The Weather

A really big factor in the ease or difficulty of shooting a calendar project like this one is the weather. All of our shoots were done outdoors. We shot at a sand dune, the ocean, a dry lakebed, and a couple different deserts. The weather was a huge player in all of these shoots, unfortunately. I can control a lot of things, but the weather is not one of them.

Think about how much the weather plays a part in your family picnic, going to a baseball game in an open stadium, or going to a concert at an outdoor amphitheatre. If it rains, regardless of how prepared you are, it is not going to be as enjoyable an experience. If there is lightning, they will cancel the event.

Shooting these calendars is a planned event, where you book the models, MUAs, and Hair Stylist’s time, and if the weather does not cooperate that day, they get paid anyways and you have to book additional time, which will cost additional money. So, I had to live by the axiom, “The shoot must go on!”

Shoot 1 – Sand Dunes

When we arrived at the location, before going into hair and makeup, the temperature was over 100 degrees Fahrenheit. That makes for a very warm shoot. Now as we got closer to sunset the temperature dropped to a much more comfortable level. That was the condition I knew about when we went on location, what I did not know about was the wind. The wind? What’s the big deal? So the models’ hair got blown around a bit. First, they just spent a couple of hours in hair and makeup, and half of that just got blown away. And second, and more importantly, WE WERE AT A SAND DUNE! The wind was moving anywhere from 30-40 mph. The grains of sand became hundreds, thousands of projectiles heading straight into the models face and eyes. They could not keep their eyes open for any length of time without experiencing pain.

After trying to make this work for over 30 minutes, I thought to myself, “This is futile and a waste of time for everyone. Why don’t we just call it a night, go and get something to eat, and start over again in the morning? Hopefully without any wind.”

The Shoot Must Go On!

I decided to continue shooting and if nothing came of it, at least we tried. Fortunately, as the sun was starting to really set, the wind completely died down and we did get one image that was put in the Naked Girlfriends Calendar. It is a really nice image that we would not have gotten if we had given up. The moment I took the shot my hair stylist told me that image was a winner, and he was right. The next morning when we went back to the same location to continue shooting at sunrise, the temperature was perfect and there was absolutely no wind. We got a number of images that morning for all three calendars, which completely made up for the night before.

Shoot 2 – The Ocean

You might not think so, but the tide is part of the weather. I found a great location with a beautiful beach and really cool cliff walls. My concern when I scouted the location was the tide. Would it come up to the cliffs at high tide? While I was there I asked some fishermen if the conditions right now were low, medium or high tide. They assured me it was high tide. Well the waves did not come up anywhere near the cliffs, giving me plenty of room to shoot. I was good to go.

Were they drunk, ignorant, or just screwing with me. When we showed up for the sunset portion of the shoot the waves were pounding the cliff walls. There was absolutely no room to shoot, not even close. I was pissed to say the least. But…

The Shoot Must Go On!!

So I found another location very nearby that offered nice cliff walls and plenty of room to shoot. We got some gorgeous images that night.

Shoot 3 – Dry Lakebed

I was warned, but I wanted to shoot there, so I took the gamble. We all paid for that decision.

In Southern California, while other parts of the country were experiencing unusually hot temperatures, we were experiencing unusually cold temperatures, and this shoot was definitely cold. I don’t think the temperature got out of the 60’s at sunset or sunrise. It was cold. But that is not what everyone warned me about. They warned me about the wind. The wind can really pick up on the dry lakebed, and it did. Once again we were experiencing 30-40 mph winds. And when the wind was coming straight at us, it contained sand, which as you now know, is very painful for the models. And on top of that, it was cold. Fortunately when the wind shifted about 45 degrees it was still as strong, but it did not contain sand. Which means it was uncomfortable, but not unbearable. Once again I was faced with the same situation. This was futile! It was too windy, let alone pretty cold. Do we call it a day and hope for better conditions tomorrow morning, like at the Sand Dune. Everyone really wanted to, including me. But, you probably know the answer to that question.

The Shoot Must Go On!!!

I literally had to pay attention to what direction the wind was coming from to know if it would contain sand or not. When it was coming straight at the models I had to stop shooting. When it shifted directions, I could resume again. Once again, the hair stylist’s work was gone with the wind. The girls really were good troopers and did their best under these far less than desirable conditions, and we did get a couple of really nice images from that night.

The next morning when we arrived back on location at sunrise, the wind had completely died down, but it was still really cold. Once again, we got all the shots we needed and it completely made up for the conditions the day before.

Shoot 4 – Desert

The weather cooperated on this shoot. It was very comfortable to shoot during sunset and sunrise, and the heat only became an issue later in the morning of the sunrise shoot, and by that time we had all the images that we needed.

Lesson learned?

The Shoot Must Go On!!!!

The First Shoot…

There isn’t going to be any rhyme or reason to the order of the topics I will write about in this blog, but it will always be what is on my mind at the time. If you have any questions or suggestions on topics for the WestWind Blog, please do not hesitate to contact me through this blog, our web site at www.westwindmediapub.com/ or e-mail me at rory@westwindmediapub.com.


Though a lot of things happened in between the time I decided to do these calendars and photographing the first of four shoots; this was definitely a memorable day and will always stick out in my mind for many, many reasons; some very good and some not so good.

A lot of preparation went into this first shoot, which was scheduled for May 20 and 21. We were going to be shooting at a sand dune, which I had wanted to do for a couple of years now. I had put together my team. There were going to be three models, a makeup artist, a hair stylist, and a videographer (for the Making Of… DVD). I was really looking forward to finally trying to create the images that were swirling around in my head, some of them for six years now.

The plan was to pick up Model one, then Model two, and then head to the sand dunes. Model three and the makeup artist were each going to drive themselves to the shoot, and the videographer and hair stylist were also driving separately. I went to pick up Model one and upon arriving, she proceeded to tell me that she was not going to be doing the shoot, that this was a scam, not for real, and I was a fraud. After four or five previous telephone conversations, knowing two other models that were going to be part of the calendars on other shoots, she decided at the time we were to be leaving for the shoot, that I was a fraud. I showed her my MapQuest print outs from my place to hers, from hers to Model two’s place, from Model two’s place to the sand dunes. I showed here all my camera equipment, props for the shoot, and hotel reservations for four rooms. And finally, I called the second model and without saying anything other than please talk to this model, I handed the phone to Model one who asked Model two all kinds of questions about the shoot, where she lived, where we were shooting, etc; and everything was as I said it was. It began to look as though Model one realized I was telling the truth and so I was beginning to see light at the end of the tunnel. However, it turned out that this light at the end of the tunnel, was a freight train coming to run me down and it was piloted by her boyfriend. That was the end of that. Now I am down one model and four of the nine images I needed from that shoot.

I left her and headed to Model two’s place in complete shock, not believing what had just happened to me. How could this person accuse ME of something like that, even after I showed her undisputable evidence, including speaking to one of the other models? I headed out to pick up the second model and did my best to get a grip. I knew I was already behind the eight ball, but I also knew that there were ways to recover from this and if I really wanted this project to be a success, I was going to have to find a way to jump this hurdle.

By the time I reached Model two’s place I was doing much better. Model two was beautiful, had a warm personality, and most importantly, was not the least concerned about my legitimacy. I asked her if I had given her all the information that she needed to feel safe, and she said that I had. I told her what had just happened before coming to pick her up and she could not believe it. She told me that this was not my fault.

OK, things were definitely looking up, until…

While driving to the shoot location I had received a text and I asked my passenger if she would read it for me. She told me that someone was really angry with me. What? I pulled over and read the message. Model one had told Model six (we were working together in a future calendar shoot) that I was a fraud, Model six told Model twelve (we were working together in a future calendar shoot) that I was a fraud, and Model twelve, via the text message I just received, preceded to tell me that none of them were ever going to work with me again and never to contact any of them again. OK, so in a matter of two hours I went from having twelve models to only having nine, and I had no idea what I had done to deserve this little gift. I didn’t have time for this and I could not afford to think about it anymore. I had a shoot to do late that afternoon and at sunrise the next morning, and I needed to focus on the task at hand. Model two was great company and we talked all the way there, but due to the aforementioned circumstances we were now about an hour behind schedule, and as it turned out, so was Model three. By the time I got to our hotel I was not in good spirits. It was over 100 degrees out, one model had quit, we were now running very late, and the third model was still not there. I just wanted to call it a day, not shoot tonight, and try and pull it together tomorrow. This was not how I had envisioned this day. But once again, that little voice in my head told me that if I really wanted this project to be a success, then I needed to do my job and get all of our butts in gear.

Shortly thereafter Model three arrived. I apologized for the heat and indicated it was going to be a little uncomfortable. She said, “So? We’ll just have to suck it up then.” That worked for me, and off we went.

Now I won’t get into all the details of the shoot, but to make an already long blog short, we only got to shoot for about a half hour that night, and despite blinding winds in a sand dune, we managed to get a beautiful image. Then the next morning we had a gorgeous, calm sunrise, and we captured all the images I needed from those two models on that shoot. I cannot begin to tell you how much I enjoyed working with those two girls. Not only were they very beautiful and very sexy, but they were incredibly professional, and a whole lot of fun to work with. By the time we finished the shoot, Model three had already started looking for replacements for the three models that had just quit on me.

We shot three calendars this year, and we plan on shooting eight for 2012. If I am really lucky, those two will be a part of that project.

P.S. A couple of days later I finally decided to confront Model twelve who had told me not to contact any of them again. I sent her a text that simply said that I had done absolutely nothing to warrant this and that if she was going to accuse someone of something, then she should know her facts. A couple of days later she replied to my text and after ten or twelve exchanges, she told me that the truth did not matter, that I had made one of her models cry, and that she could never trust me. I simply sent back a text that said, “If the truth between two people doesn’t matter, than you are correct, we should not be working together”. A couple of days later, after speaking with her husband (I like him) and thinking about all that she had been told by Model six (not Model 3) and by me, that things did not add up. I had been very forthright with her the whole time and answered all her questions, and that she did want to work with me, and proceeded to find replacements for the two models that quit. I am glad she did.

You know that saying we have all heard over and over again, “Quitters never win, and winners never quit”? We hear it over and over again for a reason.

WestWind Media Publishing Inc
www.westwindmediapub.com/
rory@westwindmediapub.com

From the beginning...

Hello, my name is Rory and I am the President/CEO/Owner of WestWind Media Publishing. Welcome to my blog. With this blog I would like to share with you the reason why I created this company, stories of the creation of these three calendars, teach you what I know about photography and about photographing women, and quite honestly, to shamelessly promote my calendars. I have never written a blog before, so I hope this will be an interesting learning experience for you and for me. If you have any questions or suggestions on topics for the WestWind Blog, please do not hesitate to contact me through this blog, our web site at www.westwindmediapub.com or at rory@westwindmediapub.com.

About six years ago I was having dinner with my ex-wife and another couple who were good friends of ours, and the conversation turned to my photography. More specifically, the conversation turned to my photography of beautiful women. The other gentleman was very interested and the four of us got talking about how I could turn it into a business. Immediately the idea of creating a calendar came up and all four of us were spinning off a variety of ideas. The other gentleman suggested a calendar of nude women playing golf. Immediately the wheels started turning in my head, and I said, “Not just golf, but a different sport for each month”. He said, “No, just golf”. Well, the seed had already been planted. Later at home I told my ex-wife that I thought this calendar idea of nude women playing sports was a really good one and that I should do it. I had already come up with the name and most of the sports. But, at the time we did not have the money, and though she thought it could work, it was not the first thing she wanted me to do with my photography, and understandably so.

Fast forward six years…

I am now divorced and I had been thinking about this idea, playing it out, running it through my mind for the past six years. In April, 2010 I finally said to myself, “You can either spend the rest of your life wonder what if; or you could just go for it”. I decided right then and there that I would rather gamble losing my shirt, then to spend the rest of my life wondering “What if…”

Six years after that inspired dinner conversation, the 2011 Naked Sports Calendar was born.