I brought a guest to this tea party. After doing the hen night with Jodi, I invited her along so she could hang out and get comfortable. I already knew she was cool with my nudity in the context of the hen nights, so it was no great stretch to imagine she'd be cool with it in the context of the tea party.
I think, at first, she possibly wasn't completely sure - but I talked her round and she came by. And I think she really enjoyed herself. At first, I showed her round and described the theme of the place - more Carry on and Benny Hill than erotica. More seaside smut and innuendo than full-on sexuality. I showed her some of Kat's pictures - which are, by the way, on sale on her website. She was an art student before she was a stripper and some of her work is displayed in the Sapphire Rooms.
After that, I helped out with some of the setting up for today's exhibition. Rehanging a couple of pictures and moving a couple of things about. A couple of times I felt bad about leaving Jodi on her own while I got involved in other things, but she fell into conversation with a couple of the other people there and seemed to fit in quite nicely.
I spoke to Grettel Grimm about the pictures I'd been taking and showed her what I'd done with Kat's pictures - now "hanging" in my online gallery - and she seemed quite impressed. I mentioned that what I really would love to do, would be to get access to the changing rooms and get some relaxed shots of the girls getting ready for their shifts, because my favourite shots were the completely unposed and natural, "backstage" kinds of pictures. I know, however, that's not the sort of thing that's easy to arrange. All the girls would have to be comfortable with my presence, and even though they're all very comfortable with their bodies, this is the place where they can withdraw from the public eye. To have a photographer intruding on their refuge would be invasive and probably unwelcome.
Grettel told me that I was welcome to take pictures of her backstage, though. And so, very shortly after that, I went downstairs with her, into the cellars and got more pictures again. Later, I went through those and worked out the best editing technique for them - desaturate them, increase the contrast and make them black-and-white with a blue filter. Or something like that. I sounded a bit technical right there and actually bored myself as I was writing it. Whatever I did, it brought out the musculature across her shoulders and made the environment - a dark, stark cellar, with really grungy stones - really stand out. I automated the process and repeated it with every other picture.
This became her personal "theme" for that set of pictures. Later, I'll pick out the best ones and possibly add some additional editing techniques to enhance any elements that might benefit from additional care and attention. Then I'll show them to her and make sure she's cool with them being posted into my gallery as well.
Later, Jodi and I went into the Naked Tea Party room and I got "into character". I tried to persuade her to join in, but getting naked was just a step too far for her. She selected a couple of items from the clothes rack though, and changed some of her own clothes, so as to join in a bit. Kat joined us after a while, and then the customer from yesterday returned.
It got to be a lot more fun after that. Jodi and I found a couple of spanking implements and had a "sword fight" round the tea party room, while Kat snapped pictures of us. I set up the timer on my camera to take some snapshots of Jodi, Kat and I lounging on one of the couches together. And I got a few more relaxed pictures of Kat once or twice, when she wasn't paying attention. By now, Kat and I have built up the kind of rapport where it's cool for me to snap away, because she's completely cool with it, she understands that I like the unposed pictures and I think she likes the results we get.
And that - apart from a couple of rounds of a "truth or dare" game I've got on my iPhone with Jodi and Kat - was largely it. Later, Jodi and I left together. She had plans for the evening, so headed off to Portobello after that and I went home.
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