If you’ve been following along, this Anatomy of a Jay Kilgore shoot should leave you up to the models “Highest level of comfort” as I call it. In all my shoots, unless I have a very long working history AND am very comfortable with the client, I don’t jump right into lingerie and up. Why? After 10 years of doing this, I’m still if not more nervous of the shoot than the client. I put a lot of pressure on myself (that and I suffer from test anxiety) and until that first frame is fired, I am super nervous.
So by this time in the shoot, about 45minutes to an hour has gone by. The model knows that I’m “into” her and that I am more interested in creating the best images possible of her. She now feels comfortable shooting up to her highest level of nude, Implied. It’s not that I’m not a fan of implied nude, but I find it to be more of a hassle than anything. For ME personally, implied nude shoots aren’t about teasing, it’s about childhood recklessness. Let me explain further; implied nude is a way for a model to get naked but hide something-much like a child who is told they can’t have a cookie, but the cookies are left at eye/hand level. Usually, the model is gripping on to her boobs so hard that they’re leaving imprints and oh no! G*D forbid the photographer see’s a nipple while she’s adjusting her pose! THE HORROR! And further more, lets face it, some models don’t quite have the body to pull off implied. My attitude is if you’re only open to implied, I’d rather not shoot you in it at all-book your session and let’s get on with it! Every once in a while, someone comes along that wants to shoot implied and they can pull it off. I make that final decision at the shoot.
By this time of the shoot, again, model is super comfortable and open to ideas. Again she knows that your goal isn’t to get her naked, so she’s more trusting of what you do and why you do it. She respects your vision even if she doesn’t understand or can see it. With this trust, you have to build on it and continue to get great photos. As your shooting the photos, the model is getting braver and at that time, she starts suggesting ideas and things to try. For most, once they see you can actually control yourself amidst all their hotness, they then say “I’ve always wanted to try a topless/nude photo!” to which you have to decide on the dime if you want to talk about it, or move on. I never show extreme eagerness, but I do have a general curiosity to why they all of a sudden now want to try it. My Wife says it’s because they (the ladies) are interested in doing it, but want to make sure I’m not a uber creeper perv. What I do is before we jump right away into topless/nude is shoot implied that pushes boundaries. I’m showing them the images on the back of the camera and the more they say they love it or it’s cool, the further I push. If they’re ok with all the ideas I have for risque implied, then we shoot full on topless. Remember, this wasn’t one of the options they wanted to shoot, so we’re thinking and posing on the fly.
Here’s a few implied shots that pushes some levels, but sticks with the implied theme:
