(Note: “The Housewives” was a term I fondly coined in 2006 after I started getting shoot requests from private, individual women who became my clients. Many of the women who contacted me were married and in their mid 30’s and were doing the shoots as gifts to their husbands. The folder in my archives is still called this and so I’ve stuck to it, in part just for the irony: most of these women are not “housewives” at all, but strong independent and forward thinking women who I have had the honour of documenting.
All are private commissions and the demographic has changed substantially over the years. Some I’m still in contact with, others I’ve totally lost contact with, some have become friends, some may wish not to have their real names used, others don’t mind, some may have their faces obscured for privacy reasons, others have generously shared their experiences of being photographed.)
I met and shot Lauren in 2007, it was at a time when many of the nude commissions I was doing were linked to the graduate body of work I completed at the end of 2005,- themes such as the French Main, the Bride etc were often therefore requested by my clients who had seen the grad work on exhibition.
Laurens shoot was done (if I remember correctly) at her Grans house one afternoon in January. We shot a series of different looks including a bridal themed series and many various B&W images utilizing interesting props I had collected – from lengths of strung pearls to body cinches.
I was definitely still in the relatively inexperienced zone of my career and there are so many things now that I would have done differently, but then I suppose that is the value of trial ‘n error/experience…
For example (if you were a student reading this it could be helpful):
I am now pretty much obsessed with getting my backgrounds perfect, I steam them, iron them etc so that there is not a crease in sight as they are a pain to retouch out later. Also creases and folds show up in high contrast when shooting against satin.
I stayed in touch with Lauren and messaged her to ask her if she’s be fine with me adding her images to this archive, what see said made me super happy…after all this time…
I absolutely LOVED doing this shoot with you. It was like a discovery of my womanhood. I felt sexy without ever feeling overexposed. I was comfortable at all times.
Its been probably 8yrs since that shoot and I look at the pics quite regularly still and can’t get over how amazing they are. It shows me that I am a beautiful, sexy woman. I would do them again in a heart beat!
Lauren was 21 or 22 when I worked with her and was by far the youngest commercial commission I had ever shot. It was a quirky and fun experience, and in the French maid themed series I used the great location to add depth to the look.
I think her Gran was having tea in the sun room at the time we were shooting this in her lounge, I wondered what she thought…
