This weekend Tam and myself enjoyed a Saturday with my other good friend, Janet, using my bedroom as a boudoir studio.    I had quietly persuaded Janet to model for me because, frankly, she’s truly one of the most beautiful women I know and by the time this weekend had rolled around, we were all antsy to start with the picture taking.

It was a day of learning for me.  I know I had done this before in a semi-workshop environment last year but remembering just what the hell I did then that might work in this new scenario was tricky.  Having Tam there as a source of inspiration (and knowledge) was reassuring and I’m not ashamed to admit that I did the boudoir/studio equivalent of setting up a shot in her tripod holes (as people often do in landscape photography) just so I could get the same amazing angle that she saw when I didn’t.

I guess that sort of thing will come with practice.

Before everyone had arrived, I’d cleaned out the master bedroom, re-sheeted the bed with crisp white sheets and pillowcases and then laid out a couple of luxurious throws and a few other bits and pieces which were intended as possible props. The room is painted white and has a huge west-facing window that gets fabulous light throughout the day. It’s like standing in a giant reflector box.  Perfect for picture-taking.

The bright white of the room turned out to be a blessing as Janet has brilliant blue eyes and richly coloured hair, stunning against pale, pale, nearly flawless skin.  Any bit of colour on her just popped.

We started off with some easy stuff, getting Janet comfy in front of the camera by plonking her right in the middle of my lovely king-sized bed and surrounding her with seemingly endless metres of cotton mosquito netting. This stuff added some great texture to the photos and had the added bonus of being softer and more malleable than tulle or satin gauze.  It had a lush quality about it.

Janet was a natural in front of the camera and made our little adventure very, very easy. Just for the record, I haven’t change the colour of Janet’s eyes at all.  They are naturally that blue.

After we’d warmed up, we broke out the black corset and a beautiful, furry, teal wrap…

And then some pearls…

And then my trilby…

Unfortunately, while the images on the back of the camera were looking fabulous, I had forgotten one very, very important thing.  The ISO.

See, the last time I used the camera, it was evening, it was dark and I’d boosted it to 3200.  For those who are unfamiliar with the consequence of having your digital (or even film) camera boosted to 3200 ISO means noise.  grainy, ugly noise.  Digital noise in particular is ugly.

Ah well. Live and learn.  We carried on.

TBC