Iris
January 19th, 2007
In honor of the snow on the ground today I thought a photo from warmer times was in order. This is Iris on the shore of Lake Erie. It was a day of “challenging light” as I’ve mentioned before. Here I like what the bright sunlight was doing casting shadows and interesting bright shapes through the trees. Iris’ great feminine shape plays nicely against those sun spots and the curves that the waves have left in the mud of the shore. Iris and I will be shooting again soon. I’ll make sure we find some less challenging light to work with this time.
I’ll be out of town for a funeral this weekend. Probably won’t be able to post again until I return on Sunday. So enjoy Iris until then. If you haven’t been to her blog, it’s linked over on the right and is well worth a look.
Candace in the sunlight
January 18th, 2007
Another super busy day today, even more so than yesterday. So here is a shot of Candace in the sunlight through the windows in my studio. Next week I promise some more words. My truck now has 4 new tires and I’m $700 poorer. I’ll be out running from one thing to another all day today. Things should slow down soon, though.
Sunlight
January 17th, 2007
Still in the middle of a very busy week. Not much time to spend here. But here’s another shot of Elizabeth from last week. I was just playing around with the sunlight coming in the studio windows. I think it made a nice composition and is a little bit different take on this very old cliche’.
Next week I hope to have more time to write. But right now I have to leave and go get 4 new tires put on my truck. Had a major blowout yesterday when I hit something on the interstate that shredded one of my tires. It was about time for a new set anyway, especially since I have several major driving trips to do photos planned for this year.
New stool
January 16th, 2007
I saw this stool on sale and couldn’t pass it up. Elizabeth made a nice decoration for the top of it, I think you’ll agree. This one has a sort of “Vargas” look to me.
I’m having an extremely busy week so I’m not able to take time to write much here. You’ll just have to content yourselves with photos of beautiful nude women. I hope it isn’t too much of a hardship.
I haven’t heard from any of my European readers about which of my photos is in the current issue of French PHOTO magazine. Guess I’m just going to have to wait for them to make their way across the Atlantic in a month or so to find out.
Candace
January 15th, 2007
Here’s a studio shot of Candace from last week. Candace is one of the most accomplished figure models I’ve worked with. Very talented and versatile at posing and an absolute professional. Someone who pretty much guarantees fine results. We only did a short shoot in the studio, but worked on several different concepts. I’ll show you more of those over the rest of this week.
Elizabeth
January 14th, 2007
Candace Nirvana and her friend Elizabeth visited Ohio last week for some shooting. They stayed with us part of the time they were in our state and I did a quick shoot with them one day. Both are very talented models. I’ve worked with Candace several times before, but Elizabeth was new and a very pleasant young lady to work with. This photo is one example. I’ll post some more from our shoot over the next few days.
You can fine Elizabeth here:
http://www.onemodelplace.com/member.cfm?ID=180514
French PHOTO
January 14th, 2007
I’ve just learned that once again, for the fifth time, I have a photo published in French PHOTO magazine. It’s in the current January/February issue. I haven’t seen the magazine yet and don’t even know which of my photos they selected for publication. The news comes from a friend in Lichtenstein through another friend in NYC. This magazine doesn’t show up on American news stands until long after the cover date. The news stand in Ohio that usually gets them first still has the November issue on display. So it may be a while before I am able to get any copies.
I know I have a lot of folks reading this blog who live in Europe. If any of you have the current issue of French PHOTO I’d appreciate it if you could let me know what photo of mine is published there this time. As soon as I find out which one it is I’ll post it here so you can all see.
Print sale!
January 13th, 2007
The sale is still going on until January 20 but I’ve decided to move this announcement off the top of the blog. Order your print by January 20 to receive this special price and free shipping.
I’m making a special print offer for a limited time. The cover photo for my book, “Lani,” which I posted below on January 4, has been getting a lot of attention lately and many have asked about buying a print.
For a limited time prints of “Lani” will be available for $25 including shipping to any address in the USA. (For those outside the USA, please contact me with your shipping address and I’ll get a shipping cost quote and send it back to you. Experience tells me those costs can be substantial.)
These are ink jet dye prints on Epson Heavyweight Matte Paper. The paper is 8 1/2 x 11. The image area is approximately 9 x 6 1/2 inches with a wide white border. The prints are signed in ink in the border.
This price is a $5 discount from my regular price for this size print, plus shipping is usually an additional charge. So this is quite a bargain. If it is well received I may decide to offer other prints at this price in the future. So, if you really do want a print of “Lani” now is the time to order it. I’ll keep this offer open at least until Jan. 20.
To order simply send $25 through PayPal to my e-mail address: davel [a] ameritech.net. Of course, change [a] to @ and remove the spaces around it…just want to try to keep the spam down. Make your subject “Lani Print Order” to make sure it doesn’t get lost in the spam…and be sure to include your shipping address.
Iris
January 12th, 2007
For me, it’s about the shooting. I could spend all my time with my camera in my hand taking photos and never need to see a print. That’s where the fascination lies for me. It’s the process of the shoot. The energy, the physical and mental activity involved. I don’t get tired or hungry when I’m shooting. I have to make an effort to pay attention to the passage of time. It is play in the fullest sense of play. Everything that comes after is work. I’d much rather be shooting my next photo than editing the last shoot.
If I only had someone to follow me around and take care of all that work that comes after the shutter fires…but that’s not going to happen. So I do the work that is attached to the play of shooting. Sometimes I get to it right away, but more often it takes me quite a while to get to the editing. That’s really a good thing, because I can do a better editing job when I have some distance from the energy of the shoot. I can be more objective and keep the images before me separate from the experience of the shoot, which is totally irrelevant to the viewer of an image.
Of course, this can sometimes be an issue for a model who is anxious to see the results of the shoot. Some deal with my slow work process better than others. Iris has been wonderful in her understanding and acceptance of how I do this part of the process. Iris’s blog is linked to the right here. She’s a fantastic model and a great muse and supporter of the artistic process. I worked with her last summer and I’m just now getting the editing done on that shoot.
This was a difficult shoot. Not because of Iris, but because of the light we were dealing with. I’ve said before that I don’t believe in good light and bad light, only easy light and challenging light. Well, on this day we were experiencing challenging light. That limited what we were able to do with a location along Lake Erie. I plan to return to that location when there’s some easy light and see what I can do with it. But despite the challenge of the light, my edit is turning up some photos that work for me. This is one that I think I like better than Iris does, but that’s because she is concerned about her messy hair while I think the messy hair is one essential element that ties her figure into the environment. But photographers and models often see different things in photos and chose different photos for different reasons. I’m completely ok with that. I like to let everyone find what they find for themselves in my photos.
So here is the lovely and inspiring Iris. I hope you find something here that speaks to you. Thanks Iris.
Oldie
January 11th, 2007
I have some new things coming soon, both old new things and new new things. But life has been busy this week and I won’t be able to post the new things until tomorrow, so here is an oldie to hold you over.
