Daniele responded to my Craigslist posting with a very unusual request. I was only looking for models to practice studio lighting on, and had not received a nibble until Daniele's email.
Would you be interested in shooting a Mother nursing her infant?
I have to admit, It threw me. I took a week to decide how, or whether, to reply. I had never done anything remotely intimate. No boudoir, no bathing suits. And, despite the maternal aspect, I could not think of anything but that this would be very intimate. A baby nursing necessarily means a certain amount of exposure.
Not that I am born again or anything. I have shot my share of sexy women, with some exposure - "traditional" exposure. This threw me - for a moment.
I did some research and found a number of examples that looked interesting. Ranging from totally demure to very bold - one woman was lying nude alongside her baby who appeared to be suckling her breast. Her body, however, did not appear to be one of a recent mother. Beautiful as it was, I was sure Daniele was not going to go for that, but I presented it as an example of the full breadth of possibilities.
We swapped emails for a few weeks. She responded to my ideas, nixing the full Monty, and presenting a few of her own, and me commenting on the ideas,
We finally met at a coffee shop - she had tea - and worked out a few ideas. As I expected, she no longer had the ideal figure, but she was sexy nonetheless. She was still a little soft through the belly, and her breasts were much larger than usual - she was quick to that point out to me.
We made plans to meet at the studio in a few days. When she showed up, the baby was cranky because she wanted to be fed. Naturally Mom delayed the baby's feeding so that we could get pictures of the baby nursing. We tried several poses, from totally covered to showing the entire breast but with the baby's mouth covering the nipple. All very (ok. somewhat) respectable. After what seemed to me a very short time, the baby's eyes rolled back, slowly closed, and eventually it let go, sleeping soundly in Daneile's arms.
I have to admit, that was the most intriguing thing I had ever seen. Never having had children myself, I had never been so "up does and personal" with an infant.
By this time, she was very comfortable with me, and as she put the baby down, she did not rush to cover up. We talked briefly about the shoot, while she casually and - slowly, from my perspective - moved her top to cover her left breast. Before it was covered, I noticed that a small drop of milk was still clinging to her nipple, and that the aureole was glistening.
She noticed my attention while she was covering up, and started to hurry, but I asked her to stop. I met her eyes and told her I had an idea, and I hoped she trusted me. I promised her that if she did not like what I came up with I would delete it, but that I thought she would be pleased.
She slowly lowered her arms that had been about to close her top, and then she even more slowly relaxed. I explained the idea of the drop on the nipple illustrating the beauty of the natural purpose of breasts. I planned to frame the breast alone - no face or identifiable features. She warmed to the idea, but by the time she had relaxed enough, the milk had dried.
I asked if she could make another small drop and she squeezed slightly behind her nipple and a small drop of milk appeared. I took a few shots and decided to change the lights a little. We repeated these steps a few more times, with a few more poses, when she said "you do it".
As if it was a complicated question, I had to stop and ask "What?", but apparently my penis understood exactly what she was saying since my jeans became instantly uncomfortable.