It is wonderful to work with someone who has professional modeling experience. When I arrived, there was a flurry of make up application, hair styling and outfit ironing. I cleared the living room of distracting furniture, swept the floor clear of dog and cat fur, and we were set to go. I didn't have to suggest poses, but I did have to shoot constantly, for many 10s of minutes on end. It was a matter of reacting to her poses and composing the shot as quickly as possible, before she moved on to the next. I took a grand total of 759 photos.


















Even the family dogs (4 of 'em!) and cat (just one, but he thinks he's a dog and runs in the dog pack with the rest) were great at striking poses. I photographed the pets while my subject was getting her make up reapplied (for a progressively vampy look), or during outfit changes.

I definitely had a lot to learn from my model, who had much more photography experience, albeit from the model perspective, than I.