One True Talent in Life Gabrielle

1. Gabrielle was a college Art History classmate of mine. 

With not a lot of persuasion, I coaxed her into a photoshoot. Nothing big or elaborate, just two creative individuals seeing where that creativity takes us.

Somewhere along the way she oh-so nonchalantly says, "Making goofy faces is my one true talent in life." So I of course asked her to prove it. 

This was the result:

I really appreciate people who can relax & poke fun at themselves. Its also a schtick I have Gabrielle do whenever we shoot to which she's been ever gracious to indulge.

I also distinctly remember it being an ultra cold day in March & having a 20-page term paper due the next day that had yet to be started. Priorities, right? I guess that's what A LOT of coffee is for.

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.

Inside Old Industrial Complexes with Meredith

 1. This shot with Meredith who was a standardized test-prep instructor by day & art model by night. I also remember her having some sort of a dance background, what specifically, I no longer remember.

This shot was taken at an industrial complex that used to (legally) print foreign currency that has since been converted into an artist's community and was taken many moons ago down in NYC at the end of July on one of the hottest days of the year.

Shooting in nontraditional spaces such as these probably began my proverbial love affair with the urban/rural exploration genre.

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.

Playfully Inviting with Lisa

1. 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.

2. This is Lisa.

When this was shot, she was coming off of a not-so-great relationship & wanted to do something fun & suggested as part of her own psychological liberation of doing a boudoir type shot. I was invited to her house & saw this lovely overcast sunlight shining through her bedroom window & knew I had to use it.

I like this shot because it suggestively reveal yet remains playfully & am happy that the model herself loved what was produced.

Spontaneous Canines and Stacy

 1. I don't think this shot is all that remarkable but getting there is interesting.

This was an early foree into studio shooting. Essentially an attempt to still work with people during the dead of winter.

Stacy is one of my oldest art model collaborators.

We were at a point in the shoot where it kinda had run its course & both were struggling to come up with new ideas. Stacy sighs & says aloud, "I'm struggling to come up with new ideas in keeping things fresh."

As if on cue, the dog bursts through the studio door (with their human in tow), hops onto the couch, followed by a delightful squeal from Stacy. 

If this were a Hollywood film, the scene would have been rejected for being to contrived yet as sure as I'm writing this, it honest to god truth.

I've learned since then whenever an animal interrupts a shoot, don't interrupt fate & just go with what the Gods just gave you.

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.

Theater Portrait with Ciara

1. This is Ciara. I forget how or who found who but we were doing this session at her college.

Most of my shoots have a pretty loose structure. Enough to get something done but not so bound where we're not able to toss the book out the window if a situation presents itself.

We were wandering around the performing arts center where the theater hall itself gave me an idea. I lugged out my photo-strobe light (a piece of equipment I loathe using simply because it changes my shooting style) & set it up & shot.

Afterwards Ciara expressed how happy she was because "As a theater major, it never occurred to shoot in the very theater I've loved." If my model friends are happy, so am I.

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.

In the Oven with Crystal

1. 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.


2. This is Crystal.

I'm weird & get random stupid ideas. Sometimes after explaining them, I have models who are adventurous enough to take me up on said ideas. This shot arose from one of those times.

After I a few test shots, the models just weren't getting what I had in my head. I pulled them out & to illustrate better what I wanted from them, I physically got in the oven myself. THAT was when they got it! LOL.

I almost never pick out my model's wardrobe but I later thought the blue star socks being the same shade as this model's undies was a pleasant surprise.

Years later I'd submit this same piece & hang & frame it in a small local show & was told the piece was the most complained-about. Yet out of the 12 others pieces submitted, this was my mother's favorite. She found the concept of a person physically getting in an oven hysterical.

Rear ends illicit very strong opinions apparently.

Adirondack Group Shoot with Erin

1. 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.


2. I used to go to group shoots. Basically, its sorta like a get-together models & photographers & them shooting each other in relatively short segments. I have nothing against them par say but unless I know the person arranging it, they no longer played to my strengths. Meaning, I believe my creative strength is best when establishing & developing a rapport with said models over the time available. 15 minutes rarely doesn't do much for me. Nothing against other people doing them, they're just not my thing.

I schooled at SUNY Potsdam in Northern NY. Its a stunningly beautiful part of the state but ultimately a not-well traveled model route. There is more lucrative places to hit up in more dense population centers, maximizing earnings in a shorter amount of time.

I got thinking, why not a group shoot?

I discussed it with another photographer friend & he told his friends & soon enough there were 5 us willing to shell out money for this. We put out a casting-call & 7 models were interested. 1.4 model to 1 photographer seemed about as good a ratio as we could expect considering where it was to take place.

Slowly but surely the cancellations came in, a disappointing prospect but not entirely unexpected. Come shoot day, the only model who showed up was from VA who I picked up at the bus station. & for the record, she seemed pretty enthusiastic about the trek. So we all carpooled to various scenic sites in the autumnal Adirondacks (a stunning sight in its own right) & all did our photoshoot thing.

It comes time to pay the model & the rest of us photographers were so grateful she showed, we decided to give her all the pay that was meant the canceled models. It was easily quadruple what was initially promised. The look on that undergrad face was priceless.

I certainly hope you've enjoyed today's edition.

the Pretty Little Blonde Jennelle

1. I'm currently selling my work. If any particular shot or shoot or set or model 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.

2. Back when I was in school, there was this pretty & fashionably dressed blonde that I'd often see around campus who kept being all friendly w/ me. Try as I may, I couldn't place where I knew her, nor figure out why? So one sunny day, I stopped & asked where she knew me from. W/o skipping a beat, this once strange pretty blonde replies, "I'm in your philosophy class."

Sometime later that semester, I not only got her in front of my camera doing "artsy-fartsy" stuff (her words) but also met her roommate Meg. After the semester ended we went our separate ways, I continued at the university while she transferred to a school up in Montreal til many years later she contacted me through a social media site & eventually set up a photoshoot where we shot this pic.

Some subjects even after a many years lull, still just feel right.

Shadow Lines with Naureen

1. 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.

2. This is Naureen.

I found her after she posted an online ad seeking a "real" photographer to shoot boudoir-type pics as a gift for a recent ex. It sounded like it was an amicable split, him moving across the country & her staying behind to finish law school...but I digress. I found the phrasing humorous but in an era where everyone has a camera & can call themselves a "professional," I get why. 

I emailed her back with several website links, giving samples of my work, met her criteria, & set something up.

I get there & do our shoot, doing a variety of sets. & come to find out later she was utterly astonished at how (& I quote), "here I was half-naked, hugging you, & flirting with you, & you were super professional. My (college) friends think I'm full of sh*t." My response was & I quote, "Sweetie, I'm Italian. We hug everyone." 

We had lovely little friendship but the distance, combined with us both being in college, combined with us being on very different life trajectories, it was simply not to be. 

Ashley the Mindless Doll

1.  I'm currently selling my work. If anything interests you, don't hesitate in emailing me at farenell.photography@gmail.com.

Just tell me what pics or sets or which model interest 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 free.

2. Ashley had an idea & I helped her run with it. It goes something like this:

"The doll idea came into my mind as a response to the ways girls allow themselves to be looked at. Many girls think that to be desired by men they must become this party girl, drinking beer, dressing revealingly, using everything but their brains and real personality to attract men. People say that women are exploited by society but the truth is, women exploit themselves." 

"Instead of embracing who they are and what they have to offer, they try to mold themselves into something which they think is desirable, whether it is being skinnier, acting a certain way at parties, or any number of self-transforming, attention grabbing devices." 

"Women love attention, that is nothing new but, I see my friends become other people when put in these situations. They become mindless dolls without a thought in their heads."

Shooting from the Backseat with Marcy

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


2. The shot below was taken while as an undergrad way up in Northern NY. It was one of the more brutal winters where Spring really didn't arrive til a week before finals. The winters are so harsh up there that when the first day its above freezing, the ENTIRE student body is walking around in their shorts & flip-flops. Its strange how 33 degrees in the Autumn is the pits while 33 degrees in the Spring is balmy.

But I digress.

I had an idea using the snow & figured the way to do it was shoot real quick, as long as we could run to her idling car, warm up, go back out, rinse, recycle, repeat. The intent was to put the physical ache of the abysmal cold on me instead of my model.

I did not anticipate the how brutal wind coming off Racquette River location!

There came a point in the shoot where I was dreading returning to the cold because all I needed is my index finger & thumb to operate my camera. I've tried everything over the years flip-hunting hunter gloves, fingerless gloves, tried cutting off the tips of only the thumb & index, tried packing those outdoor heating packs...nothing works. Once the cold ache sets in, I just may as well call it a day. Having a 10-page term paper due the next day awaiting me back home wasn't helping matters.

So anyways, I came up with this crackpot idea of "why not hop in her backseat & shoot it from there?" Marcy was happy she didn't have to go back out. I was happy we didn't have to go back out. End of story.

This was one of the keepers.

Cheers for now.

the Critique of the Unsatisfied Relationship with Jenna & Friend

1. 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.


2. This shot takes on a VERY different context with the rise Me Too movement & the toxic male entitlement culture we're in. However the idea I had back when this was shot in 2006, went vaguely like this:

We were exploring the correlation that people often find themselves in their relationships, specifically the kind where at least one party isn't satisfied (whether it be sexually, physically, emotionally, or whatever) yet the person in question stays in said relationship...not because they are intimidated by the other but because they may not have the strength to get out of it OR they stay in it because they have nothing better to do, thereby perpetuating the cycle.

This particular set almost never happened. The model couldn't find another male model with whom she trusted enough to do this with until at the last minute she drafted her gay gymnastics partner. He had is cocky vibe about him where he could do really stupid stuff (in terms of the set's theme) & not have her take it personally.

We had a barrel of laughs about it afterwards.

Contemplating Hope

1. 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.

2. The model put herself on my radar by sending me a message, "I was a girl who always said she'd never do nudes but after seeing your work, I'm might have to reconsider."

Sounds like a good intro to me!

We set up a shoot & made it happen soon thereafter. And as Rick said to Louie at the end of Casablanca, it was the "start of a beautiful friendship."

Columbia the Muse

1. As a lark when I was getting my Bachelors, I posted a flier looking for models. It went vaguely something like-

 

Wanted Photo Muse

Benefits:

1. Copies of the Pictures
2. Inspiration for the Arts
3. Fun Story to Tell your Grandkids when You're Old & Grey
4. Everlasting Glory.

I wasn't expecting much of any response but as happens so much in life, the model found me which led to the start of an exquisite work relationship. It was creatively hot & heavy & petered out once we went our separate ways. But man, was it memorable!

This shot below was a source of several different media variations, one was pastels & another was mixed media. I wish still had any of my collegiate (nonphotography) portfolio but they didn't survive several moves. Such is life.

2. I'm currently selling my work. If anything interests you, don't hesitate in emailing me at farenell.photography@gmail.com. 

Just tell me what pics or sets interest 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.