My Key West Journal
Follow my adventures (and misadventures) as I try to make Key
West ... the
Mermaid Capital of the World !
July 26
Mermaid Stephanie Begins Work on Her 2009 Mermaid
Calendar
Below are video outtakes from 2 days of
shooting... The video was shot by Sue Swank of
Swank Photography
Sue also did all the Makeup and Hair Styling... Fabulous Job Sue!
One major concern of the calendar project was
Nudity... How much was too much? This being Key West I have always said... "you
want shells over the boobs - go to Disneyland. In Key West mermaids swim free!"
But, the products in the Mermaid Hunter Trading Company line will be sold at the
Key West Sunset
Celebration which is open to the general public... so, discretion, and a lot
of tongue biting was needed. Luckily, I was working with a Pro in Stephanie who
understood the job and didn't have any issues about working topless when needed
to.
Day 1... morning - Shooting the Cover
The lagoon was filled with warm water and Hibiscus
blooms... while Steph worked her magic.
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Day One - PM... Shooting an Underwater Beauty Facial
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For the Beauty Facial, a life-like coral reef was built in
the Mermaid Tank; complete with corals, shells and sea fans.
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Day 1 - Night... Saving the Toughest
Shot for Last.
By now, everyone was Pooped! But the evening was calm and
warm and we needed to get this complicated shot... this photo will be shot in 3
pieces and put together like a jigsaw puzzle. The final image will be of a
mermaid resting underwater at night... with a full moon showing above the
waterline.
The water was intentionally 'murky' for setting the ambiance and had to be
almost hot so that Steph could work and not get cold.
(water absorbs body heat 25 times faster than air!)
Steph, God bless her, was a real Pro. She had been underwater all day and by now
her sinuses were screaming for relief. And the hot water made her eyes irritated
from the get-go. But she hung in there and posed upside down underwater - yet
again!
Underwater modeling might be beautiful to look at but it sure isn't easy to do.
Way to go Steph....
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Day 2 - Morning... Swimming with the
Fishes on Chicken Bone Reef
Chicken Bone Reef is made of large rocks and
features a short swim-through tunnel. In the sunlight hundreds of fish hang out
in the tunnel so the idea was to have a mermaid swim 'slowly' through the tunnel
and through the school of fish.
But no fish showed up that day!!!! Hmmmm, a bad omen. We decided to do some
practice runs anyway.
So as not to scare the fish, Steph was instructed to stay underwater a full
minute to travel the 10 feet of the tunnel... and then pose at the entrance of
the tunnel... WELL, no one expected her tail to snag on something - and being
the pro she was - Steph didn't show any alarm even though she was now underwater
for 75 seconds, out of air, and still trying to unsnag her tail. The poor girl
finally freed herself but took in a full lungful of water as she broke the
surface... it was not a pretty sight I got to tell you.
To add insult to injury, the front glass plate of my underwater camera (which
was on a tripod underwater) mysteriously attracted air bubbles and so all
the footage was out of focus... sniff, sigh!
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Day 2 - Afternoon Shoot at The Net... Who Forgot the Weights?!?!
This shot was designed to be easy and uncomplicated. And it
would have been had we not forgotten to tape the 7 lbs of lead weights to
Stephanie's inner thighs. OY! Just swimming down to the proper depth proved too
much for Steph, especially after the morning fiasco. All we could do is lick our
wounds and call it an early day.
But we did like our chances on getting a great shot when we reschedule this
shoot... the concept for the image is somewhat 'Politically Correct'... that
being - stop overfishing and design better fishing nets that do not catch/kill
everything in their path. Especially Mermaids!
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Journal Archives for 2008
4/26
5/21
6/08
6/21
7/26
8/01
8/31
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