NSFW Bodyimage project with Marshall Bradford

Note: This post was originally written back in February 2016, but I removed it. I've chosen to share it once again because I think it's worth commemorating, regardless of how (ironically) insecure it might make me feel. 

Antho and I recently did a photoshoot with local photographer Marshall Bradford as part of his Bodyimage project. No photoshop, just us. He's done quite an extensive series now with a cornucopia of shapes, sizes and styles so we felt comfortable volunteering for it. While I doubt I'll ever feel 100% comfortable prancing around in the buff, it was a fun adventure and I'm glad we did it! 

Rather than try to awkwardly word my way around it, I'll include Marshall's statement about the project as he wrote it:

"Image is everything. If you don't look like the media tells you to you will never make it in the world. Forget about finding love and happiness. That's what the pretty people get.

Or that's what we are told. I don't really feel that way. As a photographer in Las Vegas I have shot my share of high polish perfect modeling photos and I'm not saying I won't shoot stuff like that in the future. I am also an artist and to that end I have the need to try new things with my art. 

My thought with this project I wanted to show what we really look like. I wanted to photograph people simply being themselves and being proud of that. People should love how they look and love themselves first. No matter the way you look you should remember that your happiness comes from within. That's the goal of this work. To allow the subjects own beauty to show. I have learned a lot starting this project and I'm excited to see where it leads me to. 

The project is simple. Straight nude portraits and body scapes of anyone who wants to volunteer. I won't be telling you how to pose or nudge the shoot in any particular direction. My goal is just to let you be you. That's going to be the hardest part for me. All my training is telling me to control the shoot to get the look I'm going for.  

In this world of photo editing and "fix it in post" mentality theses are going to be as close to pure as I can get them. Shot and edited for black and white then done. I'm not shooting theses in B/W only because I want a certain tonal range.  

If you would like to be a part of this please message me and let's set up a day to shoot. I'll be working on this for the next few months. At first I thought this would be a quick project because I wouldn't get a enough interest from people. I thought I get a few and that it would be it. I am extremely excited at the response I have gotten and the number of people willing to come along with me on this journey. Its been amazing and I can't wait to see where it goes. 

Thank you to everyone who has stepped up to be a part. It's a very brave thing to allow the world to see you as you really are. I could have not done any of this work with the trust my friends place in me. I'm on honored to be able to photograph the subjects in this project. 

Marshall"

Without further ado, here are some of the photos:

My absolute favourite!

Antho in a nutshell.

Art: Behind the scenes of early March photoshoot for 710Visuals tie-dye

Welcome to another behind-the-scenes edition of the blog! On this post we're going to be delving in to a photoshoot we recently undertook in our home for the Etsy shop and our tie-dye business 710Visuals. These are some of the shirts I've been showcasing the making-of process for, so we're super stoked to finally be showing their final form to you guys! It's been a long time coming and we're still troubleshooting the ideal photoshoot set up for ourselves, but this was... something. The blank white sheet is to help prevent the background from competing with the shirts as well as to provide a template for when I needed to go in and tinker with the colors after in editing. I never want to over-do it in the photo processing stage because I want the colors to reflect as close to reality as possible. I don't even edit out my zits the majority of the time, haha. Luckily, when these photos were taken my skin was doing pretty good- no real pimples to cover up, and I didn't feel the need for much foundation or powder. I normally use a BB cream with Too Faced's Peach Perfect Loose Powder patted on top to set, but for these photos I just patted on some Milani Powder foundation real quick to even and brighten things up a smidge. 

Antho, of course, didn't need any make up for his fabulous face (not that I need make up, but I do appreciate it's power and really enjoy using it). We did, however, opt to put some of my Lime Crime Diamond Crusher in Trip on his lips at the end, though. He wanted to feel fancy and why not? Guys deserve to feel fabulous and have glitter lips if they want, too.

The tie-dye shirts photographed in this shoot are all now available in our Etsy shop for purchase, should you happen to find any that strike your fancy. We had fun doing the shoot and experimenting, though we'll likely be doing things a bit differently in the future. If we choose to shoot inside our home we will do it in a different location and/or with a different angle as the lighting was rather difficult to get precisely where we wanted it to be. Everything is a learning experience, though, and we'll figure out something even better for the next round! Keep scrolling for more photos!

Vegas: Sunset Park Winter Tie-Dye photoshoot

Sunset park should be a familiar sight for any Vegas resident who's opted to spend time outdoors more than a couple of times. It's one of our larger parks and is located conveniently close to McCarran International airport on the corner of Eastern Avenue and Sunset Road. There's a wide variety of events that are held in the park throughout the year and it's a popular spot for families and youngsters to escape to. Back when I was in college I'd roll up with my iced Americano and a book, happy to spend a few hours sprawled out on a blanket beneath a tree reading. These days we like to watch the geese and crank out some work while we're there, photographing an assortment of our newest tie-dye creations while out. Our good friend Ceedro joined us for this outing, kindly modelling some of our shirts and showing off his juggling skills in the process.  Whether you've been to Sunset park for Ren Fair, the Holi Festival of Color,  or for a pleasant day of recreation (you can event rent bikes or sports equipment on park grounds!) by the man-made lake, Sunset park has a little something for everyone. There's a less developed area of the park for hiking that lets you marvel at the bounty of wildlife the desert can support, because believe it or not there's over 200 different plant species proliferating the area! There's also a rabbit overpopulation problem sweeping through the valley, which means that you've got a pretty good chance of spotting a fluffy little interloper bobbing across the park at some point. We saw one big fat happy thing in the greens over behind where Ceedro is juggling above. It's no surprise they'd profligate in this park as there's lot of lush green areas during the warmer months...at this time of year the grass is on the yellower side, but I'm sure there's still plenty for the little foragers to nibble on. Ducks and geese also abound, and during the spring it's not unusual to find an array of different bird's nests tucked away among the branches of trees. All in all we had a wonderful day at the park! We made friends with some bees and I was even able to pet a goose! He walked right up to me and gracefully allowed me a gentle stroke of his back. Lovely! Most geese are little terrors, aren't they?

More photos below!

Art: Tie-dye photoshoot in Valley of Fire

Happy day-after-Valentine's day, guys!

Sorry, single friends, if our cheese is a little disgusting to you right now. I understand, I really do, but it's also a cheesy romantic time of year and we're a couple of sappy bastards so I couldn't help myself but to at least have some nod to romance here. And, not to sound too vain, but I think we look kind of cute in these photos. 

Here's something else to look at so as to ease your urge to vomit.  Our campsite out here at Arch Rock campground in Valley of Fire state park was quite photogenic and we found what was the perfect spot for us. The lighting was good for much of the morning and we were visited by an array of cute creatures over the hours. 

While we had spent the night previous relaxing and enjoying each other's company and a fire-cooked meal away from the city, once the sun rose and I had an adequate amount of caffeine and spontaneous cuteness in my system it was time for us to get to work. Luckily for us, the work involved here is modelling some of our finished tie-dye creations among the beautiful landscape. While in the past we've opted to keep our photoshoots on the simpler side so as not to draw too much focus away from the shirts, we realised that this approach is also a bit boring and doesn't convey much about our personalities or the kind of vibe we want our clothes to have. Since we're going to go camping anyway, why not bring along some of our stuff and snag some shots when the lighting is good? We were still able to enjoy most of our morning and the photoshoot didn't take so long as to keep us occupied longer than we would have been comfortable with. We were back in the city and the comfort of our own home by mid-afternoon, and that's even with the stop we made along the way... there will be a separate post on that, though, as it was too hair-raising for me to want to include among the outtakes from the photoshoot. The ones that we used for the listings are all up and visible on our Etsy shop, along with the items being modelled themselves!  

Lips by Lime Crime.

More photos below!