Post by starry on Feb 2, 2007 9:09:30 GMT -5
Good news: I recently had some photos done like Classic pinup for my hubby and the local news paper wrote up an article.
The BAD NEWS: the paper took a horrible pic of me and the photographer. The unsavory photo makes me look like a bit fat cow, so I will not be posting this photo. It's bad enough I have to see on half page in the newspaper....
Anyway, below is the article, if you care to read.
Iman does wonderful work and only takes photos of your best assets.
Ooh-la-la! Penchant for pinups pays off
Photographer paints modern-day clients in classic cheesecake poses.
When the photo session begins, Iman Woods has a warning for her model: "The poses are going to feel weird, but the pictures will look great. Trust me."
So, trustingly, Shannon reclines on the two fat sofa cushions lined up on the floor of Woods' living-room-turned-studio.
Trustingly, she hangs her head over the end of the makeshift bed, gazing upside-down at the photographer. With one hand, she clutches her oversized cardigan sweater to her breast. With the other, she fans out her wavy blond hair.
"Now," says Woods, "when I give the word, I want you to raise your legs, cross your ankles, tilt your head back even further -- and smile."
It's a classic pinup pose, made famous by dozens of 1940s and '50s starlets who once again are in the spotlight. Eager collectors snap up vintage pictures of stars such as Betty Grable, Hedy Lamarr and Veronica Lake in coy, come-hither poses. Pinup fever was further inflamed by the 2005 movie The Notorious Bettie Page, starring Gretchen Mol as the hottest pinup of the 1950s.
Woods is riding this wave of pinup popularity. In a makeshift studio in her South Orlando condo, she and her clients work with vintage hairstyles, makeup, props and poses to re-create the flirty pinup look. For reasons soon obvious, Woods has named one of her most popular poses the "workout pose."
"Legs up!" she commands.
Shannon, 40, an administrator at a technical recruiting company, raises her legs in the air and tips back her head. Trustingly, she smiles and smiles.
"Hold it right there," calls Woods, clicking furiously. "Hold it . . . Hold it . . . Relax."
While Shannon massages her abs, Woods scrolls through the images on her camera's screen.
"Gorgeous," she says, shuffling across the floor on her knees to share the pictures with her supine model. "See how great it makes your legs look?"
Shannon studies the images. "It's wild," she says. She giggles happily -- but not for long.
"Let's try it again," says Woods, adjusting her lights a tad and refocusing her camera.
"Legs up!"
Evoking an era
Woods, 26, is an Army brat. She discovered photography four years ago, while living in Germany.
"My dad let me play with his digital camera, and I was hooked," she says.
Soon afterward, she moved to Orlando and started earning a living as a photographer, specializing in candid shots of people and pets. When a flier promoting a pinup-themed First Thursday event in May at the Orlando Museum of Art caught her eye, she was intrigued.
"I've always loved the whimsy of pinup art," she says. "I started studying work from the World War II era. I wanted to figure out how to convert my portraits and give them that vintage pinup look."
She was especially captivated by the blend of innocence and sensuality in the pinup art of Alberto Vargas and Gil Elvgren.
"I spent hours studying the poses and expressions, the lighting and the painting style," she says.
Then she started experimenting, taking photographs, manipulating them in her computer, printing the images on canvas, painting them with acrylics. By the time the Orlando museum staged its event, "Pinups: The Women Who Kept Our Men Fighting," she was ready to contribute three pictures.
"People saw them and wanted me to do them as pinups," says Woods.
After viewing a friend's pinup picture, Shannon decided she had to have one of her own.
"It's living out a fantasy," she says. "The pictures are glamorous and womanly. They're sexy, but in a classic way. They're something I could show my grandkids and not be embarrassed."
Vintage style
As demand for pinup pictures grew, Woods started stocking her closet with vintage-style clothing. She found hairstylists and makeup artists with a knack for reproducing the looks of the 1940s and '50s. Within weeks, pinups were her primary focus.
Photo sessions last about five hours, including time for hair, makeup and several wardrobe changes. About a week later, the model selects her favorite pose from a choice of about 15 images. It takes up to two more weeks for Woods to produce a painted image on canvas. She can transfer the image onto T-shirts, handbags and wallets.
If models do their own hair and makeup, prices for regular photographs start at $500. The complete pinup package, including hair, makeup and wardrobe, photographs and a 16-by-20 inch painting, is $2,400. Shannon was astonished when she saw the proofs from her photo session.
"I couldn't believe it was me," she says. "If I wasn't there myself, I'd think it was someone else."
She and her husband, Jym, viewed the proofs together. It wasn't easy to choose just one pose for her painting, but they finally settled on the infamous workout pose.
"My wife was already beautiful, but this made her a classic beauty," says Jym. "Now I have my own vintage pinup girl."
The BAD NEWS: the paper took a horrible pic of me and the photographer. The unsavory photo makes me look like a bit fat cow, so I will not be posting this photo. It's bad enough I have to see on half page in the newspaper....
Anyway, below is the article, if you care to read.
Iman does wonderful work and only takes photos of your best assets.
Ooh-la-la! Penchant for pinups pays off
Photographer paints modern-day clients in classic cheesecake poses.
When the photo session begins, Iman Woods has a warning for her model: "The poses are going to feel weird, but the pictures will look great. Trust me."
So, trustingly, Shannon reclines on the two fat sofa cushions lined up on the floor of Woods' living-room-turned-studio.
Trustingly, she hangs her head over the end of the makeshift bed, gazing upside-down at the photographer. With one hand, she clutches her oversized cardigan sweater to her breast. With the other, she fans out her wavy blond hair.
"Now," says Woods, "when I give the word, I want you to raise your legs, cross your ankles, tilt your head back even further -- and smile."
It's a classic pinup pose, made famous by dozens of 1940s and '50s starlets who once again are in the spotlight. Eager collectors snap up vintage pictures of stars such as Betty Grable, Hedy Lamarr and Veronica Lake in coy, come-hither poses. Pinup fever was further inflamed by the 2005 movie The Notorious Bettie Page, starring Gretchen Mol as the hottest pinup of the 1950s.
Woods is riding this wave of pinup popularity. In a makeshift studio in her South Orlando condo, she and her clients work with vintage hairstyles, makeup, props and poses to re-create the flirty pinup look. For reasons soon obvious, Woods has named one of her most popular poses the "workout pose."
"Legs up!" she commands.
Shannon, 40, an administrator at a technical recruiting company, raises her legs in the air and tips back her head. Trustingly, she smiles and smiles.
"Hold it right there," calls Woods, clicking furiously. "Hold it . . . Hold it . . . Relax."
While Shannon massages her abs, Woods scrolls through the images on her camera's screen.
"Gorgeous," she says, shuffling across the floor on her knees to share the pictures with her supine model. "See how great it makes your legs look?"
Shannon studies the images. "It's wild," she says. She giggles happily -- but not for long.
"Let's try it again," says Woods, adjusting her lights a tad and refocusing her camera.
"Legs up!"
Evoking an era
Woods, 26, is an Army brat. She discovered photography four years ago, while living in Germany.
"My dad let me play with his digital camera, and I was hooked," she says.
Soon afterward, she moved to Orlando and started earning a living as a photographer, specializing in candid shots of people and pets. When a flier promoting a pinup-themed First Thursday event in May at the Orlando Museum of Art caught her eye, she was intrigued.
"I've always loved the whimsy of pinup art," she says. "I started studying work from the World War II era. I wanted to figure out how to convert my portraits and give them that vintage pinup look."
She was especially captivated by the blend of innocence and sensuality in the pinup art of Alberto Vargas and Gil Elvgren.
"I spent hours studying the poses and expressions, the lighting and the painting style," she says.
Then she started experimenting, taking photographs, manipulating them in her computer, printing the images on canvas, painting them with acrylics. By the time the Orlando museum staged its event, "Pinups: The Women Who Kept Our Men Fighting," she was ready to contribute three pictures.
"People saw them and wanted me to do them as pinups," says Woods.
After viewing a friend's pinup picture, Shannon decided she had to have one of her own.
"It's living out a fantasy," she says. "The pictures are glamorous and womanly. They're sexy, but in a classic way. They're something I could show my grandkids and not be embarrassed."
Vintage style
As demand for pinup pictures grew, Woods started stocking her closet with vintage-style clothing. She found hairstylists and makeup artists with a knack for reproducing the looks of the 1940s and '50s. Within weeks, pinups were her primary focus.
Photo sessions last about five hours, including time for hair, makeup and several wardrobe changes. About a week later, the model selects her favorite pose from a choice of about 15 images. It takes up to two more weeks for Woods to produce a painted image on canvas. She can transfer the image onto T-shirts, handbags and wallets.
If models do their own hair and makeup, prices for regular photographs start at $500. The complete pinup package, including hair, makeup and wardrobe, photographs and a 16-by-20 inch painting, is $2,400. Shannon was astonished when she saw the proofs from her photo session.
"I couldn't believe it was me," she says. "If I wasn't there myself, I'd think it was someone else."
She and her husband, Jym, viewed the proofs together. It wasn't easy to choose just one pose for her painting, but they finally settled on the infamous workout pose.
"My wife was already beautiful, but this made her a classic beauty," says Jym. "Now I have my own vintage pinup girl."
