Copyright 2007 Clayton StillwellUsually I'm making up a character and just use the model to bring the character to life. This time I tried to actually capture some of the models personality in the image. It's still a character but I think it's a Clayton character and somewhere in there it's still Clayton. While I did provide some of the props it was important to me that he wore his own clothing, something he would usually wear and felt comfortable in. We talked quite a bit about the T-shirt. I at first was against it because it had a big face of the Joker on it and I thought it was distracting but then I decided to go with it anyway because the Joker is his favorite character.
I didn't feel rushed this time, I took a bit more time preparing. Plus this shoot was just a straight forward portrait shoot. I was also able to convince Jane to come and help out with some of the paint stuff. The shoot was an experiment in a lot of ways and I learned a lot. First off I learned that working with a guy is way harder then working with a woman. Usually I have no problems posing a model or giving proper directions. I realized quickly that my usual directions totally didn't apply to Clayton. Whenever I asked him to do something specific he ended up looking far too feminine, it was weird. I finally just had to step back and let him pose more naturally. I did the make up. I've been wanting to get more into doing make up so this was great. I went for a slightly dusty/powdery look. I first applied black eye make up but thought it looked too goth so I went with the red instead.
Part of the shoot we experimented with liquid paint. I wanted to dip one of his arms in paint and have the paint run down his arm. I was mainly worried about the consistency of the liquid. I figured the liquid would probably be too runny which is why I also ordered powdered pigment. Well, when I pored the white paint into the bucket it turned out that the paint was super thick, so thick that I couldn't even poor it properly. I had to add a ton of water. I have no clue why the paint was so thick. It was almost like it went bad or something, that was a bit of a disaster but for shooting it was ok I guess. The shoot overall was a blast... as always.
I didn't feel rushed this time, I took a bit more time preparing. Plus this shoot was just a straight forward portrait shoot. I was also able to convince Jane to come and help out with some of the paint stuff. The shoot was an experiment in a lot of ways and I learned a lot. First off I learned that working with a guy is way harder then working with a woman. Usually I have no problems posing a model or giving proper directions. I realized quickly that my usual directions totally didn't apply to Clayton. Whenever I asked him to do something specific he ended up looking far too feminine, it was weird. I finally just had to step back and let him pose more naturally. I did the make up. I've been wanting to get more into doing make up so this was great. I went for a slightly dusty/powdery look. I first applied black eye make up but thought it looked too goth so I went with the red instead.
Part of the shoot we experimented with liquid paint. I wanted to dip one of his arms in paint and have the paint run down his arm. I was mainly worried about the consistency of the liquid. I figured the liquid would probably be too runny which is why I also ordered powdered pigment. Well, when I pored the white paint into the bucket it turned out that the paint was super thick, so thick that I couldn't even poor it properly. I had to add a ton of water. I have no clue why the paint was so thick. It was almost like it went bad or something, that was a bit of a disaster but for shooting it was ok I guess. The shoot overall was a blast... as always.
That's Jane holding the bucket! You might recognize Jane from some of my photoshoots, she's one of my favorite models.
