A day at the Arsenic house (Patreon)

In 2018 I was going to the US to shoot the second part of my book Venus On Mars. 

I had been following Arsenic for some time as their message of female empowerment and women's right to be sensual without being stupid was very much in sync with my own.

Arsenic had published a few of my images and asked if they would be interested in collaborating with me.

They happily agreed and offered to cast some models interesting an shooting some arty images at their house situated in Los Feliz below the Griffith Observatory in LA. They got hold of (on the first image) Krissondra, Channon, Daniella, Kim, and Caitlin, who showed up a bit later.

We had about 4 hours to shoot, the weather was uncharacteristic cold, but we made the most of it. 

The images up against the black gate, the fountain and the last image of Krissondra against the LA skyline I used a flash (a Profoto B2) to get a bit of shape on the light.

I learned a couple of important lessons on this shoot:

1. Having an assistant is handy when trying to keep track of several people

2. When women wander off, they usually go look for food

3. Take care of casting yourself - it makes communication better.

4. If possible, make sure you know and can communicate what you are to do In advance - with a notebook/drawings or whatever.

• The year after, I was back at Arsenic for another shoot. But this time, I had arranged for 17 models, but that is a story for another day.

PS. A lot of people ask how I can afford to make shoots like this. Well it's TF or collaborations. The "secret" is to be able to offer something the modes are interested in participating in.