Hula

Doing this photo session brought memories back to our visit to this exotic “Paradise of the Pacific” in 1998. Where we stayed in Honolulu for a week and then took our shortest flight ever (20 min) to Maui and the small village Kihei.
I recall the beautiful hibiscus flowers, colorful fish and green back turtles in the ocean, beaches with palm trees, thick rain forest, breathtaking mountains and cliffs and the pleasant climate caressing you. And of course we attended a traditional Polynesian Luau that was held at sunset with some entertainment from seductive Hula dancers and amazing Samoan fire knife performances!

Ok… So back to reality, these photos are taken by Göran Magnusson in our “Savage Beauty Studio”, with white background and studio lights. Graphic Designer, Mattias, brought me some sand to sink my toes in, the sun and even the Rainbow ;)

- Click images to enlarge -

Model & Make up: Tallee Savage
Photo: Göran Magnusson
Graphics: Mattias Savage

Some pictures from our trip to Hawaii in 1998.

I thought this was a funny sign… beware of turtles crossing.

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Matt, Tim (8 yrs) and Adina (1 yr) on Waikiki Beach.    -    Hula dancers at a Luau in Maui.

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Tim (8 yrs) with a friend :)

Red Tribal Fashion

A somewhat avant-garde photo session that I put together with photographer Göran Magnusson.
The styling is a mixture between oriental tribal, afro and indian.

Hope you like it!

Model / Make up / Styling: Me
Photo: Göran Magnusson
Graphics: Mattias Savage

Here are two photos with no retouch. Kind of more fun with the editing, I think.

DEEP PURPLE and Symphony Orchestra (Stockholm)

There are two words I would like to use for this event on December 9th in Stockholm, “grand and tranquil”. The floor of the venue was filled with chairs where rockers of all ages sat nice and neatly throughout the concert. A few head-banging souls here and there – after all this was friday ;) But overall a very civilized and “mature” concert.

The “Neue Philhamonie Frankfurt Orchestra” led by concertmaster, the violinist Ralf Hübner, certainly brought a new sound to Deep Purple. We all got to hear a whole bunch of well performed classic songs like Highway Star, Strange kind of woman, Rapture of the deep, My Woman from Tokyo, Hush, The mule, Lazy, No One Came and many more.

Deep Purple are noticeably older and especially Ian Gillan is not so vigorous any more. His voice caught some problems here and there on the high notes which made me think “why does he bother”. Nobody expects him to hit the perfect high notes or falsetto range he did so well in the 1970′s. But the greatness of Ian Gillan persists and “When a Blind Man Cries” is sheer poetry.

Don Airey appeared happy, smiling throughout the concert.  The keyboard solo was splendid incorporating a little reminder of “who’s the man” behind the distinctive organ introduction of Ozzy’s Mr.Crowly and progressed impressing with beautiful virtuous playing like the “Turkish March” by Mozart.

I have always been amazed of how Ian Paice can make one bass drum sound like two. Fast little rascals, I guess. He showed us his great musicianship… But, sorry to say… Nothing compared to what Martin Axenrot had to offer the night before at the OPETH concert in Stockholm. Not every day that I get to hear two splendid drum solos of this altitude on the same weekend.

So do we miss Ritchie Blackmore? Well Yes, he will always be missed in Deep Purple. But Steve Morse makes you forget as the show progresses. Impressive and joyful playing.  Gist of it all is that Deep Purple (Mk8) is still alive and well after 40 years. Well performed songs running smoothly down memory lane.  I do approve!

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P.S Jag har gjort en recension på svenska åt Rockbladet.
Finns att läsa här >>>

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OPETH

OPETH’s 10th, album HERITAGE is a mix of Progressive rock, Folk-laden, Jazz fusion, 70′s and then some more. Their most progressive and ambitious effort to date.  Some rockers are crying their eye out because of the lack of growl on this album but I don’t miss it here. They certainly were the masters of “beauty and brutality”, but who says you need death metal growl to be heavy?
Still sounds very much Opeth to me. Michael has been quoted expressing his feelings about NOT being afraid to experiment or “being caught with his pants down”. “Why only do it one way when you can do everything else too” … and frankly, even if Death Metal is the root of Opeth, the mish-mash of the vintage guitars and organs passages,  jazzy Jethro Tull:ish flute interlude,  poetic vocals, folk formula,  all shows a substantial stylistic progressive perfection. A whole new sound for the heavy metal crowd to LOVE.

Heritage is marvellous and the more you listen to it, the more fantastic it gets. Innovative and flamboyant “metal”. The Rainbow influences are undoubtedly and hearable noticeable here and there. Especially in the song “Slither”
I am pretty sure Ritchie Blackmore will approve of the tribute masterpiece Opeth are indulging us with.

This is an extraordinarily,  epic album. Fresh, exiting, timeless and Phenomenal!
Dazzles me with beauty and energetic perfection. I love it!

 5 / 5 Little Savages

Opeth Live at Arenan in Stockholm, Sweden, December 8,  2011.

Great show… But one or two too many mellow songs. Michael’s growling is great, but it was not the part I missed. I felt my feet and head urging for a little more heavy and speed. It was there but a little to little.
Sound was off sometimes but sounded better towards the end of the set. Michael is a complete charmer on stage. With his very “down to earth” and intimate talk between the songs. Makes everybody feel comfortable and close to the band.

Beautiful master guitar playing from both Fredrik Åkesson and Mikael Åkerfeldt. Technical but never ever going overboard showing off and being theatrical Speedy Gonzales, only tasteful and perfect. Martin Axenrot did the best drum solo ever. The magnitude of this drummer! Incredible musicians, all of them!

4 / 5 Little Savages

These images must not be copied without the written permission of the photographer.
All photographs © Tallee Savage

OPETH home page >>>

Buy the album “Heritage” here >>>

Zorro goes Zavage

I use to watch Zorro on TV in the 70′s. This was in Chile and the U.S.A. I don’t recall seeing it here in Sweden actually, do you?  The fictional character is created by writer Johnston McCulley back in 1919 and the movie’s story is set in the Spanish colonial era of California. I remember that I used to think “Don Diego de la Vega”, which was Zorro’s secret identity, was very handsome. I am trying to remember what actor it was that I liked… I think it was Guy Williams actually. He did the role of Zorro between 1957-1961. “The Mask of Zorro” from 1998 with Antonio Banderas, Anthony Hopkins and Catherine Zeta-Jones is also a well-written and a beautiful movie.

Anyway, my sister Amanda is responsible for the styling. The clothes are from the best costume place in the world; Independent Kostym. Photographer Frank Hansen took the photos of us. We would also like to thank photographer Jan Monsen for assisting in the studio. I can tell you we had so much laughter doing this shoot.

Hasta la vista Amigos : )

- Click images to enlarge -

 

Models: Me, Matt and Elizia
Photo: Frank Hansen
Graphics: Mattias Savage
Stylist: Amanda Martinez / Independent Kostym
Make Up: Tallee Savage

Below: Some Un-edited “Behind the Scenes” shots

Getting the make up ready at studio Mix in Mariannelund.
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He he he… Lots of fun with this shoot : D
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Oman – Salalah

So I finally got to see the Middle East. Warm breeze from the Arabian Sea with accommodation in a five-star hotel (Crown Plaza) right on the beach. I was hired by the independent hair dresser’s organisation Big.Fam. to make a presentation on the importance of make up, styling and poses before and during a photo shoot. To explain the collaboration between photographer, models and make up artist.

– Anette, Nettan, Janina, Carina and Linda – Fabulous ladies having a blast in Oman –

This is Big.Fam’s 10 year anniversary and 42 hair dressers from different parts of Sweden gathered for this unforgettable experience in Salalah, the second biggest city after the capital Muscat.

The theme was “Sex and the City”.  Easy fun and exiting. Allowing the ladies to experiment and flirt with different styling and fashion of the world. The idea was for all the ladies to get inspiration and knowledge to get in front of the camera themselves. My good friend Jörgen Lundh from StudioMix was hired to take the photos. My job was two days of presentation and two days of practical work, helping the girls with make up and styling. Mattias Ahlberg from the salon Surebabyyes was there to show us fantastic hair work during this week. Time flew by as I was having a blast. But a shift from 7 Am until 5 pm took its toll and I was deadbeat afterwords.

– Showing class some ways of thinking when it comes to make up. Why, how, when and what? –

– Hair dresser Mattias Ahlberg was my companion during this week. Showing us fantastic ways to work on hair and the best product to use. Here is Jenny with a most “avantgard” hair styling. –

– Nathalie with make up and styling inspired from the 1920′s –

All the ladies had their photos taken on different locations. I got good feedback and kudos on the make up I did. And that was a good satisfaction, seeing them all so content. Photographer Jörgen and his wife and assistant Boel did an excellent job out on the field and photos are being edited as I write this. So for now I only have a few photos to show you from the actual work we all did there. But in a few weeks I will show you more.

– Tina, Ewa and Malin •  Beach image: Caroline, Marie B, Ulrika, Linda L, Zarah Munther, Brita Petersen –

– Jörgen & Matt working on the beach… beats the studio and office –

At 9 pm every day there was a nice buffet on the big terrace of the hotel. Except for one night when the hotel arranged a wonderful beach party for all of us. The staff put so much work to make this epic for us. They laid out a huge oriental carpet on the sand, romantic torches lit in the dark every where forming fantastic ornaments on the beach.  A tropic illuminated bar serving delicious drinks. And of course the food served was excellent as well … I just had to sit back and feel the ocean with a cosmopolitan in my hand and enjoy life from another part of the world for a moment.

– With Anette Wallin & Janina Blomquist at the beach party –

Every night the hotel had a disco going on. It was pretty much empty but that was ok … more room for our butts to wiggle. By the end of the week word got out in town that 40 girls where staying at the hotel and the disco started to get pretty crowded. At the same time, security around the hotel and in the disco toughened up to make it safe for us ladies. But the best thing about this disco was the belly dancer from Ukraine, Lina Spieko. She is one of the best belly dancers I have seen. So beautiful and so charismatic. I gave her my business card and I have contact with her now. Hopefully I will meet her and se her dance again.

– Bellydancer Lina Spieko from Ukraine – Boel and Me enjoying a night out –

On my day off we went to visit the “Quaboos Mosque”, hoping to see this fantastic building from the inside. So my friend Boel and I covered our hair and bodies and took our shoes off,  but did not get in any further than the entrance because their mass had already begun. So I just took photos from the outside. Look how magnificent these buildings are.

We also visited the “Hafa Souq”, which is a market where you can find all kinds of things. Our trip there was mainly to buy the traditional dress that all the Arabs here in Oman wear. Men had a simple white ankle length collarless gown called a “Dishasha” and the cap called “Kimah”… some wore a turban called “Mussar”. Matt and Jörgen got that outfit . While Boel and I got the women’s dress “Abaya” with the “Niqab” to cover our face.

–  Matt, Jörgen, Boel and me. Wearing the beautiful Omanis dress wear.  We made quite a success when we walked in like this to our final dinner reception.–

– The lady bosses of Big.Fam Anette Petersson & Freddi Holm with a handsome wannabe-omani –

On our last day off photographer Jörgen took photos of me and Boel on the beach. The sunset was unbelievable. I have never seen it quite as beautiful as this.

– Look at this sunset Boel and me are enjoying –

So what do we know about the this little country? The Sultanate of Oman is located on the Arabian Peninsula and borders Yemen, Saudi Arabian and the United Arab Emirates. It only has 2,7 millions of habitants and 750.000 of them are guest workers from Pakistan, India and the Philippines. Oman are working hard on getting the tourist biz rolling, knowing that their biggest income, Oil, eventually will dry out. Official language is Arabic.

– Oh,  look at this amazing feline. Just like the elegant ancient cats of Egypt.
Amazing ears and incredible eyes. –

In the 1970′s there was no electricity, running water or paved roads. Only a few schools and hospitals. A radical change was made when the Sultan of Qabbos Bin Said took over the throne after his father. Today infrastructure is good and almost everything you see is not older than 40 years old.

Like all arab countries, Arab Islāmic Culture dominates the life style of the Sultanate. So of course it was important to treat the local culture with respect and this particularly when it comes to how to dress outside the hotel area. Legs, ankles, arms, shoulders should be covered. We had no problem with this. We had no problem at all during this week. The Omanis where totally cool and gentle and polite at all times. Both in the hotel area and outside.

– Nice pool area in the hotel. Matt and Jörgen enjoying the company of beautiful girls. –

– There’s nothing like gymnastics on the beach – I can still stand on my hands … chooohoooo! –

– This is how a bill looks like in Oman. I really like the colors. The money is called Rial.
Now they also had smaller bills and they were called “Baisa”. And if you understand swedish, you are of course laughing right now. Childish as we are ; )  –

So that was a little from my trip to Oman. Pictures from all the ladies will appear soon…

Ta ta

Lily’s Tattoos

Lily Quiroga, one of my returning customers that came to document her tattoos. She is as smart as she is beautiful. Here is her story about her tattoos. In her own words and in Swedish… buy hey, there is always Google Translate ;)

Om mina tatueringar.
I våras lät jag göra min tredje tatuering och trots att jag självklart skrällde om den på FB och lovade att visa upp den så gick tiden och det blev inte av. Nu har jag dock låtit en riktig fotograf ta kort på mig med mina tattoos så här är resultatet.
Alla mina tatueringar har sin betydelse och anledning, vilket det gör dem speciella – för mig. Och visst måste man inte ha en ”djupare mening” med sina tatueringar men jag kommer nog aldrig vara en sån som tatuerar en bananklase på högra skinkan bara för att, si så där.
Efter att ha sett resultatet på mina bilder så känns det ändå som att det finns ganska många kala hudfläckar man skulle kunna göra någon mer tatuering på…  jag måste bara komma på vad först. En annan uppenbar sak jag inser är att det är god tid att börja träna lite rumpmuckler… hur jävla platt kan ett arsle bli liksom?! :S

/// Lilyrob

Egentligen hade jag aldrig haft en tanke på att tatuera mig så ingen blev mer förvånad än jag själv när en vän visade mig en bild och frågade ”Vad tycker du om den här?” och från inget till allt blev mitt svar: ”Den skulle man ha som tatuering!” och en vecka senare hade jag det, en symbol för kvinnokamp på vänster överarm, vänster självfallet, den kvinnliga sidan.

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En klassiker för oss som har barn, nämligen att tatuera in deras namn. I mitt fall vart tatueringen i form av ett armband.

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Tatuering nr 3 är en baby-panter och ett baby-lejon innanför konturen av ett hjärta och representerar mig och Gaby. När jag var liten kallades jag för La panterita, lilla pantern. Jag brukar skämta om att det är mitt krigsnamn eftersom jag är indian. Gaby är född i lejonets tecken och fick därför ”krigsnamnet” La leoncita, lilla lejonet. Tanken var att pantern skulle vara lite elakt busig fast ändå inte ond, och lejonet skulle vara snäll för Gaby är verkligen världens snällaste gos. Även om tatueringen inte blev exakt som bilden i min skalle så blev den ändå riktigt bra, så jag är mycket nöjd med den. Speciellt lejonet, för hon är såååååå sööööööt! :)

/// Lily

Maternity Photography

I have always marveled at the beauty of pregnancy. Mommies look absolutely gorgeous in this unique period of their live. A time filled witch anticipation, beauty and joy.
My job is to capture the essence of this period through artistic, sensual and loving photographs. With style and respect.

For any question or booking contact me here.

Kattis Stattin (5 months pregnant) came to my studio to get her tummy documented. She is due January 2012. Soon… very soon!

Kattis is by the way an authorized esthetician and I later visited her in her beauty salon. It was her last day of work and she did the most wonderful facial treatment. Steam, exfoliation, extraction, creams, lotions, facial masks, peels, and massage. The whole works!
It felt wonderful. I will visit her again as soon as she is back working again after her maternity leave.  http://www.kattis-hk.se/

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Jessica Ulrichs (8 months pregnant) -  Had her baby in April 2011 :)

Oriental Dance

A dance documented as the oldest dance form in history of mankind dating from the 11th century. Makes us bond with women throughout the ages and the world. Moves that are built and recognized upon the uniqueness of the body. Middle Eastern belly dance is dynamic and beautiful. I have done it for years and will continue to do so.

Marie Koslin has just started dancing and wanted me to take some photos with belly dancing mood and environment. Easy task for me as I have tons of props, cloth, outfits and jewelry in the studio to get the right feeling. Enjoy the images :)

Photo, Styling & Make Up: Tallee Savage
Retouch: Mattias Savage

MERMAID – Mythological creatures

Enchanting aquatic creatures that are known to sing to men or Gods to seduce and distract them to lure them to smash their ships on the rocks? Depicted mermaids squeezing the life out of drowning men while attempting to rescue them? Also said to carry humans down to their underwater kingdoms? In Homer’s Odyssey, a Greek epic dating to at least 800 BC, the hero Ulysses ties himself to the mast of his ship to resist the sirens. I have read that in the last thousand years the siren story became mixed with the European mermaid story, and mermaids are sometimes called sirens. There is a distinct difference between them, but either way the mermaids have been enduring symbols in myth and culture for thousands of years and the powerful attraction is compelling.

Lily wanted to have her picture taken, portraying as mermaid, inspired from the movie Pirates of the Caribbean 4, where mermaids takes a central role. I had been thinking for a long time to do just that with me as a model, but I never found the time. So I understood how Lily was thinking, and her idea came very natural for me to interpret. I got the photo studio prepared with shells and starfish for props with the fan to get the accurate wind from the ocean blowing in her hair. After the make up was done we had to figure out different positions for her to sit. Poses that would look natural and make the graphic designer’s job easier. What position will the fish tail take and so on and where should all the hair be?

On these links below, Lily tells us about her thought on mythology, literature, religion and the topic of gender when it comes to these aquatic mythological creatures. The link is translated in three languages.

English >>>   Swedish >>>   Spanish >>>

We had a great time doing this photo shoot. Now the rest of the interpretation laid in the hands of graphic designer Mattias Savage. Lots and lots of work behind these pictures.

I hope you enjoy them ; )

Photo & Make up: Tallee Savage
Graphics: Mattias Savage

“Mermaid from hell” Stating the starfish is MINE!!!! Evil he he he

”Aye. Mermaids. Sea ghouls, devil-fish, dreadful in hunger for flesh of man. Mermaid waters, that be our path. Cling to your soul, Gibbs, as mermaids be given to take the rest, to the bone.”
―Hector Barbossa and Joshamee Gibbs

P.S To see other projects I have done with this Argentinean beauty check into this link HERE >>>