When I posted her Vibe picture I didn't post these because I wasn't satisfied with the scans. I'm still not. This was a tough set of pages to scan because the print quality was low - lots of white splotches in the dark areas. Still, it's hard for Jessica Lucas to look bad. Happy New Year people!

Tags: Jessica Lucas

If ever there was an aspiring model that proved you can get a lot more attention keeping your clothes on, it is Megan Fusako Gaines. This Twitter-less model has been posted on more message boards than I can count based on the pictures posted below, two of which I took. In fact, I just saw her on The Smoking Section's 2009 Retrospective on the top hotties of the year. Twenty women, all nearly naked, and there's Megan in that wife beater and jeans. It defies logic, but I'm glad I was in on it (thanks to my bud hair stylist Tara Copeland, who introduced us).

Tags: Megan Fusako Gaines

Angell Conwell has been acting since she was a kid and has been in several major movies, including Soul Plane and The Wash. Much like Meagan Good, she has managed to glide between acting and the video vixen world without much problem (as should be the case). It's funny because this is something Melyssa Ford always said was difficult to do. Maybe the problem only happens when you start as a video vixen and try to become an actress, and not the other way around.

Another interesting thing with Angell is that it's not easy to find pics that truly convey how cute this woman is (see Youtube video below). If you ever catch her on a "Moesha" rerun you'll see what I mean. At any rate, I think these pics do her at least some justice.

Tags: Angell Conwell

I spotted this model, Kimberly Chantale, on the cover of Dime Piece Magazine and I have to say she definitely caught my eye, but when I checked the message boards to see what there was of her out there I came up empty. That, and the fact that she has fewer than 1000 Twitter followers, tells me this girl is still somewhat under radar. But based on what I've seen, that won't be the case for long.

The Goods:

Height - 5'8" / Weight -140lbs / Measurements - 34- 28- 40 / Astrological Sign: Cancer

Contact:

Kimberly's Twitter / Kimberly's Facebook / Kimberly's Website

Tags: Kimberly Chantale

I've always liked Rachel Bilson since first seeing her on "The O.C." - she's very feminine without trying. These photos of her are all stuff I would love to do. Very natural and earthy.

Attribution: These gorgeous photos were taken by photographer Craig DeCristo.

Tags: Rachel Bilson

Early on in Melyssa Ford's career she did three photo CDs with a site called BlaqueImage.net. The first two CDs eventually leaked out to the net, but that third CD never shipped (although there was a preview shot of it on the site). My guess is that there was a dispute with Melyssa over these pics. After all, these are far from Melyssa's best pics and certainly rough by comparison of what was to come. Through mining around the message boards, I eventually found the third CD of 26 photos. There is a certain raw sexuality emoting from even these early pics of Melyssa. This is one model who has the IT factor in spades.

Tags: Melyssa Ford

If looks like Suleika beat Marisa Elise out by more than 20 points in the poll, despite my extra Marisa post. Thanks to everyone for voting.

You can reach Suleika here: www.twitter.com/SweetSuleika and www.myspace.com/Suleika_the_dominicanbeau.

If you wanna see even more of Suleika, check out Wasabi's gallery of her candid pics here.

Tags: Suleika

To get better control over my RSS and allow for better updates, I switched my RSS provider to Feedburner. Those of you using the older RSS subscription for Indosplace should drop that one and use this one. To make it easy, I've provided links below for standard RSS feed subscription as well as via email. One reason you should switch is that under Feedburner, when I modify a post (e.g., add photos) it will send out an update. With the old RSS broadcaster, you only got notifications when a new post was added. This will keep you up to date with the latest content.

Subscribe to Indo's new Feedburner RSS:

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Tags: Feedburner, Marisa Elise

So even though Suleika looks like she's gonna take it in the poll, I decided to post Marisa Elise for the time being because she's an interesting case study. I looked through her past pics and her Youtube videos and I see why she never really stood out to me before this. For one, her styling hasn't really optimized her appearance to date. She wore full back bikinis and swimsuits that made it look like she had no hip to waist ratio. (Hip to waist ratio is what urban modeling is all about) Marisa is one model where wearing a thong bikini really made the difference. Also, I wasn't feeling her hair styling prior to this SHOW shoot.

There's really only two or three pics out there of Marisa I'm feeling outside of the SHOW pics. This is a model who really has to tweak her styling to get it just right, but she clearly has a lot of potential. Attribution: SHOWExclusive.

Tags: Marisa Elise

SHOW #15 is chocked full of beautiful women. Let's see if we can come to a consensus on which one is the dopest, and then I'll do a separate post on that model. Cast your vote below.

Tags: Suleika, Brianna Amor, Brittany Dailey, Marisa Elise, Brittany Liss

Model Suelyn Medeiros from J'Adore Shoot.

Photographer's corner: This pic was inspired by the use of direct sunlight and lens flare by photographer Christa Renee (see pics below). When taking pics like this, forget about auto focus. It will never work under these conditions. And even manual focus will be challenging because you're looking directly into the sun. You'll be lucky if one in five comes out right. The model has to be patient because many of the good expressions may be out of focus.

Tags: Suelyn Medeiros

First let me just say that I was one of the first to post Jenna Shea on message boards and this very blog. It appears people are finally taking note. Niceness. Second, these pics are from SHOW magazine. There are several more from this set on their website, so check it out. Third, you gotta click this one to enlarge - what a difference those pixels make.


Edit - Add'l Pics Added (Attribution - SHOWExclusive):

Tags: Jenna Shea

Today I spoke with Briana Loyd, who is featured in the KING Relaunch issue. I have to say, Briana is a very pleasant young lady. She seems to be quite grounded about the business, perhaps owing to the fact that she's got her priorities in order (she just graduated from college). Still, being one of the key featured models in the KING comeback issue is kind of a big deal, so I asked her a little about the experience that led to that. (All pics may be enlarged by clicking.)

How were able to secure a spot in the new issue of KING with all the competition in the market these days?

It's kind of funny actually, I did a shoot for King for the "Candid Camera" section early this year. I was ecstatic about it, only to find out two weeks later that the magazine was going out of business! Months passed and then I got an email that said King would be relaunching and they wanted me to be in it and that brings me to today. I guess patience is truly a virtue.


What are your plans in urban modeling now that you've gotten that key break that will give you more exposure?

I plan to open up as many doors as possible with urban modeling. I have interest in everything from being a celebrity psychologist to acting. I would have never predicted that I would be in the situation I am in now, but I am grateful and I plan on taking advantage of it.

I notice you don't have a Model Mayhem page or a Facebook. Is there a reason for that and where can fans go to see more of you?

I previously had a Model mayhem but I felt I was over saturating myself, so I decided to delete it until the actual magazine dropped. As for Facebook I am on my third page. My other two have been deleted. But you can find me by searching Briana Loyd.

Finally, what advice would you give to aspiring models that are attempting to get their break in the business?

I would say stay strong and be true to yourself. Never do anything you really don't want to do, because at the end of the day modeling is only temporary and your life is permanent. The biggest thing is to surround yourself with positive people and ask questions about the business. Research models, agencies, and managers so you can be informed on what type of pictures to submit for video and magazine shoots. Make sure to only put your best pictures out, because they DON'T go away lol. Keep focused on your goal in the business and you will go far. =)


Plus a couple impressive candid pics:

Tags: Briana Lloyd

So here we have Ms. Ice making her second appearance here on Indosplace. I have to thank photographer Affinity Ratios (who posts here) for sharing these exclusives of Ms. Ice, some of which appear in the latest issue of ASIS Magazine. Affinity is coming along very nicely as a photographer - I see him as a force to be reckoned with and someone models would do well to work with. In addition to the photos here, see this as example of what I mean. As for Ms. Ice, well, I'm just glad I was one of the first people to give her some shine. She's definitely on her way.

Tags: Ms. Ice, Tina Blackwell

Congratulations to Briana Loyd for making her big splash in KING's relaunch issue. (She has one of the best, most consistent spreads in the new issue.) There are several other good pics from Briana's pictorial, but I'll leave the heavy lifting re: scanning to the expert, BlackJackSkanz. (Click for slightly larger version.)

Tags: Briana Lloyd

These pics of Bria Myles appear in the relaunch issue of KING and were taken by photographer Charlie Langella.

While certainly not bad, based on the video I saw I thought these pics might be a little better. There is one pic that I just don't like that I didn't bother to scan and another of just Bria walking away that was published by Harris to promote this issue - no point scanning that.

This was a tough bunch of pics to scan and I look forward to seeing the maestro's version, BlackJackSkanz. If I'm up to it, tomorrow I post Briana Lloyd's pics from this issue. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Bria Myles

More natural stuff from the Maxim people. For those of you wondering "Who's Olivia Munn?" I suggest the purchase of beautiful flatscreen TV for Christmas. In the meantime, you can go here where you can see some behind-the-scenes footage of the shoot. By the way, and this is interesting, the photographer was using two point-and-shoot digital cameras simultaneously to gain different vantage points. But still, it wasn't even a 35mm DSLR. What the hell!?

Tags: Olivia Munn

Looks like Rosa Acosta took the cover. No surprise there - no one can deny that girl's hustle. Looking forward to seeing more. Props to Dynasty Series for this.

Question: why is KING's website not updated? Why don't any newsstands here in Los Angeles know about this? Not the greatest publicity campaign.

Tags: Rosa Acosta, Bria Myles

This photo from the January 2010 issue of Maxim and taken by Alisa Connan demonstrates the kind of naturally lit, soft beauty shot that would do the urban magazines well to imitate. The overly lit, hyperstylized shots in the urban mags not only age poorly, but make the women look less feminine. More like femme bots. The only urban magazine I've seen do shots like this is KING.

I'm going to start posting models that have been on my "Favorites" list for a while now on Model Mayhem. Tatiana Harvey is one of them. Although I was little disappointed with all the energy she expended addressing "haters" on her Myspace page (she's young), I do think she's got a great, versatile look as a model.

Tags: Tatiana Harvey

Nigerian born Badriya Moon reminds me of Bria Myles a little. What do you think? Look for her in the Zigga Zagga 2010 Calendar...

Tags: Badriya Moon

This whole shoot is posted at BlackJackSkanz.com, but it seemed like a good idea to have it here as well, since I took these shots. Props to J'Adore magazine and Editor-In-Chief Taneish Leslie. Models: Bria Myles, Alysha Young, and Suelyn Medeiros.

A part two to this shoot is under consideration for the March 2010 issue of J'Adore. What three models do you think would make good candidates for that shoot? (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Alysha Young, Bria Myles, Suelyn Medeiros

I just really learned about this Switzerland born actress today. Really cute, but more so I was impressed with this answer she gave on being biracial and how it has affected her career as an actress (See below, from her interview at Reel Artsy). I'd love to see this discussed with Jessica Lucas and this is what I mean about this not being touched on in her Vibe or Giant interview.

“Luckily I’ve worked my butt off. I’ve been able to do roles that weren’t necessarily meant for me because of what I look like. I’ve been fortunate enough to surpass certain expectations that anyone might have had of me. Sometimes it’s been hard, sometimes they’re like ‘oh you’re not black enough’ or ‘you’re not white enough’ or ‘we don’t know what to do with you’ or ‘you don’t match up with this person’. And sometimes it’s been a blessing, sometimes I’ve been able to blaze my own way trails and say: you know what I’m biracial, I don’t come from necessarily the background that some other people have but if you give me a chance I’ll promise I’ll do a good job and I know what I’m doing. And I think that color aside, and all of that aside, it’s work that matters. You being a good actor, being a good person, you know, it’s who you are inside that is going to make it either…you succeed or you fail.[H]opefully [I will] lead the way maybe for other African-American women who would love the same opportunities or who would love to do something different."

Oh, and I forgot to mention: She's on the CW's The Vampire Diaries. You can reach Kat Graham on Twitter here and on Myspace here.

Tags: Katerina Graham

I noticed Amy Lee (she spells it "Amylee" on Myspace) sometime back on Cutie Central's forums and had been meaning to post her, but forgot. Also, I'm not crazy about the fact that these pics are overly retouched and overwhelmed by the watermark. She has also gone by the name "Amy Rodriguez," so she's tough to track down on the net, which is not a good thing for an aspiring model seeking to gain greater notoriety. Her Official Myspace is here. Amy is Cuban/Japanese, 5′6″, 135lbs, and her measurements are 34C-23-38.

There's definitely something catchy about this Virgo cutie. I'd like to see more of her.

Tags: Amy Lee

It's amazing how little retouching you have to do to a photo of Bria for it to look good. This is from the J'Adore mag shoot I did a couple months ago.

Tags: Bria Myles

Jessica Lucas, who is on the new Melrose Place, is in both Giant and Vibe magazine this month. Both mags have an urban bent, yet neither touch at all upon Jessica's racial background (her dad is black, mom is white). Anyway, I like this girl. I see good things in her future.

Tags: Jessica Lucas

Now that she's got a regular column in Smooth, she gets a new picture in each issue that comes out. Nice. Expect an update to this post later with the two pager. This issue Maliah writes: "Women are ultra-competitive. If we think that there's a woman who's better than us, then we'll do whatever we can to beat her." No news there. I always suspected as much, but it was nice of Maliah to confirm it.

Tags: Maliah Michel

Real talk, Flow Tight's video features some of the sexiest models I've seen a long, long time. US rappers need to take note. All the bikini girls, including Elisha Jade who I just interviewed, are hot. The one who they show first - who comes out to the turntable - is also amazing.

Do yourself a favor and go HD with this one. You can purchase Flow Tight's song at the iTunes Store here.

Tags: Elisha Jade

Hey everybody - just so you know, I'm transitioning to Echo for my comment system. They have some cool new features, like the ability to Tweet your comments here, post videos and images in your comments, add avatars easier, etc.

You can check out some of the new features here where there are several webscasts explaining Echo. I'm sure most of you, being fairly tech savvy, will be able to figure it out on your own.

EDIT: I realize some of the old features that were available under the Haloscan system, like using an email you're comfortable with to be notified of replies, are gone. The truth is, this was a forced transition. Haloscan is going out of business. It's servers are faulty and if you looked at the older posts here, comments weren't even showing up. So you would see some incredibly hot post of say, Maliah, and it would look like there were no comments on the post. This was just the Haloscan system failing. I like some of the new features on the Echo system, but it's going to take some getting used to for everyone. My apologies for the inconvenience.

Loving Alysha's expression on this one... (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Alysha Young, Suelyn Medeiros

Reach Alysha on Facebook here and Suelyn on Twitter here.

Tags: Suelyn Medeiros, Alysha Young

(Click images to enlarge)

I've been a fan of yours since before you were in SHOW magazine, but how did your feature in SHOW magazine come about given that you live in London and they're located in Los Angeles?
Well I had been such a huge fan of SHOW mag and over here we don’t really get any urban glamour publication stuff like that.... So I emailed the owner directly and thought he would not get back to me but to my surprise he did and asked me to come over. So I did, lol. I caught a flight over as mad as it sounds...You only live once and I could not turn his offer down as I might not ever have gotten the offer from him again.

How did you initially decide to get into glamour modeling? What was the catalyst to you making this decision?
Well, I first started out doing commercial stuff, like clothed and beauty shots... Then as I got more and more into modeling more and more layers of clothing came off, lmao
What are some of the differences you've found between London and Los Angeles in terms of reception you receive as a curvy model, the opportunities available, public perception?
With the UK it's so, so narrow minded. If you ask any urban model here they will say the same thing as I'm now about to...You have to be stick thin, blonde, have huge fake tits, and no curves whatsoever. If you have the chance to look through UK magazines here you wont find one ethnic model! It's hard, hard work. I have to work 50x harder here and still nothing. Ethnic models get treated like absolute shit in London but in the US it's more open minded... The market in urban modeling is huge like with the hip hop videos, hair and beauty magazines... I can go on and on lol

In the US, girls with big booties and cute faces are notorious for being difficult, arrogant, etc. You know the old Bel Biv Devoe song "Poison" - "never trust a big butt and a smile." But from your photos you don't seem to take yourself -- or your considerable derriere -- too seriously. You appear to use your "booty power" for good instead of evil, lol... Are there times you've used your voluptuousness to manipulate men or situations to your advantage? If so, can you give us an example?
Oh gosh I don’t take myself serious at all. If I became big headed my mum and brother would tell me about myself and pull me back down to earth. I'm a nerd I sit and watch the History Channel.... My friends call me "granny" because I have to be dragged out to hit the clubs and all the way to the club I moan about having to go... But once I'm there and get some grey goose in my system I'm off on that floor and that’s when Elisha Jade comes out to play and trust me I'm wild. I dance on the tables and when I get too drunk... (considers, goes mum) But, eh, I could never use my body to manipulate a man or a women. I don’t have the heart to as I would hate to have it done to me (when I'm drunk I seem to end up making out with girls as for some reason they flirt with me)
What is your ultimate goal as a glamour model aka where do you see Elisha Jade a year from now?

I would love to be over in the US featured in various videos and magazines -- that would make me so happy! I would not take it for granted as I want to show the UK that dreams are possible and I'm just that little UK girl that wants to prove the point that ethnic models in the UK are just as good!
What are some of the pros and cons of being a lingerie model that you've found?
The pros are people get to see you looking sexy and it can open doors like it kind of has for me. The more and more I seem to do the more people get to see.
I get given free tables in clubs along with free drinks, lol, which is a deadly combo
Well let’s get on the cons lol...
People judge me because I look a certain way; people think I’m so sweet and innocent so when they treat me bad they think they will get away with it, but I’m very hot headed and I say what I think... As a fan put it, I have a face of an angel, body of a goddess, but a mouth of a sailor I never have beef with girls, it's always men bringing drama my way. They seem to think they can try and use and abuse me, but I’m very smart. I think all models have to be as you never know if a man likes you for you or the person in pictures.

What was your general perception of the United States when you came to visit; could you ever see yourself living here?
Everyone liked my accent hahaha. They kept asking me to say things. I was shocked I got noticed when I landed at the airport which was scary. I was like "how do you no my name????" I would live in the US any day. I'd pack my bags tomorrow. The way I see it I’m young I have no ties. I have no children or a man so I want to do as much as possible and get out much out of life before my babies come along as right now I’m 100% committed to modeling. But when husband and babies are here I will be fully committed to them as they will be my life and my world
Do you plan to appear in any other US publications?

I have no idea. I hope so but I have nothing in the pipeline and if I did I would not tell you lol you have to wait for the surprise... I like to shock people you might be able to tell I like doing this with some of my wild club outfits.
In your bio it says you were born in La Coruña Spain. Did you spend significant time there as a child/teenager or did you primarily grow up in London?

Yes, I did. I didn’t come to the UK till I was 4 or 5 I didn’t know a word of English, which was hard but now I don’t know hardly any Spanish just English But I’m going to have lessons I think Spanish sounds so sexy also when I’m mad I will cuss in Spanish hahaha
I notice that a lot of pictures of you out there are not Photoshop'd and are completely natural, yet you still look fantastic. What's your opinion on models overusing Photoshop to gain a competitive advantage, and further, what is your opinion on surgical enhancements to gain an advantage
At the end of the day I'm just doing me each to their own I say I'm so open minded...with people having surgery it's all up to them if they feel it makes them happy that’s their business. I personally would not have anything done. Believe it or not I'm low maintenance. I hate wearing makeup when I don’t have to. I hate even brushing my hair lol. Weaves drive me crazy so that’s why I don’t have them.... I have what I have for a reason. I have flaws but I have learned to love them. I'm never negative about my body, as I feel life is to short to be worrying about being a certain way. I'm happy with my body and the way I look and that’s all that matters. I don’t care what people think of me. I am aware I'm not everyone’s cup of tea but I don’t live with them or see them.

Well, that's it. Feel free to throw in a question if there's something in particular I didn't cover that you wanna plug or put out there.
Urmmmmm everyone watch out for me in 2010 you might be seeing a lot more of me also thank you to every one for the support so far it means so much it keeps me from quitting modeling check out my site www.iloveleesh.com.

Tags: Elisha Jade

This is a scan of Halie originally done by "BTB" that I cleaned up a little. This photo is from the latest issue of Smooth Magazine. You can reach Halie on Twitter here.

Tags: Halie

This "Backshot" feature of Dollicia is from the November '07 issue of KING magazine (which is rumored to be making a comeback this month). Scan compliments of me. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Dollicia Bryan

Simone Baptiste was the Applebottoms girl for a while and she was the lead in over 17 music videos (Christian, Jet Magazine, Video Vixens Show That They Are More Than Just Pretty Faces, February 12, 2007, Pg. 54). She's also been in Maxim Online. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Simone Baptiste

This history of XXL Eye Candy, which starts with issue number 4 somewhere around '97-'98 and goes through 2006, gives you an idea of the evolution (or perhaps the devolution) of the urban eye candy genre. As you can see, it started off with celebrities such as Jennifer Lopez and Traci Bingham. This was back when BlackMen magazine still featured women like Tyra and Beyonce on the cover of their magazine.

We also see that Melyssa Ford was an Eye Candy as far back as August 2000, which means she's been in the game nearly a decade now. Notice there is a lot of repetition in those early years, because there was a dearth of name brand eye candy models. People like Gloria Velez, Sincerely Ward, and Pasha were all featured twice.

And then between 2004 and 2006, urban modeling hits its stride, with models like Vida, KiToy Johnson, Summer Walker, and Esther Baxter. Too bad that's where it ends. It would be interesting to have seen the years between 2007 and 2009. (Click to enlarge)

Tags: Melyssa Ford, Buffie The Body, Esther Baxter, Summer Walker

Photo compliments of me. You can reach Miss Koi on Twitter here. (Click to see larger version)

Tags: Miss Koi, Koi

Love these pics... (Click to enlarge)

Shout out Alysha on Facebook here. You can reach Bria on Twitter here.

Tags: Bria Myles, Alysha Young

Also, see Jernie's super cute Indosplace authentication sign pic here. You can reach on Model Mayhem here.

Tags: Jernie

Ruby Campbell proves something that I've always suspected: good looking women look even better when they get older. The beach shot was taken in '95; the shot of Ruby in the dress was taken this year. Still beautiful as ever. When I shot Ruby she was in a Karl Kani commercial that was playing nationwide. She was also in a popular Boyz II Men video. She was always a tough one to track down. If you wanna see more of her, check out a movie called “Love Goggles” if you can find it. Not a bad movie, and Ruby looks great in it.

Tags: Ruby Campbell

I posted the BTS previously, but this is the final result.

Interestingly, the classic booty shape is still there. All you have to do is imagine this same, exact shape like 10-15 pounds heavier to know why no one was really messin’ with Melyssa in her prime.

Tags: Melyssa Ford

I’m always talking about urban magazines needing to change it up. Well, that’s just what industry vets, photographer Treagen Colston and publisher Sean Rush, have done just that with Kiss Magazine. Check out their latest issue to see what I’m talking about.

Tags: Treagen Colston, Sean Rush