there, one train goes by...then the second, then the third. Ok, I've never had more than 4 trains run past & not have my person show. The fourth one goes by.

I'm not going to lie. I'm starting to think she's simply BS'ing me, to afraid to outright bail so I get strung along. Considering I had a subject, not 2 days prior, message me that she was on the way at 10a & still hadn't arrived by 3p, I was kinda writing Deborah off as a flake. Needless to say I was wrong. Fast-forwarding to the end, Deborah arrives on the EIGHTH subway train.

That in itself makes for comedic copy but we're not done w/ this fish story.

So we walk the 3 blocks from the subway stop to the apartment, afterwards allowing her time to show what she's brought. She pulls this really cool prom dress that she got for $20! She then explains that its so new she hasn't had time to get it tailored. The Marine "improvise, adapt, & overcome" in me, isn't to worried. She takes time to do her makeup & hair while I figure out a work-around.

Fast-forwarding again...

She's in the prom dress & the back is only zipping so far. I'm starting to wonder if I can simply shoot her w/o the dress being loose in the back. Y'know like the running gag in Marilyn Monroe's "Some Like it Hot." A few test shots later, that idea wasn't going to work. I'm looking around the apartment for SOMETHING that will help us out. Nope, clothespins weren't working. Nor did we have any saftey pins handy.

What to do? What to do?

The roommate, who likes to making jewelry in her spare time, did have safety wire in the apartment. A couple holes punched in her dress, wire slipped through, we now have a corset. Presto-improvisio! We're ready to rock & roll.

Since it stopped raining & I was sick of shooting indoors, we ran outside & shot around the neighborhood which ilicited some strange looks by the passers-by (not that we cared).

*insert sinister laugh*

Got bored w/ that & shot in the stairwell of the apartment. Again w/ more passers-by & again, neither of us really cared what they thought. We were happily off in our own little world.

I LOOOOOOOOOOOOOVE random shoots like this. :-)