Model: Fela Fray

This image was planned and sketched out over 2 years ago. It is interesting how my plans never work out the way they were intended. I had just gotten a new job; the economy hadn’t gone to shit; and a new style in my work was emerging. And for a brief time during that Summer I had a small Art Posse (and didn’t even know it). It was roughly comprised of: Jennifer Denise one of the best makeup artists I’ve ever worked with, my friend and pet model Fela Fray, Laura a model-turned-assistant, Daqui a talented hair-stylist, and whichever model we could talk into doing this stuff for us on camera for the sake of art. We were usually creatively powered by Coronas and/or Krispy Kreme Donuts depending what time of the afternoon it was. It was a lot cooler than I’m making it sound.

During a shoot while a model was getting into a new outfit we would actually sit down to discuss this series. We sketched out ideas, picked out models, and argued over interpretations. It was a good time for me creatively. The plan was to shoot the whole series before the year was out, but Life decided I needed another kick to the balls instead. He’s a bitch a like that sometimes. I lost that new shiny job, got a shitty one, the economy started its descent into madness, and the Art Posse fell apart and went their separate ways.

Two years later I finally decide to pick up the camera and start re-shooting this series. Thankfully I know where Fela Fray lives. After discovering that information she was more than happy to help. I worked on this set off and on for several weeks, not quite sure how it should look. When I thought I was done with it I sent a copy to Fela, and the next day I looked at it and decided to modify it again. Being an artist can be stifling at times. There were so many great images from this shoot I may give Luxuria its own side-series (of sorts).

My wife likes to call the color I used “Labia Pink”.

She arrives on time, fresh and ready to get started. As the makeup artist is doing her thing, I start setting up and get to chatting with her. Turns out that aside from being a latex model for Fierce Couture, she is also the singer for a band called Satiate, and a horror movie screamer.

She does voice effects and screams for a lot of horror and action movies that have been out in theaters for the past few years. She said she lost count of how many she’s in. Turns out her agent just sells the samples to various production studios and cuts her a check whenever it gets used. I thought that was pretty cool, so being the YouTube addict that I am I show her the Wilhelm Scream Compilation. I told her that one day someone will make the TC Scream Compilation. If you’ve never seen it before, I guarantee that you’ll not only be able to hear, but also identify the Wilhelm Scream in almost every movie you see for the rest of your life. I’ve probably seen about 10+ movies that aren’t in the compilation that have the scream. The most recent film I saw that had it was Jumper.

I decide to use her in my Septem series. Unfortunately, the Septem shot she is in isn’t quite ready, but the rest of her shots are. =]

I believe all of the wardrobe she modeled came from Fierce Couture. Aside from her having the most brilliant hair I’ve seen on a model, I had a lot of fun retouching these shots because of the textured clothing.

Gula