F/Stop
16
The Invasion Begins
“Min” by ladyphoto, ID394889410 from Shutterstock.com
WE DECIDED on a 10x15 print for Kathleen as a token of our friendship and appreciation. I printed an 8x10 for Dave at Pro Photo Source and, just to test the range, I printed a 12x18 print for our gallery. That was definitely as large as I wanted to go with a 35mm slide. I thought it got a little soft around the edges, but it wasn’t too bad. Anna proudly hung a sign on it that said “Signed Art Print, $500.” And I signed it.
I took the 8x10 to Dave and he was very pleased. I gave him a stack of our brochures and he hung the print where people could see the list of his color services. When it was late enough that I thought she’d be up and about…never call actors early in the morning…I called Kathleen and told her I had her print ready. She said she’d be down soon.
She looked at the print and started to cry.
“It’s so beautiful. I’m going to go have it matted and framed at the frame store and give it to Damien tonight,” she said. “He’s going to love looking at it as much as I loved posing for it.”
“I hope you’re both very happy with it,” I said. “When we get settled a little more, I’ll have you back for another sitting. We’ll come up with a good concept. Leanne, the makeup artist I work with, will be here all next week. You should stop in and meet her, even if we don’t do photos next week. She has some interesting concepts that I think you’ll like.”
“I’ll do that. Thank you, Nate. Thank you, Ronda. Thank you, Anna and Patricia. I’m just so in love with this photo!”
We wrapped the photo between sheets of cardboard and she took off.
“We should look up that frame shop she mentioned,” I said. “Maybe we can work out an arrangement with them so customers can get a discount on framing when they take one of our photos with them.”
“That’s one possibility,” Patricia said. “We should look into providing the service ourselves. I’m not sure about framing, but I know we could provide mattes for the photos. It wouldn’t take much to get a cutter and some stock.”
“Maybe instead of offering them a discount, we work out a wholesale agreement with the frame shop and send the photos to them for framing, but mark up the finished product for the customer,” Ronda suggested.
Anna was busy writing down the suggestions.
“I’ll get on pricing out the alternatives and talking to the people in the frame shop,” she said. “These are good ideas and they all spell profit.”
“Are we ready for company?” I asked, looking at my calendar. It seemed that no matter where I went, I lived according to my calendar. It had been that way since I started doing sittings in high school. Everything went on the calendar. “Leanne and Min are supposed to be here Saturday sometime. You’ve all met and know Leanne. I think you’ll really like Min, too. She’s a great model.”
“I think we should have a cleaning day for the rest of the day and make sure the apartment and the studio are ready for company,” Patricia said. “Do you think we need to put a bed in the spare room? Even if they are coming together and say it’s okay, we shouldn’t force them to sleep together if they prefer private space.”
“That might be true. I haven’t heard Leanne talk much about actually having a relationship with Min other than doing a good job of feeling her up when she does makeup trials,” I said. “I think Min is fine with that, but might prefer a man’s touch to a woman’s. She certainly made it sound that way when we were working together. She actually caught me after class one day and said she hoped she could model for me some more. There was no mention of Leanne at the time.”
“Why don’t you go get another bed and bedding ordered for delivery tomorrow,” Patricia said. “Anna is heading for the frame shop. Melinda will be in at one to mind the store and we can focus on cleaning. Oh, and I’ve got an appointment this afternoon at three to talk to a daycare center. I know it’s not like we can’t look after Toni ourselves, but the daycare in Chicago did great things to advance her socialization with other children her age. She should have some Canadian friends.”
We all headed out on our assigned tasks.
The bells hanging on our front door rang about eleven on Friday and Kathleen came dancing into the store. Really dancing. She spun around and bowed to Toni behind the counter. Toni thought that was great and started dancing with her.
“Wow, you look happy today!” I said. “Of course, you always seem to be happy, but especially so this morning.”
“Damien asked me to move in with him!” she declared, smiling. “And he absolutely adores the photo. He took me home with him last night after the show and hung it in his house immediately. Then he took me to bed and— Oh, yeah!”
“That’s wonderful,” Ronda said, giving our friend a kiss on the cheek. Kathleen turned her face and met Ronda’s lips with her own for a more personal gesture.
“I’m not giving up enjoying the company of my friends,” she giggled. “Oh, now Anna told me that you usually go out two at a time so someone has company when they’re home with Toni. So, I have two sets of tickets for Merchant. A pair for tonight and a pair for Wednesday. Can you come?”
“That sounds wonderful,” I said. “Anybody want tonight’s tickets?”
“Why don’t you take Patricia out tonight,” Anna said. “Seems like Ronda and I have been having a good bit of special time with you lately and Patricia needs a break from childcare for the night.”
“Patricia, my love, would you like to go to the theatre this evening?”
“Oh, yes! That would be lovely.”
“Stick around after the show. As soon as I can get free, I’ll slip out to get you and take you backstage. I want you to meet Damien,” Kathleen said.
“Sounds great,” I said. “See you tonight.”
The Merchant of Venice is not one of Shakespeare’s funniest comedies, I’d say. But the production was fantastic. I guess the period was Elizabethan, but I didn’t realize women showed so much cleavage in that era. All the gowns had square-cut or scoop necklines that showed bosoms that were elevated and pushed together. Yeah. That’s what I noticed most about the production. It was fun to see Kathleen as one of the attendants, though she didn’t have a line.
I had to wonder if Shakespeare had a notion that the play would come off as a condemnation of Christians’ degradation and forced conversion of the Jews, or if it would contribute to the stereotype of greedy and moneygrubbing shysters. In this production, Shylock was actually quite a sympathetic character. His motivation was his mistreatment by Antonio, not his love of money. The Christian merchant Antonio had spit upon Shylock only days before he was forced to borrow from Shylock to help his friend. One rather thought Antonio should have lost the pound of flesh that was owed to Shylock.
Patricia was dressed in a lovely party dress and I was in my grey flannel suit. We were probably among the most dressed up at the show, but it was a big occasion for us to go out. We waited in the theatre until nearly everyone had left and Kathleen came out from backstage to take us with her. She’d stripped out of her gown and brushed out her hair, wearing a pair of bellbottoms and a sweater. She still had her theatrical makeup on, though.
“I’m so glad you came to the show!” she said. “Did you like it?”
“Oh, yes!” Patricia said. “You were so beautiful. I can’t wait to see you in Cymbeline.”
“I was scarcely in the show, tonight,” Kathleen laughed, “but thank you for your compliment. Over here. Damien, I’d like you to meet Nate, the photographer, and his beautiful companion Patricia. These people have just been so wonderful to me, ever since I arrived in Stratford. Nate and Patricia, may I present our director, Damien Rogers.”
“It’s a pleasure,” I said, holding out my hand. He shook it and then pulled Patricia to him to kiss on both cheeks. Very European of him. Patricia blushed.
“The pleasure, I assure you, is mine. The photographs you’ve done of Kathleen are just heavenly. I want you to photograph everyone in my cast. Of course, I’m not asking that specifically, but it’s how that photo makes me feel,” he said.
“Thank you. It was great to work with Kathleen. As I’m sure you know, she takes direction extremely well.”
“Yes! My opinion exactly. We’re going for an after-show snack. Would you join us?” he asked.
I glanced at Patricia and she looked bright and willing.
“We’d love to,” I said.
I had been under the impression that Damien was asking Patricia and me to a snack with Kathleen and him. It turned out that half a dozen other members of the cast joined us on a short walk to a late-night diner near the theatre. Apparently, some portion of the cast often went out after the shows.
“Lovelies, this is Nate Hart, the photographer who took that wonderful portrait of Kath that she showed last night. And the vision of loveliness next to him is Patricia. I’m willing to bet he has many photos of her. How could he help but take her picture?” Damien said by way of introduction.
We greeted the actors who gave the names of their parts as well as their real names. It was helpful, because none of them looked anything like they had on stage.
“I’m insanely jealous,” Bridget Gray said. She’d played another of the attendants. “I want a regal portrait like Kathleen’s. And just as racy. How did you manage that? The image speaks of royal power, but also a seething sexuality that the rest of us know lies beneath her demure façade.”
“Wow! That is quite a description,” I laughed. “I hadn’t thought of Kathleen as having a demure façade.”
“You must have some tricks,” Daniel Fournier said.
“I guess, if you want tricks, it is simply to expose the model for who she or he really is. I’ve found…especially with actors…that the real person is concealed beneath many layers of the roles you’ve played. I simply try to strip away the shell and reveal the true character.”
“The operative word there is ‘strip,’” Kathleen giggled. “I dare anyone to go through a portrait session like I did and keep his or her clothes on.”
“I’m on,” Bridget said. “Though if Patricia doesn’t mind her man stripping other women, I can’t say I would object.”
“I’m one of four girlfriends,” Patricia said. “We all started with Nate when he was beginning in photography. We are used to him— revealing the best in women.”
“Ooh! Now even I am intrigued,” said Olivia. She was one of the principals, though I’d forgotten the name. “I’d be afraid for my chastity, if I were you, Bridget.”
“No, no.” I said. “The photo experience is intimate and sometimes very sensual, but we have a hard and fast rule against screwing in the studio. I’d never get any work done!”
That got a laugh, thankfully. We had a great time with the cast and then a lovely walk home. We got in quite late, so after we’d looked in on Toni, I took Patricia to the new bedroom and quietly made love to her for another hour or two before we fell asleep.
Leanne arrived at noon on Saturday. With her was the lovely vision of Min. Okay. Maybe I would slip into their bed once while they’re here. Or twice.
Of course, they wanted to see the new studio first thing. They were suitably impressed, though Leanne really knew very little about the darkroom equipment. On the other hand, she knew the most recent images of Kathleen were something special. Min stared at all my color images. I could almost see her heartrate increasing. She spent less time looking at the picture of Kathleen than at the one of Missy, sprawled over the back of the loveseat.
“I very much want to have the body painting that Leanne has designed,” she said to me when she thought no one else was near enough to hear. “I hope that you will take some pictures of the real me, too. I want to feel what it is like to be in your hands for a portrait. I believe these women each had a very special experience.”
“I’ll do my best to make your experience special as well, Min,” I said. “I know we’ll take a lot of photos this week. I want to expose the real you.”
“Yesss,” she hissed.
They loved the apartment, too, and opted to occupy just one room. It might have been an agreement Min made with Leanne. I needed to go over the contract with Leanne to be sure Min was being compensated for her work as a model. It was unusual to bring a model in for an entire week of work and not have a healthy compensation involved. I hadn’t agreed to any fees as yet, so I had to depend on Leanne to pay her.
The arrival of Leanne and Min staved off other conversations as we unloaded the costumes and props and body paint from their car and found room for them in the studio. Leanne had brought some impressive bits with her. We went out to dinner and then crashed.
That’s when Ronda and I crashed as well. I took her to the spare bedroom where I’d taken Patricia the previous evening, and held her as we both cried quietly.
Christine…the girl we thought was our forever love…had just married someone else.
It was a purging of our spirits…a catharsis of sorts and we each tried to make sure the other knew how much we were still loved. I worshiped Ronda. I didn’t just focus on her incredibly beautiful figure or silky hair. I made sure there was not a bit of her body I didn’t kiss. And I found out something new. Her toes were an incredibly sensitive erogenous zone. As I sucked and licked between her toes, I could see her milky juices begin to pour from her vagina.
“Now! Now! Please, Nate, make love to me now!” she cried. I moved up into her arms and slid effortlessly into her steamy center. Ronda was coming as I soon as I entered her and I felt the wonderful contractions of her vagina on my penis. There was no holding back as I pressed into her as deeply as I could and began to spray her insides with my semen.
“We have— lovers— and a family— and we have each other,” Ronda gasped as we came down. “We don’t need the fantasy of any other girl to weigh us down or hold us back. I love you, Nate. Now and forever, you are in my heart.”
We didn’t do any work Saturday or Sunday, really. The store was open, but Melinda took care of Sunday, so we had the opportunity to take our friends out and show them Stratford. I guess we showed it with the pride of new residents. Leanne asked if we were coming back to Chicago.
“You know how cold and snowy it gets in Chicago in the winter?” I asked. She nodded. “Double that for here. This is our summer home.”
“It’s certainly more pleasant here than there right now. Chicago has entered the rainy season. Seems like wind and rain are blowing off the lake constantly,” Min said. Leanne nodded.
“Of course, I haven’t been around the past three weeks,” Leanne said. “I went home as soon as you guys left. I’m still dormitory-bound so I didn’t have any place to crash once the dorms closed.”
“I told you, you can live with me,” Min said.
“Yes, but you don’t mean it,” Leanne sighed. “I love you for who you are and the way you are. I’m not going to ask you to be more than you are to me.”
“I still like you,” Min whispered. “Isn’t that enough?”
“For now. For this week, at least. I’ll accept that and give you all of me you will take.”
“I could hardly ask for a better or more creative friend,” Min responded.
I began to see the relationship as it was. Min was happy to be Leanne’s friend and model. Happy, I surmised, even to share her bed and body. But Min did not have the feelings for Leanne that Leanne had for Min. Still, they were happy with what they had, even though they knew it would change over time.
“Nate,” Leanne whispered to me later, as we walked near the lake. “I hope that sometime this week, you will fulfill Min’s desires if you can. She has been very reserved around men for quite some time because…as I understand her…she was not at all reserved in high school. But her hunger for a man has sharpened to focus on immediate satiation by you. She won’t attach herself to you. No more than she’s attached herself to me. But she has fallen deeply in lust with you. You can take her to your spare room, or satisfy yourselves in bed next to me. Maybe you can spare some for me. But if you can find it in your heart to do it, make love to Min.”
The problem would not be whether I could find it in my heart to make love to Min, but whether any of my girlfriends would leave her alone. I’d talked to Ronda the night before as we lay in each other’s arms. She said she certainly understood Leanne’s infatuation with her and wouldn’t mind a journey between the girl’s legs herself.
Min was definitely a wet dream.
We planned to do a shoot on Monday, but paying customers take priority over our experimental art photography. There was no way to consider taking pictures of Min as anything but art…and pleasure. We did a little sample of the body paint on Min’s right arm, which necessitated her being topless. I took several opportunities to caress her small but succulent breasts. I had to hold steady with a hand on her bare back as I followed Leanne’s instructions for painting the scales that would adorn Min’s body.
Leanne’s concept was for an alien body. She described it as being what Anne McCaffrey’s dragons of Pern would look like in human form. She considered the link between humans and dragons in the books to be highly sexual, and had both books with her, with passages marked that would support her theory. She said Min the Gold would be a dragon every man would want to ride.
We were practicing painting the scales, and keeping Min stimulated, when I was called to the front of the store to talk to a couple who had seen the photo of Kathleen at Pro Photo Source where they’d stopped to buy some film.
“Can you do some kind of photo that makes it look like we were in a play here in Stratford?” Sam asked. He was a nice-looking guy with long sandy hair and beard, and a muscular build.
“We want to tell our friends back home that we just came up here and because we knew the parts, we were asked to step in as understudies when some stars got sick,” Rachel said. “We’re theatre majors at the University of Washington and are here for a whole week of theatre.”
Rachel was a good-looking woman, about five-five with brown hair. She was pretty well-stacked, but was a lot like Kathleen, which gave me an idea.
“We don’t have much of a stock of costumes here, but I think I see what you want,” I said. “Let me make a phone call and see if I can get a couple of costumes for you. Would you like something a little Avant Garde or Elizabethan? Sexy or reserved? What is your image?”
“Oh! Something like an Elizabethan version of Hair!” Rachel said. “You know, the feel of Shakespeare, but as racy as a rock musical.”
I looked at Sam again and his hair and beard. Yes, it could go in either a rock musical or a Shakespearean production. I wouldn’t mind at all getting Rachel into an Elizabethan gown that couldn’t quite contain her boobs. I had them sit down and look through the portfolios as I ran upstairs to make a phone call from the apartment. I flagged Min and Leanne and said we would probably be needing the studio for a paying customer shortly, so they should move upstairs. I told Leanne I might need her expertise with makeup.
When I got to the phone, I immediately called Kathleen. When she heard what I wanted, she got very excited and said she would grab some things and be over within an hour. I had no idea what she would come up with in that time, but I trusted her. I went back to talk to Sam and Rachel.
“These are exciting photos,” Rachel said. “Anna was kind enough to explain how you work and how you get these pictures. She said with two of us, you’d need at least one and possibly more assistants to get us ready.”
“We’re here on a study grant with all expenses paid, so we can spend the money my grandfather gave us for the trip on a really great souvenir,” Sam said. “When we’ve chosen a picture, we’ll want two color 8x10s. We’ll pay the sitting fee and sign a model release so you can display and sell the photo if you want.”
“I can’t imagine anyone wanting a photo of us when they could have their own,” Rachel said. “Anna said you’d do makeup and everything for us.”
“To me, it sounds like $400 is a bargain,” Sam said.
$400? I guess. Two 8x10 Cibachromes would be $198. Anna must be charging them $100 for the sitting…each. Hmm. I guess we were providing a lot of stuff for them if I got costumes and we did makeup and props. I’d have to talk to Kathleen about what to charge for the costumes.
“And Anna said she could get us a bargain on matting them. I don’t think we’ll try to have them framed up here, but you guys are so nice about what you’re doing. Can you really get costumes and everything set up in a day?” Rachel asked.
“We’ll know soon. Kathleen will be here in about half an hour. We could go over a few things and get started on makeup if you’re willing to take a chance that we’ll get the costumes and props sorted out. Once I take photos, color transparencies will need to be sent overnight to the processing lab. We’ll be able to meet tomorrow morning to choose your favorite shot. I’ll need the rest of the day to print and process the photos. We’ll get them over to have them matted Wednesday morning and you can pick them up on Thursday. Does that work with your schedule?”
“Yes! We don’t have to be in Toronto for our flight home until Sunday afternoon. Let’s do it!”
There was a Judy Garland/Mickey Rooney movie I remember seeing on a date a couple of years ago. The theater in Fulton had a Judy Garland Festival and Christine and I went the summer Ronda was in Colorado. I just remember the line, “Hey, kids! My dad has a barn. Let’s put on a musical!” To me, it embodied the unrealistic enthusiasm I’d encountered in every theatre person I’d ever known, including Beth. I sure wished she was here to help with this.
But the enthusiasm was contagious. We all caught it and I conducted Rachel and Sam to the studio.
Leanne immediately seated Sam next to a hastily prepared table where she had stage makeup laid out and went to work on him. That left me the dressing room with Rachel. Under the makeup lights we’d installed I took a good look at her features, tilting her head from side to side before I used makeup remover to take off the street makeup she was wearing and get started applying a foundation. I pulled her hair back and tied it so I didn’t get makeup in it, then unbuttoned the top three buttons of her blouse and folded it away from her neck.
“I don’t want to get makeup in your hair or on your clothes,” I said. “I know the kind of costumes Kathleen has to choose from and we’ll definitely be putting the makeup a lot lower.”
Rachel surprised me by simply taking her blouse the rest of the way off. Then she reached behind her and unfastened her bra, freeing rather prodigious breasts.
“Uh—,” I started, not knowing what to say. I intended to get to this point, but expected to talk her into it.
“We said, like Hair, right? The thing it’s most known for, besides ‘The Age of Aquarius,’ is its nudity. I assume these will be out and waving around sooner or later. Might as well be sooner,” she said.
“I just didn’t expect you to be so free about it with Sam right outside,” I said.
“Oh, he’s seen them. And a lot more,” she giggled. “Um— Sam and I aren’t really an item, you know? We both won this study trip and decided we might as well treat ourselves to some fun while we were gone. He is well-hung. I found that out last night. But we aren’t boyfriend and girlfriend or anything like that.” She stopped my hand from applying foundation to her forehead and pulled my hands to her breasts. “Anna told us that we’d get the best experience if we put ourselves in your hands and the hands of your assistants. I’m pretty sure Sam is enjoying that foxy Asian girl’s hands.”
“Well, I’ll try to treat them right,” I said, giving her a little squeeze. “That said, I need my hands to do your makeup. I hope Anna also told you there was absolutely no fucking in the studio.”
“Yeah. That’s cool. I know you’d love running your cock up between these breasts, though. That’s not fucking.”
“I guess you’re right. First, makeup and photos.” I returned to applying her makeup.
“Good old Max Factor 2A. Standby of any theatre.”
“You probably know more about applying theatrical makeup than I do.”
“Maybe, but it’s far more fun having you do it.”
We chatted for a while as I worked on making sure the makeup was applied evenly all the way down and over her breasts, then I worked on eyeliner and highlights.
“I think you’ll like this,” Kathleen said, coming into the dressing room. “Oh, yeah. I can see already you’ll like it.”
“Rachel, this is Kathleen Thomas. She’s—”
“You’re an attendant in The Merchant of Venice!” Rachel interrupted.
“I can’t believe you know that. Were you here for the performance Friday night? We don’t go on again until Wednesday. That’s repertory theatre for you.”
“No, we just got in yesterday in time to see School for Scandal. But we got the full program and studied the pictures and bios of all the actors,” Rachel said. “We’re theatre people…or at least theatre people in training.”
“Well, these will get you a long ways, but you need the talent to go with them.” Kathleen petted Rachel’s boobs and Rachel straightened and pushed her chest out. “At least they’re real. That helps. You checked, Nate?”
“Uh— Yes. There was a decided difference between Rachel and Fran. These move. Fran’s stayed in one place no matter how she shifted.”
“You see, Rachel? Guys can tell the difference. They might say they like them big, but what they mean is big and natural. I’ve got a great costume for you. Or part of a costume. I’m glad you’re getting your boobs made up. They’ll be hanging out.”
“We assumed so, given the request we made,” Rachel said. “Say, you’ve got nice natural boobs, too.” She’d made herself comfortable with stroking Kathleen’s breasts.
“Yep. Not as big as your beauties, but all I need. Now, strip off the rest and let’s try this dress on you.”
I expected Rachel to lose her jeans, but when she took them down, she took down the panties as well. I helped by removing her shoes and socks so she could get the tight jeans off over her feet. Kathleen slipped the dress over her head and zipped it up the back. There was a built-in blouse that just barely covered Rachel’s boobs with the main part of the dress cut under them.
“Oh, they’re not on display after all,” Rachel said, sounding a little disappointed.
“Nate likes to start with things demurely covered and then reveal them. This blouse will slide down below quite easily.” She demonstrated by sliding the blouse down beneath Rachel’s boobs and tucking it into the dress as if it didn’t exist at all. “In fact, I’m told the actress who wore this in Merry Wives of Windsor fell out of it so often they resorted to using fabric tape to stick it to her nipples so they wouldn’t be exposed.”
“Cool.”
I reached over and gave each of Rachel’s nipples a little pinch to make them hard, then pulled the blouse up enough to cover them. I stroked across the hard points.
“You see, you’ll be visible, even when you’re covered. I’ll make sure of it.”
“Don’t be surprised if you’re stark naked with your guy’s cock in your mouth by the time he’s done with the last photo.”
“I’ve done that. You should try it while I suck Nate’s.”
“Oh, I think Sam is well occupied,” Kathleen laughed.
We went out into the studio. Ronda and Anna had selected a kind of rustic looking stone wall and fireplace backdrop. Leanne was setting the lights while Anna got Sam seated in a wooden chair at a table.
“When I told Damien what you needed, he went to the props shop with me and loaded a table and two chairs. He said they wouldn’t be used this season, so you’re welcome to keep them for a while if you’d like.”
“Was he here?”
“Popped in long enough to take a look at the studio and to make a couple of suggestions about Sam’s makeup and wardrobe. Then he took off and said to have fun and he’d see me at home.”
“I’m glad to have your assistance,” I said. Then I mouthed to her, “I may need it!”
Sam had a pair of tights with a huge codpiece in the front. He wore a vest that was open down the front and no shirt. He had a hat with a feather in it. He looked great.
I won’t dwell on the whole process of the shoot. They were both so primed, it was no problem at all to act out scenes with a wooden mug of ‘ale’ and Rachel sitting on Sam’s lap in various rather lewd positions. The last scene I shot included Rachel sitting naked on bare-chested Sam’s lap as they shared smoke from a joint. Very Elizabethan Hair.
Of course, I had to take Rachel back to the dressing room to remove her makeup, where Kathleen joined me in making sure our guest had a very satisfying orgasm. Rachel had her hand on my cock, but I didn’t put it in her mouth. I got her out of the dressing room and Kathleen inhaled my cock before I could get it put away. I had a very satisfying orgasm, too.
From what I heard later, Sam also had one, though I wasn’t sure if it had been Leanne, or if Min had stepped in. Or if Rachel had arrived in time. I didn’t really think Anna or Ronda or Patricia would have gone that far, though I don’t know why not.
Tuesday morning, I got the transparencies from Dave and started looking through them. What I saw was a bawdy Shakespearean comedy played out in my studio with two attractive and uninhibited models. Picking the right one for their print was difficult. Leanne and Min joined the girls and me to look through the transparencies and mark the top choices.
We finally all agreed on the one to print and I went to the darkroom. It took me three hours to mix the right chemicals, expose the Cibachrome, and develop the three prints. I’d printed two 8x10s for Rachel and Sam, and a 12x15 for our display area in the studio. Since Anna had worked out an arrangement with the frame shop for matting, she was getting our best photos mounted and displayed on one wall of the studio.
When I came out of the darkroom, Min was sitting in the studio reading. She looked at the prints before I took them out to the store to give to Anna for matting. We all agreed this was a job worth the money Sam and Rachel had paid.
I headed upstairs to get a sandwich, and Min joined me.
“Where’s Leanne?” I asked.
“Kathleen invited her to tour the theatre. She’s all excited about meeting some director over there.”
“Oh, that’s good. They’re good people. Anna and Ronda are going to see their show Wednesday night. I saw it Friday with Patricia.”
“We should get tickets to join them,” Min said. I assumed she meant her and Leanne. “I know you’ve been working hard this week, and I didn’t come for you to entertain me, but could you take some pictures of me today? I’ve looked at the spray Leanne is going to use on me Wednesday and even though it says it washes off, it stains a little. I thought maybe you’d like some pictures with my natural skin tones. You know?”
“That would be fun. We’ll have a nice relaxed session. Do you have an idea of what you’d like?” I asked.
“Oh, I have lots of ideas,” she chuckled. “I’m more than willing to just put myself in your hands.”
She looked at me so intently that I nearly skipped the photo session and just invited her to bed.
Min was taller than Leanne by a couple of inches, very thin, and very fair-skinned. She didn’t really fit the stereotypical image of Chinese people that American culture held. We talked about it a little as I worked with her in the studio, gradually removing articles of clothing until the girl was fully naked and lying on one of the old beds that we’d removed from the apartment. It was a single and I put blue sheets on it to contrast with her skin.
“My parents were Taoist, studying in America when they met and married. When Mao took over China, they elected not to return home and sought asylum here. I am the product of that union. My mother is incredibly beautiful in the Taoist tradition. The Taoist philosophy describes beauty in terms of thinness, light skin, height, and eye-shape. Many Asians have a monolid which gives the eye what westerners call a slant-eye. But the Taoist ideal is a double lid that has a crease or fold, giving the eye a rounder shape. I inherited those characteristics from my mother.”
“Wow! I wouldn’t have known any of that. I looked at you and just saw an incredibly beautiful woman, whom I enjoy posing and photographing.”
“My mother taught me all about the ideals and tried to make a Taoist out of me. I guess I am, sort of. But when I was in high school, I moved to a much more sensualist orientation. Beauty is not an objective in itself. It is a gateway to love and sex. I almost went overboard and have been far more reserved since I left home…much to my parents’ relief.”
“Still, you are incredibly sensual. Your body quivers when I touch you. You respond to words and glances, not just in the studio, but even when we are talking with the family. Or when you are with Leanne.”
“I love your touches, Nate. I love your kisses. I tremble beneath your touch and crave more. Touch my body, my breasts, my vagina. If I please you, I am happy and I know you will please me.”
I set aside the camera and sat on the edge of the bed to take Min into my arms. She was light as a feather and rose to my lips as if on air. I caressed the breasts I’d been admiring all afternoon, and let my fingers stray between her legs. She opened them to me and I played in the moist center as her breathing sped up.
I scooped her up and carried her to the dressing room where we were more in private. There, I held her in my arms as I stroked her to an orgasm and she worked my cock free of my trousers.
“When we are in a bed, I will give myself over to you fully,” she said. “I will welcome this strong cock into my innermost being. But not here in the studio. Here, I will only welcome you into my mouth.” With that, she did welcome me and coaxed a huge load from my stimulated balls.
On Wednesday, Leanne and I started early, preparing Min for her dragon lady appearance. Leanne wrapped Min’s hair to protect it, and then used a thick cream to cover her face. Then we spray-painted the beautiful girl a rich bronze color.
“Are you okay with this, Min?” I asked when I saw the color and remembered her statements about Taoist beauty.
“Yes. I tested it and it is temporary. I will soak and bathe constantly for the next two days and will be almost back to normal,” she laughed.
“She tested it on me,” Leanne laughed. “I had to show her it would be okay.”
“What is this stuff?” I asked Leanne as I helped turn Min, hold her hands above her head, and generally admire the beauty.
“It’s an experimental stuff that came from one of our theatrical makeup suppliers. There are several productions that require a change of skin tone. This is supposed to be one that just darkens slightly, but instead it came out almost metallic.”
“It smells terrible,” Min said.
“The smell will fade some as it dries. When I saw the result of the test we were sent from the makeup company, I ordered a bunch of it just for this. I have to thin it and put it in my air brush in order to get it on smoothly. I tried just applying it with my hands, but it’s hard to do without streaking. This is going on really smoothly.”
“Oh, geez! You covered her nipples!” I said.
“I’m sorry. It was easier that way than trying to spray around them. You’ll have to use some makeup remover and pay special attention to getting them just the right shade. But don’t put them in your mouth until they’ve been thoroughly washed. The jar has a warning that says for external use only. Not sure what they think people might make up without the warning.”
Min giggled as Leanne sprayed down across her pussy.
“You came close to getting it inside there,” she said. She gasped when I spread her butt cheeks so Leanne could make a quick pass down her crack. “I’m ready for a bath already.”
“We’ve scarcely begun,” Leanne said as she finished Min’s legs.
I kissed Min and got some of the cream on her face in my mouth. Yuck.
“What is this stuff?” I asked.
“Zinc oxide cream,” Leanne said. “It’s only there to keep her face from getting the spray on it. Like the plastic wrap on her hair. We’ll keep the plastic on until we get everything else out of the way. Then I’ll do her hair. It’s time now, though, to wipe this beautiful face clean and do the makeup.” She wiped Min’s lips first and kissed her. Then she cleaned the rest of her face with tissues. “Nate, you practiced the scales. Here’s your makeup and brushes. Go to it.”
I started painting the diamond shaped scales on Min’s shoulders and arms as Leanne began working on her face. The makeup base she put on her face was lighter than the bronze spray, but still darkened her considerably.
It took us a solid two hours after the spraying to finish the makeup on Min. The detail work was amazing and I was constantly working out angles and poses for her. I also kept petting her and whispering how much we appreciated her willingness to help create this wonderful work of art. She often leaned into my hand and thanked me.
When we were finally ready, we led Min to the stage and started working on backdrops and lighting. That was no simple matter, either, and Min was unable to help because of the makeup and the incredible claws and helmet Leanne had structured. We chose a fairly neutral mottled backdrop, but lit it in different ways to bring out various tones in different photos. Then we began positioning Min and I started taking the pictures.
I was shooting mostly with the Nikon for 35mm slides, but I had black and white film in the Hasselblad and was catching some terrific shots with it. We opened the studio door and invited Anna, Patricia, and Ronda in to see the artwork. A customer who was talking about having a portrait done peeked in as well and was ‘stunned’ at what she saw. She immediately wanted to know how much doing a portrait like that cost and if she could book a session. Anna took charge of explaining the intricacies of creating a work of art and how much it actually cost to accomplish, especially if it was an exclusive.
I had one last bit, though, that I wanted. I’d seen four poses that I thought were perfect, and I set up the Linhof 4x5 camera with the sheets of Ektachrome Dave had managed to get me. This required a lot of careful handling because it was so susceptible to exposure. I set Min in the pose I wanted and adjusted the lights, bringing down the light on the backdrop and making sure she was perfectly illuminated. I took two different exposures and changed film carriers for a new pose. In all, I had four different poses that I thought would truly make works of art.
I picked up feather-light Min and carried her to the dressing room to begin removing the makeup. First, I kissed her deeply and told her how wonderful her pictures would be and how proud I was to be a part of her work of art.
I turned to find Leanne standing with me, stripped naked. She held out her arms and I repeated my declarations to her as I kissed and petted her. Then Leanne took my place praising Min and started removing the makeup. I slipped out of the dressing room and prepared the film for delivery to Pro Photo Source. I included the roll of transparencies I’d taken of Min the day before along with two full 24 exposure rolls from today and eight 4x5s from the large format camera. When I got to Dave’s, he already had his motorcycle rider ready to take off with the film to London.
“It was amazing, Dave,” I said after the motorcycle left. “You simply won’t believe these pictures.”
He’d offered me a cup of tea and then changed to coffee when I started to decline.
“Tell me about how it went. I’m looking forward to seeing these.”
“First off, you have to understand that my model is an incredibly beautiful woman of Chinese ancestry. I’ve got one roll we sent that was from yesterday when I photographed her with just her normal skin tones and makeup. And believe me, normal for her would be envied by most of the women in our two countries combined. But I have a genius makeup artist who is unbelievable herself. She designed the entire character we filmed today. It took us over four hours to do the makeup. That will tell you what an incredible pro Min is, that she could sit through that whole procedure without complaining. Then we staged and took photos for another two and a half hours. The poor girl is exhausted and Leanne is cleaning makeup off of her as we speak. I foresee a long hot bath and several glasses of champagne.”
“I can’t wait to see these,” Dave said enthusiastically.
We sat and talked for half an hour about process and how I’d managed the lighting before I headed back home. It was Ronda and Anna’s night to go to the theatre, and I wanted to be there to get dinner for Patricia, Toni, Leanne, and Min.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
