I have been asked a question by several members of different forums where I post. Up until now I have never answered that question primarily because it could potentially derail the thread, which is something we all hate. Now I’m going to answer that question, and probably several others along the way.
The question usually takes the form of ‘Do you get approached by members of the public when you’re outdoors with one of your girls?’ The simple answer to this is ‘Yes.’ However I’m going to expand on that answer in detail.
The first time I was spoken to was when I was with Elina filming her second Keep Fit With Elina video, the run. Elina had just finished doing one of her pieces to camera, when I noticed a woman standing at the top of the steps getting her breath back after the epic climb, and watching me as she did so. I nodded in acknowledgement of her existence, she apologised for disturbing me and then asked politely what I was doing.
The top of the steps where the woman was resting. I came up with a totally rational and potentially true account that I was doing something for my grand-daughters’ university project, being retired they (my grand children) always assume I have the time to spare. To this she agreed, and seemed satisfied with my reasoning even though I never mentioned exactly what I was doing. I asked if she would like to see Elina, to which she replied something along the lines of “Oh no, she’s rather scary!” She then bade me goodbye and went on her way. Little did she know that everything I told her was complete fiction apart from Elina’s name.
The next time was outside my house, I had just got Elina seated, settled and belted, picked up the camera for the intro shot of her grand day out, when two mid to late teenage girls came silently up behind me, looked in at Elina and one said to the other or maybe it was to me “Aww cute!” I couldn’t agree more. Later that day two things happened, we had got to the picnic site, the wicker basket was placed on the ground and Elina was placed seated alongside. I opened the lid, the support for it was missing. Not wanting to change my plans for the photo I had to improvise quickly, I was more concerned about the basket than I was with Elina. One of my mistakes was not posing her legs correctly, no woman would ever sit with her legs in that position (girls Yes, women No), unless they're on a beach and sunbathing.
I got the lid to stay open. Placed her left hand on the top, her right was underneath lifting it so she could just see in. I moved back, got into position and took the photo. I moved into a different location and noticed that I had moved her hair, her left ear was exposed together with a small segment of wig cap, I moved her hair back and took that photo. I continued to circle Elina taking pics.
It wasn’t until we got home and I loaded the pics on to the laptop and went through them that I noticed something in the background of the first of the picnic shots. There was a child with a toy dog, just beyond her was a real dog looking up at the pack leader trying to get attention, the woman was completely ignoring the dog, she was intensely watching me with Elina. I have no idea what she was thinking, but I’d love to know!
When we reached the second location at Severn Beach, I had gotten Elina out of the car and was holding her in my arms as I made my way to the wall, I hadn’t noticed until almost the last moment that a couple were walking up towards us with their two dogs, they turned right onto the grassy bank as I placed Elina in position on the wall.
I moved her left leg then moved onto her right, it was surprisingly tight, as it relented it squeaked rather loudly and that resonated through the steel tubes of her skeleton. The couple turned to see what made that noise, I’d already moved back out of their view, all they saw was Elina sitting quietly on the wall watching their dogs!
When we returned to take the silhouette shot, the couple were sitting on the bench with one dog underneath and the other to their right. Little did they know that we had returned and now they were in the photo too.
Around this time last year I purchased my Christmas present to myself, a Cannon DSLR with two zoom lenses. I got it for two reasons, the first because my Olympus was very close to its end of life, the zoom had stuck and it was getting through battery power at a rate of knots, secondly this camera, being a point, shoot and hope for the best was not the type professional photographers would use for photoshoots. I needed something a lot better and more convincing, especially where there’s people, as I was about to find out.
July 2024, Photoshoot with Rosina in Leigh Woods, we had done a few shots before Rosina went to sit on a log, camera on its tripod facing Rosina, close and side on to the car with its tailgate open and the open camera bag clearly visible. I took some shots, repositioned Rosina and continued shooting. I heard a branch crack behind and to my left, I looked around. There was a middle aged or thereabouts woman walking towards us. She apologised for breaking my concentration then asked what I was doing, most of the time she kept glancing at Rosina. I’m sure she was puzzled why Rosina hadn’t turned or looked up to acknowledge her, she just stayed in the same position. Quickly realising that my fictitious grand-daughter with her equally fictitious university project would not work this time. I decided on a radical approach, I’d tell the truth, well a version of it.
I explained that Rosina was a life size, fully articulated photographic mannequin, more commonly called a photographic doll. The reason they are used instead of models is because they can hold a pose for hours if needed without moving or complaining that they’re getting stiff. They don’t need paying, nor do they require breaks for tea, coffee, toilet, lunch or cigarettes. While she was contemplating this, I thought it was time for a question. Have you heard of DoBeDo International? Before she had time to consider it I followed with the tag-line DeDumDeDumDeDum, DeDumDedum. People like me from all over the world who photograph their dolls post their photos there. She seemed genuinely interested in what I had said, as she moved away she said thank you, I’ll leave you to it. Instead of coming off the path to the left of Rosina and in front of me, she chose the pathway in front of Rosina. I soon found out why, as she got close she took out her phone and took one or two photos of her. Had she have asked I would have suggested she stay and we could take some photos together.
I’m seriously considering getting two pairs of signs made with that name and tag-line produced, one pair from stainless steel for positioning each side of the tripod (think along the lines of the bench at Portishead one sign in line with each of the bench ends between the bench and the tripod), the other pair made from Correx, being ‘plastic’ they could be hung from the roof bars of the car without damaging the paintwork.
Next time: How Elina's Beach-days were filmed.
The question usually takes the form of ‘Do you get approached by members of the public when you’re outdoors with one of your girls?’ The simple answer to this is ‘Yes.’ However I’m going to expand on that answer in detail.
The first time I was spoken to was when I was with Elina filming her second Keep Fit With Elina video, the run. Elina had just finished doing one of her pieces to camera, when I noticed a woman standing at the top of the steps getting her breath back after the epic climb, and watching me as she did so. I nodded in acknowledgement of her existence, she apologised for disturbing me and then asked politely what I was doing.The top of the steps where the woman was resting.The next time was outside my house, I had just got Elina seated, settled and belted, picked up the camera for the intro shot of her grand day out, when two mid to late teenage girls came silently up behind me, looked in at Elina and one said to the other or maybe it was to me “Aww cute!” I couldn’t agree more. Later that day two things happened, we had got to the picnic site, the wicker basket was placed on the ground and Elina was placed seated alongside. I opened the lid, the support for it was missing. Not wanting to change my plans for the photo I had to improvise quickly, I was more concerned about the basket than I was with Elina. One of my mistakes was not posing her legs correctly, no woman would ever sit with her legs in that position (girls Yes, women No), unless they're on a beach and sunbathing. I got the lid to stay open. Placed her left hand on the top, her right was underneath lifting it so she could just see in. I moved back, got into position and took the photo. I moved into a different location and noticed that I had moved her hair, her left ear was exposed together with a small segment of wig cap, I moved her hair back and took that photo. I continued to circle Elina taking pics.It wasn’t until we got home and I loaded the pics on to the laptop and went through them that I noticed something in the background of the first of the picnic shots. There was a child with a toy dog, just beyond her was a real dog looking up at the pack leader trying to get attention, the woman was completely ignoring the dog, she was intensely watching me with Elina. I have no idea what she was thinking, but I’d love to know!When we reached the second location at Severn Beach, I had gotten Elina out of the car and was holding her in my arms as I made my way to the wall, I hadn’t noticed until almost the last moment that a couple were walking up towards us with their two dogs, they turned right onto the grassy bank as I placed Elina in position on the wall.
I moved her left leg then moved onto her right, it was surprisingly tight, as it relented it squeaked rather loudly and that resonated through the steel tubes of her skeleton. The couple turned to see what made that noise, I’d already moved back out of their view, all they saw was Elina sitting quietly on the wall watching their dogs!When we returned to take the silhouette shot, the couple were sitting on the bench with one dog underneath and the other to their right. Little did they know that we had returned and now they were in the photo too.Around this time last year I purchased my Christmas present to myself, a Cannon DSLR with two zoom lenses. I got it for two reasons, the first because my Olympus was very close to its end of life, the zoom had stuck and it was getting through battery power at a rate of knots, secondly this camera, being a point, shoot and hope for the best was not the type professional photographers would use for photoshoots. I needed something a lot better and more convincing, especially where there’s people, as I was about to find out.
July 2024, Photoshoot with Rosina in Leigh Woods, we had done a few shots before Rosina went to sit on a log, camera on its tripod facing Rosina, close and side on to the car with its tailgate open and the open camera bag clearly visible. I took some shots, repositioned Rosina and continued shooting. I heard a branch crack behind and to my left, I looked around. There was a middle aged or thereabouts woman walking towards us. She apologised for breaking my concentration then asked what I was doing, most of the time she kept glancing at Rosina. I’m sure she was puzzled why Rosina hadn’t turned or looked up to acknowledge her, she just stayed in the same position. Quickly realising that my fictitious grand-daughter with her equally fictitious university project would not work this time. I decided on a radical approach, I’d tell the truth, well a version of it.
I explained that Rosina was a life size, fully articulated photographic mannequin, more commonly called a photographic doll. The reason they are used instead of models is because they can hold a pose for hours if needed without moving or complaining that they’re getting stiff. They don’t need paying, nor do they require breaks for tea, coffee, toilet, lunch or cigarettes. While she was contemplating this, I thought it was time for a question. Have you heard of DoBeDo International? Before she had time to consider it I followed with the tag-line DeDumDeDumDeDum, DeDumDedum. People like me from all over the world who photograph their dolls post their photos there. She seemed genuinely interested in what I had said, as she moved away she said thank you, I’ll leave you to it. Instead of coming off the path to the left of Rosina and in front of me, she chose the pathway in front of Rosina. I soon found out why, as she got close she took out her phone and took one or two photos of her. Had she have asked I would have suggested she stay and we could take some photos together.I’m seriously considering getting two pairs of signs made with that name and tag-line produced, one pair from stainless steel for positioning each side of the tripod (think along the lines of the bench at Portishead one sign in line with each of the bench ends between the bench and the tripod), the other pair made from Correx, being ‘plastic’ they could be hung from the roof bars of the car without damaging the paintwork.
Next time: How Elina's Beach-days were filmed.
