Katy T

Going through backlog...

2012-02-08T17:33:00.001-07:00

While in the process of recharging my batteries I have time to go through images that haven't seen the light of day yet. I can't wait to share what I've been up to and sorry to the photographers for being so slow with sharing these.

These are from my last east coast trip, taken by Chris Donald. There's just something about shooting on location in the fall and color is a must. It seems to be another yearly thing for me :)

Quick Note!

2012-01-18T01:02:00.000-07:00

They "claim" this is for piracy reasons, but if this bill were passed it would give them the right to police the internet and remove ANYTHING seen as a threat to them - this means anyone speaking out against the government in any way!! They can invade your privacy and remove your blogs or websites and blacklist you!

End Piracy - But Not Liberty

By the way - new blog post coming soon! I'm back from England and over a short flu, so an update coming soon :)

Merry Christmas!!

2011-12-24T10:35:00.003-07:00

Merry Christmas everyone! Still no snow nude C'mas card, since I can't find snow right now :(...... but good news is you'll get a New Year's one to wait for! Until then, here is 2007-2010 of chilly nudes :).......................

Christmas Nudes 2007-2010 (2011 coming soon) :)

Have a great one!! :D

Greetings From England!!

2011-12-18T11:08:00.006-07:00

Sorry for being slack with the posting. We flew to England on the 14th to spend Christmas here with my English family this year. My baby Jasper cat is enjoying the company of our house sitter while we're gone, so he gets the royal treatment, and his gifts wait wrapped until we get home :)

Part of me was expecting to be greeted by either snow, rain or windy weather, but none of the above. London was actually quite pleasant and heading further south the sun was shining, so an odd December for England! Lol. Still, the evenings are getting colder out here and I expect the weather will deteriorate more at some point. Our arrival was interesting, since we brought more bags than expected (a lot of camera equipment, lol) and my parents drove up in the smaller of their cars, so it was a crazy game of forcing bags into any available space, all this with an eager audience waiting to see if we actually made it in the car, lol. Where we actually sat was not important. Haha.

Bournemouth is looking very festive again. I really miss it here :( I used to have an apartment close to the beach and all the shops, so in the perfect location. I've been considering buying a 2 bedroom summer home over here which will be perfect for escaping the Arizona heat!

So, no images taken yet from this trip, but here are some online shots to show you where I am. Bournemouth always has the Christmas markets, with all the pretty lights...

The town in the summer months....

I still haven't posed for my annual Christmas card, all because the east coast didn't offer any! There are some places further north that have been hit with snow, so I'll get to them soon. It's always worth getting chilly for my annual snow card :)

Everyone is gradually sending my images from my other trips, so I'll be posting these up gradually. Hope you're patient.. and the card is coming soon!!

Hope everyone is having a great Christmas :)

Kate*
xoxo

Christmas Greetings!

2011-12-07T16:41:00.002-07:00

Can you believe it's December already? Where did the year go? Life goes by quickly as you get older, but always seems to drag during your teens..yet you want the opposite, lol.

So my lack of blog posting on my recent trip was unavoidable. About a week into the east coast tour my laptop got a spyware virus, so I was pretty much reliant on my cell phone for quick emails and not much more, so no long blog ramblings, lol. The long shooting days and traveling through various states didn't really leave too much time to baby my computer, so I chose sleep instead, even though limited :) I managed to run the recovery towards the end of my trip when it wasn't priority. Always the way, lol. Anyway, talking of technology, it really makes you think about how dependent we've become on our latest technology. Not that I'm complaining, just that you can lose touch with reality if you allow your life to be controlled by all the latest gadgets. I know in this world, developments in technology can make life easier, but I see it going way too far today. If everything we do is eventually controlled by pressing a button, that would make us no better than the technology we use and almost robot like. Take this scene from the movie, 'Wall-e" as an example - helpless fat people on a ship where everything they desire is brought to them, so they never have to leave their chair, to the extent of not having the ability to walk. Is this where we're heading? Scary!

And then they all fell and were too fat to walk! :-o ........

At one point we didn't have the internet or even phones. I admit that snail-mail would be impossible today, although a handwritten letter posted by hand would be so much more personal. I just think we shouldn't take for granted what we have today. From what I can see we're heading for a cashless world, where all will have their own barcode/chip embedded in their skin, allowing them to buy and sell and likely everything like medical records and finances recorded in this chip. That would definitely make us robots. I only ever use my cell for email, calls and text, so that would be about 30% of the features on it, lol.

Anyway - my trip went well, although I didn't get any of the snow I was expecting. The east coast has all it's seasons muddled as there was snow in October, whereas December was quite pleasant in most places. I wonder if this is the sign of a late winter and delayed spring for eastern folk? As many of you know, it's tradition for me to do a snow nude Christmas e-card every year. Last year I came close to not getting the card done, and had to travel up north of AZ to get the shot, but I'll be spending Christmas in England this year, so I may just have to find a northern UK location for this year. Keep a look out for it :) Anyway, so glad to be home in my own bed... no bed compares to mine! At least I'm on a decent sleeping pattern now from all those early morning starts!

Ade - I hope you get well soon!! I was disappointed we didn't get to shoot again this trip, as we always have such fun and creative collaborations and our shoot was definitely missed, but your health comes first. Hope you're released from hospital already and on the way to recovery. Not fun but it's important to get strong again..

A few little tips for traveling models that I'm happy to pass on.... I've noticed that it's a lot cheaper to fly in to Boston, MA than other places. It's ideal if you want to start off a tour of New England and work your way down the coast. I've found that Southwest airlines has to be the best for traveling models. The airline gives you flexibility to change your flight anytime with no change fee, you just keep the credit and book another flight with it, so it's carried over. Perfect if you decide to extend your trip for a few extra days or if you're flying out for a couple of days and have the cancellations, you just keep the credit for a future trip. It's really ideal. After booking a certain number of flights (I forget how many), they give you a complimentary round trip flight. You just use the credit number and apply it to your booking. Another tip... with rental cars they always require you to drop the car off at the same place you picked it up, otherwise they charge you a ridiculous amount. It's difficult if you're doing a long tour and end at the other end of the coast, but you can request an out of State car that they want returning to a different location. Sometimes they will even discount your rental fee to do this, but at the very least it saves you time and money driving miles out of your way to return it.

As promised I will get to uploading images from my trips soon. I have lots to share with you :)

Kate* xx

Publication!

2011-11-11T17:07:00.000-07:00

It's not often I find my publications, as once an image is sold you're just given general info, like the size of the print run and country, so it's pot luck whether you find them, but we got lucky this time, all thanks to David!

This image was taken about 5 years ago and is currently being used on the front cover of a book. Image taken by David Green. I still get excited over publications :)

Hitting the road again....

2011-11-08T22:49:00.001-07:00

Tomorrow I'll be embarking on another road trip adventure to the east coast, albeit the first trip in a couple of months now, so feeling slightly rusty on the traveling side, but looking forward to seeing everyone again, once I've removed the dust from my suitcase! I really must make a note to self when planning future fall/winter trips, that a warm climate needs to be the prerequisite, lol.

I've been getting quite a few emails asking if I've retired. Sorry if I gave that impression from my mini disappearing act. If the truth be known, my head's been away from modeling since around June time, which is why I took a mini break, with the exception of a couple of trips. A spiritual change happened in my life, so that's been my focus lately. Also, I found out recently that my dad has cancer, but thankfully it hasn't spread and was caught before any symptoms arose, so he's doing well :)

Anyway, in true Katy T style, my bag remains in the closet, empty, but not unloved by my cat, whose chosen it as another place to temporarily crash. Either that or he suspects mummy's trip is imminent and this is a ploy to stop me from packing. I have no idea how cats know your plans ahead of time. What I do know is I always leave packing until the day I leave. Things never do change.

I plan on updating as I travel, so please check back for updates and images! I'll also be posting up my backlog of images, so you can see what I've been up to throughout the year :)

Amazing

2011-10-17T16:45:00.000-07:00

I never tire of hearing Christina Aguilera's voice. Here's are two tracks I love. Really wish I could sing like this. Someone teach me! Amazing vocals!!.....................

Due an update....

2011-10-13T12:50:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I get to reconnect with someone from the past. In this case it was someone I worked with on my 2nd trip to the US, so many blue moons ago, lol. It's always interesting to see how each of you has grown in your work.

I'm sure I'll get asked this, so I'll answer right now and say - no, I've not had breast implants. I'm 100% au natural! I can see that the shadows and lighting in these shots enhances the shape of my chest area, but these are what God gave me :)

Here are the results from that shoot, taken by Seduntra in California. I will post up some more from this session very soon :) ....

Very soon.....

2011-09-18T00:03:00.000-07:00

I have lots of images to post and updates also. Promise I will get to them very soon! Please check back :)

Here is a random shot of a cute kitty that I found recently. Had to post it, as it makes me smile :D

Update coming soon......

I'm still Alive!

2011-08-12T23:18:00.006-07:00

I know that my lack of blogging and emailing may speak otherwise, but I can assure you that I'm alive and well :) So, what with the disappearing act? Well, sometimes things happen in life that slow you down for a bit - but I'm back, happy and buzzing with creative energy!

I'm sorry to everyone for having to cancel my Europe trip last month. It was unavoidable, but I've rescheduled it for mid September, so happy to book you in for that trip. Please email me for details!

Here are some images from my recent travels, which have remained unseen, due to my disappearing act ;). These were taken by Mark Harris - our third shoot to date and another meaningful creative collaboration. All shot with film. Yummy!......

Strings......

2011-07-05T18:13:00.008-07:00

I will let you decide the message. I know everyone will see these images differently :)

This was from my shoot with Eric Ahrens in Michigan last May - our 3rd session to date! When he proposed this puppet idea I really got into character. I didn't want to do cliche shots, but rather subtly add a piece of me. The lighting was so intricate that I couldn't move too much or I would've been completely in shadow. (Of course, no pointing of toes allowed for this character! Lol) Hope you like them.............

And some classic nudes also, free from my strings :) .......

Frying in the desert!

2011-06-27T23:54:00.003-07:00

Out here I'm certain that if you cracked an egg on the pavement you could quite adequately cook your breakfast without use of a stove. Its seriously been that hot out here. This is the first time I've been here in Arizona during the peak times. Usually I escape to Europe in July and August, to abandon this craziness. I actually clocked the temperature at 115F over the weekend. Because of the dry heat, you don't tend to feel your sweat. However, with this excessive heat, it goes beyond that and even a 5 minute walk from the car ends with you being completely drenched in your own sweat. Nice. This greeted by chuckles, because you're the only one that vocally complains like a tourist. Everyone else here just adapts. No idea how they do it. Still, the thought in my head is always - "remember the winter days in England where you prayed for this type of heat" - the grass is always greener! Lol.

I'm sorry for the lack of posting, tweeting, messaging, etc, etc. I've hit a bit of a standstill right now and am unable to travel at the moment because of a sad situation here. :( I hate to write about too much personal stuff in my blog, but I've had to cancel my trip to Europe in July. I'm very sad, as I was looking forward to it and the trip was pretty much booked up. I've never cancelled a trip to date, so this will be the first time. I miss you guys over there and I am trying to work my schedule to accommodate shoots with you very soon. I'm really very sad about it :(

There is sometimes a silver lining. In this case, I can look through images. I have some to post from Canada, Michigan and the east coast. I also really want to share the puppet shots I spoke about, as that was a cool shoot, and different for me (and I couldn't point my toes as I usually do!!)

So, wherever you are (all you cold climate people) - I send you lots of Arizona sunshine and I hope you will send me a nice cool breeze in return! :)

Here is a beautiful quote I want to share, which I think is very inspiring.....

John 14:27: "Peace I leave with you, my peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid"

Speak soon :)

Images....

2011-06-24T11:35:00.004-07:00

Here are some more, from a shoot in San Jose last April. It was my first time working with Jim Reekes, but it was an inspiring shoot. I loved the accessories he brought, which gave options. I always wanted to work with a red gymnasts ribbon. Loved it.........

Standstill

2011-06-20T11:57:00.000-07:00

I've come to a standstill at the moment :( :( This won't last long.

I'll be back soon...

Vacation!

2011-06-18T12:44:00.001-07:00

Sorry for the sudden silence! I disappeared to Florida this month, for a 2 week vacation - Northern Bay Area, Orlando/Disney World, Universal Studios and Miami (to visit family) (pics posted below) - I arrive home on Monday, so will get to emails and more image posting as soon as I'm back! :D

Northern Bay Area

Orlando/Disney World

Orlando/Universal Studios

Miami

Images.........

2011-06-02T19:13:00.001-07:00

These are from another shoot I did with Ade, who I've worked with many times since 2007. They're all facing the same direction because of where the light was. Hope you like :)

As Promised...

2011-05-31T17:06:00.003-07:00

....another update from me! Sorry to those who have emailed me, waiting patiently for my update. Since arriving home I've been super occupied with non computer things, so I've neglected the blog side of things. I really should stick to my new rule of 'blog as you go' while everything is fresh in my head. Time always slips through the cracks. Why is that? Lol.

Well it was a great trip, which even led to spiritual growth :)

I'm convinced you can't beat an ongoing working relationship with the same photographers. If you don't have a muse - get one asap! I think the most personal and meaningful work comes from ongoing collaborations with the same person, as you develop more of a bond, which shows in the images. You also develop creatively and can inspire each other more over time, as you work together. The longer the collaboration, the more the connection builds. It's a great creative relationship. Of course, you can still get great images with other photographers who you build rapport with for the first time, but there is even more of a connection with people you know.

Building Rapport

For any photographers who are new and don't know about this, I found a blog post on this subject: HERE - something which can help both model and photographer to feel comfortable before working together. I'm always very chatty as soon as I meet the photographer. The dullest shoot in my career had to be about 4 years ago in Europe when the photographer didn't say one word throughout the 3 hours of shooting. My effort at making conversation went with a one word response. Very awkward. I could hear a pin drop! Lol. I did my best to make conversation but he didn't say a word. You have to know your subject and both feel comfortable, if you're to create images together.

Anyway, all went well with the trip. I managed to avoid ticks and poison ivy (just not bed bugs, as I mentioned in my last post, lol). Ticks and poison ivy are always a hazard of the job when doing location work. I seem to have a bad reaction to poison ivy and I usually end up ill for almost a week. I still don't know what it looks like - 3 leaves? It's like looking for a needle in a hay stack when you're surrounded by nothing but greenery. Not good.

I really must say, the weirdest moment on my trip was being asked to comb my pubic hair away from my body. I'm not stupid. It was obvious that the photographer wanted to eliminate my nice coverage of hair, so he could see more. It was even weirder when that he was the one who initially got out the comb and started combing it for me without asking. Wow. And it was someone I had worked with several times in the past. This is unprofessional. As a model you shouldn't allow treatment like that. I have no issue when a photographer wants to move hair on my head out the way and is professional enough to ask, but another example I had in Texas was a photographer literally moving me around like a rag doll and almost lifting me off the ground to 'place' me into position. This isn't how I like to work anyway, being treated like a mannequin, but again, he made a lot of contact without asking. I was like a rag doll/mannequin. If all he wanted was himself in the creative process then that's all he would get. It's a waste of money to hire a professional model and not allow her to collaborate.

Talking of control/rag doll, I was given the role of a puppet on one of my shoots, controlled by rope, in a very non bondage type of way. Of course, I couldn't point my toes, as I had to be natural with it, but I took on the character well I think. I'll post these soon and you can tell me how you see them. I don't want to tell you my thoughts and influence how you view these images.

Oh, and I can't forget my moments of tortoise rescue. For some reason the NC highways were heavily populated with tortoise. Obviously they don't move too fast, so a lot of them get hit by cars. We found one that was sitting in the middle of the lane and managed to rescue him, but you can't save them all. They're like deer that walk out in front of cars. Very sad.

Anyway, I made it back safely and it was great to wake up in my own bed and just do anything non computer or work related :)

From the 7th-20th June we head to Florida for a vacation. We'll be in a beach resort in Sarasota, Disney world/Universal studios in Orlando (my first visit) and Miami to visit family. I'll be accepting a few shoots in Orlando/Tampa areas as well as Miami, but this trip is mostly a vacation, so time is limited. Email me for details!

Images to come very soon. I have to look through them :)

Very Soulful

2011-05-21T21:43:00.002-07:00

Sorry for all the random pictures and videos lately. Will update very soon. Just wanted to share a very soulful track, which I've been listening to this week. Love it. Enjoy!.......

Don't let your mind get weary and confused..
your will be still; don't try.
Don't let your heart get heavy, child;
inside you there's a strength that lies.

Don't let your soul get lonely, child..
it's only time; it will go by.
Don't look for love in faces, places —
it's in you; that's where you'll find kindness.

Be here.. be here now.. be here now..
be.. be here now.. be here now...

Don't lose your faith in me,
and I will try not to lose faith in you.
Don't put your trust in walls,
'cause walls will only crush you when they fall.

Be...be here now... be here now.
Be...be here now...be here now.

Welcome to PA!...

2011-05-19T20:50:00.001-07:00

Here was my welcome to PA! I wasn't even nude, lol, but they were certainly curious :D

(Taken with my droid phone)

The end of another day.....

2011-05-16T23:11:00.001-07:00

....here in my hotel room in VA. The life of a traveling model...... messy because I'm tired and can't be bothered :D

Inc Bed Bugs!

2011-05-10T23:51:00.004-07:00

Thank you to the Canadians for making my trip a blast!!

I arrived to dreary weather, wearing little to nothing. What an idiot not checking the weather. It's not like I assume every State has the same weather or anything, but I was assuming May would be alright. I seem to be affected by weather and was a bit miserable as a result. That wasn't a good start to the first week of a big trip. I stood in line in a store, picking up essentials, and was laughed at by some woman in her 30's. She was closely observing my little to nothing dress and obviously thought I was crazy. I just looked back at her and frowned. So rude. She didn't know I had only just arrived from Phoenix area. Anyway, the Canadians I worked with cheered me up with their energy and positivity, so the trip was great as a result!

Getting across the border was tough, and it's not like I visit a lot or anything. Border patrol have now taken to googling any female coming across on her own. I guess they get a lot of east coast models traveling over and have become suspicious. Fortunately I don't use my real name for my work. Any models that do, you need to rethink this, as they're getting tougher on the borders now. I got stuck with some guy in his 20's that took his job way too seriously. Question after question, trying to dig me a deeper hole to throw myself in. I wasn't expecting all that and had to be quick to think! That wasn't the best of welcomes.

Once I arrived in Toronto I realized I had left my passport at home and I needed it to get back into the US. They were fine with my US residency card to get into Canada but are much stricter going back the other way. So, I had that to stress about, but managed to get it sent to a fedex office in Toronto. Relief. They didn't need it in the end though, lol.

So the trip went well. It was obvious the Canadian taxes do not go towards roads though, lol. Was a bit tough driving on them. After Toronto I went up to Montreal and then did the long boring, bumpy drive back to the US, hitting Michigan and Illinois for a few shoots on my way to NY. It was a relief to get sunshine in Michigan, so I was hitting the air con, rather than the heater this time.. and finally I could turn my phone internet back on, as the roaming cost a fortune in Canada.

It's crazy but I've had no time to do any emails at all on this trip so far. It's always been a quick email while in the car, about to head off to a shoot. When I hit my hotels my head is literally straight on the pillow. There just aren't enough hours in the day - or I'm just getting old. They say that time flies by when you're older. Now I feel old! Lol.

So I checked into a Marriott one night, which is a pretty nice hotel. I have points and memberships with certain chains, so I get good deals. I got ready for bed and my head was about to hit the pillow when I got greeted by this guy below.....

If you look closely you'll notice he's a bed bug!!! This is the first time I've actually seen one. I sent the picture by email to get confirmation and the night porter also confirmed what I thought. I swiftly moved into another room. Just hope his family didn't follow me. When I get home I doubt Miguel will let me in the house, lol. He's threatened to spray me down in the garage, along with my bags. But seriously, don't want these guys in our home. They're nasty.

Right now I'm in Upstate NY. I'll be here until the end of the week. I had some great shoots here so far. There was one shoot in particular where I noticed the photographer was shooting a certain way that he had shot for several years, shooting from above. I showed him 2 new angles and they really resulted in beautiful images. He didn't think of these angles, but was really pleased I shared them with him. The images are super and I think they are in a new direction for him. I tend to play a huge part in the creative process. Also, when someone wants advice on how to improve, I will give it. I work with so many people that I know about angles and lighting. In this case I think I really helped him transform his photography and improve. I got a kick out of that :)

Anyway, time for bed now. I have 2 shoots tomorrow, with a morning start. More updates to come soon and hopefully images :)

N'night! xoxo

Greetings from Canada!!

2011-05-03T00:07:00.005-07:00

Yes, I'm off on my travels again! I must that being more practical this year and giving myself more rest time between trips is helping me to be fully charged and be ready to go, so watch out! :D This month will be crazy, as I'm in Canada until the end of the week, then Michigan for 2 days, then over to the east coast, hitting NY, MD, DC, PA, VA and down to NC. I've got a feeling the rental car company will hate me again when I drop off the car with all this mileage. At least it's not mine! :D

I was really dreading the airport chaos today. As many of you know, I drive whenever possible because I just don't like craziness, I prefer to be in calm surroundings. Never would I attempt driving to Toronto though, lol. It actually wasn't too bad, considering Osama Bin Laden got shot yesterday. I figured the terrorist group would be active again as a result - or maybe this is a strong message to them showing more power? Fingers crossed. I think Osama will be stunned to find himself rotting in hell as opposed to spending eternity in a mansion with 100 virgins, or so his religion said would be his reward in the afterlife. Oops!

Well, my biggest issue on this trip will be food. I struggle to eat well when I'm traveling. I usually eat fresh organic food at home so my body is used to that and when I grab something quick on the road it yells at me. I've found a great drink called 'One Coconut water,' which has 5 electrolytes in it and it's ideal for instant hydration, so I'll be stocking up on these for my trip....

Details for my trips this month.....

Canada (Toronto/Ottawa/Montreal): 2nd-7th May
Michigan: 8th & 9th May
NY: 10th-15th May
MD/VA/PA/DC: 16th-22nd May
North Carolina: 23rd & 24th May

Back home in Phoenix from: 25th-29th May

I'll try to update this blog as much as possible while I'm on the road. I have some images to post up, but I just debugged my laptop, so I need to reinstall photoshop to resize the files for posting. They'll be up soon. Please be patient :)

Speak soon!!! xoxo

Royal Wedding

2011-04-28T23:28:00.005-07:00

Royal Wedding Live Stream.....

(Link removed)

Studio Time Slots - England!

2011-04-27T14:50:00.008-07:00

Just putting out another travel blast!

I'll be working out of a great studio in Tamworth, England. The space looks inspiring and I can't wait to get creating there!

I'm accepting time slots. To book some time with me, please contact Geoff/studio owner and organizer: studioariane@f2s.com

(There may also be the opportunity to schedule on the Sat 9th July, if that day suits better and you would prefer a different time slot from those currently available. Please ask Geoff about Saturday, if that's your preference).

The studio is 30-40 mins from Birmingham and Wolverhampton areas.

I'm looking forward to seeing you all there, bringing my creativity and passion to your lens! :)