That Sensational Caitlin
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Those who might read this blog with some frequency might know of my project of taking pictures of people I know who come from all walks of life. They pose wearing my mother’s antique, red Mexican rebozo. My subjects then have the obligation of having to write some sort of an essay. I have over 40 and about 12 more that ignore my pleas for submitting their essay.
Today Caitlin who calls herself an art
model promptly showed up for her red shawl session.
I must point out here that the prospect of
taking pictures of someone you know by email with no idea of voice or poise can
be quite exciting.
But I was not prepared for a tall woman
with a generous smile and a nice set of teeth who I could not fathom as she was
pleasant, gracious and articulate. Do such people exist these days? I never saw
her check her cell phone. If she had one it remained in her purse for the three
hours she was posing and having tea and cakes in the living room.
Now my Rosemary has patiently remained by
me for 47 years in spite of my penchant for taking photographs of the undraped
woman. She was expecting something more conventional as my red shawl series are
conventional in that my subjects are dressed and the poses are not in the least
salacious.
You can imagine what Rosemary must have
thought when she heard Caitlin say, “You don’t mind if I pose nude, do you?” Caitlin
sat for me with my mother’s red shawl on her head but somehow managed
to cover most of herself. Rosemary saw this as she went up the stairs! When I
had my downtown studio, my homelife and my photography life somehow did not mix.
It was neat by being separate.
I took one initial picture and I could have
quit right then and there. Caitlin would move from one wonderful pose to
another so I found myself saying, “Don’t move.”
Here is the Fuji b+w Instant print scanned.
I hope that Caitlin will pose for me soon.
I tried not to sound so exuberant and kept my cool. Perhaps this might have
been the wrong technique and I should have told her she was sensational (a word
my friend Sean Rossiter uses sparingly). And sensational she was.
