I think people should start calling me Master G, for Ghettoness.

In studio class, we had to "copy a master." I had chosen Ruth Bernhard's "In the Box, Horizontal, 1963." Spoo was originally gonna model for me, but for some reason, it didn't work out. So I frantically look through my cell phone and there was Tess, the savior. Whew. Then came some serious challenges:

1) The studio closed early on Wednesdays (5 PM). There was no way I could make that time. So, I'll have to shoot it at home, in the game room.

2) Hmmmm, I'll need a softbox that'll go with TSP's Novatrons.....I thought about making one myself, but I bought an "universal" softbox for the long run.

3) Dang it, the softbox does bend down enough...guess I'll have to build a boom, too. Ladder, box w/pillows, couple wooden planks, a metal pipe for reinforcement; ropes, counterweight, UTPD "NO PARKING" sign, lots of gaffer tape.

4) Backdrop holder. I chose black paper for its reflective behavior. It doesn't soak up all of the light, which was what I needed. I used three benches standing up sideways for the support of the pool-cleaning-stick-thingy. The backdrop then just hung on the pool-cleaning-stick-thingy. Voila.

5) Box. Because I haven't seen Tess in a long time, I had to tear the cardboard box down and rebuild it according to her dimensions. I tried getting rid of the edges by using some painter's tape and double-sided carpet tape for tapering down the painter tape.

6) Not enough light. The softbox was not big enough, in my opinion. It was also too low in height and power. Thus, I added a 550ex flash to the equation. It was bounced off the reflector supported by a nearby trashcan. I coulda used the trashcan, but I thought that'd be way too ghetto.

7) This was Tess' first time posing nude. This was the first nude I've shot. Suprisingly, it never got weird. I think it was because we were photographers together back in high school. During the shoot she remained self-confident of her body and I remained picky and professional. We also both had a great time jamming to The Beatles.

IN CONCLUSION, I've learned I can deal with shooting female nudes. I've also taken ghettoness to another degree. I learned that carpenter's double-sided tape is BADASS. U-Haul Rules! Thanks to TSP's Novatrons...again. Thanks to Mom for helping out with the boom. Thanks to Dad for helping with the benches. Thanks to Tess for helping on box construction and backdrop positioning. Oh yeah, and posing, too. And no, neither Tess nor I are shameless.

WARNING: The following gallery contains nudity. However tasteful it may be, if you, or your legal guardian, can't deal with that, then you should go back