Some Editorial Glamour

I shot the Goddess of Glam last night, Ms. Tera Patrick. The pics are for an editorial in an upcoming issue of that magazine with the bunny ears in its logo.

It wasn't the first time I've shot Tera. And I'm happy to say I'm fairly confident it won't be the last. Working, once again, with this Playboy, Penthouse, and FHM covergirl was a pretty girl shooter's dream.

MUA and hair-stylist, Jennifer Corona, worked her magic on Tera. I'd never worked with Jennifer before and I gotta say she was exceptional! I'd like to lay claim to booking Jennifer for the gig but it was Tera who booked her. I certainly hope I get to work with Jennifer again: She's that good!

The shoot was at Tera's home. We decided to shoot in the living room: A spacious room adorned with Asian/Modern decor and high, vaulted ceilings. The walls are painted in warm Earth-tones and the marble flooring throughout the first floor matches the wall treaments beautifully. Reflective light off the walls and floor warmed the images nicely. I didn't need to use any gels or color temp adjustments to warm things up.

Tera designed all the wardrobe she wore for the shoot. It's part of a signature-line of dress-wear, casual-wear, and lingerie she'll be debuting this year. I guess, then, the shoot qualified as glamour/fashion editorial. Glashion anyone?

As I mentioned, the room has vaulted ceilings and they extend way up past the second floor. On the second floor, there's a balcony overlooking the room below. It has an ornate iron railing surrounding half of the living room. I put a light up there--up against the railing--with a small, silver reflector. That worked as both a hair light and an edge light and I could move it around and use it as long as I kept Tera on that side of the room. Down on the first floor, in front of Tera, I used my Mola beauty dish as the mainlight. That was it: Two lights. I also used a piece of foamcore under the Mola dish for a bit of fill.

A shooter would have to work pretty hard to snap a bad pic of Tera; moreso with an MUA as talented as Jennifer working her magic. While Tera is very experienced in front of the camera, she still (like all models) thrives on direction and communication. And the more of it I gave, the more she was encouraged and motivated to "sell it" like the complete pro that she is.

In between the direction and the shooting and wardrobe changes and the make-up touch-ups, and to keep the atmosphere light and casual, we spent most of the evening talking about (make that, wondering about and making jokes about) the lady astronaut who was arrested for stalking and pepper-spraying a rival after driving a thousand miles in diapers. You think those diapers were off the shelf? Like the brand, Depends? Or were they expensive, high-tech, NASA, astronaut diapers? Do astronauts wear diapers in space? If that case goes to trial, it's going to be a fun one to hear about!

Images of Ms. Patrick were captured with a Canon 5D w/85mm prime, ISO 100, f/5.6 @ 125. Two Novatron monolights: One of them mounted in a 33.5" Mola beauty dish and the other modified with a small, silver, umbrella.