Christmas Countdown Day 10

Well, Christmas 2010 is almost here and we've reached the end of our countdown. I hope you've enjoyed it and we wish you all the best for the year to come.

Christmas Pinup Day 9

Xmas 2007

Christmas is almost here and we're nearing the end of our countdown. This shot is from a couple of years ago. The outfit is from the Deeta von Tease collection from Victoria Secrets.

Christmas Pinup Day 9

Xmas 2006

Okay, here's a shot from 2006. Santa's helper never look so good! Anyway, not a lot of writing tonight as I've just spent 4 hours on the road and need some rest.

Christmas Pinup Day 8

Xmas 2005

So here's a shot from 2005 with a slightly different look, lighting, and hairstyle.  This is a fairly standard shot and I wanted to show more of the ornaments rather than the lights on the tree. Also, the shot was intended to be provocative without being explicit.

What makes this shot work, I think, is the lovely smile, tilt of the head, and the placement of the hands on the bra straps.

Christmas Pinup Day 7

Xmas 2004

As we progress closer to this year's Christmas, we'll jump back to 2004 for a quick shoot in our living room.  I love the outfit and the model, but the background could certainly use some work.

Ah, well, the shots were mostly just for fun and we weren't going to any great lengths to create memorable art that evening. We were just shooting and having a good time. It worked for us.

Christmas Countdown Day 6

Winter Wonder

These images aren't exactly Christmas Pinup, but they do have that wintery, holiday fun feel about them. I'm including them just to show what  good sport Wanda has been over the years in posing for me during the brisk winter months.

This shot, for example, was taken at the entrance to Mount St. Helens National Volcanic Park. We drove up there one brisk winter afternoon when the sun was shining and the air was relatively warm and spent the better part of 4 hours shooting in the snow fields and the woods adjacent to the park entrance. We had to climb a huge snowbank to get to the fields where we had the privacy to shoot.

Wanda was a great sport about the entire shoot and I think she enjoyed it more than either me or my assistance did. She certainly managed to cover a lot of ground in the hours were were shooting and was smiling the entire time. She treated it as a grand adventure and made it fun. Though she did wear gloves and boots, she certainly didn't mind getting down into the snow and playing around with different poses.

Playing in the Snow

We've also shot during an actual snowstorm in an area not too far from our home. That was a fun shoot as well, though the falling snow made the shoot a bit more difficult and made protecting the equipment more problematic. Once again. though, Wanda made it fun and we got some great images, as you can see from the shot below.

Beauty in the Snow

Christmas Pinup Day 5

Xmas 2003

I'll have to say, this is one of my favorite holiday images of my wife.  For this shot we used studio lights balanced to provide soft lighting on the model, a tripod mounted camera to use a shutter speed slow enough to allow the Christmas lights to glow in the background, and a shallow depth of field to give them a soft glow.

I just love her eyes and her smile in the shot, and the outfit is pretty sexy too without being too overt. In any case, we had a lot of fun shooting that year.

Christmas Pinup Day 4

Xmas 2002

Look what I found under the tree in 2002.  We went with a real tree that year instead of the very large artificial tree we normally use.  I don't think we used as much exterior decorations that year, and as I recall it was more of a subdued holiday season for us. Nevertheless, we had a good Christmas and managed to pull off a few shots around the tree.

We bought this outfit specifically for our Christmas shoot and I still have it in my collection of photography costumes. Who knows, maybe we'll get to use it again sometime for another holiday shoot.

Christmas Pinup Day 3

Xmas 2001

Christmas 2001 was a more modest shoot. We did a quick setup with some lingerie in front of the fireplace and grabbed a few shots, but as I recall that was a fairly eventful year and we had guests in the house most of that holiday season. That meant our private times for photography was limited to quick opportunities when the house was empty.

I do know that we didn't set up the studio lights for this shot and that is was primarily on-camera bounce flash with a bit of fill from a bounce card. I usually try to be more elaborate with my lighting, but as I said, it was a tough time for photography that season.

Nevertheless, I think I got a few decent images and this is the one I'd like to share. The eyes and smile make this image a winner for me.

Christmas Pinup Day 2

Xmas 2000

By 2000 we had finally gotten used to the Pacific Northwest winters - well, as used to them as any human can get - and had established the habit of having a nice warm fire in the evenings. The challenge was learning to light the model and still maintain the ambience of the fire. That, of course, required dragging the shutter and balancing the flash with the fire.

As always, Wanda loved posing by the fireplace because she loves the warmth and the flames. If she had her way, we'd have a fire every night (and sometimes it seems like we do).

Over the intervening years we've done several fireplace shoots, but those Christmas session have always been special - and I look forward to a few more in the years to come.

Christmas Countdown

Xmas 1999

There's just a few more days left until Christmas and I've gone back through my archives and picked some favorite images from Christmases past to accomodate a countdown to Christmas day. With any luck, I'll be able to get a new photo this year (there was no sexy photo from last year - I think we were just too busy with family).

The first image is from 1999. This was shot as a friend's house and was our first time using studio lights for a holiday shoot. We had a lot of fun with this set up and there are many variations and poses from this shoot. This is one of my favorites.

I've used the cape for a few more shoots over the years, but I think this was the only time that I used it to shoot a Christmas series with Wanda.  Don't forget to check out the belly button ornament.

There will be a new photo every day until Christmas Day, so don't forget to check back from time to time.