Chapter 4

Beth and I exchanged the Healey for the Jeep—more room to haul the equipment—then off to the pro photo shop. I felt like a kid at Christmas!

An hour later we were back at my house and had everything set up in the basement. Beth threatened to slap me just to wipe the silly grin off my face. I never thought I'd have the chance to use gear like this!

After several false-starts we figured out how to set the strobe lights to get the effect we wanted. I put Beth's camera on the tripod and shot a few samples—not quite what I was looking for so we fiddled some more until we got what I thought were acceptable images. Then it was back to Beth's house to run them through Photoshop.

Two hours later I had the final pictures up on Beth's twenty-four-inch monitor.

"Tommy, those are amazing! Dad's going to go nuts when he sees what you've done!" She threw her arms around my neck and all thoughts of photography were wiped from my mind.

"Beth," I asked when I finally got my breath back, "Could you grab a fancy top? As long as I have the strobes I'd like to take a portrait of you."

"Could you do one of the two of us?"

"Um, sure. If I use the remote release. We might have to try a few to get the pose down, but it shouldn't be too bad."

"Great! Let's do it!"

I motioned toward the monitor, "Let me print these off first. Then we can stop at the shop and show your dad."

Beth's dad almost drooled over what we'd done, "Tommy, these are fantastic! I can't believe how you managed to use colors to show the different angles and sides. I was beginning to think it was going to be impossible to get pictures of these things. Son, I owe you big time."

"Mr. Jones, you already paid for the equipment rental and I used Beth's camera so let's just call it even."

"No, Tommy. I'm going to out-stubborn you on this one. You've done a professional job on these and you deserve to be paid. We can deduct the rental costs if you insist, but I'd like to order some large prints of a couple of these and also get the rights to use the JPGs on our web site."

"Oh, as far as the camera use—well, it's Beth's camera so you two will have to work that out," he grinned.

"Okay. How about if I find out what a couple of sixteen-by-twenty prints will run. Do you want me to check on framing, too?"

"Oh, good idea. See if you can get some brushed chrome frames. I want those to really stand out!"

We got back to my house and ran up to my room to change for the portraits. For some reason that seemed to take a long time.

Back in my "studio" I had Beth sit on a stool while I tried several poses and lighting ideas. Using four lights was something new to me and it took some experimenting to get the effect I was looking for. When I finally had what I wanted I shot several pictures and then moved things around so both of us would be in the frame. Again, there was some adjusting to do before I got it right, but finally I got a couple that looked good—on the camera's small monitor anyway.

Now for the hard part.

"Beth you remember last Christmas when you gave me the pencil set and a figure study was mentioned?"

"Yeah..." I could hear the trepidation in her voice.

"How about if I do one with the camera?"

"You want me to pose NUDE?!"

"Only sort of," I temporized.

"'Sort of'? How's THAT going to work?"

I explained what I was thinking of and then cajoled, wheedled, and begged until she agreed—with rights of final refusal. If she didn't like the photo she could erase it off the camera's memory card.

After she stripped—excuse me, disrobed—I had her sit on the same stool we'd used for the portraits, except this time facing partially away from the camera and with her face turned even more away from the lens—you could still tell it was Beth, but only if you knew her. I moved her arm until it fig-leafed her breast. All that showed was a small part of her left butt cheek, her back and shoulder and a quarter profile of her face.

I stepped back to the camera and took several exposures, some with a soft-focus filter for a more ethereal look. Then I had her turn her head for a straight profile shot, had her look down and brushed her hair forward—partially masking her face and breasts.

When I was done she came back to the camera and we went through the photos.

"Tommy, those are beautiful! I really like the soft-focus ones, but what are you going to do with them?"

"If I promise no one else will see them, can I surprise you?"

"Well ... I suppose," she hesitantly answered.

I turned off the strobes and we headed back to her place.

A couple of days later I stopped at the shop after work and took Beth back to her house. I had three large flat packages with me. I left two of them by the hall table and took one upstairs. Beth was bouncing from one foot to the other with curiosity.

When we got to her room I had her sit down and handed her the package. She tore the brown paper wrapping off and saw the picture I'd had made up as a sixteen-by-twenty. A friend of my dad owned a frame shop and he'd let me make up a special frame for it.

Beth just stared at the photo for what seemed like several minutes, then I saw a single tear splash on the glass.

"Oh my God, Tommy. It's beautiful," she said in a hushed voice. "I can't believe it's me." She got up and propped the picture up on her pillow, right under the professional oil portrait hanging over her bed. There they were—the two contrasting images of Beth—one as a young girl and the other as a beautiful nude.

We both stood there and just looked at the them then she turned to me, "Tommy, I don't have words to tell you how much I love that picture."

"I'm glad you like it. Now, where are you going to put it?"

She reached up and took down the original portrait and hung mine in its place. "How does that look?" she asked.

"I think it's perfect, but what are your folks going to say?"

"Don't worry, I can take care of that. But what are the ones downstairs?"

"You'll have to wait until your folks get home. Can you wait that long?"

"Well ... Maybe if I have something to distract me," she said as she reached for my zipper...

Beth's mom spotted the packages as soon as they walked in the door, "And what do we have here?"

"Oh, just some pictures I had lying around," I said with a grin.

"You got them? Already?" Beth's dad sounded like a six-year-old on Christmas morning. He grabbed both packages and almost ran to the living room. We sat down on the couch and he was ready to tear the wrapping off when I stopped him, "You might want to open the other one first," I said, pointing to the thicker of the two packages.

He tore the wrapper off and saw the two framed pictures of his valves, "Tommy, these are great! They look even better than the proofs you showed me, and you even found the perfect frames!"

He spent a couple of minutes comparing the two shots, trying to figure out which one he liked better, when Mrs. Jones grabbed the other package, "And what would be in this one? Another of our products?"

"Well, you COULD say that," I grinned.

She pulled the wrapping off and gasped, "Tommy, it's beautiful! Where'd you get it?" She held up a sixteen-by-twenty portrait of Beth—one WITH clothes.

Beth's dad looked over, "Holy shit, Tommy! And you say you're not a professional photographer!"

"You took this?" Beth's mom said. I just nodded.

I was really proud of that picture. I'd added a light red gel to the light on her hair to really make the light-brown pop out—that and the back light that separated her from the background. I'd spent a lot of time getting the lights just right and was really happy with the result.

Beth's mom looked at her dad, "I think it's time we had a family portrait taken, don't you?"

"You bet! Tommy, could you do that for us?"

"Sure, but I'm supposed to get the rental lights back tomorrow. So we'd almost have to do it tonight."

"Then let's do it tonight!" Beth's dad responded.

I went home to pick up the lights and stands while Beth and her folks got ready.

By the time I got back they were all ready to go so we chose a place in front of the living room fireplace, rearranged some furniture and I set up the lights, posed the three of them and started shooting. Then Beth and I went up to her room to print a set of proofs and we were done until they decided which images they wanted as prints.

The next day Beth's mom called, "Tommy, you're a nasty person!"

Oh SHIT! She'd seen Beth's nude! I was dead. "Um, Mrs. Jones, I'd like to explain—"

"—Tommy, there's nothing to explain. We just can't make up our minds."

Make up their minds? About what? Which body part to deprive me of first?

"We've looked at all the proofs you gave us and we just can't decide!"

Proofs? "Oh, the portrait! Well, you could always get several and hang them in different rooms," I joked.

"Tommy! What a great idea! Let's see ... one in the living room, and one in the dining room, and ... Oh, we're going to have to decide all over again!"

"Well, there's no rush. Take your time and let me know, oh, and don't forget to keep track of how many of each size you want." I could see there was more to this photography than just taking pictures. If this kept up I was going to need price lists, order forms, who knew what else. Maybe the library had some books I could go through...

Cindy called me the next week, "Tommy, could you do a picture of me? Like the one you did of Beth?"

"Sure, but I don't have the studio lights anymore. How about if we shoot outside? There are some nice spots in the park."

"Um, well, I, um, isn't that kind of public?"

"Why should that make a difference?"

"Tommy! Just because you've seen me half naked doesn't mean I want everybody to!"

And Thomas sucks on his size twelves again! "Cindy, I'm sorry! I thought you were talking about a portrait!"

"Um, no. I meant one like the one Beth has in her room," she giggled.

"Ah, no I guess the park isn't the best spot, then. Wait a minute, how about Beth's farm? It's certainly private."

"Yeah, that would work. When can we do it?"

I thought for a second, "How about Wednesday afternoon? Beth and I can pick you up. It should only take about an hour."

"Um, Beth? I thought it would be just you," Cindy sounded like she was disappointed.

"Well, I was thinking Beth could help hold stuff."

Cindy giggled, then broke out into laughter, "Why, thank you, Tommy! I'm flattered that you think I'm sexy enough to cause a problem, but couldn't you just bring another tripod to rest it on?"

"No, Cindy," I chuckled. "I'm talking about camera stuff—diffusers and things like that. By the way, is Greg going to be there or is this a surprise?" I knew Greg's birthday was in a couple of weeks.

"No, I don't want him to know about this! Promise you won't say anything! Please, Tommy?"

"I promise. Planning a surprise birthday present?"

"Um yeah, so please don't say anything!"

"I won't," I said as I started thinking of what I'd need to bring.

Wednesday after work Beth and I packed everything we'd need into the Jeep and drove over to Cindy's. She and Beth kept up a constant chatter as I drove to the farm. I could tell Cindy was a little nervous and having Beth to talk to took her mind off what she was going to do.

After we got to the farm I asked Cindy what kind of nude she wanted. Something like Beth's—technically nude but not showing anything—or more along the Playboy line?