Introducing Talia: The One that SI Let Slip Away

There's been a lot of buzz this week over the new Sports Illustrated (oh, excuse me, "SI") swimsuit edition that is apparently coming out soon or has just come out, so yesterday I took a ride to the beach here in Connecticut (most of which is still covered in snow and ice) to see if I could find any babes laying around waiting to be photographed. And, to no one's surprise greater than my own, I found one! She was relaxing in a pile of ice when I found her (cold feet, warm heart) and it looked like she was just waiting to be discovered by a passing photographer so that she could be ride the wave (frozen though it might be) to fortune and fame. So, naturally I picked her up and after carrying her around (and thawing her out) in my pocket for a while, we looked for the perfect venue to show off her very natural beauty. We toyed with the traditional ideas--the abandoned swings, the slide, a picnic bench,but eventually decided that the jungle gym was the ideal backdrop. I spent about an hour photographing her (perhaps tomorrow I'll show you one of her reclining poses--oh so playful!) and this was one of our favorite shots.

Her name is Talia, by the way, and she describes herself as a typical wild-haired blue-eyed blonde (I'm fairly certain she's a natural blonde, too--rare these days) who likes to spring ski in Davos, read biographies of famous cheese makers and fly fish. She volunteers weekends reading to shut-in dolls. She didn't have a swimsuit or bikini handy (besides, those shots are so overdone), so we went with the country-hippie-funk-barefoot look. The outfit is, I believe, one of her own creations. Who needs those skinny vacant-eyed models with pouting lips that walk funny when you have a natural beauty like Talia. She has, how do the French say, a certain charme don't you think? Eat your heart out SI. Talia is available for modeling assignments, by the way, you can contact me for her rate sheet. Talia was photographed in natural light using a Nikon D90 with an 18-70mm Nikkor zoom lens in the RAW mode, on a Manfrotto tripod (the best models insist on an Italian tripod, of course).