or... The Unexpected Virtue of Ignoring Your Bank Account
(Note: This is a continuation of yesterday's blog post, So Now What. Be sure to read that one first, and subscribe for more!)
So having said that, I also understand that sometimes you just need to suck it up and shoot something. I mean, you're a photographer aren't you? So shoot something. Luckily for me, two models who I had previously worked with in 2014 and 2015 (Brianna and Renae respectively) reached out to collaborate again this year, which certainly helped get the creative juices flowing since my inspiration for street photography seemingly took a vacation.
With Brianna, we came up with a dream-sequence concept based on the ideas I'd explore thematically in my screenplays, and combined them with a lingerie shoot. Because, why not? And we absolutely loved the result. This didn't solve the whole financial issue however, but luckily I was able to book a few timely shoots in Tampa right after, so proceeds from those went directly into getting this shoot developed. But sometimes such a lucky break doesn't come in time, and you're stuck going into yet more debt to feed that insatiable film habit. So then what happens when the next opportunity of creative expression comes around? Well, that's when you suck it up and shoot, because you never know what you might get out of it.
The Birth of the Basquiat Bodyscape Series
If you'll remember my shoot with Renae last year, we ended up doing a body paint series since she herself was a painter. (Whenever I shoot portraits, I try to find subtle ways of incorporating some aspect of the subject's personality into the environment or mood of the photos. And sometimes they aren't that subtle). That was my first time using paint for a photoshoot, and the results were incredible. We were both really happy with the shoot and had already begun brainstorming for our next collaboration.
The conversation carried over into this year, naturally after I had decided to take a hiatus, and we again settled on something using paint, but this time we'd shoot the concept in a pool (read: bathtub) of colored water. Which to me, sounded like the perfect way to end our last shoot. Imagine seeing the paint spatter dissolving off of Renae and becoming part of a deep blue pool of water. But I didn't want to do (read: pay for) exactly the same thing twice. Film costs add up pretty quickly for us starving artists, so if I was going to shoot again I'd definitely need to get something entirely new out of it.
Then, I had an epiphany, or maybe I just heard the right Jay-Z song at the right time, but for some reason I thought of Basquiat's Obnoxious Liberals...
