woensdag 27 april 2016

Eager glasses ctd 3



Nearly two dozen contemporary glasses will travel with Nel and me as well. These glasses will be used at both photo shoots mentioned before.

Eager glasses ctd 2



Another photo shoot is scheduled for May 8. The theme of this photo shoot will be "Fashion of the 1960's and early / mid 1970's". Same location as the photo shoot on May 2 but of course a different model.

Eager glasses ctd 1



Preparations for my next international trip with Nel are in full swing. If all goes well, the two dozen pairs shown here will be used during a photo shoot on May 2. The theme of that photo shoot will be "How to do an eye exam, and how to choose my first pair of glasses?". No further details can be revealed at this stage, except that the city in question has a longer cultural history than Lutetia.

vrijdag 8 april 2016

Julia 165



This fine portrait of lovely Julia in Wonderland marks the end of her wonderful photo shoot. Julia is the 72th Lady behind Crystal Veil.

A word of thanks goes to the owner of restaurant Sanderskuper (Ahaus, Germany) for his permission to use the premises as decor for the second part of this photo shoot.

Another word of thanks goes to Anke for the "loan" of her sweet dog Roos as playmate for Julia. This contributed to the quality of thirty portarits (096 - 125) in an unforeseen but very welcome manner. And Roos, you are unable to read this but you are a gem!

Dear Julia, thank you for a pleasant afternoon! You were the first who posed for me after the series of five photo shoots during a weekend in Paris. An all natural girl with nice dimples, lovely eyes and a sweet smile. No tricks of the trade. What struck me during our preparations is that so many frame styles really suit you. Modelling was an entirely new experience to you. But blessed with a down to earth attitude and an open mind, you picked it up fast. First by following directions in a patient and relaxed manner, then by throwing in spontaneous moments. Of course you had the advantage of being well familiar with prescription glasses. But you were also capable to produce natural, credible looks in glasses way beyond your own prescription. Being fond of dogs was another of your assets and this lead to three amazing series in which posing was replaced by spontaneous real life action. For once I felt more like an avidly snapping spectator than a director / photographer and this was an entirely new experience to me. In a way you reversed the roles and it was great. Thank you for taking up the challenge of doing a photo shoot, just after I bought the giant Valentine card that evoked our first conversation. I hope that the results of this photo shoot may contribute to many, many Valentine cards coming your way next year. By the way, my collection now hosts a pair of real Valentine glasses and you are welcome to pose in these as an encore. Thanks again!

Julia 164



Zenni 665918
[L=R: -8.00]

Time was running out so this is the last of thirty glasses shown by lovely Julia in this varied, pleasant photo shoot.

Julia 163



This is excellent posing indeed. After seeing her entire photo shoot, Julia declared this fine portrait in the peach glasses her favourite.

Julia 162



These glasses first appeared in the Zenni catalog four years ago. The frame came in three different colours, purple, pink and what was described as cream, but I always call these the peach glasses. The three versions were subsequently featured in photo shoots but the peach glasses were the favourite among my models. Lovely Julia is the tenth model posing in them. Unfortunately, all versions are now out of stock and it's very unlikely that they will ever return.

Julia 161



Glasses: Zenni 278822
[L=R: -8.00]

Julia 160



When my life partner Nel saw this fine portrait, she commented that the glasses are great and a perfect match with Julia's face. I could not agree more!

Julia 159



Zenni keeps adding new frames to their catalog and this pair is one of the best. The first model to pose in them was Mirjam at New Year, followed by Cat in Paris. Here Julia joins their ranks and I'm sure that many models will follow in her footsteps. There is a touch of the cat eye look but Zenni often adds a nice twist of their own.

Julia 157 - 158




Julia taking the jump from minus three to minus eight once more....

Julia 156



Glasses: Zenni 633821
[L=R: -8.00]

Julia 153 - 155





Some more nostalgia editing of portraits showing Julia in antique pince-nez. Now let's go back to the present....

Julia 149 - 152






Here is a sepia version of four Julia portraits in pince-nez made well over a century ago.

Julia 148



Julia enjoyed the experiment with the pince-nez. This was her spontaneous reaction when I asked her opinion on these antique glasses. Hurray for the pince-nez!

Julia 147



The pince-nez was introduced during the late 1880's and it remained popular among the upper middle classes until the early 1940's. Julia stood on a grass patch so it was safe to have her posing in this antique pince-nez without the traditional thin cord attached to her coat.

Julia 146



Glasses: pince-nez, made circa 1900
[L=R: -2.50]

Julia 143 - 145





More nostalgia.... Julia's posing style looks quite authentic and only the modern buttons and zipper give away that these portraits are the result of contemporary editing.

Julia 140 - 142





All photography was done in sepia when these antique glasses were made.

Julia 139



Lovely Julia was not the first who was pleased with these antique glasses. Fifteen years ago, a friendly optician called Danel fitted the oldest glasses in my collection (made c. 1860) with lenses. He did this in the old way at no extra cost. I showed him and his young wife some other antique glasses from my collection, including the pair shown here. I said to the young lady that these glasses might be near her own prescription. She tried them on straightaway, exclaimed "These are perfect!" and danced all around the shop. Julia did not go that far. The T junction with its busy traffic was not a suitable place for dance steps.

Julia 138



The first thing Julia said was that these antique glasses gave her perfect eyesight.

Julia 137



Glasses: nameless, with straight arms, made circa 1900
[L=R: -3.25]

Julia 136



Julia found it an amusing experiment. Upon my request, here she is keeping the trial frame at the maximum distance that gives her good eyesight without glasses.

Julia 135



This photo was one of five taken during the process of adjusting the trial frame. Unfortunately, the later captures can't be shown here. The glare in the old trial lenses was simply too much to be edited out. Anyway, the main thing is that Julia did not need an increase.

Julia 132 - 134





Julia has been wearing glasses for years so she is familiar with the procedure of eye tests in an optician's shop. But this was her first acquaintance with an "outdoor eye test".

Julia 130 - 131




People wearing glasses are sometimes called "four eyed" but here we have the pleasure to see a six eyed Julia.

Julia 129



Doing this fun experiment with Julia reminds me of a photo shoot done back in 2011 with a freelance model called Christien. The location was Nel's garden. Two neighbour girls saw us at work and asked us if they could watch us for a while. Christien did not mind and both girls, age ten or eleven, sat quietly enjoying the procedure. During a short break, one of the girls asked Christien "Are you a famous model?". Christien did not know how to answer so I said "She is well on the way". The other girl then asked if they could try some glasses themselves after the photo shoot. As their faces were too small and narrow for the glasses used by Christien, I took a few snaps of the two girls posing with lenses similar to this fun experiment with Julia.

Julia 128



My collection also hosts two dozen lenses that were once given to me by a friendly optician. He told me that they were used by apprentices. The Rx of the lenses held by Julia is minus seven.

Julia 127



Our third location was halfway the forest and the restaurant, at the Dutch side of the border.

Julia 126



After Anke and her sweet dog Roos left us, we decided to do one more picture with the blended myodisc glasses and then head for the German border. Taking this photo of lovely Julia was precision work, calling for careful navigation from both sides the lenses. Experimenting with this took more time than the fifteen preceding portraits together but it eventually paid off. Careful editing went into this photo afterwards as the original version contained some red lines reminiscent of Halloween or even Dracula. Note the difference between the two images of Julia's face. This is caused by the axis of the cylinders in the lenses: vertical in the lens in front of Julia's left eye (that is, from her side) and horizontal in the other lens.
This documentary will now continue with the photos taken at our third (and final) location.

donderdag 7 april 2016

Julia 125



Encore.... Of course Roos did not agree with the status quo and if my memory serves me correctly, Julia let her go a couple of seconds later. Thank you, Anke and Roos.... And last but not least, a big compliment to Julia!

Julia 124



Peace and quiet restored, at least for a couple of seconds.... Isn't Julia great?

Julia 123



The moment captured when the photographer took over after ten seconds of whirlwind, giving Julia directions for this photo.

Julia 122



Taking this picture was such a rewarding moment. Here is a novice at modelling producing one of the best captures ever taken of a young lady in blended myodisc glasses. The entire photo shoot with Julia was worth our combined efforts for this moment all by itself. Thank you, Julia!

Julia 121



"Oh yes, I was in the middle of a photo shoot. How was that, Mr. Photographer?"

Julia 120



Needless to say, Roos begged to differ but Julia was in full control. The blended myodisc glasses on her nose were no handicap whatsoever. No lecture about the lenses in these glasses this time. I had different priorities during this whirlwind :).

Julia 119



"Ah, you are such a sweet dog.... Now stay there!"