Dasha

This is Dasha. Let me know what you think, please, as there are

about 500 to 1,000 photos of equal and much higher quality of her,

and I am contemplating whether to post this single photo, or make a

much larger folder. Your comments and critiques are invited and

most welcome. If you rate harshly or very critically, please submit

a helpful and constructive comment/Please share your superior

photographic knowledge to help improve my photography. (This is NOT

a nude photo and no NUDES would be posted of this woman who is

of 'legal' age). Thanks! Enjoy! John

Hello John :

 

Long time no see as a friend of mine used to say. I really don't know what's wrong with her eyes, but then this is so different from your usual photos I don't know what to say.

 

B. B.

It's just that I chose one photo in which the eyes were not supersharp out of 600 or 1,000 photos as it's hard to review the NEF files in a browser and I haven't reviewed all the captures; this is just picking one at random out of many.

 

Wait until you see some of the others -- her eyes could be legends, and in other captures they're highlighted with 'specular' highlights, not by flash, but by an open window -- and in fact in not only one series but in two or three taken over three days, an hour here or there.

 

I continue to 'surprise' don't I?

 

She is previously in my single photo (color) folder to be found (1) holding a Coke bottle in front of a Coca Cola poster, (2) her reddish hair and reddish face tousled in front of a storefront photo of a woman with reddish features and a reddish-colored fur, (3) and finally in front of a Ukrainian flag in the stern of a boat, all from last year shortly after I met her, quite by accident.

 

We have a couple of times renewed our acquaintanceship; we're somewhat both inseparable and at the same sometimes can't stand each other -- a strange sort of attraction/repulsion that adds up to friendship. We trust each other enough to express our disagreements out loud and trust the friendship will stay/it has so far.

 

But then she's 18 and I'm a trifle older (to put it mildly) and I'm 'just a photographer and old man' that she 'likes to talk to and finds interesting'.

 

We just have a friendship that is turning into something rather long-term, despite all the obstacles we both have placed in the way, and the other 'friends' each of us have had (euphemistically).

 

She wishes to be a famous actress someday, but she has morals AND scruples, and is not expected to appear here nude in the near future, and I do not expect to try to talk her into it. She is a super-wonderful model with absolutely super instincts for movement and showing herself, but not narcissitically so, and without obsessive self-study like an agency model.

 

Her mother, at 16, I understand (as she blossomed when the 'breast fairy' kissed her, so to speak) told her she ought to be a brassiere model, and I second that; although she ought to learn not to get a sunburn just before modeling ;-))

 

Some of the captures, B.B. are supersharp in the eyes; this was one in which the light was very, very dim and focus was almost impossible, even on the eyes, which is the one place I do focus when I take a portrait -- the ONLY place I focus; as the mind (the male mind at least) can fill in all the rest.

 

Her eyes are so beautiful they could be legendary, and this capture is an exception to their beauty; it is meant for an 'overall' look at her only.

 

And yes, this is different.

 

But then don't I change styles from time to time?

 

Nice to see you back.

 

John (Crosley)

There's a nice lighting, almost mystic, which works well with her clear skin and the incredible transparency of her eyes. Pose is classic but I have to say that the sunburn adds a very interesting point: it increases contrast between in one hand whiteness, purity and religion and on the other hand beauty, youth and appeal.

You wrote: She had morals AND scruples, and then she's even more beautiful. I wonder - may be I'm out of subject- which importance she gives to religion. Is she a believer? Does the cross she's wearing have a strong meaning in her life? Is this cause to it that she has morals and scruples?
But doesn't she enjoy the life? She likes posing, she looks natural. The sunburn shows that she's not prude (that exists :P). Her youth shines.

Looking at this portrait and reading what you wrote, Dasha seems to be a complex girl. And that's not a default.

Regarding the technical side, I find the whole a bit soft, especially her eyes (a pity? or good, according to the "mystic" side?) but the composition is fine: the place of the cross (on her body and in the photo) is well enhanced by the light (BTW, right use of the thirds rule).
I wondered if I wouldn't have prefered to see her whole right breast but looking at the whole composition, the cross would have been more in the center. So, that's great like it is.

I'm 'just a photographer and old man' that she 'likes to talk to and finds interesting'. You made me smiling, don't be sad. Attraction/repulsion makes often the strongest and richest relationships.

Yann,

 

I met this young woman in a McDonalds's last year and eight or nine days later we parted, great friends, but this year after meeting again earlier we had a quarrel in the winter and didn't see each other going our own ways, and I never expected to see her (she's NOT my lover, never has been and never is expected to be, but our friendship is appearing to be deep AND abiding, for reasons that I could never explain to an American woman (or most Americans at all for that matter or maybe no one, given her youth and beauty which one would assume might be the basis of the friendship but is far from it, at all.

 

And until the last day or so, of our meeting last year, I was (ahem) not even aware she was what Americans call 'well endowed', and am not particularly even attracted to that particular body type (which is highly unusual in Dnepropetrovsk, which has 'stick-thin women with thin builds and thin, beautiful legs for the most part, but she is NOT fat, and unlike 'large-topped' American women, she is built small to ordinary otherwise; and not a 'cow' or a 'fatty'.

 

Her eyes are absolutely mystic. Deep blue, Russian (parents from Russia -- a contact lens wearer, which you may see as she could not remove them for fear she could not reinsert them, but they're absolutely NOT colored -- just lenses and nothing more -- I did replace them for $20 so I know for sure. (I'm a big spender.)

 

She was very pleased with the posing, and this pose was just one of many chosen at random, and the 'softness' of the left eye was partly because of movement on her part -- as a new model, she just tended to keep moving, though the light was very low, and didn't know how to move, stop, wait for the shutter click and them move a little more, but she was extremely 'natural' in her posing -- THE most natural model I have ever had the good fortune to work with, and I have had the good fortune to work with Ukraine agency models who sometimes work Paris, Milan, or go elsewhere at times and are very beautiful and highly skilled (but sometimes lack personality -- though not the last two who are in my portfolio, especially the taller of the two -- both very bright).

 

Interesting point you make about the sunburn and purity, beauty, even sexuality. She had been swimming in the River Dnipro and got burned, and if three days of sometimes shooting (I'm not sure which day this is from as we only did it occasionally in two different in-flat locations waiting until the late afternoon light for softness (and sidelighting from window light on partly-cloudy and cloudy days) (and hampered by low-light sometimes behind thick clouds), the lighting is diffuse; I prefer natural sidelighting for portraiture and this is one examle of why; others to be posted will reveal that even more.

 

No artificial light here, or in any photo I took of her, not even a fill flash or a light of a sparkle in her eye (and you'll see sparkles in her eyes in other photos if I post them.)

 

She is at once, (somewhat) pure or heart, not even considering 'nude' shooting, but it was her idea to do these -- I generally don't shoot friends or suggest it; it makes for conflict. As to her 'right breast' that's just a choice of which photo I posted out of many; I don't have a 'light table' browser and am now shooting 'raw' and am hampered by a good way to 'browse' my raw files. I had been using Picasa 2, which doesn't properly display RAW files (NEF, compressed), unless I'm missing something, in which case I invite e-mails or postings about the subject). Also, I now use Photoshop Elements 4.0 for browing, but that is also inefficient and hard to work, but better than the 'browser' of Photoshop itself.

 

And yes, Dasha has great depth to her (she is 18, months away from her 19th birthday), and can hold her own on the basis of philosophy with a guy like me, but she is not sure what philosophy is, though she's second year university -- but it's a performing arts university and they don't introduce philosophy, etc., until the third year and until then it's dance, drama, etc.

 

But I contended with her that drama is about philosophy, religion, etc., and encouraged her to 'pay attention' to 'philosophy' etc. during her coming third year, for that probably will be the highlight of her education so far, and open intellecgtual doors for her.

 

She aspires to be a (famous) actress -- a difficult leap if you live in Dnepropetrovsk, Ukraine, but she has moxie and brains. She won't claw her way to the top or sleep her way there, but she's intellectually extremely curious and not shy about expressing herself (even when very wrong sometimes).

 

And acknowledges her mistakes with great hesitancy, but does so.

 

I think she has the makings of greatness, but maybe she'll just end up another burnt-out Ukrainian babushka with a burnt-out life behind her, full of promise never fulfilled because of a lack of money and lack of opportunity -- maybe hampered by lack of focus, also and lack of a good teaching/university faculty -- the prime faculty for such enterprise is in Kiev which is 8 hours away by bus and her mother makes 30 Hrivna a day (pronounced grivna) and a Hrivna is 5 to the dollar, so mom makes $6 a day -- not much to send daughter to university on in another city, and poppa is afraid somehow I'm a 'white slaver' and gonna send his daughter to Saudi Arabia and make her into a prostitute because he's heard 'stories' (or that's the last I heard about him, this winter and haven't had an update).

 

Things are tough in her family; when it's cold, she and her mother take turns wearing the family female sweater. That's how tough it is. When told her religion (Christian) --most sects -- excludes non-believers of Christ from entering heaven and even under most sects condemns the nonbelievers to hell, she abhorrent, and insisted there's a place for Buddhists, Jews, etc., and couldn't acknowledge the many 'true' Christians believe such people's souls are condemned to the fires of hell for eternity, and she rejected that notion, so she's naiive about religion, and eventually, I believe, will be a pan-ecumenist.

 

Yann, I never gave a thought to the 'rule of thirds', as I make my own rules as I go along -- if it looks good I press the shutter release, or I choose the photo if already taken, otherwise it's a pass and if the Rule of Thirds applies, then it's there for a reason -- because it works. As to 'cutting off' her right breast, I wasn't even aware I had done so, the post was so natural (which shows you why we post for critique). Others of the series both did and did not 'cut off'.

 

I can't even imagine shooting so pleasantly and so easily. Talking one minute; shooting the next, and shooting a photo, just to make a point, and it would turn into an hour or hour and a half session, with her reviewing everything every ten or so minutes or even every few frames, so she could get the experience and hence 'learn' what she was doing 'right' and 'wrong' -- but literally there wasn't much 'wrong' ever.

 

Just the most wonderful set of photos I ever took; frame after frame after frame. (remember, I'm a 'street shooter' first and foremost and to get two or three photos in a series is pretty good, and shooting a beautiful woman even in a studio often is elusive as I try for 'the look' to capture and that can take an hour or more before I find it, but with Dasha it was there from the start, so every photo -- except the blurs is just about 'wonderful')

 

If she were what Americans know as a 'size 32', she'd have no end of work as a photomodel; as it is, she'd be consigned to 'glamour' and 'erotic' by most photographers, but she's not 'selling herself' for nudes, etc.

 

She'd make a wonderful brassiere model; also for certain products marketed to females (releases are available for this series, by the way, and she can make herself available for any pros who are interested in shooting her, is applying for an international passport, and very interested in travel, despite being a student. However, all contact through me.

 

Wait'll you really see her eyes Yann; I think I'll post some more.

 

You really nailed your critique on this one; in every regard.

 

John (Crosley)

John, she truely is a beauty and I would love to see some more of her. Your descriptions of your shoots with here are my idea of a perfect day. Working with a model who has natural talent and beauty, who likes the camera and the camera loves her. Please share more with us. I am curious to know if you ever found a better way of viewing your RAWs? As always, thanks for sharing. Ron

I just cleaned up half a terrabyte of photos from recently and now can locate them, and there are half a thousand similar of Dasha, many much better.

 

With such encouragement, maybe I'll make a folder of hers. She is not only a model, but a friend, so the shoots, 'just happened' though I paid her, and she needed the money, but no gifts.

 

Thanks for the encouraging comment.

 

John (Crosley)

Beautiful. Pose, lighting. Excellent skin color. Lovely face.

Dasha has appeared in my portfolio more than any other person, from the candid photo of her with a Coke bottle against a Coke bottle advertisement moments after I met her, which helped keep her interest and several other shots from two years ago when she was 17, to these shots when she was 18 a year ago.

 

She is totally beautiful and no longer as 'heavy' as this photo makes her appear; when I saw her a couple of months ago she had lost some substantial weight, and that's good because her love of good food was about to do her good looks in.

 

Dasha is a complex person; one of the most I've come across, and the devil and others are wrestling for her soul; I'll be interested to see who wins.

 

John (Crosley)

As it looks now, I think the devil is ahead.

 

John

I am saddened to here that. I will keep her in my thoughts and prayers, that her parents were able to instill enough Goodness and sense that she will not stray to far from the Light.

I don't think she listens to her mother whom I have met and seems reasonably enlightened, and I think likes me (and Anya, my assistant).

 

But her father, who hasn't met me (and I think won't), I hear thinks I will entice her to Turkey or some other Middle Eastern country, strip her of her passport (as he has heard on television newsmagazine shows), and turn her into a prostitute, thus making her turn tricks endlessly, day after day, night after night until she's an old hag at 22, and then turn her out to the wolves, pregnant, with AIDS (SPID) and a woman Christian in a Muslim country -- a total outcast and a pariah . . . .

 

I haven't done that for at least a year or two ;-((

 

In fact, never.

 

John (Crosley)

 

(It's impossible to reason with unreasonable people -- a little untruth goes a long ways towards bad ends).

 

JC

If Dasha had a good upbringing as a child, and survives her encounter with this professor she may gain some wisdom that could help her in the future. But it could be a very painful lesson. There is only so many times you can tell someone No Don't touch HOT. Before they are going to touch it and get burned.

Well said.

 

I look for some burnt hands, but the result is that with so much pride at stake, I will be shunned for predicting same.

 

And lose a one-time friend.

 

Who is afraid to admit I predicted the truth.

 

Pride being what it is.

 

John (Crosley)

I cannot imagine such a model release for the informatia. Good photo though without the this. Like said before these are techinaccly the best photos on your page.

I rated well but not sure about the soft focus