In honor of Valentine’s Day (which I love), I thought I would revisit Preston Castle and the Pin Up Girls.  I love the way they use red, especially on their lips, to the vintage feel of their look.  In the above photo, I took this in the rather scary basement of Preston Castle.  It was very dark down there, but the textures and colors on the walls were quite amazing and worked well with red.  Here I have her looking towards the basement door, which is wide open behind me and my camera, to get the light on her face.  She has a wonderful bemused look on her face and she had to stand quite still in order for me to get this shot.

Here are the other two pin up girls at the photo shoot.  Note the great red color on their lips and the bright red flower in the one gal’s hair.  This shot was taken in the “back yard” of the castle.  You can see in the next photo that the back yard is really a huge open area of poured cement.  These gals were so much fun.  They had the poses and exaggerated pin up looks nailed.

As you can see, this place is huge.  In fact, you will also note that I’ve cut off part of the top of the castle because I couldn’t back up any further without dropping into the Juvenile Detention Center located next door to the castle. (I think that may have been scarier than prowling around the basement in the castle.)  You can also see how tiny our pin up model looks compared to the size of the castle.  There are a lot of rooms to explore in that old building.

At any rate, I digress…

Here we are in the stairwell to the basement.  I love the cute little red bows on her stockings and she has a wonderful look on her face.  These gals were all pros and I didn’t need to give them much direction.

This final photo is back inside the castle.  I love the light on her face and the way she boldly shows off her features with her clothing and her pose.  If you got it…

…and she’s got it.

A few more shots from my portfolio workshop.  Preston Castle is kind of a spooky place and I would not want to spend any time there alone, but there are many beautiful spots, also.

The above photo was taken in a little garden area in the back of the castle that was quite unexpected, considering the dilapidated state of the castle.  It really did remind me of a fairy tale and Naomi’s outfit is perfect for this setting.  She is a wonderful model and a dress designer.

Inside the castle was not such a pretty picture, although it made for pretty pictures.  The only light available in this hallway was a big bank of large windows on either side of the hallway.  This is the main hallway on the first floor.  It goes from the front door of the castle through to the back where the infirmary was located.  The windows were incredibly dirty making for the most marvelous diffused lighting that a photographer could ever hope for.  The model in this shot is Namantha and her skin tones and large eyes were beautiful with this light.

There was a lone male model available during the workshop.  His name is Ricardo and he was wonderful to work with. I wish there had been a few more male models so that we could have done more couples shots.  But, here he is looking very GQ.

Ricardo was in great demand, so I was happy to catch him and Namantha wandering around the castle without a passel of photographers hounding them.  I grabbed them for a shot I had in mind in the upstairs hallway, which was much brighter than the hallway downstairs.  Another photographer tagged along with me and so we were able to set up a bunch of shots without being bothered by the demands of the more vociferous photographers.  I had in mind a kind of high school, young love with lots of edge shot.  Here’s what I got.  Okay, so I’m still learning, but I like the shot.

They were also able to pull this one off, which is quite different from the one above.  This is more of an engagement type of photo.  By the way, after we were done with this shot, Ricardo turned to Namantha and said, “Hi.  I’m Ricardo.  I don’t think I’ve met you.”  Heh.

We also had a makeup artist helping the models get ready.  Her name is Sabrina Britschri and she has a business called “Envy” in Elk Grove, CA.  She was wonderful and did a beautiful job.

Next installment will be all about the pin up models, who were SO MUCH FUN!

Enjoy.