When I was growing up in the 1960s and ’70s there was a beauty standard in Hollywood. One of the most beautiful actresses was Raquel Welch. I had not thought of Raquel Welch in years, but one day I received an email from a young lady named Raquel and she was interested in a photo session. So I set the ball in motion to make the session a reality.
I am a firm believer and what I call “A Meet & Greet.” So I contacted Raquel about setting up a meet and greet to plan out a session. Raquel informed me she was a student at West Virginia and really couldn’t afford extra travel and expenses. So we did our pre-planning via email. In a situation like the one we had, I much prefer emails over phone calls because we have a record to look back upon.
So during the planning, I ask things like the type of session, the reason for the session, etc. Raquel told me that a few people around Morgantown had approached her about doing some modeling. She gave the ideal a try but wasn’t happy with the results. However, she did find the modeling thing fun and wanted to give it a try with someone professional.
In our emails, Raquel told me that her parents were Cuban immigrants. I asked if she had any traditional Cuban wardrobes. She did, so I suggested we do a session that included her traditional Cuban wardrobe and she liked the idea. So we set the session up and the game plan was to do some beauty shots along with a few Cuban-style wardrobe changes.
The session day finally comes and I meet Raquel for the first time. I was stunned, this young lady was absolutely beautiful. Looking at her, she was flawless. At this point, I had worked with a couple of hundred beautiful women, but Raquel had just raised the bar. Now the problem I faced was capturing that beauty.
For Raquel’s session, I covered a few basics on posing, how to use her hands, how to look toward the main light, etc. We covered a couple of things that a model needs in their portfolio and then I let her wing it. She was great and so easy to work with. It was easy to see that she was thoroughly enjoying the experience.
My main object was using colors to give it more of a traditional Cuban vibe. For the B&W images, I wanted to do something along with a classic Hollywood glamour. Generally, Hollywood glamour was cool-tone images; however, with the wardrobe, I felt warm tones would be much more appropriate. With one of the wardrobe changes I felt it would be a great pinup opportunity so we knocked that out as well.
I was hoping that Raquel and I would do another session in the future. However, that never came to pass. She enjoyed the experience and images but wisely decided she wanted to put her efforts into the medical degree she wanted to obtain. Not only is she beautiful, but very smart as well. Our short session seemed to be enough to scratch the itch she had for modeling. We hope you enjoy the images we created.
Photographically yours,
Larry
