Melania Bedtime Secrets | A Dance Before the Photos
Melania Bedtime Secrets | A Dance Before the Photos Backstage
Melania Bedtime Secrets began with a red top and a dance. I hadn't taken a photograph yet, and already Melania was making my job look easy.
Working with her is always fun, but she didn't wait for me to get the mood going this time. She arrived in that red top and started dancing. Suddenly the energy was there, and I was the man with the camera trying to catch up.
I considered joining in for about half a second. Then I remembered this was a SexArt photo set, not a request for evidence that David should stay behind the lens. :)
What I love about Melania is how quickly she can make a shoot feel lively. Some sessions begin with the photographer finding a rhythm and hoping everyone else comes along. Here, Melania brought the rhythm with her. I could have given a little speech about the mood I wanted, but she had already made a much better case for it without saying a word.
The red top caught my eye, of course. It would be difficult for a red top to arrive quietly. But the thing that made me smile was Melania dancing in it, clearly enjoying herself before we began. That kind of playful start changes how I look through the camera. I'm not trying to manufacture a mood. I'm paying attention to the one she has brought me.
Easy for me, right? Just raise the camera and let Melania do the hard work.
Well, almost. A photographer still has to be ready. If I spend too long admiring how nicely a moment is unfolding, I may forget the small technical detail of actually taking a photograph. I've made a career out of noticing those details, so I did my best to remember that one. :)
There is a lovely freedom in working with someone who lifts the mood so naturally. Melania didn't need me to tell her that a shoot should be fun. She was already having fun, and it was contagious. By the time we started photographing, I felt less like I had to coax the session into life and more like I had been invited to follow her lead.
I don't mind that arrangement. She can have the dance floor. I'll keep the camera.
Bedtime Secrets is a wonderfully suggestive title, which makes its beginning even funnier to me. You might expect me to remember some great secret from the shoot. What I remember first is Melania in a red top, dancing and turning the mood up before the first photograph. If that's her secret to starting a session, it's a very good one.
And if you were hoping I would tell you what dance she was doing, I was concentrating on the person in front of my camera, not judging a competition. Melania had already won me over anyway.
That's the pleasure of photographing her. She brings her own energy, and I get to make something with it. Melania made me laugh before the shoot began, made the work feel easy once we started, and left me with a beginning I still smile about.
I think I'll leave the dancing to her next time, too.
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