Post-Trailer Stress Syndrome

(Snapped on 10/30/10)

After two straight hours at my friend George's trailer, spent ravenously snapping self-portraits - my only alternative was to cease and desist. It was 3:30 in the afternoon and I knew that if I was to get pictures elsewhere on George's mouthwateringly exquisite property as well as at the two come-hither spots that I'd spied while driving over to his place - I'd have to hurry before darkness put the kibosh on my plans.

I toted my gear outside, pushed the lock on the knob and reluctantly closed the door to the trailer. I shuffled to my car, slowly slid off the wig, and let the neglige fall past my body to rest in a heap around my feet....and as I stood there stark naked in the interim between shoots - I felt melancholy displace my euphoria. I was definitely excited about taking more pics., but wrapping the trailer shoot was strangely bittersweet...I worried that no matter what I tried next, it would most certainly pale in comparison.

Digging through my jumbo bag of costumes though, was just the prescription for getting myself right back on track. I selected a fringy poncho and my well-worn Ugg boots* (*the photos with the Uggs were promptly vetoed, btw) believing they'd meld perfectly with that pristine field...and the plots of fading wild flowers...and the autumnal tree line in the distance. Perhaps in the process I'd procure a happy set of "hippy chick" pics., a yin to the yang of the somewhat somber trailer shoot.

I dunno though, whadda you think? Feels decidedly more Sasquatch than hippy chick to me. What'd I tell ya'...see? Anti-freaking-climactic. Ah well, no sense in whining - K, NEXT!

(Snapped on 10/30/10)

Because I was traveling in my low-profile vintage sports car with its rear-wheel drive and two bald front tires, I didn't have the option of venturing as deep into the property as George had been able to take me in his SUV. Luckily though, my second favorite spot was just a short, easy drive from the field with the trailer, and since my costume required no thought or effort - I was able to get started right away...

F'you ask me, shooting naked is the tits - it's easy and quick and I mean - how can the pictures turn out all that badly when the subject being photographed is nude? I reckon it helps that I've no problem bearing my all - especially when I'm in the middle of a remote, natural setting. But there was one eensy problem with slinking naked through the forest, right then...'twas opening day for muzzle-loading season, and the deer hunters would be out in force. Not necessarily on George's land per se, since he'd given no one hunting privileges...but let's face it - with that much acreage, and trespassing so common - it was entirely possible that a gun-toting stranger could happen upon me in those woods. This conjured in my mind scenarios as simple as a mortifyingly uncomfortable encounter, or as grave as some trigger-happy hunter's hasty mistake...

I had assured my friend Copeland, that I would wear some article of blaze orange clothing, after she voiced her concern over my intentions to shoot in the woods that day...but when it came time to do the pictures I decided to take my chances, and forwent the safety precaution altogether - all for the sake of unencumbered pics.... 

(Snapped on 10/30/10)

(Not to change the subject or anything but you know what I just realized? This is likely to be the last current photo that I'll post of my ass without the stitches or what's sure to be a pretty grody scar...bummer. It's the end of an era, I suppose...)

All right, so - taking all factors into account, i.e.: the chance that it might be up to me to chase poachers off of George's property (while nude), the potential to be mistaken for a deer by a hunter (whereby giving new meaning to the term "buck naked"), the fact that the damp forest floor and the dense canopy of trees made for uncomfortably chilly conditions and the time I had left to do my two other shoots - swiftly reaching its critical mass...the woodland pics. were snapped in a panic (to put it mildly) and I would venture to say that it shows.... 

Although I feel like I failed to "deliver" in the photos from this part of the day, I cannot fault the backdrop at all...totes fantastic! It's just funny to me that I could be so comfy and content to shoot in that creepy ole trailer, but lawd! Get me out amidst Mother Nature's magnificence - and I totally seize up...go figure…