Emulating Marilyn

Today we’re emulating Marilyn in a white sheet shoot. With a twist!

Photographers, like other artists, will sometimes be inspired by an existing body of work and then apply their own spin to it. That is what today’s photo shoot is about.

In 1961 Douglas Kirkland photographed Marilyn Monroe wrapped up in white sheets. The photos were playful and sensual and reminded me of some of my own White Sheet sessions.

Douglas Kirkland photographing Marilyn Monroe

My model today is my friend Laura, who I have photographed before. She’s wonderful in front of the camera and immediately grasped the concept. Here are a few of our photos.

Several of Kirkland’s photos of Marilyn were taken from above with him hanging off a balcony. I didn’t do that, as I’m not crazy. Plus my ceilings are only eight foot, or 2.4m high.

Instead I bought a good sturdy stepladder. That worked really well for the shoot but, let me tell you, if you want to feel creepy then try looming over a woman lying down while holding a camera.

The twist I mentioned earlier is  I wanted to make it look as if we had warm, evening sun coming through the windows. That’s difficult in a Christchurch winter, where warm anything is in short supply. So I made my own.

An orange gel on a basic flash speed light and one tall light stand and we had our warm sunlight.

The results from this photo shoot were wonderful, and I’m glad to offer it as a variation of the very popular White Sheet mini-sessions I’ve been offering for the past four years. If you want these results for yourself, then click on the link and contact Smoke&Mirrors Studio.

A big thanks to my superb model, Laura.