Mana Rayne – Edmonton Glamour Photography

02 Nov Mana Rayne – Edmonton Glamour Photography

So, I drove into Edmonton, tired from a long week of cold weather and sick kids, trying to pump myself up for the glamour (boudoir, to some) shoot I was doing that afternoon.

And failing.

Seriously, if my fantastic fiancé Ben hadn’t been driving I’m not sure I wouldn’t have zoned out and driven into the endless sea of haybales and cows, never to be seen again.  I got there and had some major cleaning to do, the studio doubling as my old, under-renovations house in Millwoods and being more than a bit dusty.  Now, who would feel sexy in a construction zone? Actually, I think I’ve seen that calendar for sale at the mall… but I digress.  I mopped, dusted, cleaned and shined until the studio sparkled, set up the backdrop I call “rumpled sheets” (really it’s a beautiful heavy muslin, but that’s not a fun name, is it) and got the lights all prepped.  Inspired yet? Hell nope.

Some days are just like that.

So in walks my friend Mana, and we chat, and eat pie- it’s what all supermodels do to prep, don’t let the media lie to you- and go upstairs.  And she flops down on the bed in her peppy green t-shirt for the lighting setup shots, and BAM! This  happens.

I swear, it never fails- even on a rotten day after a rotten week when I’m sure I don’t have a creative bone in my body, my fantastic clients inspire me every time.  I mean, really- who has any right to look that good in some random t-shirt they tossed on for the bus ride over?

It was pretty much impossible to take a bad picture, except when we were both laughing so hard I couldn’t keep the camera still.

Mana was one of my earliest glamour models, a friend patient enough to put up with my fumbling with lights and wondering out loud why my camera was doing that weird thing (hint: ‘cus I told it to).  I owe a lot to my girlfriends from that time.  A striking black and white photo of Mana was the first art print I ever sold, to a private collector, and so of course I’ve been wanting to do pictures for her again now that I’m famous (surely you’ve heard of me!).  But it took a while to get our busy schedules to sync up properly.

Would you believe she spent the whole shoot blushing because I was raving about what a great model she is? HOW DOES SHE NOT KNOW THIS? Life is crazy.  I truly, passionately hate what we do to our girlchildren and women, making them doubtful and ashamed and afraid of their beauty.  I’ve never had a woman who was not beautiful model for me- and I’ve never had a woman who had any clue how beautiful she was, model for me.  The lush curvy ones think they’re fat, the slender willowy ones think they’re ugly… and then they all look at the pictures and say, “Is that really me?” Sure is, it’s the you everybody else sees every day.

Maybe I should rename this blog “Soapbox of Sexiness.”  Hm…

Ta for now!

~ Star