Anastasia

Nikolai

1. Meet Anastasia:



2. She likes sunbathing in a hot sand:



3. But don't be fooled: she can be lethal with her AK-47:



4. After hot bamboo forest we ended up in a chilling mountain cave:



5. Where she decided to play Andromeda chained to the rock:



6. (and a broken-hearted one at that):
a)

b)


7. Once out of the cave the mood became a bit more joyful:



8. Some flapping was going on:



9. Which changed to pensivity:



10. And tranquillity:



Enjoy!

C&C is welcome!

LUCKYSHOT

As usual great shots with a beutiful model. #10 is my favorite, kind of a damsel in distress shot.
All the best
Chris

JohnC

Any gun totin' female is a hottie in my book!

But yes, this is a great series and a beautiful woman! Thanks for sharing!

System

That hat in #1 doesn't do her any favors that's for sure!

Nikolai

LUCKYSHOT wrote:

As usual great shots with a beutiful model. #10 is my favorite, kind of a damsel in distress shot.
All the best
Chris

Thanks, Chris!

Nikolai

JohnC wrote:

Any gun totin' female is a hottie in my book!
But yes, this is a great series and a beautiful woman! Thanks for sharing!

John,
thank you, we tried variety of looks, "jungle guerilla" was one of them

Nikolai

MagicKiwi wrote:

That hat in #1 doesn't do her any favors that's for sure!

Oh come on, we were simply having fun mixing things, fur hat and bikini being some of them:-)

dogwood

Guns and girls-- don't forget one of the common sense rules of gun safety-- don't point your gun at anything you don't want to shoot. Then again, maybe that's the point!

Nik-- these are nice as usual but they lack something to link them together. It feels like you're trying to tell a story. But without the words, I'd be kind of confused.

So this model obviously has a very dynamic personality. Not sure how to show it better -- but maybe a more cinematic approach? A wide angle shot to show the setting, some medium shots mixed with details?

And yeah, this critigue is exactly the kind of vague critique that drives me nuts. But having seen a lot of your work, Nik, I think now that you're getting the technical down it's time to start working on the artistic and trying to keep some sort of common theme or thread throughout.

Then again, maybe I'm just WAY overthinking this and projecting some of my own shortcomings in terms of shooting pretty girls!

But in all seriousness, I think guns like the AK-47 look better when you can see the gun more. Again, just my personal feelings, but for some reason a photo of a gun pointed at me just doesn't feel as menacing as I'm sure it felt while you were shooting the photo. Guess it's because I know she can't shoot me. I think it would better to show her sort of hiding with the gun in profile. Yeah, yeah, all these cool photos and all I can think about is a hottie with a gun!

Nikolai

dogwood wrote:

Guns and girls-- don't forget one of the common sense rules of gun safety-- don't point your gun at anything you don't want to shoot. Then again, maybe that's the point!

Nik-- these are nice as usual but they lack something to link them together. It feels like you're trying to tell a story. But without the words, I'd be kind of confused.

So this model obviously has a very dynamic personality. Not sure how to show it better -- but maybe a more cinematic approach? A wide angle shot to show the setting, some medium shots mixed with details?

And yeah, this critigue is exactly the kind of vague critique that drives me nuts. But having seen a lot of your work, Nik, I think now that you're getting the technical down it's time to start working on the artistic and trying to keep some sort of common theme or thread throughout.

Then again, maybe I'm just WAY overthinking this and projecting some of my own shortcomings in terms of shooting pretty girls!

But in all seriousness, I think guns like the AK-47 look better when you can see the gun more. Again, just my personal feelings, but for some reason a photo of a gun pointed at me just doesn't feel as menacing as I'm sure it felt while you were shooting the photo. Guess it's because I know she can't shoot me. I think it would better to show her sort of hiding with the gun in profile. Yeah, yeah, all these cool photos and all I can think about is a hottie with a gun!

Hey Pete, thanks for stopping by!

Just for the record - this is an airsoft replica, so totally harmless:-)

The whole thing for this shoot was "trying to get out of my own rut". Unusual model, who doesn't like conventional glam. Me shooting outdoors during the broad daylight, what I almost never do. Unusual locations: bamboo forest, remote mountain cave filled with cold water. Tons and tons of experimenting. I guess I didn't set any particular high goals as to "why am I doing this", just wanted to try something new, something outside of my comfort zone...

dogwood

Nikolai wrote:

Just for the record - this is an airsoft replica, so totally harmless:-)

Aaaahh... don't say that! You've ruined the illusion!

Yeah, I figured you were trying something new. There's a different feel about these images than your usual stuff. Guess I just want to see a little more of the unconventional coming out with the model!

There's lots to like about these images though and I definitely don't want to sound discouraging. I've been posting on a different forum lately and boy oh boy does it get old to only see responses telling me the styling isn't right or something is too bright or whatever. Folks are much friendlier here, and even more helpful at dpreview.

That cave sounds like a killer spot though-- I'd definitely keep working it when you get willing models. Do a little cave photo research-- the trend seems to be backlighting in addition to front lighting.

Here's a sample of what I mean (minus the pretty girl, of course)

Nikolai

dogwood wrote:

Aaaahh... don't say that! You've ruined the illusion!

Sorry
It's a very good replica though. With a very few exceptions the parts are identical, and the whole assembly feels and weighs like a real thing (unfortuantely, I still remember the real thing)

That cave sounds like a killer spot though-- I'd definitely keep working it when you get willing models. Do a little cave photo research-- the trend seems to be backlighting in addition to front lighting.

Here's a sample of what I mean (minus the pretty girl, of course)

Yeah, I will definitely try something like that. This was my first time in a cave with model, knee-deep water also added to the comlication, we were desperately late, so I didn't have achance to do everything I wanted. I didn't even get a single reflection shot :bash
You know how it is, you can't get everything you want every time

dogwood

Nikolai wrote:

Yeah, I will definitely try something like that. This was my first time in a cave with model, knee-deep water also added to the comlication, we were desperately late, so I didn't have achance to do everything I wanted. I didn't even get a single reflection shot :bash
You know how it is, you can't get everything you want every time

Oh yeah. The caves around here (Oregon/Washington) tend to have low ceilings and sharp volcanic rock. In that shot of mine, my scalp is all bloody from running back and forth with the self timer and bumping my head on the top of the cave. A helmet would have been helpful.

Water is a whole different challenge-- cold, unstable, restrictive, etc. Seems like an assistant would be useful but of course that adds another element in scheduling and all that. But that cave really looks like an amazing spot to shoot models.