It was on this trip where I bought the crystal ball that I still use today. I'm not sure where I got the idea, but I'm pretty sure I had never seen it used with nudes before, so, it's sort of become one of my signature styles. I don't bring it to every shoot but I often do. And sometimes when I do, I forget to use it. It has to be the right situation and the right model.
I had used it on the previous shoot in Hawaii with Stephanie, but only in a few shoots. At this shoot, with Iris, I really started to use it in earnest. We started out in a studio I rented on Oahu and got some pretty decent shots. Every time, even to this day, I fool around in a studio, things never quite go as I expected, but still tend to turn out cool. Anyway, after that, she told me about a place called China Walls on Oahu. It's on the other side of the bay on the far side of diamond head from Waikiki. What a location! And, we had it to ourselves because it was sort of a rainy afternoon which made for amazing light. A couple of surfers were hanging about not doing much surfing :) It was a wonderful afternoon working with a great model in unbelievable scenery. A success. If I wasn't already hooked on nude shooting by this point, I was after.
