i had fun with shannon sunday. we have a “chemistry”. i try to approach my shoots just like hanging out and taking pictures. so apologies if i’m too friendly for you and/or there’s no “chemistry” (to be honest anger is valid too, its the indifference that i’m sensitive about, sorry it’s me not you). if there’s no chemistry we probably won’t shoot again (well, nearly anyone can be bought :). it’s no fun if it’s work, and if it’s no fun it doesn’t work for me. i don’t output as much, and i don’t output as much good stuff.

then there are times when i don’t feel like i’m getting good stuff (which, to be honest, seems to be more than i originally had thought), and we get some gems. i think that if there is a chemistry (side note–i think it can even be forced into being, or, even “faked” if we can tolerate each other long enough at a time, so dont despair:), these times tend to always result in some goodness. if there isn’t a chemistry, *and* i’m not feeling like i got good stuff, experience has shown that the output quality is far less. the trick for me with paid work, is to overcome this just enough to get enough shots to fulfill my contract. :)

i enjoy setting the camera on record while shooting. since it’s the camera, models usually don’t know when i’m videoing. i do a bit of staring anyway with the camera up while trying to figure shots out, so maybe it looks all the same to them! to my credit, i do usually let the models know, after the fact that i was capturing video. i didn’t in this case, though. ;-)

set: shannon 2009.09.13

The day began trying to scramble to get myself together for this shoot. I had an interesting night prior (involving lost car keys in Capitol Hill at 12:30a.m.) and was up a bit late. In addition, I was to be shooting along with someone who eventually couldn’t make it, causing a little schedule trepidation. I Ended up calling jackie, she was cool with everything (thank you), and I proceeded downtown to Seattle, having to make my required camera stop shop before hitting the location (called jackie again, she thought she’d be a little late too, so it was all good). jackie got to the spot a little early. :) I had just finished at glazers at the time she called, 10 minutes before the shoot, with 15 minutes to get to where i was going. i actually made it there about 5 minutes late (more on time than i thought–phew). i hadn’t shot her in two years, the first time being just an initial meet-up! of course i recognized her though (we have kept in contact)–she had what she said she was wearing, a dress with flowers on it–but exceeded my expectations–so i was *ready* to shoot!

We got to Alki Beach; there was a huge mist (at 11a.m. no less) on the beach, and in the area–we weren’t sure it was going to work out. By the time i finished fumbling with my equipment–loading film and gathering my polaroid (230 land camera), olympus stylus infinity (35mm), rollei prego 90 (35mm), nikon d90, and iphone–the mist had sufficiently cleared.

Jackie was easy going, poised, and comfortable. we had fun. When we’re having fun, I shoot a lot, and hopefully well. ended up with over 500 digital shots, among all the others. my only regret (as my wife reminded me upon seeing the pics) was that we didn’t do a change of clothing.

i hope that we get another chance to shoot soon.

some selections

and some thumbnails from a larger collection of images

tats, originally uploaded by jon madison.

this was a meetup to talk about a shoot.

i like meeting up with models before a shoot, mainly to get and gauge comfortability and shoot some shots. i really do feel that a shot goes better when i’m comfortable with the subject, and vice versa.

it worked out. she’s cool people, and happens to be friends with someone else i’ve met with.

fun stuff. hopefully we’ll get cracking for a shoot within the next 2 weeks.