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 Posted: Thu Sep 18, 2014 12:43 pm
Paris's Facebook was cluttered with photos. Her Instagram likewise. She was no photographer, of course. Certainly she lacked the proper talent for it, not to mention the proper equipment, as most of her results tended to be captured via phone.
But she enjoyed photographing her life—particularly the people in it. Most of her Facebook photos were of her husband. Pictures of him sleeping, pictures of him eating, pictures of him playing baseball, pictures of the important events in their lives, holidays, anniversaries, quiet moments together captured in digital eternity. If her face showed up anywhere, it was pressed closed to his or frozen in some ridiculous expression for an impromptu selfie.
Her Instagram bore little difference. She posted pictures of the cat, the dog, the new recipes she tried and the numerous confections she baked. Sometimes there might be a photo of her baby sister, but that was typically only when she did something especially cute. The rest of them she kept to herself, unwilling to admit just how fond of Lilah she'd grown.
If there were ever pictures of Paris herself, they were always taken by other people. Her mother-in-law, usually. Chris when he was feeling particularly sentimental. The last time she'd had the occasion to be photographed with true intent had been the day of her wedding. Nowadays if she appeared anywhere online it was in video, but in those she felt she had something more to offer. She could dance, she could sing, she could share her talents.
“Don't blame me if this turns out really awkward,” Paris said to her companion. She wore a rueful smile.
Social as she typically was, Paris was still not one to make fast friends. She had lingering trust and abandonment issues that usually got in the way, and the years had turned her into something of a homebody. She didn't get out much, and when she did it was usually in the company of her husband. There weren't many opportunities for her to make friends that didn't come in corresponding pairs.
But somehow she and Harmony Rosen just... clicked. Paris thought it might be because they had quite a few things in common. Both were roughly the same age, both attended DCU, and both had relatively young mothers accompanied by new baby sisters. They had plenty to talk about and probably a lot to agree on.
Plus, Harmony like photography. And Paris was just interested enough to offer herself as a model.ZaiaFantasy Got that start done I promised!! I realized as I was writing it that we hadn't discussed a location for the shoot, so I left it vague for now! If Harmony has a preferred location, you're welcome to have them there. Otherwise Paris would have likely offered her place! :3
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Posted: Fri Sep 19, 2014 2:29 pm
Honestly? Paris was one of her favorite shopping partners. She ran into the girl while she was shopping one day and, in characteristic fashion, chimed in her two cents where it absolutely didn't belong but, somehow, it got them talking. Over subsequent trips they discovered that had a lot in common and Harmony was happy to be fast friends. She needed someone to talk to and was happy to have her over when the offer was made for a fresh model. It came at a good time, too, since Harmony had an assignment due on her photography class.
She wouldn't have been able to rent a two bedroom unless her mother and Tony helped her. It was essential, though, since somewhere had to serve as a studio. Photography was too much of a part of her major to rely solely on the student studios.
"Are you kidding? With your bod I will make you look gorgeous!"
The photographer set about getting her equipment together, such as it was. She motioned to the rack of costumes in the corner ranging from modest to rather risque and in a variety of sizes and shapes. She brought in a decent bottle of red wine and set it out where Paris could easily get to it if needed.
"We can start comfortable. You have a killer face. With a little highlighting you'll be a photogenic superstar!"
She definitely admired her friend's bone structure.
Sunshine Alouette Harmony always has a studio. I just made them be there. Hope you don't mind
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 4:42 am
Paris bit at her bottom lip in a futile effort to contain a smug smile. She liked compliments, wherever they happened to come from, particularly when they were genuine. Nowadays she was growing better at accepting them and taking pride in her looks the way she used to pretend to. There remained areas for improvement, of course. Paris didn't think it was possible for anyone to be entirely pleased with the way the looked, but she was working on the confidence, and compliments certainly helped that.
As far as her physical flaws were concerned, Paris worried that she was a bit too boney to truly have the gorgeous body Harmony claimed she did. Her shoulder blades were sharp, her collar bone rather prominent, her shoulders not quite as rounded as they could have been. Yet it was this slender physique (and her natural talent, of course) that had gotten her so far in the ballet community. Without it, she had to wonder if she would have even stood a chance.
So she chose to look at the positives. She had a narrow waist, perky breasts, a small bum, and great legs. And her face, as Harmony had said, was very photogenic. Surely she's inherited both of her parents' best features, from her mother's nose and face shape, to her father's bright eyes, full lips, and high cheekbones.
“Did you want to do the headshots with or without makeup?” Paris asked. She was grateful for the wine and took a glass without prodding, more for something to hold onto than for any need to ease her nerves.
“Do you do makeup?” she continued. “I'm always afraid of overdoing it. I'm so used to doing bold stage make-up that going for the more natural look takes a bit of restraint. Oh! When we get around to doing to full body shots, do you think I could do some ballet shots? I could use some for my portfolio.”ZaiaFantasy I am so so sorry for how long it took me to tag this. <3
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Posted: Mon Nov 24, 2014 2:02 pm
"Makeup? Yeah, I can do it."
She'd grown comfortable doing make up for her models. Sometimes she was going for a particular look. Sometimes she was trying to play up a certain feature and downplay others. Harmony was, in truth, rather good with color. With Paris' pale blond hair and nice features she certainly wanted to accent her eyes.
At the suggestion, though, she had to frown a bit. She wasn't against the idea but her studio was rather small now that it was in her own apartment. The basement studio she'd had with her mom, that was bigger. She'd been able to do larger sets and more action oriented photography.
"I want to, but I don't think we have the room for leaps and stuff. Maybe if you want to go en pointe, we can see how it goes."
Harmony had been around her mother enough to have seen ballet though it was not her own forte. She knew there were very elegant and impressive things dancers could do in place that might photograph well. She hoped so, anyway, and led Paris to a chair before a lit vanity. The photographer wannabe had an impressive array of costume make up scattered across the white table top.
"Everything should always be done with make up. The key is to look like you don't have any on. Just highlight your natural beauty."
And with wardrobe she was sure she could make Paris look like someone worthy of America's Next Top Model.
Sunshine Alouette No worries, Sunny. I haven't been particularly active either.
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Posted: Mon Jan 12, 2015 7:14 am
“Oh, no, it's okay, I wouldn't try to do any leaps or anything. Just some general posing,” she said.
Action shots they could save for another time, whenever they had more space available to them.
Paris followed Harmony to the vanity and took a seat in front of it, turning to Harmony expectantly. She felt giddy with excitement. She'd never done anything like this before so it was an entirely new experience. She was almost afraid she wouldn't live up to expectations, given that she was a total newbie.
But maybe her ballet training would help, she thought. She knew how to hold a pose; she knew how to look fluid and graceful, how to express the right emotion for the moment. She just had to get over any lingering nerves and go for it.
“I actually have another idea,” Paris said. Her smile widened and her eyes twinkled mischievously. “Do you think at some point we could do something a little more risque? I think I'd like a little something for my husband, but I don't know how you'd feel about that. Not fully nude, I don't think I could do anything like that just yet, but... maybe in some lingerie?”
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Posted: Mon Jan 19, 2015 11:46 am
Harmony went to work on this beautiful blank canvas. She was judicious with her choices, only using real color to highlight Paris' natural beauty. She wanted a look that was light and ethereal because the lighting was going to be soft and under that light the shimmery colors would glow. When she was done she considered her work and smiled. She presented her subject to the mirror to see for herself what she could do.
"Oh, girl, now you are speaking my language!"
Boudoir photography was, after all, only a hop, skip, and jump away from burlesque. Same theme, different means. She had hundreds of corsets to lace Paris into that would do wonders for her waist and for her bust. She could leave off the bustle skirt that would take it all the way to burlesque. There were plenty of silken pillows she could strew over the floor that the other girl could pose in and with.
"We will have your hubby eating out of the palm of your hand."
Harm couldn't imagine being married so young but, then again, she'd never really had a boyfriend either. It was fine for the people it worked for, obviously, and she wasn't against having a boyfriend. She just never really found one and wasn't likely to now that work and school kept her so infernally busy.
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Posted: Fri Feb 06, 2015 7:14 am
Paris looked into the mirror and marveled over Harmony's skill with the make-up brushes. She wasn't terrible at applying make-up herself. She was good at overdone stage make-up, and she'd learned how to appropriately bring the focus to a specific feature, either with a bold eye or lip, but she hadn't quite gotten the natural look down yet. Paris had to admit there was something appealing about it.
Turning back to her new friend, she said, “You could do this professionally. Seriously. Just tell me what you want me to do and I'll do it.”
The prospect of snapping a little something for Chris filled her with a sudden giddy sense of excitement. Paris wondered what he'd say. She'd have to save the photographs for a special occasion.
Marriage, and at such a young age at that, certainly wasn't for everyone. Once, she'd thought it wouldn't be for her, but she'd obviously been wrong about that. She enjoyed her life now, more so than she had as a younger, more rebellious teen. Being with Chris, she felt fulfilled.
Turning away from the mirror again now that she'd inspected her look, Paris waited for further instructions. “How do we do the headshots? Do I sit? Stand? Does it matter? Watch as I demonstrate my complete ignorance when it comes to modeling and photography.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 10, 2015 5:38 pm
"Nah, this isn't where my heart is."
To Harmony make up was a means to an end. It was in the background of a good photo, like the lighting. It was the model that made all the difference. If she were in front of the camera she would have no idea how to begin to try and model correctly. She could instruct models on how to catch the light or what looked best but mimicking that was impossible for her.
"You're dressed for the ballet shots. We can do the bedroom stuff in a bit. Let me fill up my memory card with this for now. Just do what you would normally do to stretch and stuff."
Other than cursory knowledge Harmony was not a ballet aficionado. Her mother kept her in the loop of the basics of dance but that was more for a theatre aspect and not for, well, what Paris could do. Seeing her move naturally would help her determine how to proceed.
Besides, she had something else in mind entirely for the shots for Chris. She thought of herself as a good friend, wanting to do something amazing for the both of them.
"Do you like corsets, by the way?" She had plenty of those.
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Posted: Fri Feb 20, 2015 7:09 am
When Paris rose to make her way in front of the camera, she tried not to be nervous. It wasn't as if she hadn't ever been in front of a camera before, but something about modeling for someone felt inherently different. She wanted to make sure she did things right. She wanted to make this worth it for Harmony, who was being so kind as to include her.
She began with a few simple poses, searching for something to hold onto as she went through some of her barre exercises. Her movements were graceful and fluid despite her nervousness. Ballet had been practically bred into her bones. She could do a familiar routine or variation without much thought. She spun, she rose into an arabesque, she lifted her leg above her head and made it look easy—and to her it was. She'd been doing it her entire life, after all. It came as naturally to her as breathing.
“Tell me if there's anything specific you want me to do,” she said.
Of course she wanted to get some good shots for herself, but she also wanted to make sure Harmony got something good out of it as well.
“Corsets?” she asked, pausing at the change of topic. She thought of her fuku and smiled ironically. “Yeah, I can do corsets, no problem. I honestly don't know if I like them, but I'm used to them. They're not really that uncomfortable to me.”
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Posted: Tue Feb 24, 2015 9:13 pm
Harmony gave her a minute or two to figure things out before she raised her camera and started snapping a few tentative shots. Some sessions were like wildfire and she could hardly click the shutter fast enough to keep up with the photo shoot. Sometimes the process was slower, like a butterfly breaking out of its chrysalis. Hardly patient with anything else she had infinite patience for this process and was praised by her professors for capturing skillful photographs of her subjects as they are.
"Just do whatever comes naturally for you. Truthfully, I don't know much about ballet. Would you like some music?"
She had some old records secreted away for occasions like this. One of them was bound to be good for ballerinas.
"You're incredibly graceful."
It was almost difficult to get a bad shot since every movement seemed so purposeful and composed. Usually she spent time coaching her models to pose in such a way as to capture the light or find their best angles and shapes but as a natural performer Harm didn't have to tell Paris any of that. She simply stepped back and let her do her own thing.
"I'd like to step back and get some more action shots. Are you comfortable doing turns and leaps there?"
Her memory card would be complaining before too much longer so best to go out with a bang.
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Posted: Mon Mar 02, 2015 6:30 am
“Oh, no, music's not necessary,” Paris said. “I've got it all in my head.”
It was the truth, though it might have been nice to have music playing. But it really wasn't necessary, and Paris didn't want to take Harmony out of the zone by having her look for something that might be appropriate. Paris had enough stashed away in her brain to keep things flowing, in any case.
She smiled and took the compliment and praise with as much grace as she could muster, though it was obvious by her expression that it was in danger of going to her head a bit. Whether or not she was confident in any other aspects of her life, she was confident in her dancing. Ballet was one of the few areas of her life where she felt she couldn't go wrong.
“There might not be enough room for any good leaps, but I can give it a try,” she said. “Turns are no big deal. I hold my classes record for number of fouettés in a sequence.”
She began by standing flat on her left foot in plié, with her right leg raised and bent at the knee. Paris extended her right leg, whipped it around, and pulled it in until her foot touched her supporting knee as she rose en pointe on her left foot. She held her arms out whenever her leg extended, but brought them back in and held them in a loop in front of her as she turned.
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Posted: Sat Mar 21, 2015 2:05 pm
Harmony captured what she could as Paris moved and enjoyed watching the ballet. It was really quite remarkable. She'd never been a fan of it in school or when her mother tried to get her into classes. She liked to dance, but not like that. Honestly, she thought she lacked the discipline to be really good at it if she had tried. Besides, it seemed like ballet spoke it's own language, mostly French, and she just wasn't good at that sort of thing. Her tongue tripped on words in English sometimes.
She finally set the camera down sometime later, the memory card nearly full. She'd need to change it out for the other part of their photo session.
"That was really good."
She plugged the card into her laptop so the photos could download onto her hard drive. She set the folder and would let Paris pick out which ones she wanted to print and which ones she wanted to take home. The photo printer sat on a shelf along with her other equipment, a self sustained studio. She felt very lucky to be able to pursue her passion.
"Now, about corsets..."
She went back to her costume rack and presented Paris with a few very flattering corsets for the sexier photos for Chris. That would be a different context entirely and something Harmony knew about very well from her burlesque passion. If these didn't make her husband melt, nothing would.
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Posted: Tue Mar 31, 2015 7:22 am
Paris took a bit of a breather once the ballet photos were done, grabbing a drink of water and dabbing at a little bit of sweat that had collected on her brow. It hadn't been a strenuous workout in the least, but it was mildly taxing.
She grinned once Harmony broke out the corsets, looking through the ones Harmony presented her with.
“I am at your mercy,” she said. “You know more about this stuff than I do. You choose. My only request is that there be very little black. It makes me look too pasty.”ZaiaFantasy I'm so sorry this is such a short tag! I've been having trouble getting into a good RP groove recently. QQ <33
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 9:50 am
"Thankfully the make up can stay mostly the same."
Harmony would darken the eyeliner just a bit to bring out those killer turquoise eyes and darken the lips, too, just to make them stand out. That was pretty much all that was needed and before long she was rummaging in drawers trying to bring out corsets that looked pretty and were not pale. This photo shoot she wanted to go a bit daring.
She brought out two of similar style, one in a wine color and one in a soft mocha color. She offered both, with matching under things, for Paris' choice. For underthings she had stockings, garters, the whole nine yards to evoke sexy without having to be naked.
"I'd say the wine will look better with your skin and hair but the chocolate will make those eyes of yours just pop so it's really up to you."
She started throwing pillows around, strewing them across the floor on the white backdrop she usually used. Pillows were great things to cover up what someone didn't want fully seen or just to give the idea of being at ease or in bed. Neither of which could be bad for a boudoir photo shoot.
"Or I could just use a brown backdrop..."
Sunshine Alouette sorry for the delay my dear!
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Posted: Tue May 19, 2015 11:26 am
Paris was, as she'd said, at Harmony's mercy. She was a patient model, allowing Harmony to adjust her make-up for the next round of photos.
The corsets and underthings were a hard choice. As Harmony said, one would go great with her skin and hair, and the other would make her eyes pop. In the end, Paris decided to go the route of skin and hair and leave it to Harmony's skills with make-up to keep her eyes popping.
“The wine color, I think,” she said, and took the chosen objects.
While Harmony was busy preparing the set, Paris went about changing from her ballet clothes into the corset and underthings. She felt sexy almost immediately.
“Chris is going to love this,” she said once she was done, “even if he's too shy to admit it. How should I pose? I want to look sultry but not too over the top, you know?”
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