A few weeks ago I had the joy of working with a lovely new model Kristýna. I had been a follower and admirer of her work for the past year and was excited that we were getting an opportunity to be working together.
We had a few communications before the shoot and bounced around a couple of ideas. She chose a couple of ideas similar to my previous boudoir photoshoots as well as a few more edgy art nude ideas, and then to my surprise a concept that was unusual to anything I had tried before.
Kristýna a native of the Czech Republic was like a breath of fresh air, someone who was willing to put commitment and her all into an idea. After we ticked off a few different styles, we got stuck into the unusual idea we had. Which was to be covered in black paint. We wanted to capture something different, that neither one of us hadn't done before and this was certainly it.
If you've never experienced what a whole load of paint feels like on your exposed skin, then you won't know how weird it feels and how useless you become, when you can't move a great deal in fear of getting paint anywhere it shouldn't.
I tested the paint on myself the night before, for a couple of reasons. The first being to see if there were any reactions to the paint being in contact with the skin. Thankfully all was good on that front. The second was to see how much paint would be needed to get the shots we wanted. You'll be surprised at how far a little paint does go.
The useless feeling comes over you soon after you have paint over your hands and body, and you can't do anything. You start feeling like you have to scratch every other part of your body that doesn't have paint on it. You get the urge to pee. §In my case, this all happened at the same time as my phone started to ring. Talk about Sod's law.
Never the less Kristýna took this challenge and accepted it, without any hesitation. She embraced the messiness and owned it. Apart from the odd stray hair that got in her eyes, we didn't have too many problems in getting the images we wanted.
I thoroughly enjoyed working with Kristýna, and couldnt have asked more of her on the day. We are already planning for the next shoot. Hopefully, this time, there won’t be any paint in sight.