Sunday's Shoot - Mandy (New Model)

Today marks the third new model to be added to Soles of Silk in 2013, with Alaynah debuting in January and Shae Spreadz in February. Welcome Mandy, a friend and former coworker.

I made mention of Mandy back in May in a blog titled, "Upcoming Soles of Silk Shoots." For those who may have missed the blog, here is what I had to say about Mandy - who was listed under the header, "A Friend from the Past:"


During a recent Facebook conversation with a friend, she asked me why I never asked her to pose for my site. I told her it was because she once told me she had ugly feet, so why would I ask? She laughed and said that although she's not the best judge of feet, she more or less meant that her feet weren't pedicured and were not looking their best at that time. She didn't mean that they're ugly outright. 
 At one point I did catch a glimpse of her feet and although she has some longer toes (which are a hit with many), nothing stuck out as "ugly" about them to me. We did make plans to shoot in June, so you should be seeing her make her debut next month. And being a good friend of Kimmie and Kellie, you might just see her pop up in a set with them as well.

Since the blog post I have been in regular contact with Mandy about shooting. She has been nothing but eager - even throwing around possible ideas and themes for shoots. I always love having someone in front of the camera that is creative and wants to have some unique sets. Sadly our original plans to shoot in June did not happen, however. I agreed to find her another day to shoot, but with shoots with other models already planned and a vacation, we had to wait until July.

Well, today was that day and we had plans to shoot two sets. Mandy had some evening obligations, so our plan was to shoot early - although I much prefer to sleep in on Sundays. Luckily Mandy asked if we could push it back as she didn't need to be home as early as she thought. Even though it was only about an hour and a half of extra sleep, I welcomed it. An hour later I picked Mandy up at her place and we were on our way to what was supposed to be our first of two shoot locations. More on that later. 

The first spot I wanted to use was something around the area where Emerald posed by the paddle boats (Sample 01 / Sample 02). It is a huge water fountain where you're able to walk up on top of, down around, and even underneath of the fountain itself. I've shot by fountains before, but nothing like this one. Mandy thought it was a neat location too, especially after seeing it in person.

After I went through my typical first timers speech, we were shooting her first pictures. It was a bright day with some good cloud cover. I know some people hate clouds, but I find it softens the sun and lessens the shadows. I find it also allows for you to shoot different angles without having to worry about the sun position as much. And of above all else, it made it a little bit cooler for the both of us.


Mandy's debut set on Soles of Silk.


We ended up shooting around the entire fountain from top to bottom. It was a fast moving set too until a couple arrived with three kids. We stepped back to let them run around, but quickly found out that running around meant about 52 laps. The mother even apologized to us as she saw us waiting to take pictures. I figured she'd tell the kids after a few laps that it was time to go elsewhere, but nope. It literally set us back about 20 minutes as I don't like shooting with kids in the frame.

When the kids were finally gone Mandy stuck her soles back out to the camera and I began firing off quick shots. I had her doing whatever poses came to her mind and I just snapped away. We then moved around to the opposite side of the fountain and began doing the same there. These poses made up for the lost time and even turned out to be some of the better photos of the set, in my opinion.

With the set done we decided to go to a nearby restaurant for a bite to eat and to cool off in the air conditioning. The atmosphere was nice, but our waitress didn't have a second gear. We were there way too long - even after we ate. This is when we decided that we'd be better off shooting her second set in the coming week.

So I'd like to welcome Mandy to the Soles of Silk model roster with her first set. I'm sure you'll be seeing her again and again with all the ideas we've talked about. This set will be posted on the July 24th update as Marcy has already been slotted for July 17. Until then, the sample photo above will just have to tease you for about a week. Knowing Mandy, I'm sure teasing you all would be her idea of fun. How perfect?

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