FigureBaby blog

Florida

2009-11-05T15:38:33Z

We're here!

Ashley and I safely made it to Tampa last night. This is her second time here and my first. Could definitely feel the moisture in the air when I got here. I flew out of Portland into Phoenix, then to Houston and then finally made it to Tampa. Ashley had gotten in a few hours before I did, so I just met her at the hotel. She had my favorite soda and a large pizza waiting for me. I love her! Lots of traveling yesterday, but that didn't stop us from staying up most of the night finding lots of things on the internet to keep us entertained and laughing our heads off! After all, our bodies are still on Oregon time so our little slumber party lasted until almost 6am.

Currently, it's 74 and sunny with a perfect breeze :) She and I have awhile until our shoots this evening, so we're going to walk around the little shopping centers here. We're going to be shooting in this really nice place that the two photographers we are working with rented, and then stay the night there. I hear really nice things about it and it's very close to the beach. What a way that's going to be to wake up tomorrow! :)

Will have some photos and possibly a little video clip for you tomorrow, so stayed tuned to hear more about the adventures of Krisha and Ashley!

Cross Country

2009-11-03T14:21:00Z

Well Good Morning!

I've now officially been up for an hour. That's about how long it takes me to wake up in order to even get ready. Ordinarily, I wouldn't get up this early, but there is a doctor's appointment to go to. Figured it was probably time to get everything checked out after the hospital stint seeing as I'm flying across the country tomorrow. I've never been to Florida, so I'm actually pretty excited. Ashley promised that we would take a moonlit walk on the beach because I've never gotten to.

The flight is going to be pretty long. Supposed to take off tomorrow morning at 11am, at some point I switch planes in Dallas, Texas, and then around midnight I'll fly into Tampa. It's definitely on my list to bring things that can occupy my time. Took a look at the weather over there lately: 80+ degrees with 50-something percent humidity. Our hair is going to look rather pretty :)

Will be taking photos to share with you guys as well as short video clips. Realized that you've seen a few photos here and there, but want to add some more items to share so you all have more fun stuff to look at and can experience our travels with us! Plus, we didn't over book our schedules so there is a good chance that we will actually have time to do things while we are there. Often people ask about all the things we got to see and do, when the reality is that we just saw the inside of hotel rooms or studios and spent all our waking hours shooting.

This afternoon I'll be working with Tony to get some more sets done. We update things quite often here, so be sure to keep a look out. If you'd like to see more than a preview, be sure to sign up with us so that you can get the full Figurebaby experience!

I'll be sure to post when I've landed safely and include some travel tidbits :)

For now, it's off to get ready to be inspected and then time to get dolled up for you guys! Talk to you soon!

XOXO!

Recession

2009-10-28T04:23:31Z

Should have never even have thought it.

It wasn't long ago that I wondered if the economy was going to effect me and my family. Off we went in our own little world not having to cut back, not having to search day in and out for a job.
Not that we go out and spend a lot, but we just didn't have to worry.

Well, one out of two of our incomes has survived, and guess what? It's not the one with a benefits package that brings in a steady paycheck.

As I mentioned before, the Phoenix trip didn't go so well. It didn't put me negative, but I was literally only positive by the smallest margin possible.

So, rent is due pretty quick as well as just about every other bill. I'm wondering where all this money is going to magically appear from considering our monthly bills we have coming in doesn't include food, gas, personal items - none of it. Thankfully, I have two shoots tomorrow that will bring us just barely a few dollars short of what rent is.

What happens when the economy gets bad? Where do people go? To a booze bottle or a strip club. So, if things keep going this bad, yours truly is going to shake her naked backside at the local strip club. I go where the money goes.

Although things have been rather difficult lately, I'm grateful. I don't have some deadly disease, and neither does anyone in my family. Things would be much harder if there were children involved. So, I'm grateful for that as well. As they say, things could always be worse.

Back from the Desert!

2009-10-22T19:04:25Z

Hello all! I'm finally out of the heat!

Phoenix started out rather horribly. Apparently, the weekend was one of the hottest in October since 2003: 108 degrees in the shade. A few girls got heat stroke by the time everything was said and done and there were a few injuries at the shoot location. Nothing terribly serious, we all made it home in one piece :)

Monday a few got to shoot at these really beautiful botanical gardens. It was like an oasis. Trees and flowers everywhere! It was a nice change of pace from everything around us being different shades of brown.

I saw Ashley off to catch her flight to Sacramento. She has a few more days of shooting there before she gets to head home on Monday.

I BARELY made my flight last night. I was the crazy girl in heels dragging a carry on, her purse, laptop, pillow and blanket. My ride was an hour late picking me up from the airport. That was interesting to say the least.

Now, I'm home until the 4th when Ashley and I head out to Tampa. Have almost two weeks to work my butt off here at home booking shoots so I can try and grab plane tickets really quick for Florida before the prices go through the roof. We might be making a pit stop through Las Vegas on the way back!

For now, I'm going to try and enjoy the time I have here at home, regardless of the short stay, and get ready for the next adventure! We continue to keep updating here at Figurebaby so stay tuned and be sure to grab a membership so you can keep up with our photo sets as well as our blogs!

Someone Help

2009-10-18T00:59:06Z

I am in a hotel room in Phoenix right now. I've been at the group event all day long in the hot Arizona heat out in the middle of nowhere and I have NO bookings today. Actually, pretty much everything fell through until Wednesday when I have two shoots before I have to get on a plane and head home.

Been posting travel notices and on message boards for almost two months. Talked to a ton of photographers in advance and a lot of them wanted to meet the girls in person before booking. Sure, no worries!

Well, now I'm worried. As of right now, I literally have 70 dollars to my name and no confirmed work until Wednesday. Beyond completely stressed out and terrified.

Just Say No

2009-10-14T21:54:56Z

Well, here's hoping that things look up.

I started feeling really funny a little while ago. Not anxious, but some of the symptoms that showed up I tried telling myself were just some new form of anxiety. Most everyone around is getting sick, which is why this girl has isolated herself to her home unless it's to go to a shoot. So, there wasn't any way I could have contracted a cold from any of those that I know are sick.

Yesterday morning around 9am I started dry heaving, shaking like an epileptic, making too many trips to the restroom, sweating, having stomach pain, a migraine and what felt like heartburn. After a couple hours of continuous hell and laying on the back porch for air, I did what every sane adult woman does when she feels like she's dying and called my Mother.

After conformation from the womb I climbed out of, off to the ER I went. A pelvic exam, IV placement in my hand gone terribly wrong, bag of IV fluids, anti-nausea medicine and getting talked into some pain medicine later, I headed home.

I definitely learned something in the hospital though. They seem to be a bunch of drug pushers. After giving me fluids for awhile and letting the anti-nausea medicine kick in, they asked me if I wanted some pain medicine. I've had some terrible experiences in the hospital with being given pain meds so I quickly refused and they proceeded to try and talk me into getting them. "You really don't look like you're not in a ton of pain" the nurse said. After explaining my past experience and that I'm not a fan of being wasted - I don't even drink - we agreed an hour later that I would only allow a half a milligram of their bottom shelf liquor. Halfway through the injection of the medicine into my IV, my head weighed 372 pounds and I let her know that was more than enough. Before I left, she asked me a few times if I wanted the rest of it. No thank you!

Now, I have a shoot in Eugene to go to tomorrow and Friday I leave on a plane to head to Phoenix. In the last 24 hours, I've slept 19 hours. 19! Still feeling a little woozy, pretty weak and kind of off balance. I think I will continue to sleep as much as I can the rest of the day and get my things together for my shoot tomorrow this evening. As much as I would like to stay at home for a week and be a big whine bag, there is no time for anything but fulfilling adult responsibilities.

That means working.

Off I go to suck it up, stick it out and do what I chose to do.

Gotta love the fast-paced life of modeling :)

Boobs with Dinner

2009-10-07T15:09:09Z

My Mother called me this morning to laugh about my Grandfather and his bright red embarrassed last night. My Grandparents are in town and had gone to my parents for dinner. My Grandfather pulled my Mom aside and showed her his email account.

Apparently, when you hover over my name in chat my naked top half shows up. I absolutely do not remember uploading a naked photo of myself as my default picture thank you.

He wanted her to figure out a "nice" way of telling me, but not when he was there. She picked up the phone and started to call me and he freaked out and left the room completely mortified.
She couldn't do anything but bust up laughing. We tried coming up with funny excuses as to why there was a naked photo of me.

For example:

"You should have seen the video XXX took that went along with that!"

or

"It was an art project. I photo shopped a chick's fake tits onto mine to see what I would look like with implants."

I thought I would just write him and say, "Hey Grandpa, fixed the glitch in my email. My tits are no longer staring at you."

Bet you're wondering what he actually saw. Well, click here for the incriminating evidence. If you'd like to see the whole set, go get yourself a Figurebaby Membership! It's rather ironic though that the first time a family member comes across naked photos of me, it's the first set ever published with Figurebaby. Oh, the way things work.

Wait, that's me!

2009-10-04T22:49:19Z

You know the dreaded commercials. The ones that list all the symptoms. Do you feel tired, hungry, angry, happy, or ugly some days? The symptoms they list are always things that could apply to the majority of the population. You start thinking, "Wait, that's me!" We all know it's a marketing ploy. Well, hopefully we do. Everyone needs to make money.

So, in my downtime today getting prepped for traveling, I find myself watching some show about women who didn't know they were pregnant. Really? You didn't know you were pregnant? Okay, I'll bite. I'll watch for a few minutes and see what this is all about.

I think I must be over thinking things too much because some of these women could easily be me. It's like a half hour commercial for the latest pill.

Dear Krisha, you have too many other important things to think about. Stop watching. Everyone needs to make money.

It's With the Zippos

2009-09-29T09:59:26Z

Notebooks are my friend.

No, I don't mean digital notebooks, I mean college-ruled notebooks.

I'm the self-proclaimed queen of lists. At all times I have a list of the following; Groceries I'm running out of, things I need to do for work, what to clean in my house, wedding day list, cleaning supplies list, errands to run, things to remember. See! I even list my lists!

Growing up, my siblings and I were responsible for cleaning up the dishes after dinner. The first time we did this, my mother was dissatisfied with the job we did. It's not that we didn't do the dishes properly, it's that we didn't wipe counters down, clean the sink with hot water and soap, sweep the floor and take out the trash. From a young age, I learned that "doing the dishes after dinner" involved much more than just doing the dishes.

Something clicked in my brain. Picking up my room no longer meant just straightening my bed and making sure things were off the floor, it meant that it needed to be vacuumed, dusted, movies listed in alphabetical order, hangers all facing the same direction, clothes organized by type, length and color, shoes lined up perfectly, drawers that no one could see into had to be organized just so.

I wouldn't go so far as to call it obsessive compulsive. It probably has more to do with self worth. As a first born, there is a need to please. Having not completed a chore to my Mother's standards made me disappointed in myself. She didn't yell, and I wasn't in trouble, she just simply asked me to do more than do the dinner dishes. I just felt bad about not doing it properly. Thus, it stuck with me and translated into adulthood.

Now don't go thinking this girl here is crazy :) Right now I'm curled up in my zebra print blanket on the couch and there are dishes that need to be done and some other chores that need to be tended to. Thing is, I just don't feel like it. Then again, it is after 3am. I don't itch if something is out of place and I don't wash my hands 100 times a day.

Funny thing is, when my significant other and I got together, I snuck over to his apartment to clean his bedroom when he was camping with the boys. Believe me, it was necessary. If any Government official saw it, the place would have been condemned. Typical bachelor mess. He had zero problem with it and was blissfully happy that he wasn't the one that had to do it.

We now have a long standing joke about it though. Apparently, in the midst of organizing his things, I misplaced a couple of his Zippo lighters. Now, when I get the urge to re-organize something and forget where I put it later, he always says, "It's probably with the Zippos."

Is there a habit you have that some think is abnormal? Maybe something your significant other loving laughs at you about for doing? I'd love to hear about it!

Downside to modeling

2009-09-26T07:05:21Z

Often I hear, "Wow, it must be so much fun to travel all over having your picture taken and getting your hair and makeup done."

Yes, it's actually a lot of fun to be at shoots. More often than not we have to do our own hair and makeup and bring wardrobe, but that's not the issue.

When you have wisdom teeth that you need removed and put you in so much pain that you can't eat anything that requires chewing, you sometimes wish that you worked a 9-5 job with health insurance.

When a cyst bursts and you're faced with a 5,000.00 emergency room bill, you wished you had health insurance. You contemplated just waiting. Kept telling yourself, "this will pass." Then, you got so scared because you didn't know what was wrong and thought that you really might be dying, that you said screw what this will cost and went anyways. You really wish you had health insurance.

When you blow both your knees out, you wished you had health insurance.

Maybe someone should start a group that offers some sort of naked girl health care plan :)

On the flip side, the fact that we don't work 9-5 means we have more time than the average person to do what we want. Have sex for instance.

Sex releases endorphins that make you happy. So when I have a terrible migraine in the middle of the day and nothing will help, I have plenty of time to just get down and dirty to relieve the pain in my head. It's usually in this case that I'm glad that I don't have insurance. That I have the time due to lack of a 9-5 job to go ahead and take care of it myself. You just have to take the good with the bad.

What's in a name?

2009-09-24T20:25:13Z

In college I learned art should evoke feeling. Some sort of feeling; good, bad, indifferent. Just something. I then learned other things dealing with art galleries. Art should preferably be abstract, use contemporary designer colors, and if figurative (not abstract?!?) should never carry the name of a person. In other words, in the real world, art should be detached, inexplicable, and never clash with the drapes. Maybe sterile, but what sells is the opposite of what college taught me. Fuck college right? Well, maybe not.

I've always named my works. They include still life, portraits, aircraft, very little abstract, and quite a few figures. Each figure piece has a name, a person's name, often chosen by the model, which turns out to be a real show killer in an art gallery. Any suggestion of the image of the body as the image of a real person is really, really bad for business. There is an obsessive objectification of subject in the art world oddly missing in other venues of nakedness, such as, oh, you know, porn.

Face it. Porn is all about creating feeling. It may be a single, one dimensional, fleeting and actively physical feeling, but feeling is what it's all about. And connection to something seemingly real, is a strong component of the emotional evocation. It's a fantasy constructed through careful imagery and ancillary detail, including, however unlikely they may be, performer names. After all, who would buy a picture or movie featuring "nude 126 mixed media?" Dulls the fantasy a bit, eh?

So, when you think about it, porn is nothing more than pro wrestling. An overacted fantasy performed by people with fake names, all for the base pleasure of an audience. Wrestling, if you're into it, can get you wound up with excitement, and so can porn. But nothing in any sterile art gallery ever got my hard on, or made me want to punish the Iron Sheik.

OK, that's not true. There is plenty of emotion in art galleries (museums, too), and if you've ever experienced the intense detail of Goings, or the grand photographs of diCorcia you know it's there. If you've seen the Mona Lisa in person you know art can make you feel love. If you've stood before Guernica, you know it can make you cry. But sexual titillation is taboo, and most nudes I've encountered seemed calculated to avoid any suggestion of sexuality. Yes, there are exceptions to the rule, but they are rare, and I leave it to you to find them. Here is a good place to start. Or here.

A quick survey of figurative photography on the Internet reveals a black and white world where shadow is king and genitals don't exist. All of which is fine, technically fine, and you will find plenty of similar style here at FigureBaby. But there exists little else between the academic nude and the pornographic nude, so you have a world where subjects are well lit with little or nothing exhibited, and a world of big flat light with everything exhibited for no discernible reason. We ask why we can't we have the best of both worlds? Why not light something broadly and show more than the shadowy suggestion of form, and have an identifiable reason, however ridiculous, to do so? Why not create something that titillates, but also exists for other reasons?

Face it, FigureBaby pictures won't be found in any gallery, not now, not ever. They are intended to stir the viewer, and I've already fought that battle over my artwork. We're not trying to create memorable images worthy of the New Yorker, earn space at the Met, or have people write about us in trade journals alongside advertisements for acrylic paints. We just want to make people smile. If you need explicit porn, there are plenty of places to find it. We don't need to do that. If you want classic figure studies, you can find them ad nauseum. If you want something in between, something not too arty and not too porny, FigureBaby is here for you. If you like it, share it with your partner, and feel. It would prevent me thinking my expensive education was wrong.

image by Tony M, graphite on bristol, 18"x24", 2005

Email Niceties

2009-09-23T03:27:39Z

Aside from emails from photographers about shoots, I will occasionally get an email that makes me question the sanity of people. Photographers who email me about wanting to work together and then asking me to figure out how to market and sell the images so that they can make money too. I dislike being mean, but it's not my job to make you money dude. You are not my pimp and I am not a prostitute.

Nice emails come along with admiration of the photos, and that's always flattering, but the ones that come in asking if they can pay you to take you to lunch or take you on a weekend ride on their motorcycle into the back country always scream stalker to me.

Regardless of your profession, it's a good rule of thumb not to email people you don't know asking them to come up with a way to make you money or to take them somewhere where no one can potentially hear them scream for help. You know, in case you aren't trying to scare them off or anything. :)

Sex Knees

2009-09-20T03:08:49Z

Sometimes, it's hard to come up with things to write about. People will often say that there are not enough hours in the day. What I find is that my days tend to run together and I have a hard time keeping track of all the fun and entertaining things that happen, things worth sharing.

Figured it would be fun to compile a short list of funny thing that have happened recently, and some random facts about this Figurebaby model so that you can get to know me better :)

-My dog likes to lick people's faces until they can't stand it. The other day, he had his paws on my face licking my forehead and he lost his footing. It resulted in his....area....touching my face. No bueno.

-Yesterday, I gave myself open, raw sores on my kneecaps. That's what I get for trying to have some spontaneous adult time!

-Yes, I do actually own one of those "As Seen On T.V." blankets with arms that everyone thinks is ridiculous. It's zebra print and I LOVE it.

-I probably haven't had a glass of water in at least a year. I only drink soda.

-I bake. From scratch.

-Obsessed with: turquoise, jeans, high heels, organization, reading, purses, candles, and dental floss.

-My hair is a natural, lion king poof ball!

i'm sick :(

2009-09-17T18:03:39Z

i think i have swine flu...or i guess they're calling it h1n1 flu now. i feel like total shit...all i want to do is stay in bed - but i can't! i have homework to do and then tomorrow i have family coming in from out of town, staying at my house - i'm going to get them all sick ::evil laughter:: poor me.

aside from feeling like death, i've been working on a few art projects. i am making an inflatable sculpture out of a shopvac, plastic and tape. i'm basically making an exact replica of the shopvac in plastic and having them attach with the original shopvac inflating it (did that make any sense at all?) i feel like its sort of a statement on positive and negative or maybe even birth. i'm also planning a performance piece, but i'm not totally sure what i'm going to do yet - all i know is i want to wear a shit ton of make up (practically drag makeup) and go somewhere, like the gym, or the supermarket in sweats and see how people react - do they laugh? stare? blah blah blah

anyway...i just made some tea so i'm gonna drink up for good health! (i hope)

talk to you soon! xoxo

Goodbye Summer

2009-09-16T18:43:43Z

Oh glorious internet, I've missed you!

So what has this Figurebaby model been up to? Well, a lot.
It seems as though the leisurely Summers of childhood are long gone. This season came and went much too fast. It was crammed with trips to San Francisco, San Jose and San Diego. I ran from shoot to shoot and was lucky to get more than four hours of sleep.

For the times I was home, it was a game of playing catch up. I'm really an old fashioned girl when it comes down to it. I enjoy cooking and cleaning. A lot. Some would say that it's a little compulsive. The last few months though, it hasn't been quite as enjoyable. It's been something I have to hurry up and do in order to pack and leave again. I miss my cleaning supplies, brownies and candles. I missed home.

I'm also a big fan of riding quads, camping, rafting and boating. Was able to squeeze in one rafting trip and one camping trip the entire Summer. It's pretty much the only time of year that is appropriate to do the outdoor activities that I love. Sorry for the hiatus, it was a much needed trip to the dunes.

What's going on now that I'm back? Next weekend, its back to Seattle. Two weeks after that, it's time for Phoenix, Arizona for almost a week. November brings Tampa, Florida. Spending a lot of time booking, networking and now trying to get sand out of everything I own :)