Hey everyone,
You’ve told me how much you love the images in Carla’s story. Thank you!
As a Christmas bonus, here are some of the best alternates that didn’t make it into the story.
Seeing them all again has been like a trip down memory lane for me, reliving those past moments. I hope you enjoy the extras!
Merry Christmas!
Attention Pose
Final Choice
Alternate Takes
This looks nice but for some reason the girls are outside:
The Box
Final Choice
Alternate Takes
Zuri doesn’t look quite right in the alternatives. Too much like a dude.
This one would need to be cropped a bit around the sides, so there isn’t so much empty space around them:
I really like how Carla appears as if she is taking her first breath of fresh air in this one:
At the Vets
Final Choice
It was quite the challenge to convince the engine to generate a side view of Carla, but I finally got what I wanted:
Alternate Takes
I wanted to avoid the frontal views like these:
The engine also seems to struggle with the idea that syringes only have a plunger on one side.
This one, however, stood out to me because of Carla’s eyes, how she is trying to make eye contact with the nurse. The way Carla looks at the nurse really make the image feel tense to me.
It would fit well for this part of chapter 10 when Carla is strapped down and waiting:
With Juma in the EveningCarla’s heart raced. “What’s going to be done to me?”
The nurse glanced up, mildly surprised. “Vaccinations, probably. Whatever the doctor deems necessary to keep you fit for service.”
Final Choice
I just love the eye contact here between the two.
Alternate Takes
I love her face in this one:
This one makes me realize we don’t have any pictures of Carla front down. I’m not sure what is going on in the background, but I like how her face conveys a worry as if she is saying, “You will free me after the two years, right?”
I really like these images in which Carla makes eye contact. The image appears much more intense straight away.
With Juma in the Morning
Final Choice
Alternate Takes
The room layout wasn’t quite what I had hoped for here, but apart from that, I think Carla looks quite nice.
These pictures could have been shot on one of the many other occasions when Juma took Carla with him for some overnight companionship. She wakes up chained to the bed alone while Juma is fetching breakfast or getting ready in the bathroom.
But since she is kept naked, she needs little time to get ready. After she has been fed, Juma just needs to snap on the handcuffs, and she is ready to go.
Hygiene and grooming can be done at the outdoor facilities at the Tribal Dispatch office.
Pulling the Cart
Final Choice
Alternate Takes
These two are basically fine, I just prefer Carla’s face in the one I picked in the end:
Carla pushing the cart makes a lot of sense coming to think of it.
Carla and Lisha under a Palm Tree
Final Choice
The plot during the “Water Run” was quite tough, but the scenery almost makes me want to visit Grabesh:
Alternate Takes
I’d prefer if the subjects don’t look straight into the camera as Carla does here, and I’m not sure how they managed to balance the cart like that. But it does look nice otherwise:
Drinking Beer
Final Choice
I really like this view of Carla because although the shot is from behind, it features her pretty face, some side boob, and we get to see her butt all in one picture. The engine is remarkably resistant to show her at this angle, so I went with this although I’m not entirely satisfied at how the slaves in the background turned out.
Alternate Takes
I didn’t really want a frontal shot, I feel like we already have so many of those, but it does look kinda nice on its own. And the slaves in the background look mostly ok.
While this one captures Carla’s attitude in the scene well, placing her in the field does not make a lot of sense.
The other slaves almost look decent in this one:
Melissa found by Carla
Final Choices
I didn’t have much hope here that the engine would be able to depict Melissa using a handheld milking device, so I went for a setup in which she is turned away from the camera.
I love how she turns toward the Carla who is approaching from behind.
I’m happy with these, but I think in hindsight I would have liked her to sit on one of the crates instead to have more variation in the postures.
I find the way she looks here so mesmerizing:
Alternate Take
This one is almost fine, but Melissa’s hair isn’t braided here as is established in the story:
Going to Sleep
It was a tough choice between these two. I went with the upper one because it shows the “vertical bars” on the right that turn this part of the storage room into a cage for the slaves.
Final Choice
Alternate Take
I do like her hair and breasts in this one.
Delivery to the Pensioner
Final Choice
This one had everything I wanted in it. I just wished Carla would have been at least a little bit tanned:
Alternate Takes
I really like this one. I just wish Carla’s face or collar could have shown:
This one finally got the relative sizes of Carla and the pensioner at least somewhat right. And everything else is also where it is supposed to be. But it came at the expense that the style was off:
This is almost good. But I don’t like how Carla is blocking the entrance here. She needs to kneel further back or more to the side.
I like her tan here. It seems quite realistic:
The Road not Taken
The Box with Carla Only
These were early ones. I just wanted to show Carla emerging from the box.
Later on I went with the Carla + Zuri combos. They have more tension.
The eyes really stood out to me here. I had this one in an early draft already until a vigilant reader pointed out to me that her hair wasn’t red, and there wasn’t any mention of ‘motor oil’ in the box.
Pulling a Cart with Produce
These were from an earlier idea where Carla was hauling produce through the market. On busy days, the vendors can run out of goods and who is better suited to help out with a just in time delivery than Tribal Dispatch.
These have people added to the background so she isn’t walking the roads alone:
The images don’t really sell the idea that Carla is pulling the cart though. But finally I got one where Carla is using the push bar properly:
I feel like this does happen at some point, she does get used for so many jobs. But not everything she does can make it into the story.
Cover Image
Final Choice
This is more about having an image that represents Carla’s story. I didn’t want this one to be explicit. However, Carla is naked in almost the entire story so that was a bit of a challenge. I could have used the ones where she was wearing a bikini in a cell in the beginning. But these images don’t quite represent the essence of the story.
It was actually Grok who suggested something like this and then strategically placing objects in the foreground to cover her:
I manually inserted the bar that covers the valley between her cheeks. That way, the cover image only has implied nudity.
The expression on and the beauty of her face did it for me in this one.
Alternate Takes
Some of the alternatives have a bit of side boob, which would be hard to cover without it looking unnatural.
I like that we see Carla‘s eyes in this one. It almost looks like one of those artistic shots:
This one was strong contender. The side boob could easily be removed, and the curve where her cheeks meet could be obstructed from view too.
The handcuffs look a bit exaggerated here, but I could live with that:
But then the axis doesn’t connect correctly to the wheel which is a bummer.
I really like the cuffs on her back in these:
Do you agree with my final choices? Or which of these “alternate takes” do you think should have made it into the story instead? What is your favorite and least favorite image?
As always, hit the poll and drop your thoughts below!
