Post Ar

Well... It is not perfect working away from civilization. After carrying everything back to the car and hit the road, it was four very thirsty, hungry and rubber smelly person that entered Visby and got some Thai food. Maria got to much sun and had to chill her face.

Later the shooting day, Tuesday, I guided the ladies through the Visby nightlife and the day after I left them in the hands of my friends since I had to fly to Stockholm for a meeting. I know, it was not very gentleman like, but one has to work.

I flew back to Gotland on Thursday with a bunch of friends. Later that day, when flying back the crew, Victoria fell asleep in the plane so I had to fly for half an hour with only one hand. The other was used to hold up Victoria's sleepy head. That is gentleman like. :-) When she woke up she got to try the controls. She did pretty good but was very nervous. Yup, when flying over water one has to wear a life west. Victorias make-up is just a test for Maria. She does not normally carry that much make-up. :-)

The unedited Studio Paus shots

I often get the comment: "You must shoot a lot of frames!" Well, in fact I do not. I do not just fire away and hope for the best - I rig the picture and shoot only when things look good through the viewfinder. This is an inheritance from the day I shot with expensive film and only got 10 frames per film. My theory is that pressing the release button is a trigger for the brain. If you want to teach the brain to quickly react to when things look good, something that can be vital when shooting people and situations, you have to give the brain positive feedback. See the release button as a dog clicker. Only shoot when you really see it looks good. Yup, in the beginning it can take a really long time between shots but after a while your brain, eyes and release finger get in sync.

For Terese 's image I shot 50 frames including 12 test shots, and for Victoria's image I shot 55+17+24 = 96 frames for three different dressings (nude, big towel, small towel). This is a lot of frames for me. Most of my pictures you see on on morre.se is shot with 10-20 frames plus 3-5 Polaroids.

Shooting outdoors

The make-up was done in our hotel (the base) and the rest added at the car but. Left to do on location was for Terese get her hair fixed and then to sit on a towel in the sun for an hours. Hard job. :-)

Victoria got the old baby oil treatment. The best baby oil is Barnängen's since it is absorbed just right by the skin.
Here are some another tips for the aspiring photographer or model who wants to look perfect:
*Always remove any tight clothes at least 30 minutes before the shoot if you are planning a nude shoot. That is needed for the skin to loose the marks from the underwear, bra, socks etc.
*Always use a bathrobe when the model is not in front of the camera. The skin gets cold very quickly and before the models notice it, leaving hard to edit colorization of the skin. And you guessed it, the bathrobe is also good for not having nude models wandering around to lose skin marks...

In a bright, high exposure range like this outdoor shoot, the Hasselblad really shines. It picks up the dark shadows between the stones and still gets the real color of the sky! Just aim and expose correctly and you are done. Well... picking the right lens, posture, shooting direction etc etc is also vital. Sometimes I wonder how it is possible to get all things right.
For example this time after Terese shoot I noticed I incorrectly had put the autofocus on Continuous! The Hasselblad has only one focusing point and that is in the middle. So when using the auto focus you sometimes focus first and then compose the picture, having to move the focus spot to a area closer or further away from where you want to keep the focus. You keep the by pressing the shutter button halfway. But that does not work on continuous! So I was horrified to notice this after finishing that hour of shooting, where most of the part was endless sky. Thankfully the tree caught the auto focus in most of my shots. I was scared as h*ll before I had checked my shots in the camera LCD.

Ar, the location = carry stuff

When being on Gotland last year shooting for my now slow Morre's UK Babes project I had spotted some nice locations. One was at the Northern part of Gotland at Ar where a very small, inhabited, island resided connected to the main island only with a small (almost) land tounge.

When there, I immediately knew we picked the right location, when I saw the wind blown tree on the island! I do not know how, but it just feels right. I do not really pick the location - the location pick us.

So then is the fun part - carry kilos of equipment out on a far off location and through water. Hiking boots is a good pick and the abilty to stand wet socks for hours.... Sometimes I really miss my assistant.

Getting to Gotland and a sweet ride

The lucky models to join for Gotland was Terese A and Victoria N, chosen in collaboration with Johanna from Studio Paus. Amazingly both models and the make up artist Maria L, got to Linköping on time. On Tuesday we pack us all in with a lot of gear in a small airplane and I flew us to Visby. I would have taken 6 hours by car and ferry, but it only takes 1 hour by private plane.

When landing the first priority was to get a car big enough for a fat photographer, his models and gear. I called some of the people I got to know when working there with Gotland Ring. And guess what? Ove at the furniture shop EM, is just the best! He borrowed us a Hästen designed Mercedes and even picked us up at the airport! Hats off for Ove!

Being a models is hard. Sometimes you have to wait for hours. Sometimes you have to order the right food in bright sunlight in Visby's best beach club, Kallis.

The car has been standing since the winter so I had to get a workshop to change from winter tires, and there I cleaned it up. It was not the most luxurious ride, but it was cool! The downside was while driving, it smelled like burnt rubber inside. When driving to our location we where pretty scared it would caught fire but we where totally shocked when the back window exploded at 90 km/h!!

When picking up the car I had noticed it had been a bit loose at the upper rim but did not think it mattered. What probably happed, was that the wind caught the upper side, creating tension in the hardened glass, making it explode into pieces.

Spa models wanted for Gotland 15-17 July

One of my friends girlfriend has a beauty salon in Stockholm (Studio Paus), and I always wanted to make some new versions of spa/health pictures so I gladly signed up for a free shoot. (I will get massage though...)
It is not free for them, since the pay for two female models to be flown with me and a make-up artist and hairstylist to Gotland, Visby and they pay for the stay too. This is during the hottest, craziest, most party week in Visby, Tuesday 15:th to Thursday 17:th in w.29.

I need two female models, 173-180 cm, (B) C (D) cup, fit (it is health pictures!), good hair and skin, and preferably long legs and a classy, posh, fresh look.

Here you can see the picture style: http://www.fotosearch.com/photos-images/get-tan.html

As usual show you interest in this assignment at: http://morre.se/models/apply/