haute couture portraiture

Masae Satouchi had asked if I would be interested in doing a set of work with her as she had picked up a very interesting "dress" with matching head piece. It is a dress/garment sculpted from wire and decorated with what appear to be amethyst gemstones.

This is a portrait from the set we did featuring the haute couture piece. Masae did her own styling and brought along some "friends" as accessories she wanted to work with.

I shot and processed this with a light and airy feel. Some others from the set are full body with Masae barefoot and posing in various graceful forms which she does well as she is an accomplished dancer.

Masae is great to work with, but also a blast to be around. She has a lot of stories and her English is still a bit rough so things sometimes get hung up and twisted a bit in translation.
She had told me of a film she had done in which she was an extra playing a prostitute standing along the street with others. The films producer discovered that Masae is a fantastic fire performer and had wanted to include a performance by her in the film. As they were discussing the details of her fire performance and arrangements, the terms of compensation came up and Masae said to me "Gary, I tell them that I will be their prostitute for free but have to charge my full rate for fire peformance. . ." Too funny

They hired her and I'm looking forward to seeing the film when its released.

Incidentally, soon after our shoot Masae left for a trip which included a stay in Japan to visit family. During her time there, the massive earthquake hit. Fortunately Masae and her family are ok and she is back here in the states doing various fundraising events to support the relief efforts needed to help the people of Japan get through this horrible time.