Carola and Francesca - Salerno, Italy - pt. 4

Here’s the link to the images:
 

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftREtVeW9DYUtOX2M

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CAROLA & FRANCESCA – SALERNO, ITALY

In my late teens I discovered the work of Caravaggio and my life suddenly changed. His dark, muted, mottled yet dramatic lighting, punchy reds, and rough, earthy tones, spoke to a primal part of my creativity the way Frank Frazetta and Boris Vallejo had when I was younger. Vallejo and Frazetta had been formative for me, but Caravaggio was different. His work was clearly older, more refined, and coming from an even darker and real part of humanity than those other guys had ever touched. And I knew some day I wanted to be good enough to create moods like that.

Fast forward to this summer, where I was feeling both moody, dark, uncertain, the feeling of death’s hand on my shoulder with my impending 40th birthday only days away, and traveling throughout the oldest parts of the Italian countryside. My friend Gregorio was finally getting married to his girlfriend Sheila, and on my past visit I had told them if the day ever came, I’d show up. So I did. With my mom and aunt in tow, using much of my Patreon savings to cover their tickets and expenses, I finally showed them the world they had only dreamed of. This was much more of a holiday/vacation than I had ever taken. Usually I spent my “time off” working, shooting, wearing myself out in order to be as photographically productive as possible. But with age and exhaustion, I promised myself this trip would be different. 

But don’t get me wrong, I was still planning on shooting. We arrived on a Tuesday, jetlagged and worn to the bone, collapsing into our Airbnb, my aunt sleeping on the open upstairs loft and my mom crashing on the hide-a-bed in the entryway, leaving me on the foldout sofa under the loft, listening to my aunt snore. But for as tired as we were, I was determined to do at least one or two shoots during the five days we’d be in Salerno, an ancient and storied city on the Napoli/Amalfi coastline. Thankfully Gregorio is a model photographer and still has model/friends in his hometown, so the next day we planned to shoot his two favorite models, Carola and Francesca, who also just happen to be best friends.

Carola, the dark-haired “real Italian-looking” one was just irresistible to me. Dark and mysterious, she had an incredible shape and her beautiful face had strong features that weren’t delicate but still conveyed femininity. Francesca, nicknamed Dechi, was her opposite, pale-skinned and platinum-haired, covered in moles that I mostly removed in post-production from my favorite images. Both smoked liked trains, were clearly comfortable with each other, and both thankfully were eager to work with me.

Before they arrived, I had to kick my mom and aunt out of the apartment, and while I waited for gregorio to arrive with both models, he messaged me once again warning me that they were just normal girls and not comfortable wearing see-through things or being in their underwear. They had never posed that way for him every time he asked, so he wanted me to be prepared. I could hear them all loudly coming up the stairs, and soon Gregorio was expounding in his loud, machismo way, bossing the girls around, giving me a big hug, and trying to decide in his somewhat broken English what we were going to shoot. I already had plans, having cleaned up the windows and balcony areas, creating as much of a minimalist space in certain pockets of the apartment as possible.

The girls were happy to meet me, and though neither of them were fluent in English, we were able to communicated fairly easy, using the simplest words possible. I pulled out a variety of bras and underwear I had specifically had in mind for them, mostly timeless white and lacy numbers, presenting it to them. Immediately Greg tried to step in to tell me that those clothes were off the table, but both women said they were fine with the wardrobe as Greg’s jaw dropped to the floor. Within moments, both girls had entered and exited the bathroom, coming out in skimpy lacy numbers, pissing Gregorio off. “Man, they have never shot such for me!” But of course, he would be shooting over my shoulder the whole time, so he was still able to get shots he’d always wanted.

From there, we just began clicking away. As I would be shooting one girl in the window, he’d be taking the other to the balcony, and we’d switch back and forth almost without a word. The girls were easy and open, and though a bit nervous when I’d ask them to open their shirt just to the areola area, I’d always show them in-camera what we were getting and they’d happily relent. A few times I had to really convince them, cursing my lack of Italian, knowing I’d be able to charm them if we spoke the same language. But eventually they learned that my gentle tone of voice and genial personality had no harm or malice in it. Unlike Gregorio’s macho demanding, my “honey over vinegar” approach seemed to win them over big time. And once again, every few minutes, Greg would come over and nudge me or lightly punch my shoulder in frustration that I was able to convince these ladies to do in minutes which he’d failed to do in years.

I’m not sure if it was the lighting, the distinctly European vibe I always palpably feel whenever I am there, or my general mood, but everything seemed to click, and I was creating images that seemed deeply reminiscent of the feelings I had first had when discovering Caravaggio. The light was dark, low-contrast yet still punchy. Even the simplest image seemed meaningful, and thankfully the women quickly understood what direction I was heading after showing them a few samples. Dechi was more conservative than Carola, but both trusted me enough to go along with any suggestion I made, be it with wardrobe or with posing. I definitely pushed them to the edges of their comfort zones, and though each had modeled for many years, starting with Gregorio and expanding somewhat beyond, they had never worn such see-through or revealing outfits as this. And thankfully, they were loving the results.

After several different set-ups and wardrobe changes, I decided to call it quits, not wanting to take more than an hour or so of these ladies’ time. But as they hung out, they sat on the window sill smoking and hanging out, so once again I pulled out the camera and began directing them, having them hang on each other. Thankfully, having been friends and sharing plenty of experiences over almost a decade, they were completely comfortable with each other. Their intimate relationship showed easily, and I really had a difficult time stopping. Eventually I just put my camera down, telling them sarcastically to go and put some clothes on, which thankfully they understood and laughed at. My first shoot back in Italy had been a success, and this was just the first of many great successes on this trip.

Over the next several days I would end up shooting each of these ladies individually, bonding further with them. Since the town is so small, I would also end up running into them or hanging out with them at the bar they both worked at almost every day for the rest of the week. Once the wedding was over that weekend, they each had big hugs to send me off with, delivering the customary double kisses on each cheek. Thankfully we’ve been in regular contact ever since via Facebook and Instagram, and I was so pleased when I finally delivered the final images and heard how pleased and excited they were about them. I’m honored to consider both these lovely and special ladies friends and hope to meet up and work with them again in the future.

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What do you think of this set? Please let me know, and please send me your feedback, positive or negative! And thank you as always for your continued support, it means so very much to me!
 

Here are the links again:

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B7MlCEoEDaftREtVeW9DYUtOX2M