The class started with a round of introductions. The tutor introduced herself as Karyn, a freelance photographer who was taking a break from travelling as she had a young family. Her model was a 21-year-old woman named April. April looked like a fashion model: tall, thin, beautiful complexion and blonde hair cut short in an immaculate pixie style.
The first student to introduce herself was a 23-year-old woman named Deirdre. She was of a medium height and had multiple piercings. Her head had long black hair on one side and was shaved on the other side. Chloe's immediate thought was that Deirdre was a lesbian, then she immediately berated herself for being so quick to judge someone by their appearance. But then Deirdre told everyone that she was doing the course because she wanted to assist her wife who was a wedding photographer specialising in gay and lesbian weddings.
Sitting next to Deirdre was Ruth, a chubby 22-year-old who was dressed in bright colours. Ruth told the class she worked during the day in a shop, but that her passion was art. She talked about dabbling in quite a lot of different types of art, but she still hadn't found her niche. Chloe suspected that Ruth's desire to become an artist was more than her actual talent could support.
Next to introduce themselves were two older men. The first, named Gerald, stated his age as 'late 60s'. He was tall and mostly bald with a long grey beard. He spoke to the group about belonging to an alternative dance group that wanted to do more to capture their performances on film. After Gerald was Alistair, who gave his age as 36. He was about the same height as Chloe's five foot three, and he sported a goatee. In response to the question about why he enrolled in the course, all he said was that he "likes photography." Chloe found herself feeling a bit creeped out by Alistair.
The last person before Chloe herself was Andrew. He gave his age as 22, and described his job working in his brother's fashion design business. Chloe noted that he was tall and well-built with a handsome face. Out of all the men, he was easily the most attractive, but she was a bit put off by his bright orange hair.
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Andrew was relieved to finally get past the ordeal of having to speak about himself to the group, and he turned to his left to look at Chloe, the class member he was most interested to learn about. It wasn't just that Chloe was young and pretty, although there was no denying that she was. From looking at her, Andrew wasn't surprised to learn that she was only 19, but it did mean that he was more than impressed by her career success. Listening to her talk about her job, he felt that familiar sense of intimidation he felt with the fashion models at work. His intimidation reduced a bit when she shared the same nervousness he felt about working with other people. He could sense in her a vulnerability that he could relate to.
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After the introductions were complete, the class began. Taught mostly by Karyn, but with a lot of helpful input from April, they presented a lot of information which they supported with practical demonstrations. Both Chloe and Andrew felt invigorated but frequently overwhelmed. After spending a very short time discussing traditional sitting portraits, they soon moved on to full body shots and a variety of posing ideas. They also spent time talking about foreshortening. After showing a number of funny photographs demonstrating foreshortening done badly, such as people looking like midgets or looking like they had stunted limbs, they then demonstrated how foreshortening could provide an interesting perspective if done correctly.
Mixed in with the teaching was a lot of instructions about appropriate professional behaviour. Both Karyn and April spoke passionately about the need for photography to stamp out some of the misogyny and exploitation that was still all too common. They talked about the need for photographers to never touch models without consent, and to be very careful about starting relationships with models due to the power imbalance that often exists. Other pieces of advice included always providing robes to allow models to cover up, and safe changing areas, even when the photo shoot involved nudity. As April put it, "even if I'm only going to be wearing a garter belt and stockings, I still like somewhere private to get changed."
These instructions got everyone thinking about the upcoming class on erotica. Karyn had quickly gone through the lesson plan, but she hadn't gone into any detail about the future weeks, preferring to encourage the class to only focus on the current lesson and trust that the future classes would take care of themselves. Andrew felt his heart pounding as he thought about it. He found himself picturing April wearing only stockings and garter belt, maybe bent over a table or lying back on a bed, maybe even spreading her legs wide. These images had a predictable effect on his cock, and he was forced to quickly adjust himself. However, the idea of being the person to ask April to adopt these poses terrified him.
Chloe was having the same thoughts. She had similar images of April in her head, and similar feelings of terror at the idea of being tasked with ordering April around. She also, much to her surprise, had a physical reaction. Although she didn't have an erection that needed adjusting, she suspected that a wet spot was forming in her panties.
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As the end of the first class approached, April went into the adjoining kitchen to arrange the supper while Karyn explained the homework assignment. The assignment was a 'jeans and shirt' assignment. By specifying this somewhat boring choice for the model's clothing, the focus would be on the photographer's posing of the model. Karyn then went over the rules of who they could use as a model. As Chloe already knew, Karyn stressed that their model had to be someone present in the class that evening. In other words, they had to ask one of their classmates to model for them. The alternative was to make an arrangement with April, who had agreed to work for $120 an hour. Chloe knew this price could have been a lot higher, but it was already beyond her means.
Karyn suggested that they talk amongst themselves over supper. As they stood up, Chloe could see that Ruth and Deirdre, who had been sitting beside each other, were already deep in conversation. She felt anxiety building inside her. She had decided that Ruth was the person she would feel most comfortable working with, but even Deirdre was preferable to having to work with any of the men. She headed towards them, but soon found her way blocked by Gerald, the older hippy.
"Hi Chloe," he said. "You look like you might be a dancer. I would love to work with someone who knows how to dance."
Chloe turned down Gerald as quickly as she could do so politely, but then she found her path blocked by Alistair. "Chloe, I would love it if you would agree to work with me. I think you look gorgeous, more naturally beautiful even than April, and she is totally hot." Although Alistair obviously thought his compliments would win Chloe over, in reality he made her skin crawl. She couldn't get away from him fast enough.
By the time Chloe reached the other two women students, she could see that they had already reached their own agreement. She could hear them discussing times to get together. She turned away in disappointment and went over to the supper table. She was pondering the idea of asking her employer to advance her the money to hire April when she was approached by Andrew.
"Can I speak to you?" he asked. Chloe wasn't really in the mood, but it wasn't like she had anything better to do while she sipped her tea and ate her chocolate biscuit. She nodded.
"I know you wanted to work with a woman," continued Andrew, "and I don't blame you, but please hear me out. I know I should be asking April, and I could probably get my brother to pay for it, but I don't think I could cope with the pressure of working with a proper professional. I'm sure I will make lots of mistakes to start with, so I thought it might be easier to work with someone who was also learning their way. I really need to get over my shyness with beautiful women like you."
To Chloe, Andrew's comment about her appearance didn't seem manipulative like it had felt with Alistair. Instead, she felt genuinely pleased, which surprised her. She could see how nervous he was, and it struck a chord with her. However, the idea of working with a strange man still seemed too challenging.
"I don't know," she said. "We only just met."
"How about we decide week by week?" said Andrew. "That way you don't have to make any commitment for the later weeks. If at any stage either of us doesn't think it is working out, then we call it off and use April or someone else.
Chloe looked around the room. Ruth and Deirdre were still deep in conversation. She didn't know whether Gerald had asked Alistair if he was a dancer, but she noted that both men were comparing diaries with April. She figured that, given the lack of alternatives, there would be no harm in working with Andrew for at least the first week, and maybe one or two after that. "Okay," she said.
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Chloe and Andrew decided to meet on Sunday afternoon and again on Monday night. Both agreed it would be best to keep each photo shoot on a separate day so that they wouldn't get their roles confused. This schedule would give them enough time before the shoot to plan it, and enough time afterwards to edit the photos before they emailed their ten best shots to Karyn by the Wednesday night deadline.
