Photographer's Model (closed for pipper and JT)

Laurie quickly grabbed one of his wife’s raincoats and as she left she said, loudly, “Thanks for the loan, Mr. Williams. I’ll return it tomorrow.” Why loudly? Easy! Just in case ol’ Nosey Parker was doing just that; being nosey!

Once back in her bedroom, Laurie was at a dilemma, trying to think what she could wear. It had to be exotic looking in order to tease Williams, without it being too ‘in your face’.

Her black evening gown could fit the bill. She had only once, and that was because her father was the main speaker at a gala, so her parents treated her to it. After all, she had to look respectable!

She could wear those new stockings and that garter belt with it…Yes!

As Laurie went through the closet that was set aside for the more ‘expensive’ outfits, her eyes fell upon an outfit she had completely forgotten about, tucked away in a separate section of the closet. She had worn it, for a ‘bit’ part in a play at school. Laurie had fallen in love with it, and pleaded with her parents for them to buy it for her, as an ‘advanced’ birthday present. Thankfully, they relented.

There was no time, for her to put on all its separate items, but they weren’t really needed. So, in the end Laurie settled on the gorgeous white blouse, the plain petticoat, the ankle long royal blue skirt, matching jacket, and to top it off, literally, a fancy wide brim hat.

Following Williams’ advice she entered his house through the back door, before proceeding up to his studio. If anyone had seen her, they must have thought they were back in the ‘Victorian’ era.

Laurie entered the studio, but he was nowhere to be seen. “Mr. Williams, I’m here.” Then she heard the toilet flush. Smiling to herself, she sat down and pulled a pair of white high heels out of her carrying case, and switched them for the sneakers she had worn. Then she pinned her hair up, before placing the hat back on.

Then she stood awaiting Williams. This should throw him for a loop, she thought.

"Mistress Whittcombe, you look finer than a Royal Doulton figurine. Would I had some floating balloons to complete the effect. Pray wait here a moment, whilst I fetch a proper chair."

Phil slipped out to his main bedroom and returned with an upholstered chair complete with ornate arms carved in a dark wood.

"I must say the contrast with your earlier outfit is . . striking. And you look lovely. There will be no problem giving prints of this pose to your parents."

"Just relax for a while, the lighting is tricky. I want to catch the smooth white translucency of your skin."

Phil busied himself adjusting and re-adjusting the lighting, examining the shots on his laptop. In a way he was grateful not to have to deal with the lascivious thoughts her last outfit engendered. But he missed them too. Once content with the lighting, and having decided to shoot high key, he asked her to pose demurely, and to try for a look of princess' entitlement. Then sullen, relaxed, and finally an enigmatic smile as if she knew a secret she might tell.

"Now the part I like best. Be creative Laurie, pose as you like, chair, or bench or whatever strikes your fancy."

After the small session on the chair, Laurie decided on the bench. Though memories of her previous encounter with it, persisted, she decided against repeating them. So she went through a series of sitting poses, each one slightly different, thus giving Williams different shots. Just one hand in a different position could make a photo a better one; same for the legs, torso, face etc.

No lying across the bench this time. Laurie wanted to give him a good selection to choose from for his class. After all, there couldn’t be many models around who owned a Victorian outfit! For some reason Laurie found that being ‘dolled up’ was sexier than wearing more…er…risqué stuff.

Then another thought, (she had plenty of those!) hit her. “If your wife won’t be home till later, would you like to take some photos of me with Oscar?”

Immediately Phil had a mental image of Laurie naked, nipples covered by a forearm, holding a red apple, fig leaf in place, with that enticing smile on her face and the serpent wound around the tree, head on her shoulder.

"I uh . . know you have a snake, Oscar is his name? Uh what kind of snake is it? There are powerful idioms associated with a woman with a snake. I am not at all sure I can do it justice, but I certainly would like to try. Yes. Certainly. Will you bring him, it, here?"

Phil was not afraid of snakes per se, but he certainly never thought of them as pets. The texture and colors of the skin were a challenge. Often beautiful in their own right. But how to photograph with a woman? Well it was time to improvise.

Now that full Victorian outfit took on an eroticism he had not noticed. His mind was playing tricks. He could see through it, to the naked woman underneath. No, no, no. This must not happen. She was holding out the apple to him, and he had to resist.

Laurie knew that he had taken the bait. “Oh, he’s a twenty three foot python. Don’t worry about him, he’s a softy! “

Then her faced saddened. “He’s had a bad life. Born on a snake farm, and then sold off to a club that put on acts that had naked girls being coiled by snakes, some having their legs and waist swallowed by a snake. The final act of the day consisted of a girl being swallowed completely.

“Then ‘they’ send a spray down the snake’s mouth to make it regurgitate her back out, the same as the others really. If the snake didn’t respond they would kill it with a knife, and then just cut the girl out. To me, it’s cruelty. In the end, Oscar got so weak the club's vet sent him to the zoo for treatment. That’s where I met him.

“You see, I worked there once a week, as an intern, and over time Oscar and I became close friends, so to speak. I was never in the cell with him alone. The zoo’s vet decided that Oscar wasn’t strong enough to return to the club. The poor thing had had his fangs taken out so not to bite the girls, and his muscles became weak, so me and another keeper had to teach him how to coil and to hold onto his meal.

“In the end, the vet suggested that Oscar be ‘put down’, but I couldn’t let that happen, so, as my father was a benefactor of the zoo, he proposed that Oscar would come to our house at our cost. The zoo; bless them, did all the paper work, set up his enclosure, transported him at their cost. So, now I do my internship at home with Oscar!”

"Twenty three feet! It must weigh over 150 pounds! I guess we will be doing the photographs at your place then. Are your parents . . Away? At the cottage?"

Phil busied himself packing a bag with two camera bodies, several lenses, and small flashes with diffusers. Two light tripods for the flashes, and a heavier one for the camera.

"All right I guess its time to meet Oscar. I know about dog and cat and donkey and horse rescue groups. I had no idea people rescued snakes. These photos should pop."

Phil realized he was scattered and shut up.

“Well, at the moment, Oscar’s definitely not 150 pounds, more like a giant tadpole if truth be known. He’s lost a lot of weight, but he’s slowly getting it back. The last mouse I fed him, I could just make out its bulge. So, I’m going to feed him rats for now, until he’s ready for larger meals. The larger the meal, the longer he can go without eating.”

Then Laurie switched back into her sneakers. “Oh, just one thing, try not to overdo it with the flash. Oscar may think you’re trying to blind him, and that won’t help if I’m trying to give him his meds.”

Just five minutes later, she led Williams through her back door, after unlocking it. “Can’t afford to have someone sneaking into the house, with a snake inside!” she commented.

Laurie took him to the kitchen, where she offered him a drink and snack. “I’ll need to change. I’ll be back shortly.”

Phil sipped his rum and coke and nibbled the pistachios. Remembered being in here at parties and seeing a little pair of eyes peeking around the corner. Now all grown up. And now? One strong voice on one shoulder said 'Go home, get out of here, this is crazy.' The voice on the other shoulder said 'This is fantastic, she is so gorgeous and you are going to be photographing her with a snake! Most men would kill for this.' 'What if her parents came home right now? What could you say or do? Run home across the backyard and pray no-one saw you?' 'Oh grow a pair, this is not something comes along every day.' 'Run.' 'Stay, enjoy your drink.'

Finally to distract himself, Phil started to set up one camera for low light with plus or minus one stop bracketing.

Dressed in a pair of jeans and a loose sweater, Laurie entered the kitchen. “Okay Mr. Williams, just follow me. Just remember to keep the flash to a minimum.”

She led him down the stairs to the basement, which was in complete darkness, except for two dimmed lights near the doorway. “The lights down here, work on a timer, so it gives the appearance of night to Oscar as if he was in the wild. Though, snakes do hunt for prey at night, for rodents who venture out at that time.”

Laurie switched off the timer, and turned on all the nights. Oscar’s enclosure was lit by very dim lights. She approached it, and looked at the heated rock. Oscar wasn’t there! “Now, he’s playing hide and seek, the crafty tyke.”

She searched intently for him through the enclosure’s glass.“There you are!” Then she made a sign for Williams to come closer. “There! Just to the left of the small tree, you’ll see his eyes shining away.”

Phil finally made out the snake's enormous head, eyes like glossy coal. It really did look like the snake in depictions of Eve. Minus the tongue. So far that was hidden. As was the vast majority of the snake's bulk. Fascinating, hypnotising even. He recalled reading that snakes hypnotised their prey by staring. Certainly a slow shutter speed was no problem. Phil slowly opened a flash umbrella / diffuser and set it on a tripod having adjusted the flash to 1/10 power. He test fired the flash, and saw no reaction from the snake.

After a couple of test shots he checked them on the camera, "I am getting a reflection, but that gives me an idea. I think Laurie if you stand about here, and bend over looking at the snake your reflection will appear in the glass looking in the lens, can you see the reflection of the lens? Move so you are looking both at the snake, and the lens?"

Another few soft flashes and Phil saw what he had been looking for when he checked the shots. And began to relax a bit, even though he was close enough to catch her scent in the room. Apparently erotic poses were not in her plan after all. Though the curve of her hip when she bent over coupled with the the way the loose sweater suggested curves beneath had led his thoughts astray a few times, his conscience was clear of troubling thoughts.

"Tell me Laurie, what poses did you have in mind?"

“Well, I didn’t plan on posing in the real sense of the word," Laurie responded. “But you can shot away, as I need to give him his meds, plus a small exercise,” she continued to speak as she unlocked the enclosure’s door, and then opened it.

“Now, Oscar knows that if I don’t enter, he can come out. He may not; as he knows you’re here. So, Mr. Williams I would appreciate it, if you wouldn’t move around. Click away, by all means, but just don’t move from where you are,” she said, hoping to not only put Oscar at ease, but in a way protect Williams, as Oscar would protect her, if he felt she was being threatened by Williams.

Time slowly passed by, or it felt like it, before Oscar started to slither his way to the door. “Now, remember, his body is not fully proportionate to his head, as you’re about to find out.” Laurie watched as Oscar slowly exited the enclosure, his smaller than normal diameter body coming into full view.

Laurie walked over to the other side of the basement, noting how Oscar followed her, which was nothing new, while at the same time he occasionally looked at Williams. “He’s just checking you out. If he hisses, it’s just a sign to keep your distance.” She smiled, hoping to give Williams some reassurance.

As she reached the small fridge in the corner, Laurie looked at Oscar. “Okay, my friend, time for your meds!”

In his core, Williams had the heart of a photographer. His only impulse on seeing the snake make its way across the floor was to shoot. And shoot he did, but first switched to the quieter shutter mode to avoid as much as possible distracting the snake. Who, it seemed, was almost entirely focused on Laurie. At that moment Phil regretted not knowing more about how pythons detected prey. Vibrations? Smell? Heat? Gross movement? He knew some poisonous snakes used heat, and some tasted the air with their tongue, but pythons? Well he would keep still and hope for the best.

Laurie was proving a much more interesting subject than he first had imagined. He had first thought of her as simply a pretty young face, with an attractive body. But with the snake, he was seeing something else, just what it was he was not sure. Compassion, yes. But something darker seemed to poke up from time to time. Although he shot the snake from time to time, he zoomed in on her face, trying to catch that enigmatic expression.

Laurie retrieved a small plastic container that contained three small red cubes that resembled jelly, from the fridge. “Now, for his meds and exercises I have to give Oscar special instructions. When he first arrived at the zoo, we had a hard time getting him to take meds and more worryingly, to eat. So, one of the keepers went to the club where he came from, and learned that ‘they’ gave the snakes commands, so we decided to give it a try. The only thing we have to be careful about is that we have to use the snake’s name at the end of each command, otherwise nothing happens.”

Laurie then took one cube and said, “Up, Oscar.” The snake raised itself so his maw wasn’t far from her hand. “Open wide, Oscar.” The snake obliged. Then she slowly placed her hand in his mouth, but it was nowhere near his throat. Then Laurie released the cube, before withdrawing her hand. “Slowly swallow, Oscar.” The snake closed his mouth as he obeyed. Then an ‘awful tasting’ look came on his face. “Poor thing, after all this time, he still can’t get use to the taste. It’s as if I’ve given him some ‘Buckleys’!”

Laurie repeated the process with the other two cubes.

“Now for a simple exercise; this one should give you some nice shots, Mr. Williams.” Laurie held out her right arm sideways. “Slowly grab, Oscar.” The snake’s mouth opened and went for a section of her arm. “Slowly close, Oscar.” The snake’s mouth slowly closed onto her arm. “Oscar’s not hurting me, but if he still had his fangs, he could inflict major injuries. That’s why the club had them removed as to protect the girls when being…” She hesitated.

“Er…now the fun part. “Keep gripping, Oscar.” The Laurie began to walk slowly around the basement with Oscar holding onto her arm. She was literally dragging him. “It’s to strengthen his muscles, so he can hang onto a larger er…meal such as a boar or something of the size.”

Then Laurie walked past Williams, and winked. “Enjoying the moment?”

Phil started to wonder what the heck he was watching. He was pretty sure snakes did not have ears that could distinguish speech. Pitch maybe. More likely she was doing something with her hands or body that triggered the snake's actions. Still it was a good show. Most interesting were Laurie's expressions. And that is where he mostly concentrated his photography.

Her arm seemed so small in the snake's mouth. But it didn't really present a photograph. He tried some full body shots of her and the snake. But the clutter at the edges of the frame were distracting. Or not.

He switched to the body set for RAW black and white. All the data were now lighting values only, and gave incredibly fine grey scale resolution. No monitor could show it, but he had read about a custom printer that could. Walker Evans does the snake lady!

Trouble was Laurie was too . . perky. Walker Evan's subjects were dour at best.

He thought about asking her to think of something sad, but changed his mind. He like happy Laurie too much. Damn! Neighbors daughter Phil. Focus!

Laurie decided that Oscar had enough. “Reverse grab, Oscar.” The snake promptly released his grip on her arm, and then lowered himself. She looked down at him. “Time for some TLC, I guess.”

She then sat down with her legs stretched out in front of her. Oscar then slithered towards her and placed his head on her legs. Laurie then stroked his scales, as both of them looked at Williams, which for her at least would make for a ‘different’ photo.

Now it was time for some explanation. “You see, Mr. Williams, Oscar, like all snakes have what is called the inner ear, inside the head. When a person or animal walks; it makes vibrations that pass through the earth to the body of the snake. It has been known for a long time that snakes can feel vibrations from the ground. The vibrations pass through the skin and muscles of the snake to a bone connected to its inner ear. From this bone, the vibrations pass to the inner ear, which 'hears' them.

“Research has now found that snakes can also hear noises or vibrations that travel through the air. The vibrations caused by noises are also called sound waves.

"When people and most animals hear, sound waves strike the eardrum and go to the inner ear, which is sensitive to the sound waves or vibrations. Snakes do not have eardrums, but their skins, muscles, and bones carry the sound waves to the inner ears. In this way snakes can hear sound carried by the air, but it is still hasn’t been determined it they can hear as well as we can.

“As for understanding what I say, I, or the zoo, thinks it was through training at the club, where the snakes learn what each word sounded like and were taught how respond to that word.”

Phil stuck with the black and white body for the shots of Laurie with the snake's head on her lap, but first he dropped the speed to open up the lens and tried for a very shallow depth of field. Once on the snake's closest eye, then the farthest, then Laurie's eyes. Working quickly he upped the speed so the depth included both the snake's eyes and hers. He was beginning to like the shots as he saw them. She had a different expression on her face, almost contentment. She felt loved, by the snake at least. He wished he could know what she was thinking. You could watch ideas pop into her head, then be discarded. She was much more complex than he had first thought.

"Ok Laurie, I'm done shooting. Thanks for this. Unique opportunity."

Laurie smiled. “I’m sure we can do this again, soon, but for now, you have to get back, or your wife will wonder where you are. Best if you go out the back, just in case ol’ Parker is up to her tricks.” Then she clapped her hands and then pointed to the enclosure.

Oscar knew very well what that meant. Without hesitating he slithered his way back into the enclosure, with Laurie right behind, to close and then lock the door.

“Well, Mr. Williams, I hope you can find a number of decent photos for your class on Monday. Please let me know how it went.” Then she just stood there as he packed his equipment. Soon she led him up to the backdoor. “Till Monday then,” she said, a bit disappointed that her plan was on hold for a short while.

Phil gathered up his equipment, and ducked across to his back door. "Mary?" No answer. Just to be sure he checked in the garage, her car was not there. No messages on the home phone. None on his cell. All was well.

Up in his studio he sorted the day's photos, erased most and loaded the ten best in RAW to his dropbox. Then started on the victorian outfit. He decided to try for the Dodgson look, though she was far older than most of the Reverend's models, Laurie could put on a very innocent face. He wondered who was the real Laurie, this innocent? Well, the snake photos were basically similar, but then he remembered the skin tight pants, and regretted he never got photos of her wearing them. Midnight blue would have been a challenge to catch the texture and curves. In his mind he opened the zip revealing her soft creamy white belly . . and stopped himself. Shook his head to clear it.

"Phil? Phil? I'm home."

"Up here Mary."

Phil closed his laptop, and started putting away his gear. Mary enthused about the authors, then retired to their bedroom to start one of the signed copies she had bought. Phil resumed editing the victorian photos, then tried a sepia look with added overburn surround trying to catch a Dodgson look. With some soft gaussian blur, it started to appear. But Laurie's hairstyle was too modern. Really needs the long ringlets, he decided, and scrapped the whole doctored set. Too much technique, too little art he decided.

Sunday morning came, and as usual on this particular day, it was time for Laurie to do ‘zoo’ work. She went down to the basement, and retrieved a white plastic container from the fridge. Inside it was a clear plastic bag. Grabbing a scoop Laurie entered Oscar’s enclosure, and sniffed the air for that tell-tale odor of his…poop.

Of course he always helped Laurie by leading her to where he had done his ‘business.’ In the wild, a snake didn’t bother, but in his enclosure, Oscar had to put up with the smell as well! As she scooped the stuff into the plastic bag, Oscar kept watch, as if to make sure Laurie picked up every bit.

Once it was completely inside the bag, she sealed it close, before putting both the bag and scoop inside the white container. Even the remnants on the scoop were researched by the zoo’s vet, to see how Oscar was improving. The grandfather clock in the hall struck nine. “Damn! I’m running late, he’ll be here any moment.”

The person she was referring to was a keeper from the zoo. She would give him the white container, and he would give her Oscar’s next batch of meds, along with his meals. This time Laurie had ordered four rats.

Just five minutes later, they exchanged pleasantries and ‘goods’.

Back down in the basement, Laurie set aside the cage with the rats in a side room, where she put on a pair of thick gloves for protection. Rats could inflict severe injuries with their teeth. Reaching down into the cage she grabbed onto a rat and quickly pulled it out, before locking the small door closed. The rodent was fighting to stay upright as Laurie held it by its tail, as she walked towards Oscar’s enclosure.

He saw her approaching, and stayed back waiting for his meal. Laurie gingerly opened the door, slightly ajar, and then carefully lowered the rodent onto the ground before quickly shutting the door. She saw it scamper off into the enclosure’s growth. The hunt was on!

Phil put the finishing touches on the triptych of Laurie he planned to submit on Monday. The more he looked at it, the more he liked the way it hinted at her nature without being explicit. And the more he noticed how beautiful she was. And showed an erotic innocence. Or was it innocence. He was not sure just exactly what was going on in her mind.

He knew she had been teasing him. Blatantly when she showed up in those skin tight trousers and bustier. That image was burned in his mind. And clearly she knew the effect she was had on him. Then she reversed it all and dressed in jeans and sloppy sweater. But by then it was too late, just thinking about her aroused him. He knew how wrong it was, but he wanted her. The more he thought about how wrong it was, the more arousing it was. This really was the forbidden fruit. But really down deep he knew she could not possibly be attracted to him. She was just trying out her wings. Phil wished he . . .

He slept dreamlessly.

"Phil, breakfast is ready." Mary called up the stairs. "Coming dear." They talked about nothing, mostly Mary going on about Downton Abbey characters and how much this or that person they knew were like one of the characters. He suggested a movie after dinner, but Mary had made plans to go to the art gallery with her pals, then dinner and a poetry reading. "I left you a casserole you can warm up. Probably I won't get back until late."

He wondered about the Victorian outfit. Maybe Laurie would let him try again? Phil decided to call Laurie after Mary left, and ask if they could re do that session. Maybe if he asked she could do her hair in a bun, then later let it down. That might be the element he was missing.

Normally Laurie wouldn’t stay and watch Oscar put his hunting skills into action, but part of her ‘internship’ required that she occasionally watch him, to make sure that he hadn’t lost them due to his time at the club.

Oscar seemed to remain still. Was he watching the rat’s movements, to see if it would come his way? After all, why use up energy chasing the rat, when it might come to him! Then the rat disappeared behind the tree. For some reason, Oscar, instead of moving behind the tree in the opposite direction to meet the rat head on, he slithered around the front and then followed the trail of the rat.

“Oh, for crying out loud,” Laurie said. “He’s playing with his food again!”

Soon the white rat appeared on the other side of the enclosure, right beside Oscar’s heated rock. Where was the hunter? Laurie couldn’t even see him. Then a blur came out of the growth. The rat let out a shriek. There before Laurie’s eyes Oscar had a firm grip of the rodent, sideways, in his mouth.

It didn’t take long for Oscar to manipulate the rat, so that its head now faced inwards, before raising his head, and using both gravity and muscles, he slowly moved the rodent down into his stomach.

In all reality such a small creature wouldn’t take that long to swallow completely. The true test would come when Oscar would have to feed on a larger offering.

Laurie, satisfied that all had gone well, went up the kitchen for a snack. As she took her first bite of a ham and cheese sandwich, the phone rang.

"Laurie? Oh hi Laurie, its Mr. Williams. I was, um, well the photographs we took of you in the Victorian dress didn't turn out as well as I had hoped. I think the lighting was too, too modern. Photos from that era have a different look, and I think I know how to capture it better now. So, well Mrs. Williams has gone out and won't be back until late tonight, and if you are free, or able to, well I wonder if it is possible for you to come over here and wear that same outfit. Um, you could change here if you like, so you don't have to wear it over. So, um do you think you might be able to?"

Lots of things were going through Phil's mind as he spoke. Why the heck was he acting like a dumb struck teenager? Was he really inviting Laurie over when he knew his wife would be away? Her parents wouldn't be back until late tonight he knew, but surely she had other things, other interests. But he really did want to see her. Photograph her. Just see her. She paused, and he waited, hoping

Laurie was having a hard time trying to refrain from giggling as Williams tried to explain himself, especially requesting her to wear the Victorian outfit again. Then when he told her that his wife wouldn’t back to late, Laurie decided to grab the opportunity that had opened up to her. It was time to put the next part of her plan into action.

“Yes, that will be fine. Actually, I was thinking that as the outfit consists of many layers, we could do a sequence, and then I could remove some articles, before doing another sequence, and so on, before you want to stop. That way you can get a series of photos of the different layers.”

Laurie decided to keep talking, thus make Williams ponder over her suggestion. “ Could we use the bench, again? Oh, if it’s okay with you, I’ll use your backdoor again. That way I can let myself in, while you get the studio ready.”

"Yes, absolutely, sounds great. The back door is open. Just let yourself in and come on up to the studio. And, thanks Laurie."

Phil changed around the studio. He opened the drapes, then pulled the sheers so no one could make out what was going on inside. Put away the flashes and studio ights. He moved the backdrops and tripod for the camera so natural light would come over his shoulder and the backdrop would reflect some light back onto her. He positioned the bench. The photos from the Victorian era all had a stiffness to them, must be from the slow film and long shutter speeds, and natural light. He positioned the camera body set for black and white onto the tripod, and took incident light readings around the bench. All this planning helped divert him from thinking about Laurie and the effect she was having on him.

After lookng around and satisfying himself that all was ready, Phil went to the kitchen to make a big pitcher of iced tea.

Laurie busied herself by first finishing off her sandwich, before taking a shower, applying modest makeup, then packing the Victorian outfit into easy to carry cases. Then making sure that Oscar was comfy on his rock, enjoying his meal, she made her way next door.

“Afternoon, Mr. Williams,” Laurie said as she spotted him in the kitchen. “I’ll go and change. Give me about ten minutes; then I’ll be ready.”

Thankfully the outfit was made a light material, otherwise if had been made to the original design; Laurie would soon be sweating ‘bricks’. Just after she had convinced her parents to buy it for her, Susan, her closest friend, found some other ‘un-mentionable’ items that would go nicely with it. So, with all the items encasing her body, including a pair of white wrist gloves, and that wide brim hat, she exited the bathroom. “I’m all set!”

Indeed she was ‘all set’ to see how far Williams would let her slowly disrobe.