Stockholm Tour Trilogy - Outdoors Nude

BEAUTIFUL LAKE!  Love the reflection...

So you may be asking, why Sweden of all places?  Well, I thought this would be a great chance for me to capture some awesome shots with one of Tokyo’s top photographers, Dmitri Reyer, who happened to be on home leave to visit his folks in Stockholm and photograph for the annual pole-dance competition, Pole Art.  I had the honour of working with him in Tokyo last June, where he currently resides, but although some of the images turned out well, we wanted to develop our creative ideas further and come up with even better ones!  Besides, Stockholm is only a two-hour plane ride from Amsterdam so I thought, why not? We spent nearly two weeks between 19 August to 1 September 2012 in the edge of Stockholm chilling and hanging out with his family and friends, whilst scattering photoshoots here and there. 

We shot quite a lot during the fortnight.  However as they are too numerous to write about in one go, I will be focussing on outdoors nudes now.   One of the good things about working with a series of serious and talented photographers like Dmitri is that one discovers a few things.  After years of modelling and wondering why I have been in a rut or lacking direction, I realize the time has come to transforming my style from that cheesy shallow "hello boys" glamour to the more elegant and classy  “coffee table book” artwork.  I myself have done quite a lot of outdoors nudes over the years, but a lot of it tended to focus more on me being naked in a public place for the sake of it with little regard for composition and light.  And where else would be an ideal location than Sweden which boasts one of the most scenic landscapes such as lakes and forests!

By the Rocks

Thus, one morning we got up about 5am to shoot by a lake.  I was told that the natural light would be ideal for the kind of mood we are trying to create and that there would be little breeze or ideally none to enhance the reflection from the water.  It was to be a one-hour bus ride to where Dmitri wanted to shoot but whilst waiting, the bus never turned up!  With both of us being so determined to make things happen, he came up with a contingency plan and suggested another lake within a 15-minutes walking distance.  When we arrived there by foot armed with cameras, I was amazed by the serenity of the area despite being just outside Stockholm. 

We firstly shot by the cliffs.  The morning was quite cool and crispy but did I mind taking my kit off?  Never!  In fact, I had so much fun and struggled very little with treading through the rocks although at times they were slippery.  I was to look as if I was climbing the rock.  It was also hard avoiding smiling which I tend to do in nude shoots as the atmosphere we were trying to create was about subtlety.    Although there was some graffiti on the rocks, it was not so obvious.  The ground was also littered with rubbish, and Dmitri remarked that there was little space to manoeuvre when shooting without falling over the cliffs.  Despite these limitations, though, we managed to capture a couple of beautiful images from the natural light and interesting texture of the rocks. 

Then we proceeded to the lake, more precisely on the tiny dock.  The scenery was just so still, quiet and picturesque, the water being clear and greenery so green.  Accustomed to being photographed nude in the cold and being the exhibitionist I am, I had no hesitation stripping off and running off excitedly to the end of the dock like a child to pose.  In fact, nothing felt so good as to feel the fresh but slight breeze on my naked body.  Dmitri shot me from behind, as I was standing tall at the edge of the dock looking as though I were saluting to the vastly amazing scenery in front of me.   After a while, though, a man on his kayak pulled up!   Of course, neither of us were a least bit bothered, and all he did was look away, whilst I didn’t even bother covering myself… yep, that’s Sweden for you!  Just like Holland, people don’t make a big deal about nudity even in public.

Last set we did was just behind a small wooden shed right by the water.  I was much tempted to jump in the water to get some cool shots but decided against it after dipping my toes in.  We nevertheless managed to capture some images with me standing by the water with the greenery in the background.  Dmitri tried to capture a few shots of me lying down on the boardwalk but apparently they didn’t work out as what he was looking for.  By then, too, the breeze was getting stronger and hence I was feeling the cold.  So we called it a morning!

We were hoping to shoot another day at the location we had originally planned on going.  Unfortunately it didn’t happen for one reason or another, namely due to bad weather.  Gutted.  It always happened to rain on the days we had nothing planned which is so typical!  We nevertheless got to shoot at other occasions and for different themes besides outdoors nudes, which provided both of us with a diversity of images.  Most important is that we are both happy with the stuff we had already done by the lake, so what more can we ask for!  Besides, we anticipate on doing more outdoors nudes when am in Japan which will be quite exciting as Dmitri knows a few hidden areas.   Now I look forward to that!

Wanna see more of Dmitri’s awesome work?  Check out his Facebook Page!

Next instalment:  Fetish and erotica shoot at home!! 

Forest, Fetish and Fun

Since being back and settled in the Netherlands, I’ve been trying to get myself known out here too.  This involves travelling around the country quite a bit but it’s certainly worth it!   One of the most memorable is on the Dutch-German border called Terborg, almost 2 hours away from Amsterdam, where photographer Bjorn Hijink is based.   As usual, I somewhat got acquainted with him on Facebook through mutual photographer friends.  So impressed with his work and his friendliness, I didn’t mind the long travel, and besides, it is the part of the Netherlands I have not yet explored.  We set the date of the shoot for 30 July 2012.

Bjorn picked me up from the station and those few minutes or so were quite an adventure. I had no idea we were going to drive across the border into Germany where he lived!  I was greeted by his wife, Marion, who is also a model but was assisting the shoot that day.  And what a wonderful couple they were!  Very hospitable and unassuming, they immediately made me feel at home.

Typical of the area, the weather was changeable.  First it was beautiful and sunny so after an introductory coffee and chat, we drove to the nearby forest to capture some nude shots as well as some skimpy PVC outfits such as the blue shorts and collar from Unzipped and the white top and bottom from Webers, both in Amsterdam.  Within an hour or so it started raining but luckily we had more than enough images to keep us happy.  

We returned to Bjorn and Marion’s beautiful home and continued shooting.  This time we used a semi-outdoors venue which was a staircase from the garden to the basement utility room hence providing natural light from above in a narrow confinement.  We thought that black PVC number from Weber’s in Amsterdam would be ideal, combined with a pair of thigh high boots to provide a dungeon atmosphere.

Our final venue was indoors in the bedroom for some low-key images.  I donned a red fishnet bodysuit I got in Tokyo and posed by the mirrored dressing table.  The red was so beautifully emphasized.  Then I proceeded posing nude wearing these super-high perspect stripper heels on the bed looking “come hither”.  I loved the way these heels stood out like lights.

And the day went by so quickly!  Although exhausted in the end we were very pleased with the outcome.  Bjorn has been rather quick in turning around the images despite having gone on holidays a few days after the shoot.  After having received the final batch a few days ago, I must say I am pleased with all the images and can’t wait to upload them soon!  I will share a few of my favorites here.

Thank you so much, Bjorn and Marion for this wonderful day.  I thoroughly enjoyed this photoshoot.  Let’s definitely do it again!

Cute, Cosplay and Kink

Cute yet naughty being collared in school uniform

These days I’ve been tempted to ask all photographers this.  If they want to collaborate with me that they include one set with a Hello Kitty theme!  So far I’ve had the guts to ask a few photographers who know me quite well already, and all are more than happy to accommodate.  Many of them do find it quite cute!  Enter Robert, otherwise known as “Nyan Nyan Ferris” from Germany.

Robert and I somewhat got acquainted on Fet Life about a year ago.  Both of us have similar interests, namely in Japan and things Japanese (his wife is Japanese) and share the same fascination for Cosplay, namely uniforms such as schoolgirls and nurses.  And let us not forget… we both adore Hello Kitty!  And hence we decided to get together and shoot here in Amsterdam during the weekend of 15 July 2012. 

Robert, based near Dusseldorf, drove out to Amsterdam and spent the weekend with us.  It was wonderful to meet him at last!  After loads of exchanges on Facebook, I was curious as to what to expect of him.  And what a nice and easy-going guy he was!  He had the honour of being the first photographer to shoot in my top flat which I was originally going to rent out as a photography studio.

 

Kitty-chan ate my popcorn!

Throughout the weekend, the main theme of the shoot was of me playing a submissive role.  Me all collared and leashed most of the time.  Some pet-girl play which I enjoyed doing, going down on all fours and pretending to be a little kitten and a naughty one at that!  One image I like to share is of me wearing nothing but a white Hello Kitty hairband with a red ribbon, a collar and a leash crawling on the  wooden floor.  In front of me is a small bowl of my favorite snack, popcorn.  A Hello Kitty toy is set on the floor too as if she and I are fighting over it.  Or, perhaps she is looking with bewilderment as I gobble it all up with my mouth.  Or she is just being so sweet and wants to share her snack with me?

We shot a couple of uniform shoots too.  With the school uniform fetish in mind, I changed into a hybrid sera-fuku, a Japanese school uniform.  A few pictures of me crawling on the floor in collar and leash as if being punished for being naughty.  And naughty I was, as later on, we’d take a few shots of me squatting down on the garden patio with my white knickers down!  Tsk tsk…  Then another strange but cute shot of me in a PINK nurse’s outfit wearing bunny ears but being very sexy in my fishnet holdups and black stilettos!

Punished and left out in the rain...

Unfortunately the weather was not to our favor during the weekend.  One minute it poured, next minute sunny and then raining again.  But we were so keen on doing an outdoors shoot in the garden.  So we came up with a brilliant idea.  Getting myself all starkers, ball-gagged, leashed and getting punished... by being left out in the rain!  And it gets better.  I then went on all fours on the grass and got drenched with a hosepipe all over my back.  Now that’s a real submissive!  And boy was that fun.  I was freezing my ass off alright but like many crazy photoshoots I do, I knew that had I chickened out, I would have regretted it.  And I'm glad I went ahead with it!  

What an awesome weekend it was!  The next time we will know what else we could work on and develop, now that we are more familiar with each other.  Perhaps plan it more, but of course spontaneity is fun too!  Nevertheless, we churned out a lot of cute and cheerful images as well as tons of crazy ones.  We plan on working together again for sure.  Robert has been diligently sending me images in batches, a few of which I am proud of sharing.  I look forward to getting more!!!

Thank you so much, Robert, for travelling all the way from Germany and for producing such fun images.  For more crazy photos, please click onto my Flickr site.

Getting Exposed Again

Posing among all the Graffitti in a Tunnel in Westerpark, Amsterdam

Since being back from Japan a month ago, I decided to resume modelling out here in Holland too.  Some of the photographers I have worked with before, others for the first time.  One of such is Frank van de Garde who was in fact my first ever photographer I shot with out here in Holland some 3 years ago.  The second time we did a shoot, we drove in the middle of the Netherlands where I got photographed nude in the middle of the countryside.  (See my Flickr page) That was fun, and I really like Frank’s open-mindedness and without pushing boundaries, his comfort with my exhibitionist nature.

This time, 3 years on we finally got around to shooting!  We scheduled for Thursday, 26 July 2012.  We thought it would be a wonderful idea to do an early-morning nude shoot in Westerpark, a park nearby my home in Amsterdam.  Up at 6am, I met with Frank and by the time we got to the park at 7:30 am we walked around quite a bit till we found a secluded spot.  The field was rather swampy and despite me wearing the wrong footgear as was wearing a pair of sandals, it didn’t least bit bother me because I was too excited about being photographed nude outdoors for the first time in even almost a year!

There were quite a few joggers and commuting cyclists scattered about.  Yet, that still didn’t stop me from taking my kit off and getting photographed!  I figured that 99% of the passer-by’s would be too embarrassed to let us know they have noticed or simply keep a blind eye and let us get on with it.  Some will admire us for our bravery, while others will shrug it off thinking, “not for me but hey if they are happy so be it”.  And if they are offended they would just walk away rather than make snide remarks or call the police.  What I like about Dutch society, especially in Amsterdam, is its tolerant attitude.

We shot in a wide variety of places around Westerpark.  First was in the middle of a secluded field although facing a railway line transporting early-morning commuters.  We wondered if any of them would have noticed and joked that we wouldn’t want to cause derailment.  Then we proceeded to the park itself, an area that was more open, just on a small intersection for cyclists, joggers and dog-walkers alike.  We also found a steel sculpture for me to pose as well as a tunnel adorned with graffitti.  It was such a thrill slipping in and out of my lose tube dress and sneaking a quick few snaps.  If it were too late for me to slip my dress back on when someone passed by, all I did was duck!  I am sure a lot of the passer-by’s noticed.  One cyclist cheerfully greeted in Dutch “enjoy your work” and yes we were!

Another spot we found was a small stream with falling water.  Although there were quite a few budget backpackers dozing off on the benches around it, that didn’t stop us from managing a few shots.  We tried to be as quiet as possible but one of them happened to wake up.  I’ll bet he couldn’t believe what he saw, possibly pinching himself hoping it was not all a dream!  After moving to the final set to a brick building with big glass windows and a huge wooden door, we decided to call it the morning.  It was nearly 9am by then and we were craving for some coffee.  We sat down and concluded it was such a fun shoot!

We are now shooting again next week at his pad. Next we will be introducing some crazy Hello Kitty stuff which am looking forward to.  Meanwhile, Frank has been quick at turning around the photos from our Westerpark shoot by sending a few a day.  I thought I’d share a few here on my blog…

And of course, I will be posting some up on Flickr in due course…

The backpacker's dream...

The City that Never Sleeps

Miu surrounded by all the beauties and cuties.  Tiffany is the blonde bombshell on my right.

It’s so wonderful to be modelling again! Whilst in Japan, I had the opportunity to shoot with a few talented and wonderful photographers.  One involved me in bondage by Shuhei Kitagawa, a renowned Shibari artist from Osaka.  Another a rather controversial yet inspiring one of me wearing nothing but a gas-mask, heels and erm... a sort of "toy"!  And how about one of me all starkers on a rooftop off a building in Roppongi over-looking the Shuto Expressway???   And not to mention I had so much fun being snapped like a celebrity all over Aoyama and Roppongi enjoying the Tokyo nightlife whilst hobbling around in my platform sandals even in the crack of dawn!  Am still waiting for more images but I am sure they will well be worth waiting for!

Apart from photoshoots, I had the opportunity to attend a few events in Tokyo.  One of them was the infamous Tokyo Fashionista hosted by beautiful model Tiffany Rossdale on Saturday 30 June 2012.  It was an honour to be escorted by the event’s photographer and my dear friend, Dmitri Reyer, and so keen I was about going that I even postponed my return flight back to Amsterdam for a few more days!

I have to admit that I was very nervous about the party.  So many beautiful gorgeous people, not to mention all the statuesque models and young talented people in the music and dance industry.  But everyone turned out to be genuinely friendly and wonderful.  All were there to have a good time rather than pose for appearance.  No pretentiousness.  I was even introduced to Tiffany with whom I managed to chat briefly over all the pounding music, and what a pleasant person she was!  I was ever so chuffed to be able to meet her at last.

The event went all night till the early hours in the morning.  There were some dance shows and the piece the resistance, a fashion show for swimwear.  Plus a lot of dancing to awesome music.  I was dancing and having so much fun, I felt 21 again, something I haven’t felt for years!  Even with my sexy perspex stripper heels, I was practically bouncing off walls and still managed not to fall on my face.  The only limitation I had was that I was wearing another one of those skimpy hot numbers designed by my friend, Farzana Warasta.  So outrageous was the dress that I had to keep looking down to see if the material would slip to the side and expose my boobs to the public which erm… did  happen a few times.  Oh well!

Another highlight was that I was introduced to a few other photographers clicking away at the event.  A couple of them expressed keen interest to work with me the next time I am back in Japan.  I have yet to figure out if it’s because I of my rather revealing outfit and being so bouncy and mischievous in front of the cameras.  Whatever it is, I do look forward to working with them!   

I believe it was close to 6am and we were still dancing.  Amazing what chugging down cans of Red Bull does to one.  When we left and exited to the street, we were greeted by the daylight along with the groggy Shibuya party-goers.  Then had breakfast at a nearby burger bar.  It made me reminisce about my younger days in Tokyo, partying in Roppongi till dawn… except this time, some 20 years later, am totally sober even hyperactive with all the Red Bull and Starbucks coffee, rather than crawling all over the place blindly intoxicated with whatever the wide range of cocktails I'd been randomly sampling.

Thank you everyone for making one of my last evenings in Tokyo so worthwhile!  I will miss you.  Thanks, Dmitri, for taking me there and introducing me all the wonderful people.  I would also like to thank this talented and wonderful photographer, Nathan Berry, for taking the above photograph and letting me post it.  In fact, I am very honoured that he is keen on working with me the next time I'm in Tokyo.  Look at his work, and you'll know why I am speechless with disbelief that he even wants to collaborate with me!  His stuff can be seen on his website, and also do check out his Facebook page!

Wow... what a night it was... been a while since I enjoyed it so much!  So move over NYC, it is Tokyo which is the city that never sleeps!

Living it up in Tokyo

What Miu's been up to in a Shinjuku convenience store at 2:30am after a Saturday night out...
(with photographer Dmitri Reyer)

Hi, sorry for this few weeks of absence!  I've been rather busy trying to sort out family matters which of course take priority over everything and for which reason I've been in Japan again the last 3 weeks.  During this time, I thought it would be a good time to try phasing myself back into the modelling scene.  It's been a good 4 months!!  Due to family bereavement, I have been putting it all on hold until I was emotionally ready. In fact, I was not too keen to jump start my modelling career so soon. I, however, thought being away from home and traveling to Tokyo in June would give me a fresh start.  Besides, when I announced my coming to Japan on Facebook, quite a few photographers out here have been knocking on my door!  Some I've worked with before, others not.  Well how can I refuse!

Since arriving, I've had quite a hand-full of work.  I had my first shoot in a long time with a pair of Spanish photographers, David Rodriguez Toro and Jordi Olaria with whom I had the honour of working with last September.  We did a lot of artistic fetish and erotica stuff this time.  Then I came across Russian photographer Dmitri Reyer on Facebook who covers a number of "cool" parties and events in Tokyo as well as working with the most stunning models.  I have to say I was chuffed he actually wanted to work with me, let alone even speak to me!  I also had the opportunity for the first time to experiment with body-painting with Singaporean graphic artist Eldred Tjie and American photographer Jay.  Then today, I was called over at the last minute by David to join in on a fetish and erotica shoot featuring Shuhei Kitagawa as the Shibari artist, along with his model, Rei-chan.

Unfortunately, there were some photographers I didn't get to shoot with this time.  Due to time constraints, weather and putting family matters as priority, I had to unfortunately cancel a few shoots out of town.  I have worked with Nagoya-based photographer Jeffrey Johnston a few times already but not yet with Swiss photographer Laurent Schattenmann in Uji (near Kyoto). Sorry guys!!   Next time, I'll make sure I set aside enough time and organise myself more.

I will be posting more blogs in due course as photos arrive.   Still, I just wanted to share my thoughts about coming back into the scene.  It's great!  I'm loving it!  I suppose having a break certainly helped.  Modelling at times takes a lot of you, and you really need to be in the right state of mind to enjoy it.  Once I leave Japan for Holland, I envision going back to modelling more.  There are a few projects on the pipeline involving local photographers and some exciting assignments in Belgium and Germany.  So keep your eyes peeled for more stuff from Miu!

Another Wonderful Shoot in 2011

Oh wow!  I so totally forgot to mention about this shoot!  That was about a year ago around May 2011 with Helsinki-based photographer Teemu R. in a snazzy hotel in Amsterdam.  I really love this guy's creative style.  You may recall him from my last shoot a few months earlier in March 2011 for which I have also done a blog.

He tops as one of my favorite photographers.  Whilst we continued with the sexy PVC and "fetish" costumes, I was also asked to bring some sheer fishnet type outfits.  I love what he did to the image.  He also had this ingenious idea of wrapping my head with a bandage and having one eye peeping through an opening.  Awesome.

Teemu occasionally came to Holland on business.  During the evenings, he finds time to take up his hobby of photography.  However since switching jobs he no longer has the chance to be here but hopes to come visit one weekend.  Well I hope he does!!!

If you want to see more photos from Teemu, have a look on my Flickr page.  Enjoy!!!