Barefoot Glamour

My beautiful wife has been my model and photographic inspiration since before we were married. I met and married her while she was still a young, barefoot Southern Belle, and I'm sure that's what got me started shooting what I like to call "Barefoot Glamour." I have some specific criteria for this style of photography. I define Barefoot Glamour as  photographic imagery containing several essential elements: a girl-next-door look, casual clothing, an outdoor setting, and, of course, bare feet - though, I do find sandals acceptable as well. For me, another distiquishing element of Barefoot Glamour is that it is a planned photo shoot and not just a casual snapshot or image from another event.

That last criteria has developed over the years and wasn't an essential element. We often had to do our photography as an adjunct to our other outings, but my wife always ensured that I was able to get my photography done as well, and posed for me in many different and sexy outfits purchased specifically for those infrequent, but very special, photo opportunities.

I've done these "Barefoot Glamour" shoots with her in many different locales, such as Connecticut, Upstate New York (see the photo above), South Carolina, Georgia, Florida, Idaho, Oregon, California and so many, many more places.  In fact, we've often planned road trips with a theme based at least partially on this concept, and we still do so.

The photo to the right was taken in Tioga Pass in the mountains of California. We stopped for landscape photography, but managed to get in a little glamour photography as well. There were other traveler's present at the stream, so we weren't able to shoot our normal style, but there were other streams and lakes along the way where we did do more glamour nude style shots.

Water goes very well with Barefoot Glamour, and I often use a stream or other body of water to complement the shoot. It provides a good reason for the skimpy attire and the bare feet, but also, I just like shooting beautiful women in water.

Many of our photography friends know of my penchant for beautiful women and bodies of water, and a few of them have shown me some great spots for shooting. The image to the left was taken in the Pinochet National Forest which is full of great streams and other bodies of water. We spent an entire afternoon shooting at this spot a few summers ago, and I'd certainly like to go back there for a future shoot - I just need to find the spot again.  We've also shot in several streams and waterfalls near Mount St. Helens, a gorgeous area in which to shoot, even in the desolate lahar area.  We're hoping to get back to the Mount St. Helens area this summer for more exploration and hiking, and maybe even a little camping.

I'll leave you with an image from a road trip we made in 1999. We made this trip simply to explore the wonderful Oregon coastal areas and we found this place by simply following the signs to Cape Mears. The beach area is beautiful and full of huge driftwood logs and stumps that are great props for glamour photography.

A Stream

About 11 summers ago, Wanda and I took an impromptu road trip down the Oregon coast. We were simply trying to get out of town for a break and to do some photography along the way. At that time, I had an Olympus DL620 digital camera, which I thought was a big deal at the time. I think it had a whopping 2 megapixels, but it did a decent job and I believe that this was our first real trip with it. In any case, we wound up driving down the coast from above Cannon Beach and we took our time and enjoyed the trip. We drove as far down as Newport, had some dinner, then found a motel for the night (that's a whole other story that we still laugh about sometimes - think 1960's motel kitsch).

The next day, after a leisurely breakfast, we headed back to Portland, but on a wild whim, I took a side road off Hwy 26 and just drove along hoping to find a nice place to shoot. I can't say that I wasn't influenced by the large creek I had seen off the highway (I enjoy shooting models in water), and after about 8-10 miles off the highway, we came to a nice little spot along the creek where the water was wide, fairly shallow, and actually quite warm for an Oregon stream. There were several rocks not far out in the water and a bit of white water as well as a calmer stretch of shallow water. Wanda being Wanda, it wasn't too hard to get her to get out an pose in the stream for a number of shots, and we had quite a bit of fun that day, shooting in the water and along the banks.  Although the road continued along the creek for a number of miles, the traffic was sparse and no one looked down to see us shooting

Since that summer, I've shot there a number of times. Wanda and I went back there for a shoot about 7 years later, and since then I've shot there at least two more times. In fact, my water fairy image was shot there, and most recently I did a glamour shoot for a young models portfolio in the same stream With any luck, I'll get to shoot there a few more times - and I'd especially like to take Wanda back there for a new shoot.

The water fairy:

Glamour in the water:

In the Beginning

I got my first Single Lens Reflex camera in 1979. Although, I've always had a love of photography, before then I had only had small Kodak's or Polaroid cameras, but nothing that would really capture quality images. One of my best friends purchased an Olympus OM-1 camera and lens the year before just before we took a trip through Yellowstone National Park.  We both took lots of photos during the trip, but what his images lacked in compositional technique, were more than made up for by the clarity of the capture.

So, in 1979 when we were expecting our first child, I knew that I wanted to step up my photography. As a young Navy Petty Officer with a young family, I couldn't afford much, but I found an all manual Canon AT-1 camera and lens that was within my budget. Once I purchased it and started to use it, I discovered that I knew next to nothing about photography and I've been spending the last 31 years learning the craft.

Fortunately, I've had many subjects over the years - not just my kids, but my lovely wife and many of our lovely friends as well. The image to the left was from my very first shoot with two nude models and I still had much to learn, as the image is circa 1980. Still, I like the composition, the natural look, and the relaxed poses. The cropping and the light sucks, but as I said, I still had lots to learn. I suppose I could blame it on the constraints of my equipment - no flash, no light modifiers, and having to shoot in our tiny bedroom, but the reality is that I really knew next to nothing about what I was doing and any good images I got were primarily due to luck.

With practice and help from my beautiful wife, I think I have gotten a bit better: