We’ve found a new muse. Her name is Bunny and we photographed her last week.

I spent a morning creating a character for her to play, choosing colors and props and a narrative, and when it came time to shoot, Bunny fit the character perfectly. She’s a lark, a seriously fun person. Her character was meant to be having a party, complete with cake and candles and streamers, all by herself. It turned out that Bunny is the kind of person who might, in real life, do exactly that.

Though our extensive preparation was helpful, it was Bunny who brought the missing ingredients: beauty, charm, cheerful hedonism, and a collection of stuffed animals she’d customized in bizarre and fascinating ways. Here’s an outtake I really like:

And here’s one of our favorite shots:

The cake she’s eating has the word teufel written on it, which is German for devil.

We insisted that Bunny take it home with her after the shoot. The next morning, she brought her cake into the woods, where she distributed pieces of it to people walking by. This girl can turn anything into a party.

Thanks, Bunny!

Those of you who know Zoë are already aware of her beauty, so these studio shots will come as no surprise. Since beauty is as beauty does, we put her in front of a camera to see what would happen, and she did not disappoint. Zoë was an extremely cooperative and creative model, though she would only pose with a pipe in her mouth for a couple of shots. Something about tobacco tasting nasty. And there I was getting ready to make some symbolism happen. Darn!

Here are some of our favorites from that shoot. (One of our favorite shots, not pictured here, became a Valentine’s Day present for her husband. He loved it!) We’ll post a sample of the final product we gave her later on. For now, bathe in the cool blue pools of Zoë’s eyes…

Here are some more photos, including a few outtakes, from our studio shoot with the ravishing Natalie. She’s a fascinating subject to photograph. Somehow she combines innocence with seductiveness, and classic beauty with sci-fi sexiness. The last three below are experiments with Photoshop. I was trying to bring out the contrasts in Natalie’s persona, but I’m not sure I quite managed to do that. Still, they’re interesting…

After a day of sorting through gigantic folders of photos (Rebecca) and reaching new heights of Photoshop perfection (Patrick), we were desperately in need of the great outdoors. Patrick drove us to a spot he knew of, which turned out not to be the spot he knew of after all. But it was an interesting spot anyway:

Hey, it’s a photographer! On a cliff! I know that guy!

We got back in the car and drove a few miles to the real deal, the spot we’d been aiming for, and it was awesome.

At last, much refreshed, we went back to the studio to take pictures of Zoë, who, in addition to being gorgeous, is a naturally talented model.

More photos from the Zoë shoot to come in the next few weeks, so all you Zoë fans stay tuned!