Then...

Very beautiful.
Do you remember how you arranged the lighting? Looks like lights on both side fairly even, little more forwards on her left side and back a little on her right side.
Great effect.

@awty It was a lighting workshop hosted by Bill Earle. Yes, paired equal sources, and I had her move to her left to make the intensities slightly uneven.
I've enjoyed reconnecting with Calypso.ghost; she's recently returned to modeling many years after this was taken.

Bill Earle. ..
lovely photograph! ( both ! )
is that the same as William Earle ?
https://www.photrio.com/forum/members/wfe.1102/
https://www.wfephotography.com

@jnantz The very same. I had really liked his art for years, so when the opportunity came to take one of his workshops, I was excited. I was the only film shooter there that day, but Bill and I kept in touch and he came to one of my solo exhibitions a few years later.

While I understand the "that doesn't pay the bills" reality of it, I wish there was more out there on posing, working with, less than "perfect" figures. Don't get me wrong, this is an awesome shot, but it definitely gets harder with models who are older, or have had kids. The only photography devoted to larger and "less perfect" women out there may be Leonard Nimoy's book.

@Vonder

It's a really interesting point for discussion (I think). There is, in my limited experience, very strong self selection in the modeling community. I’ve photographed subjects from 19 to 57, but there is an overwhelming skewing towards the younger side of that age gap. The reasons are myriad, and likely far more than I understand, but that’s the cohort who present themselves in front of my lens. Soccer moms? Sure, a few. Older subjects? Again, a few. But finding people who are older, or less “unblemished”, or have stretch marks and sunspots and C-section scars, but are still willing and eager to be photographed as such has been a challenge.

Much (most?) of our societies value and exalt youth and perfection, and few among us are willing to have ourselves seen against that standard. I myself was spectacular when I was younger, God-like, truly mesmerizing. Now? Not so much.

@ignatiu5 I hear ya. I would argue though, that you are more "godlike" as you are now, with the experience and wisdom of age.