
Pinup Photography at Carondelet Park
It was a perfect day! Dixie changed into another retro styled dress, I brought out the old 1950s camera as a prop, and off to the park we went to shoot even more pinup and retro!
It was a perfect day! Dixie changed into another retro styled dress, I brought out the old 1950s camera as a prop, and off to the park we went to shoot even more pinup and retro!
This was such a cute pinup photo set to shoot of Dixie! I filled her arms with old Famous Barr hat boxes, and we strolled down South Broadway and pretended to shop. We stopped in doorways and wherever inspiration took us. Needless to say, we got lots of attention from passersby!
I had such fun shooting Dixie in her vintage pink dress and home made ice-cream cone high heels. Dixie Dupree is a pinup model here in St. Louis, and we shot these pics for her modeling portfolio.
This is another cute retro set from my 2011 archives! Classic, cheesecake pinup in a swimsuit. We had a ton of fun shooting this happy series with the old radio and American flag on the sheepskin rug. The model did her own makeup and it was just as wholesome as apple pie.
This was such a fun photography workshop to organize with Joann of Clean Cut Creations Vintage Auto Repair. I have always wanted to put together a “shoot out” event, after having attended several on the coasts. The fact that we chose a vintage theme and were able to round up some classic cars, made things extra awesome.
I provided all the authentic vintage dresses, hats and wardrobe, I applied all the period styled makeup on the models, and guided their hair styles.
Here are the last of the unposted pics from my retro styled photo shoot with pinup model Rebekah Leigh a few years ago. She’s wearing her own vintage wardrobe and posed next to a green vintage Chevrolet. Although these photos are retro inspired, they could easily be modern fashion.
When more than one person is photographing a model at the same time, it is always difficult to get great photos. If the photographers are at different angles, the model doesn’t know who to pose for, and if the photographers are shooting close to each other, they end up with very similar images. It was very challenging to shoot any model in this situation.
The red skirt, shoes, and matching blouse and accessories in these pinup pictures really pops against the drab background. St. Louis pinup model Rebekah Leigh is wearing her own wardrobe and did her own hair and makeup. This set is from a few years ago, and I realized that I never posted any of these pictures…
We decided to make model June Ann look like a naughty 1950s greaser with the bright red vintage car. The only wardrobe of mine that she's wearing is my bra, which we stuffed for even more dramatic...
I think pinup model Rebekah Liegh is perched on and in a 1957 Chevy, but I’m not sure? I do know that her cute sleeveless plaid vintage dress, from my collection, is from the 1960s.
Sometimes the vintage styled makeup and hair, along with a little color editing, can make all the difference in pulling a shoot together! The model pulled out her gun at the end of the shoot and posed with it. I think these retro pictures turned out best in black and white.
If you’re shooting silly lighthearted CheeseCake Pinup photography, the expressions are what make the pictures pop!
I recently discovered these cute pinup pics that I shot a few years ago…
This 1940s dress was such fun to photograph! It has red buttons down the front and an abstract polka dot pattern. I put a smart black hat on the model. Like many dresses of the era, it was unlined and meant to be worn over a slip or under=dress. We borrowed a rolling red wooden storage box as the only prop with this simple set. I love the model’s exaggerated “cheesecake pinup” expressions! She did her own makeup and hair, too.
I was just in an increasingly humorous mood as this retro photography workshop progressed! I posed model Amilee in a vintage child’s dress from the 1950s, with a wrench, in the car repair garage. She gave the perfect helpless and silly expressions of a gal who wouldn’t know the gas tank from the radiator (I wouldn’t, either).
This cute, humorous, cheesecake pinup photography set features pinup model Amy Mooney (Shooby Duwop) posing with a classic red car against a vintage beach backdrop. It looks like she’s on set of a 1950s beach flick! Later, pinup model Amy W. joins in, and they pretend that they’re lost on the way to the real beach (it does not help that they’re in Missouri, reading the map upside down).
This was an impromptu and unplanned patriotic pinup set done at my Retro Car Workshop! Pinup model Nikki borrowed a cute polkadot 1940s styled dress, matching red beads, and got her hair done pinup style by another model. I did her retro makeup (including putting the faux lashes on). Nikki is one of the first models I worked with, for the Carondelet Historical Society historical fashion project, and it was great to get to work with her again and see how far we’ve both come in the past few years!
This 1970s dress was almost drop waisted enough to pull off an authentic 1920s look. The wide brimmed hat is from the 1930s. This vintage Oldsmobile is from 1931 I think. I just had the model, Linzy Anna, pull her hair back in a classic low bun. She’s posed with an old suitcase, for a stranded motorist look.
We got some very cute breezy sexy pinup pics, ala Marilyn Monroe in the 7 year Itch. They also came out fabulous in black and white, with more of a vintage editorial fashion feel.
This powder blue vintage semiformal dress from the late 1950s or early 60s was totally cute and fit model Bri perfectly! We had so much fun playing with the smoke and sunlight when she took a cigarette break. The sunbeam cooperated perfectly, and without much of a breeze, the cigarette smoke hung mysteriously in the air.
For TOO LONG I did my retro photography as ReverieRevel, and sold vintage as VintageReveries, which was not the best idea as far as branding and marketing goes. There were lots of things wrong with doing retro photography as ReverieRevel: Mainly it was stupid to split it from my vintage clothing and fashions, considering that retro styling and photography so obviously compliments vintage fashion.
To showcase my old and my new work, all of which is pretty awesome, I’ll be posting more blog entries and pictures! So that I don’t post everything all at once, over the next few months I am scheduling some blog entries with galleries of my notable, but not quite portfolio worthy, self-styled retro photoshoots since 2011.