EricScott

This is the second in a series where I highlight a person who inspires me to create art. The first person I honored has inspired me my whole life – in art as well as life lessons – my mother, Virginia Baker. So who could follow that?

If you have followed me, you know of my creative partnership with the model Vassanta.  If you are new to my work, then join me in singing her praises. I call her ’My Muse”.  I don’t think I’ve ever experienced what that really meant until we started collaborating.  It’s a term I don’t throw around lightly either.  Doing any kind of shooting inspires me to see the world differently than most people.  You tend to see the world in terms of patterns, shadow and light.  You pay attention to the small details that most people  overlook. Photographers understand what I mean. Talented models also understand because you know how to use light and detail to accentuate your image.  Shooting fine art nudes with a professional art model is always an enjoyable experience as you collaborate and play off each others’ strengths to create something beautiful, and hopefully memorable and artistic.  I’ve had the good fortune to work with many talented models again and again, establishing a wonderful rapport, and in some cases friendships, that really enhance the experience and the quality of the results.

But, what is that quality of Vassanta that elevates her to being a Muse?  What does that really mean? It’s certainly an overused, and some would say, trite term; a cliche. It loses it’s meaning because it is so overused.  So, when I say Vassanta is My Muse, here is what she and that term mean to me.

I first met Vassanta 3 years ago.  At that time, I was mostly focused on trying to build a fashion/event centered portfolio.  When I shot nudes (which was not often), I would call the results mostly glamour oriented or fashion nudes…but not fine art.  I was intrigued to shoot Vassanta because she had a different look than I had shot before.  I was about to find out how different an experience it would be.  In meeting her, my goals in photography, and the way I “see” as an artist and photographer would change forever – focusing on mostly fine art nudes for the next three years and establishing other wonderful relationships with like minded talented people.  It all started with meeting her.  But when I picked up this somewhat shy girl at the train station,  looking a little like a Ukrainian refugee, I could not have imagined how my life would change.  Three years later, we’ve completed over 20 shoots  in studio as well as locations all around the Northeast US, California, Australia and New Zealand.

When I think about our first shoot now, I have to chuckle.  At the time, I was trying to balance fashion and glamour shooting. So, if I was going to shoot nudes with someone, I would try to do a little of both.  Vassanta’s wardrobe was not fashion oriented as we tried to pick  a few things to shoot in.  Now that I know her, I can imagine her thinking at the time, “What are you thinking? Look at me. I’m an art nude model! Why are you trying to do fashion with me?”    But she was creative with what she brought. That creativity was just the first admirable quality that  she exhibited that day and has become a source of inspiration, learning and growth for me that continues to this day.

Like some great actors, the first thing I learned about her is that when the camera starts clicking, she becomes a different person. She exudes a sensual persona, a powerful woman with the ability to portray a variety of emotion through her expressions and body. She is dedicated to getting the shot and will do anything to get it (within her range of decency).  I’ve seen her climb up boulders by shimming between rocks, roll in mud, climb trees like a monkey, and  crawl through underbrush. Like any great model, she has an innate sense of the light and how to use it. And more than that, she has wonderful, creative styling and art direction skills that she can call upon at the spur of the moment.  She can take any item laying around a set or location and incorporate it into the image to take it from being merely beautiful, to extraordinary and memorable.  She was taken tumbleweed in the California desert and put it on her head to resemble a great Russian fur cap.  When were were in Australia, she pulled some scrapes from a palm tree and created this elaborate headdress that transformed her into a jungle queen.

So far, the qualities that I’ve described could be said about many talented models that I’ve had the good fortune to shoot with. I still have not answered the question what’s a Muse and why is Vassanta one.

Part of  the answer lies in the fact that over time, she has become one of my closest friends.  That level of  “intimacy” where you really know each other takes your shooting to a different level. It pleases me that I think I capture her uniquely from anyone else for that reason. But I think what really defines Vassanta as my Muse is the commitment to each other to improve the results that goes beyond just the shoot.  We push each other during the shoot to give the best to each other and afterwards in critiquing.  And we can be brutally honest with each other.  Our commitment to each other is “No sweet lies”.  She is a tough critic that I appreciate because I grow from that feedback. After any shoot, her joke to me is “probably 2 good shots out of the 100 we did that day.” I take that as a challenge and my response is to prove her wrong!   And from the extensive amount of work we’ve done together, she has shaped the way I see, shoot and work as photographer.  I tease her that I now have a little Vassanta in my head directing me when I shoot (change shooting positions, recheck exposure, shooting faster (OK, I know, I’m still too slow).

To celebrate Vassanta, the first image I selected was from that first shoot and it remains one of my favorites of her.  The second exhibits the power of her presence, her make up skills and use of light.  The third one was shot on a friend’s back porch. She grabbed the straw bag and hat and created this persona on the spot.  The last image is one from our most recent session on the rooftops of Brooklyn.

So, here’s to you, Vassanta.  May your Muse light continue to shine brightly and guide us to many more creative adventures.  To see more of her work, please visit her portfolio on Figuremodels.org   http://figuremodels.org/members/vassanta/profile

Normally, I wait to post a blog until  I have a series of images. However, this one image really affected me as it was so hauntingly beautiful, it’s post-worthy on its own.  I loved the picture straight from the camera, but with a little editing, it became this hi key stunner. I love the symmetry of all the elements.  How the curve of her lips match the curve of her eyes and this flows into the curves of her hair above her eyes and then the flow of her hair fading into the over exposed edges. And her pose is so serene….it really makes the picture.  We were shooting on the roof of a Brooklyn apartment on an overcast day. The roof had a silver painted floor and I think acted as a huge reflector, softening and wrapping the light around her.  I’ll never be able to explain it, but whenever Vassanta, me and a camera are in close proximity to each other, it’s always magic time.

Sarah Ellis was on my “must” shoot list and we had the good fortune to collaborate earlier this year  in New Jersey with some stunning results.  I quickly discovered in working with her that if there is such a thing as an artistic Vulcan mind meld, we got it.  We were so attuned to the same goals and style. I like shooting a variety of genres and alsoadmire her ability to do many well – fashion, fine art nude, glamour, etc.   When I found out she was moving to Seattle, one of my favorite places on the planet, she said come for a visit.  After recovering from some vigorous arm twisting, I gave in. 

In June, I headed to Seattle.  Sarah and I spent a week traveling the full circumference of the Olympic National Park, several Pacific Coast beaches, the Hoh Rain Forest, abandoned forts, and further north near Deception Pass. We particularly had fun visiting Forks, WA where the “Twilight” films are based.  Yeah, right.

Here’s a sampling of images from the week.  I look forward to sharing each set in depth in future blogs.  Thanks to Sarah for her sense of adventure and exploration, fun, her incredible talent and some fabulous images.  The Pacific Northwest is calling my name to return!!

Found a Russian in Brooklyn.  OK, that is not unusual, but got the opportunity to renew my collaboration with Vassanta on a rooftop in Brooklyn.  The light was a perfect overcast day and we did some fine art and glamour work.  I love the muted colors and simplicity of the location.  As usual, Vassanta was fabulous in using her environment and I got my pants dirty rolling around on the roof.  I knew I should have brought an extra pair before going to dinner!

The was the first time that Gwendolyn and I have worked together.  She was looking for a shoot in an abandoned place, and thought her look and ink would work well in this site I have shot in once before. It’s an old cement factory covered in graffiti and overgrown with woods. and i’ve not shot any glam/pin up in a while.  We found some cool locations, especially the one in the basement  of a building with two stories of height above heer with lighting shing from a whole in the roof.  Stunning!!

On a recent shoot with Sarah Ellis, we did a series in the interior of an old saw mill.  With the yellow toned wood on the interior and strong light coming through the windows, we got this lovely gold toned light. However, it was pretty dark inside and I had to go up to 1000 ISO and max out the aperture to capture it. The talented Sarah was elegant in her use of the available light and use of the environment inside the old mill.  There is one that I captured of her on a slab of wood resting on some old tree trunks that reminds me of an old master’s painting with the light, her pose and use of color in the image.  It is one of those classic images that you pinch yourself and say, “Wow, I created that!”  Can’t wait to share images from the other series we created that day!

The next day of our shooting weekend was supposed to be rainy and planned on shooting in studio.  It rained and we were lazy in the morning, grabbed some lunch and the sun came out, along with 50 mile per hour gusting winds.  So we decided to take advantage of the weather and headed over to a village where I’ve done a few shoots.  I couldn’t believe that Carly had not shot on location since the last time we shot a year ago.  So, we got to share the poison ivy, bug bites, wind, cold, and allergies together.  I think she is heading back to the warm studio. As we drove to the location with my car top down, the wind was dropping sticks into the car.  YIKES.  We got to the location and the light was constantly changing as the wind drove clouds across the sky and blew us everywhere.  We were shooting inside one building and Carly spotted a door that we opened and I captured a cool perspective of her and the adjacent buildings.  Then we found a door on the other side leading to a balcony and I shot her from across a stream.  Love the editing with the contrast to her skin.  We then got some lovely shots of her standing on the banister of a Victorian home that I’ve shot in before. Love the perspective of her with the whole front of the home.   We then played with some fabric in the wind and got some nice portraits with lens flares painting the picture.  Our last shots were in front of an old building with green paint peeling off it.  I thought the color with her skin and hair would complement each other well.  I wasn’t liking it because the sun had come out and it was too bright.  We moved to another part of the building in front of a window.  Before we started shooting, I noticed a goose feather on the ground.  Carly struck a pose with it. Suddenly a big cloud blocked the sun and the light was perfect. It’s funny how a simple prop like a feather can make such a difference and in a split second the light can be perfect. It’s one of my all time favorite images and I created both a black and white and color versions The Photo Gods were smiling on us. More to come as I edit pictures from each of these sets.

Normally, I abhor sequels because the original should have communicated everything.  Anything created afterwards is pure commercialism.  However, in this case I’ll make an exception.  In an earlier blog, I shared some images from Australia and related to the long term collaboration between Vassanta and I as my good friend and Muse.  Recently, I’ve been going through all my unedited images and found these gems that I thought would be a crime not to share. They were taken on Long Island at Fort Tilden Beach in September, 2009 prior to Vassanta, Rebecca Lawrence and I taking  off to join other  friends in New Zealand and Australia for a month long adventure.  Vassanta had just returned from a trip home to Russia and we were spending a weekend in NYC.  She had just finished a shoot with another photographer on a Sunday afternoon and we went to the beach.  We were just goofing around  on the beach shooting as the sun was setting.  Anytime I shoot, I hope to capture the essence of  the moment and the person I’m shooting.  And that is why I’m happy to share these images because I feel like I really captured the beauty, joie de vivre, fun and deep soulfulness of my dear friend and Muse in these images.

One of the sets from my recent shoot with Sarah involved my continued series using Venetian Masks.  Sarah had this gorgeous gray corset that really complemented the area we were shooting in using natural light from the side lights in a bay window and red curtains.  My goal is to not just have the model wearing the mask, but to have it as an element in the image.  Sarah was  very creative in doing various poses and capturing some beautiful figure work. Prior to shooting, Sarah was primping in front of a mirror and we captured some nice perspectives.  Another unplanned shot was when she started taking off the corset by turning it around and untying it. I noticed how the string hung gracefully around her and, said, WHOA…get back in the light! I like how the shallow depth of field and side lights accentuate her curves and the pattern of the strings.  Then we did a few lovely portrait type shots using the masks, including an intricate beaded red and black collar necklace that Sarah had hand-made that framed her face and complemented the red mask elegantly. WOW!  Enough said.

I met Syma over a year ago doing a shoot with several models for an Indian lifestyle website at a New Jersey hotel  (http://www.ericscottfoto.com/desi_rf/).  She models part time and works as a local TV reporter.   That was a fun shoot. The Indian owner of the hotel gave us the run of the place and we shot all day.  At the end of the day, we were treated to a gourmet Indian family dinner.  I made some wonderful connections that day that have led to other shoots, including being the exclusive photographer for a charity runway show at The Plaza in NYC  by a noted Pakistani designer, Rizwan Beyg (http://www.ericscottfoto.com/runwayevents/runwayrizwanbeyg.html).  Syma and I had been talking for a while about doing a portrait session and finally got around to it.   Syma brought two sets of lovely Indian jewelry to the shoot.  I”ve always wanted to photograph Indian jewelry because of it’s delicate intricacy and beauty.  At the end of the portrait session, Syma and I had some fun doing some lovely beauty shots using the jewelry.  Thanks Syma for making a dream come true!

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