Over Exposure
10
Australia
“Krista” by Sergii Mogyla, ID50755501 licensed from Shutterstock.com
BY THE TIME LUNCHEON was served, Lady Jane and I had become comfortable about telling our experiences and sharing the stories behind various photos.
The service on this flight was a new experience as well. There had been a stewardess who greeted me and showed me to my seat. She also brought a cart of beverages and I watched her mix Jane’s Campari Spritz. It looked good, so I ordered the same thing. I guess Prosecco is like Italian champagne. The sweet bubbly with the bitter red liqueur was refreshing.
The luncheon, however, was not served by the stewardess. A white-jacketed steward set our table for us as a red-jacketed steward prepared the meal. He ladled soup into bowls which he then handed the white-coat to be served. Then he prepared the plates of beef and lobster tail to be served. I’d never had lobster and it was a good experience. I followed Lady Jane’s example on scooping out the white flesh and dipping it in melted butter.
After the stewardess cleared our dishes, the two stewards prepared and served salads. I usually thought of salad as something that came at the beginning of a meal, but it went well after the meal. The stewardess brought us coffee and I figured out she was more like a busboy than the stewardesses I’d been used to. The steward brought us a tray of what Jane called biscuits, but were really an assortment of fancy cookies for dessert.
Throughout the meal, we talked about each other’s portfolio. It was easy to see why she was selected from the applicants for this class. Her photos were exquisite. I liked her style. Most of her portraits were taken outdoors and not in a studio. Often the scenery was blurred with a shallow depth of field that really brought her subject’s features into crisp detail. In other images, the figure almost blended with the scenery. It made a statement about the character.
“It won’t be likely that I pose for you,” Jane laughed. “All your models seem to be naked. Even if I don’t inherit the title, I’ll still inherit the physical estate of my father. I don’t want him to disown me.”
“Nudity is not a requirement,” I said. “Though I admit that many of my models if not most of them end up wanting something glamorous and daring. You wouldn’t believe the photos I took on my last flight.”
“On an airplane?”
“It was very different than this. Three rows of four seats with an aisle down the middle. Only two other passengers in first class. And it was from midnight to five in the morning. The stewardess wanted a set of poses and ended up naked in the first row of seats.”
“You can’t have shot Kodachrome for that,” she said.
“No. I loaded my Hasselblad with 400 ASA black and white. I still had to be careful to steady myself against something when I took the pictures. Usually, I’d use a tripod and release cable in that low light.”
I didn’t tell her we ended up fucking there, nor that the other couple saw us and then stripped naked in the third row. I’d seen them behind me in customs and they were still draped all over each other.
“I think we can learn a lot from each other. I’d rather like to watch you get a model naked. I might be able to use that technique,” she laughed.
“Nearly all my work is studio work. I’d love to learn more of what you do to set up shots outside. I guess that is less conducive to getting models naked.”
“It is when I’m taking cityscapes,” Jane said. “But when I’m out in the country, I’ve found blokes who were altogether happy to lose their kit. It’s monstrously difficult to get them posed so their knobs aren’t exposed.”
“That’s always been much easier when photographing women. I’ve had a couple of guys who were just too proud of what they had to keep it covered, but mostly when they see the proofs, they go to the more modest shots.”
“What about the women?”
“I think we are in an age—in America, at least—where women are feeling empowered by showing their bodies. They know very well that their mothers would frown on it, but many had grandmothers who were part of a different era growing up in which drinking and immodesty seemed to be the antidote for poverty and uncertainty. So, now that I’ve done my very unprofessional analysis, I think the women come into the studio thinking of something just a little risqué, like a bare back or such, and as they pose, they work themselves into being quite a bit less modest. Most at least want a picture that shows their breasts. Some want more than that.”
“And you don’t manipulate them into that mindset?” she asked.
“Mmm. I’ve often questioned myself about that. My girlfriends have told me that I don’t manipulate, I facilitate. Whatever.”
“Girlfriends, plural? Please tell me about this prurient lifestyle!”
I don’t think it came off as scandalous as Jane imagined. When she found out about the girls all living with me and our little toddler, she was mollified. She was far more interested in my relationship with Adrienne and that led to the movie.
For her part, I found Jane was an only child and technically lived on the family estate of Plympford. In reality, she stayed in London since starting at the Polytechnic of Central London. The photography program there was started in 1883. Heck of a heritage, but I guess her family home was built sometime in the 1630s.
Our conversation lasted all the way to Sydney and after we cleared customs again, we caught our flight to Melbourne with no hassle.
I saw Jane’s driver holding a sign for her as we emerged from customs. She said goodbye and we’d see each other the next day for our first group meeting. I’d been told a host would greet me at the airport, but I didn’t see any signs with my name on them. Then my eyes lit on a grinning woman waving at me.
Dale had come to pick me up at the airport.
I dragged my bags to meet her and she wrapped her arms around me to give me a huge kiss.
“I am so glad you have come to visit me!” she said. “I jumped through all kinds of hoops at the school to get them to let me host you. Josh is so excited to have you in his little class. I’ve seen the submitted portfolios of all the attendees and I think yours is the most creative. There might be some that are more technically perfect, but yours is the most creative.”
“Dale, I’m thrilled to see you. By hosting me, do you mean I’m staying with you?” I asked.
“Yes, exactly. Uh… I know it’s been a while and things change. You don’t have to sleep with me. I had to show the school I actually had a separate room where you could stay. They wanted to give me some upper crust sheila from England. That’s just not my style. I’m rambling. Come on and let’s go to my car. It’s parked just outside.”
Dale hoisted my portfolio and tripod bag while I carried the cameras and my suitcase. I’d thought I was carrying an awfully big suitcase until I saw the trunk Lady Jane was carting. It would never have fit in Dale’s car. Nearly every car I saw since I got here looked like it was half the size of American cars.
It was nice to see Dale again and I was pretty sure I’d have no trouble sleeping with her if she wanted. It threw me, however, when she got into the right side of the car and I thought she wanted me to drive. I got in on the left and discovered the steering wheel was on her side. Then she drove down the wrong side of the road and I quickly decided I would not be driving in Australia. I was pretty sure I wouldn’t last a mile.
Dale was twenty-eight years old, I knew from having a model release from last year. She was five feet tall and a kind of dirty blonde with hair that hung to the middle of her back. And she’d professed to be a nudist when at home. She showed me to my room, and then wasted no time undressing to show me her home and studio, etc. I could only match her mode of dress and follow her around. I was pretty tired—I guess they call it jet lag—and might not have responded as obviously to her nudity as I might have otherwise. She took that as a good sign that we could be relaxed and nude without expecting to hop into bed at once.
I loved her studio. What’s more, I wished Kat could see it. There were canvases stacked all over. At least half a dozen easels had works in progress on them. She had a space in the middle where she could pose models on a platform about ten feet in diameter.
I guess one of the differences between painting and photography—one of the many differences—was that you could fill in any background you wanted in a painting. That was a lot more difficult to do with film. Not quite impossible, but really hard to do. We’d tried it in our Experimental Photography class the previous semester. It was easier to transport the studio lights, camera, and model to the location where the background was. Anyway, I had only seen a couple of photographs of her art when she taught at Columbia. Seeing it in person was a real treat.
“I want you to sit for me while you’re here. I have a portrait you took of me. Now I want to paint one of you.”
“I had a far more attractive model than you have,” I laughed.
“You had an attractive assistant, too. Don’t think I can match that. Let’s get some food ready.”
“I’m up for that. I’m afraid I won’t last long tonight before I fade off to sleep. It’s three in the morning in Chicago. I haven’t really adjusted yet.”
“Then let’s get you fed and to bed.”
Dale did get me fed, though I don’t remember a thing about the meal. I do remember her leading me to bed and crawling in with me.
We gathered for our class at nine in the morning. I felt reasonably rested, even though I’d woken up at midnight, thinking it was time to get up. Dale had a solution for that and I fell back to sleep in a post-coital stupor.
I greeted Lady Jane when I walked in. Her equipment case was huge and on rollers, something I thought was pretty cool since I was lugging the camera case and the bag with tripods.
“Welcome to a portrait intensive,” we were greeted. I recognized the voice. “I’m Josh Logan. We are all fellow professionals in this class. You can call me Josh and I’ll use your given names as well. Except for you, Lady Jane. Must keep the Earl’s respect,” he laughed.
We each introduced ourselves and where we were from. One guy, Ari Pearce, was from the west coast city of Perth, Australia and attended RMIT during the normal school year. He had pretty much lived in Melbourne since he started school and was about to start his last year of a degree program. Of course, we were there in mid-summer and most students were out for the year. The other guy, Dominic Berti, was from an Art Academy in Florence, Italy. I thought he might be a little older than the rest of us.
Our first morning together was spent presenting our portfolios. I’d had to do a fair amount of work photographing my best pieces to make 35mm slides of them for the presentation. It looked like everyone had to do the same thing as there were only scattered 35mm originals.
I was surprised that Josh didn’t show any of his work, but he said this intersession for most of us was to work on enhancing our own style and not on mimicking his. That was pretty cool, but I hoped we’d get to see some of his work eventually. He went over the syllabus for the session and explained the kind of projects we would do. He suggested we work in black and white as we would have darkroom facilities available for processing and printing. We would be focusing on portraiture and not on landscape or architecture.
It was going to be a good session.
Then there was the ‘Welcome to Australia Barbie.’ The students and their hosts were entertained by the school administration, Josh, and two people he introduced as assistants, who would provide transportation when we were on location and help assist us all in the darkroom and the studio. We were told to tell them any time we needed something.
The barbie was steak on a grill, served with an abundance of beer. Ari and Dominic seemed intent on showing who could drink the most. It looked like their hosts were right with them.
I introduced Dale to Lady Jane.
“Lady Jane, may I introduce you to my host, the artist Dale McKenzie? Dale, Lady Jane is the upper crust sheila from England they tried to stick you with,” I said.
“Nate! Please forgive my American guest for his crudeness, Lady Jane,” Dale said. She didn’t quite curtsey, but she nodded her head to Jane, not offering her hand.
“Oh, I quite got used to him on the aeroplane,” she laughed. “I find that Americans are almost as crude as Aussies.”
“I think I like you,” Dale laughed. “Too bad I couldn’t have had both you and Nate in my clutches.”
“Honestly, my hosts are trying too hard to be proper. I’d rather cut loose just a little,” Jane said.
“You’d certainly be able to do that with us,” Dale laughed. “We’re nudists.”
“You… You mean… I mean… You, too?” she asked pointing at me. I just nodded.
“Don’t worry,” Dale said. “I only have guests strip when they are posing for me. So, you are certainly welcome to visit any time. Let Nate know and I’ll spirit you away after your day of studies.”
“I may take you up on that, but it’s still early.”
“Yes, too bad you didn’t arrive a couple of days earlier. The place was a madhouse. It was our first One Day International cricket match. The telly said 45,000 people attended.”
“I do love cricket,” Jane said.
“Well, we beat the Poms by five in a 40-overs contest that went for seven and a half hours. Quite exciting,” Dale said.
We all finally wrapped up our day and headed to our homes to get started again in the morning.
Josh got us started right away Friday morning. I hate to mention that a couple of guys were pretty hungover from the coldies at yesterday’s barbie. Josh was not sympathetic. He had a model in for the day and we each got two hours with her to pose, photograph, and discuss the process as the others watched. He called on Ari to go first since he was familiar with the studio and the lab.
Our instructions were to pose the model and take pictures of her. In doing so, we needed to choose a backdrop and light the model, then use our personal equipment to take the photo. Since these would all be black and white, I’d already decided I wouldn’t be using the Nikon much in the studio. I got much better quality from the Hasselblad and superior images from the Linhof. Of course, that last one would only be used when I felt I had the perfect shot.
Ari didn’t use a medium format camera at all. He shot with his 35mm and with a large format camera I was unfamiliar with. A Tachihara from Japan. Maybe that one hadn’t made it to the Camera Warehouse yet. I used my Nikon to get a picture of him setting up and of the camera itself. I almost made a wisecrack about having a camera made out of wood, but the more I looked at it, the more I liked its design, weight, and versatility. Ari admitted that his normal use for the large format camera was landscape and wildlife photos, but thought it did a good job in the studio, too.
The model was a young woman who wore a cute sundress, appropriate for the eighty-degree weather we expected today. I could imagine her headed to the beach, wearing a bikini under the dress. I thought Ari’s poses were a little unimaginative and I was really surprised at the rate he burned through 4x5 negatives. He must be made of money. We had to furnish our own supplies as well as the equipment.
Josh mentioned that in his critique. He suggested that doing photography with the 35mm would save money while he waited for the perfect shot to capture on the large format.
Ari admitted that he did that when he was shooting landscapes and animals. He captured a lot of scenes with the 35 because it was faster and if weather or light was changing, he could get the shot even if he missed the opportunity on the Tachihara. But in the studio, he knew the light was perfect and didn’t think he needed to use the 35 as much because every shot would be right.
Dominic was the second photographer up and our model, whose name I’d learned was Krista, came out from behind the dressing screen in a different outfit. This was a two-piece with shorts and a nice summery blouse. She wore sandals and a sun bonnet. Dominic learned some from the critique of Ari, so he shot a lot more pictures on his 35 and fewer on the large format. The result, though, was that he shot almost nothing on his medium format camera.
After lunch, Lady Jane got to set up her equipment. I was amazed at her large format camera. It was a Sinar F2 8x10 with a 300mm focal length. That sounds like you’d be shooting something a mile away with the Nikon, but it equated to about a 50mm lens on the smaller camera. I was really looking forward to seeing her photos of Krista. She had some cute poses with her leaning over the stool rather than sitting on it. Pretty cool.
I don’t know how I managed to luck out with the last session. Everyone was tired. We’d had three two-hour studio sessions and an hour lunch break. It was already four o’clock. I grabbed a few items from the cafeteria during lunch and was looking forward to working with Krista, who I found to be a pretty malleable model who followed instructions well and had a gentle personality. Not to mention the fact that she was extremely easy on the eyes.
“Hey there. I’m Nate,” I said when she emerged from the dressing area in a very American looking pair of cut-offs and a tube top. She was barefoot and had a headband pulling her hair back from her face. She’d done a really good job of changing her look for each photographer.
“Nice to meet you, Nate. What would you like me to do?”
“Mmm. Have a seat here and relax,” I said. “You’ve been working hard all day. Are you getting tired?”
“A little. Mostly, bored. It hasn’t been a very exciting day.”
“Want to spice it up a bit?” I asked.
She grinned at me.
“Think we might get to offend Lady Upherbutt?” she whispered.
“I think she has a full set of all the bits I’d like to photograph. Why don’t we start by unbuttoning and opening your shorts?”
I reached directly to her waistband and opened the button and zipper, folding the sides out to expose almost to her slit.
“You should know I’m not wearing anything under those,” she giggled.
“I wouldn’t want it any other way,” I answered.
I positioned her and started taking pictures, returning to change her position. I touched her pretty freely to see how she would respond to physical directions. She seemed fine with it all. We both just shut everyone else in the room out as I moved lights and got her to relax.
“I think we’re ready to lose the top,” I whispered as I put an arm around her. “I considered just pushing it down, but I think taking it off completely would be better.”
“Go for it, mate.”
I turned her to face away from the class and reached under her arms to pull the tube top off over her head. While her arms were still upstretched, I took the opportunity to massage her breasts a moment.
“Keep that up, I might ask you to marry me.”
“Ah, that would be so heartbreaking,” I answered. “I have three girlfriends already and can’t choose one to marry.”
“I hope they don’t mind you playing around down under.”
“I think they’re hoping I will,” I laughed.
I started with photos of her back. It was lovely and strong. She reached back with her left hand and then leaned back a bit to look over her shoulder at me. I quickly grabbed the prop I’d brought from the cafeteria. The cafeteria had some parfait type pudding in a tulip glass with a little umbrella in it. It looked like the Mai Tais they served on the plane. I handed the glass to Krista and then had her slowly turn toward me by degrees with the glass held between her breasts and her head tilted slightly back.
That’s when I finally started using the 4x5 camera. I got some really nice photos before I even got to the point of stripping off her shorts. She set the glass between her legs and pointed an accusing finger at me. Perfect! I got the picture and then went straight to her and carried her behind the changing screen.
As I set her down, she turned to me and pulled my head toward her.
“Now that you’ve felt me up thoroughly, at least kiss me,” she whispered. I enjoyed that until Josh called for me to come out for the critique. One more squeeze of her luscious boobs and ass and I went to join my classmates. They were scowling at me.
“A very entertaining session,” Josh started. “Who has some comments?”
“I didn’t know we were allowed to get her naked,” Dominic started.
“Did you try?” Josh asked.
“Well, no,” Dom admitted. “I just assumed we were doing standard portraits.”
“I see,” Josh answered and waited for the next comment.
“There was a kind of logical progress in the way Nate posed her. Each pose brought us closer to that splendid accusing pose at the end. How much of that did you have planned ahead, Nate?” Lady Jane asked.
“A lot of my work is with nude models. So, I knew I’d see if she was willing to go that far. I brought the parfait from the cafeteria just as a prop I could use in a variety of ways, even if she didn’t consent to nudity. So, I had a starting point, but didn’t really know how far it would go.”
“I thought the prop was brilliant,” Ari said. “I’m not at all a prude when it comes to nudity, even though I mostly shoot landscape and I wish I’d thought to suggest it to Krista. But the problem with most nudes is that there’s no story to them. You have a naked sheila and that’s fun to look at, but there’s no real reason for it.”
“Good point, Ari,” Josh said. “One of the things we want to deal with in this course is how to get a portrait to tell a story.”
“I think I saw something else,” Lady Jane said. “Nate connected with the model. I’d have to say I was focused on showing how I could pose Krista and get the image I wanted to show my skill as a photographer. I even flat-out turned down a suggestion Krista made. Nate talked to her and asked her what she was comfortable with. He exposed more than her body. That last shot showed a Krista I didn’t know was here. She was playful and casual. His photo wasn’t about how to show himself as a great photographer, but was about how to make her look great in his photo. I think I said that right.”
“That’s not to discount Nate’s skill as a photographer and capturing a good image. I’m looking forward to seeing all your photos printed,” Josh said. “However, tomorrow, we’re going to tour the National Gallery of Victoria. We’ll leave from here at nine. We’ll look at several types of artwork, but I want you to think about the story each piece tells and how it speaks to you. You should plan on bringing your small format camera as there won’t be time or places to set up even a medium format. It is six o’clock, but the studio will be open until nine if you would like to use the darkrooms to develop and proof your day’s work. Larry and Vince will be around to assist. See you tomorrow.”
Josh took off and I quickly checked behind the changing screen to see if Krista was still there. She’d gone for the day, so I got the film from my cameras and headed for a darkroom. I didn’t need to be anywhere right away. Dale had shown me how to get to and from the school on a bus.
“Are you hungry?” Lady Jane asked when I emerged from the darkroom about eight-thirty. She was just coming out of hers. There was no sign of Ari or Dominic.
“Starving,” I answered. “Hoping Dale has something in her fridge I can gulp down.”
“There’s a pub just up the street. Let’s stow our equipment and get some food.”
“Great idea. I should give Dale a call so she doesn’t worry that I’ve gotten lost. I’d like to save that for when I have,” I laughed.
“Yes. Courtesy dictates that we let our hosts know, even though we are guests with a degree of independence. Oh, bring your proofs. I’d like to see what you got and compare it to what I did,” she said.
“I don’t think a comparison is necessary, but it would be nice to exchange ideas,” I said. She started to sputter something and stopped when I just winked at her.
“I’m never sure when you are criticizing me or just teasing,” she said.
We went to the studio phone and each called our hosts. Dale said she was likely to be up late if I needed a lift later. She’d had a model in for the day and was inspired to keep painting.
“I like the way you compose your images,” I said, looking at Jane’s proof sheet. I was being very careful to keep spatters from my mixed grill far away from the photos. “I saw you instruct Krista on exactly where to hold her hand and the position of each finger. The image quality is superb.”
“I’m surprised she didn’t change it and just give me the middle one,” Jane laughed. “I believe she thought I was rather a stick up the arse.”
“She did seem to have a bit of a grudge against you when I was talking to her. She wanted to know if we might offend her ladyship. I think she was hoping,” I laughed. “But she showed great presence as a model. She followed the directions and you got the shot.”
“I’ve always expected there to be a bit of resentment from models. And everyone else. The Earl is not a major noble in the country. Oh, he sits in Parliament, but our family wealth is modest compared to many nobles. We actually sell tours of the castle in order to help meet the taxes. But he is still nobility and no one wants to offend him or anyone in his family. It wasn’t unusual for me to sit in a pub for a couple of hours eating and drinking and then be told that my drinks and food ‘had been taken care of.’ So, we were people of privilege and others resent that.”
“I do hope you’re not expecting your meal and drinks to be taken care of here,” I said. “In America, that would make this a date instead of two colleagues out to learn from each other.”
“Thank you for the warning. No, I don’t expect you to take care of me, or the other way around. We might save that for another time.”
I looked at her, rather startled. She just grinned.
“Now, when Krista turned toward you in this last shot, I thought you were going to take a picture right up her quim. But she put the parfait between her legs and blocked the shot from becoming indecent. What inspired you to pick up a parfait at the cafeteria in preparation for the shoot that you’d do two hours later?”
“I like working with props. I think Ari hit a bit of my philosophy when he talked about there being a story. It doesn’t make all that much difference what the prop is, because the story people see is often unrelated to what is actually going on in the photo. I guess I’d observed what she was wearing in the first two shoots and thought she might get around to wearing a bikini for the last one. I just wanted a prop that would speak of summer and fun in the sun.”
“You got better than a bikini in the long run.” She stopped and looked around the pub to be sure no one was overhearing her. “How much did you feel her up?”
“Um… I don’t think…”
“Nate, you had her turned away from us while you took the boob tube off her long enough to spend a good time making sure those pert little nipples were hard and erect when she turned toward the camera. You did, didn’t you?”
“I try to be sensitive to the model and Krista and I were working well together by that time. It was like we were co-conspirators and sharing an intimate secret with each other. So, yes, I spent some time making sure her nipples were presentable,” I said.
“She was a little flushed when she turned toward the camera. You must have done a good job of it,” Jane laughed.
“Why so interested in that?” I asked.
“Oh, just wanted to know what to expect if I eventually do model for you.”
The trip to the art museum was interesting and I made a note to go to more art museums when I got back home. Chicago had plenty of them. Josh was a unique guide to the museum as well. He didn’t focus on just the portraits, though we spent time examining each of them. Instead, he got us to take turns telling the story of different pieces.
“This bloke is up to no good and his bird is completely unaware that she’s about to get introduced to him intimately. He’s got a hand around her waist so she can’t get away as he leads her into the woods. He’s got a blanket over his other arm, so he’s definitely planning to spread her out under some tree and have his way with her,” Ari said about a painting of a couple walking through the woods.
“I’d say that’s where Billy Joe MacAllister jumped off the Tallahatchie Bridge,” I said, looking at a painting of two people on a rickety bridge over a rushing river.
“This is the marketplace in Venice,” Dom said. “I’ve been there and I know just what was happening. The two anziani back here by the pillar are gossiping about all the people they see in the market. They know everything about everyone. They know these two people look like they just happened to meet in the market and exchanged pleasantries, but really, they’re agreeing on a place to meet later. This fellow is chasing off the brats poking around his wagon, while behind him another kid is stealing apples.”
“The girl here is standing on a street corner pretending to sell oranges, but you can tell by the way she’s dressed in something almost completely transparent that the oranges are a ruse,” Lady Jane said. “She’s really selling herself. Look, you can even see through the gown that she shaves her pubes to help keep the lice at bay. She’s showing that she’s clean and safe.”
I looked at Jane. She had really loosened up in the two days we’d been in the class. It was fun to see.
“That one’s a good explanation of what I’m trying to get across to you,” Josh said. “You can move your portraiture to the next level by investing in some props. They don’t have to be elaborate. I’ve seen some great portraits with something as simple as a banana or a coffee cup. Look at these paintings and you see a story taking shape by location, props, and costume. Nate, how many props do you have in your studio?”
“Oh… Uh… Hundreds, I guess. I have a pretty unique situation in that I have a couple of assistants who go out and track down interesting junk. We rotate things in and out of the attic. When I’ve used something once or twice, we send it to a thrift store to be resold while Cassie goes to an estate sale and buys a big box of costume jewelry and Leanne grabs a bunch of clothes that look interesting. We grab old backdrops from theatres and furniture from junk sales. It’s a room that’s about four times the size of the studio portion itself,” I said.
“You do not need to go overboard like Nate has,” Josh laughed. “But look at Lady Jane’s photos. What Nate has done with props in a studio, she’s done with backgrounds in the village or country. Ari has done it with wildlife and nature settings. Dom has captured in costumes and architecture. What we are here to do is to cross-pollinate. Not to have you copy each other, but to add some of each other’s flavor to your stock of tricks. Now, we’ll give you the Lord’s Day off tomorrow, but we’ll pick up again at nine o’clock Monday morning. The studio will be available from nine until six tomorrow if you want to do some printing.”
It was only about two in the afternoon when we got back to the studio.
“I’m thinking I could probably get what I want to print done this afternoon and could go out to a beach tomorrow,” I said to Jane. “I was told there was a great beach not that far from here. It’s called St. Kilda Beach.”
“Oh, let’s do that!” Jane said. Let’s?
“Um… You’d like to go?” I said.
“Uh… I thought you were… I mean… I suppose you’ll go with Dale. I’d be a nuisance.”
“Not at all!” I said. “I mean, I haven’t suggested it to Dale. She might want to join us, but she wouldn’t be a nuisance. Or treat you like one. We’re not actually an item. We’re just really comfortable together. We’ve known each other, sort of, for a year, you know.”
“Nate, are you sleeping with her?”
“Ahh. Well, not all the time,” I said.
“Good. Then maybe she’ll drive us. I hate to ask my hosts for anything. You’re lucky to have a host you like and enjoy being with. It’s not like I’m inviting you to be intimate with me. I mean, particularly. But I really don’t like hanging out with my hosts. He is a history professor here and thinks I know all about the noble houses of the 1600s. His wife actually curtseyed to me,” Jane said.
“Maybe we should invite Ari and Dom along,” I suggested.
“Haven’t you noticed that they are already spending all their time with each other?” Jane asked. “I wouldn’t absolutely swear to it, but I think they’re queer. I heard them asking Josh for male models.”
“That’s okay. I mean, I don’t see anything wrong with it. One of my best friends at Columbia is a transvestite. Takes hormones and everything and is a really cute girl.”
“You have the most interesting friends! I don’t have anyone who is half interesting in England. Please, may I join you and Dale at the beach tomorrow?”
“Only if you get into the darkroom right now and get your best images printed so we can take tomorrow off,” I laughed.
We agreed and darted into the darkrooms that had been assigned to us. We’d paid a lab fee for paper and chemicals in the darkrooms and were able to specify what we wanted. That stuff was too hard to transport. As it was, I knew I’d need to restock my film supply within a week.
“Are you sure you want me to come along tomorrow?” Dale asked. We were sitting in the living room, both nude, and having a cup of tea before bed. “I didn’t invite you to stay here expecting you’d sleep with me every night. You’re welcome when you’d like, but you can certainly have dates with other girls. You can bring them home with you if you’d like. I think that’s why I had to show the committee that I had a separate room for you.”
“Dale, I wasn’t expecting to be sleeping with you at all when I came here. It’s fun and I like just sitting around drinking tea and enjoying being in the buff. You’re still as much of a turn-on as you were a year ago when Ronda and I had you in the studio. But I didn’t even know if I’d see you when I came down here.”
“Well, I teach at RMIT and I might have mentioned to Josh that you’d be a good choice for this course, but it wasn’t just to sleep with you.”
“Let’s put it this way. Lady Jane and I aren’t sleeping together. We aren’t even dating. She doesn’t like her hosts that much and the other guys in our class seem to be into each other. I can’t blame her for not wanting to be left out of everything.”
“Higgins. That old fart should never have been allowed to host. I understood that he had an entire itinerary put together for what he intended Lady Jane to see and where he wanted her to go. I’m sure he’d be appalled to think of her in a bikini on a beach.”
“Wow. A bikini. I hadn’t thought of that.”
“I assure you that a bikini is a starting point for this outing. She might be as naked as I am by the time the day ends.”
“You know, now that you’ve drawn my attention to it, your nudity is really attractive.”
“Want to come to bed and get a tactile experience of it?” she giggled. She set her teacup down and stood, holding out her hand to me. I took it and followed her to her bedroom.
The beach was a puzzle. It was good that we had Dale with us to direct us to safe places to play in the sand or water, though the water wasn’t really great. It was, at least, considerably warmer than the ocean I dipped my toes into a few weeks earlier in LA. Same body of water, I guess, but it was winter up there.
The problem with safety on the beach was staying where it had been cleaned. Apparently, cleanup of broken glass and trash had been progressing for ten years now, but the beach was so trashed that progress was slow. We stayed at the north end of the beach, near the baths. The water wasn’t very clean. But we did enjoy just being out in the sun on the sand.
And there were definitely bikinis to be seen. I was most interested in the two that were stretched out next to me. Of course, I’d seen Dale in nothing before we dressed to go out today. And I’d examined every bit of her body with my fingertips. But there is something so damned exciting about a bikini.
And these bikinis were a light-year ahead of the ones I’d seen in the US. There was just a triangle of stretchy fabric that covered each nipple and a triangle that covered the pussy. They were all tied together by bits of string. In fact, the string was tied on each hip and behind their necks and backs. I didn’t fully appreciate what the result was until they stood to go to the bath house for the restroom. The view from behind was spectacular. I quickly grabbed my Nikon and snapped the picture, just hoping this would turn out well.
I knew Lady Jane was a good-looking woman. She dressed immaculately, if not provocatively. She usually looked extremely professional. Suddenly seeing the complete shape of her body, her breasts, and her round buttocks was a real revelation. She was very thin, I suppose, but nicely shaped. I hadn’t been seriously considering photographing her before, but now I really wanted to light her and focus. And reveal the rest of her. I mean, her inner beauty. You know.
When they returned to the blanket where I’d stayed, protecting our goods while they used the toilets, I watched the lovely view of their fronts and raised my camera again. Dale pointed me out to Jane and both women slowed their pace and did an exaggerated model walk as they slowly approached me. I was able to change lens settings and make sure I got a good one. When they were about six feet away, they turned their backsides to me and cocked their hips. Since I was being invited to take pictures of their delicious rumps, I finished the roll of film.
“I believe Nate owes us now,” Dale said.
“I think so,” Jane said. “He got us to model for him. Surely, he should model for us.”
“You want to take his picture out here?” Dale asked.
“A nice family picture of the two of you together,” Jane laughed, “but not a posed model shot. I’m supposed to be working on expanding my typical portraiture, you know. We should have him in a studio where you can sketch as well as I photograph.”
“Oh! I have a studio!” Dale said as if just remembering the space that took up nearly as much room as the rest of her house. “We could take Nate there and pose him any way we wanted.”
“I think I’ve had enough sun. I’ll be burnt to a crisp if I stay out longer. My skin has never seen so much sun,” Jane said. “What say we pack up and take Nate to your studio right now?”
“Uh… Does Nate get to say anything about this?” I asked.
“Hmm. Did we get to say anything when you photographed our bums as we left?” Jane asked. Damn. She knew about that one.
“Come on, Nate. You knew from the beginning we were going to end up with you naked in the studio. Now let’s pack up and you can find out how we handle getting you posed.”
That could be interesting. And maybe I’d get the two women posed as well. We packed up our beach things, including pulling on coverups, then headed for the car.
Please feel free to send comments to the author at devon@devonlayne.com.
