Burien photographer shoots pin-up girls
Mon, 02/21/2011
Burien's Robert Butler of RJB Photo, a catalogue and fashion photographer, and White Center's Cleo Petra, founder/owner of The Burning Hearts Burlesque, are collaborating on a new magazine, "Pin-up Quarterly, Seattle's Girly Magazine."
Its high-quality glossy, colorful pages feature women sporting provocative costumes while playing out various roles involving flashy cars, drinks, and cigarette holders.
The line-up of ladies runs from coquettish and petit to brazen and buxom. If the question is, "Are they nude?" the short answer is "No, but almost." Like WWII pin-up icons Rita Hayworth and Betty Grable, what is not revealed seems to catch the eye.
Butler seems adroit at capturing a "good girl" in a "bad situation" without showing us every anatomical detail of his subject, to paraphrase a pin-up website.
The modest goddess tips her hat to Butler. "Rob and I have known each other for years," Petra said. "He's so consistent and really a rock star of photography in this town."
Butler recently utilized the cavernous SODO rockabilly bar Club Motor for its raw atmosphere to shoot pin-up models for the second issue, due April 1.
"This is definitely not a money-making venture," echoed Butler. "It's more of a creative outlet for Cleo and me. She has such a knack for finding people to work with, so many different looks, ethnicities. When I post images online I judge them by the responses I get, and nine times out of ten when I post a full-figured woman I get a lot of good responses. People really do like it when full-figured models are photographed beautifully. I pick out their strong points, good features. Every individual has got a good feature."
The Burning Hearts Burlesque, and this magazine, have models and performers "with many different shapes and sizes," said Cleo Petra proudly. You may run into her tending bar at the new Company Restaurant in White Center. The Burlesque show contains brief frontal nudity at the conclusion of some acts, as is the tradition.
"Our magazines have themes," Petra said. "Our first issue was 'Cocktails and Cuties' with a cocktail recipe or two on every page. Our second issue is 'Superheroes and Villains'. Miss Rusty Fairlane is an amazing costumer and helps everybody in the show. She's my right hand here. I encourage (the performers) to bring their creativity to the show, but she will then tell them if something doesn't look quite right, that they may need to straighten a ribbon or bow or something here or there."
The magazine costs $16, and can be purchased through www.magcloud.com. Spendy, yes, but it does feel heftier than an ordinary magazine.
"Maybe the four (quarterly) issues can turn into a coffee table book," Petra said. "I do this magazine for the art, for the love of it. I don't know how to be the capitalist I want to be. I am interested in always learning and seeing what the reaction is, and people seem to really love it."