Got to shoot with burlesque starlet Paris Green on Tuesday.  We did two different looks including a silly space girl and this cool candy striper.  This was really my first jump into the pinup genre, though I've been a fan for a long, long time.  It started when I was younger and I saw the work of pinup artist Gil Elvgren.  In a way, his work is like Norman Rockwell... but sexy.  I was always mystified by how he made the girls he drew so darn cute.  I would try for hours to draw like him.  It was the 90's when I was getting into him and the TV series Weird Science was sweeping the airwaves, and though crazy and adolescent, I was convinced that if I could draw one of Gil's girls, maybe she would leap off the page and be my girlfriend...  I would get tracing paper and spend hours trying to perfectly trace his work hoping I could replicate it.  Sadly, that girl never jumped off my page.

Anyways, lets talk photo.  I took this using my Lensbaby, and it represents one of my first attempts using the lens in a controlled studio environment.  I had to go through some calculations with my exposure and lights to make sure everything sync'd correctly, which I'm proud to say came out pretty nicely.

Both of Paris' costumes were perfect for a high key set up like this one.  In fact I think the seamless white does a great job keeping the mood light and fun in the image.  I love how the colorful lollipop pops.  Even though its partially blurred, I think we get enough of a sense to know what it is.

Lastly, I normally don't like to use any fancy Photoshop filters on my images.  Not that I'm opposed to them as a concept, it's just that I can leave that work to a designer.  But I still like to go through the filters in the final editing process, just to see how different things look.  When I came across the canvas texture I liked it so much I decided to leave it in this image.  I like the way it looks over the blurry edges of the photograph.  But, I still have the uncanvased version for as soon as a designer comes my way.

I'd love to hear your feedback,
Greg Inda