Alexus
December 15th, 2006
This is Alexus photographed in an abandoned railroad tunnel in Maryland, not too far from Washington, DC. This was an interesting shoot. Alexus had taken me to the location near her home. Before we walked to the railroad tunnel we parked in a parking lot in the middle of a small town and walked along active railroad tracks that ran beside a river. There was a nice fairly gradual waterfall on the river and Alexus went out on the big rocks into the middle of the waterfall to pose. She was wearing a little crop top and a long Indian-print skirt. She decided to take off the crop top and pulled the skirt up over her breasts when she went out on the rocks. After she got to the location where she wanted to pose, she took off the skirt, wadded it up and tossed it to the river bank. But she missed. The skirt landed in the water and, in an instant, it went over the waterfall and down the river, lost and gone.
So there we were, the car parked in the middle of the town and Alexus with nothing to wear but a very small crop top. And, of course, just as she got back to the river bank two fishermen came down the trail. They were quite amused.
Well, I looked around on the side of the river and found an old T-shirt that had washed up. Alexus converted it to a skirt and wore it the rest of the day, including the hike in another direction to this tunnel that produced this photo. It was a very productive day with a very fine model. It’s fun to work with people who don’t let little misadventures ruin a day or a shoot. Thanks Alexus.
Light and Shadow and Lapis
December 14th, 2006
Here’s another photo of the famous Lapis from my Chicago trip. Lapis is a real delight and it was great to get to meet and work with her.
Life is busy right now so I’m not able to spend a lot of time writing here, but I’ll get back to blathering about my views on life and photography soon. I know you all come here to see what I have to say, not really to look at photos of naked women. I won’t leave you without my insights for long.
Nemesis Calendar
December 13th, 2006
I’ve just published another 2007 calendar, this one featuring the model Nemesis who has been so helpful to me as a willing model for years. This and my other calendars are available for purchase in my on-line store: http://www.lulu.com/Wayward
CareLyn Nude
December 12th, 2006
Here’s one of Carelyn without her corset. I told you I’d find a good nude of her. She is a beautiful woman. I’m back home from Chicago and very busy this week. I’ll look for another different shot of Lapis to post tomorrow. Writing will have to wait for a day when I’m not as busy.
Another side of CareLyn
December 10th, 2006
Here’s CareLyn Anita again. She does like corsets. I did photos of her completely nude, but the corset photos seem to be the best. I’ll probably find a figure study of her from this shoot to post sometime. And I certainly hope to work with her again. A great model.
Can’t say the same for the model who I was supposed to shoot today. As I had begun to suspect, she turned out to be a no-show, no-call. She just didn’t show up, didn’t respond to e-mail or phone calls and left me hanging. Since she didn’t have the courtesy to let me know she wasn’t going to do the shoot we had scheduled, it was too late for me to schedule another model. Lapis made a serious attempt to find someone for me, but it was just too short notice for that to work. So I was unable to do any shooting in my room with daylight. So it goes when you work with “internet models.” There are a lot of flakes. I won’t put her name and Model Mayhem number on the blog…although I was very tempted to do that…but if anyone, especially in the Chicago area, wants to be sure to avoid being put in this position by this model, just send me an e-mail and I’ll be happy to tell you who she is.
I salvaged the day by making a trip to the Art Institute of Chicago. They have an excellent photo exhibit hanging now, and I made quick passes through some of the modern art galleries. Didn’t have time to even see an eighth of their collection, and spent the last hour just walking through galleries without stopping. Going to have to come back and spend days there. A really great art museum.
Tomorrow I’ll pack up and head back home to Ohio. I have several studio shoots scheduled for this coming week. Should have more photos to share here.
Lapis
December 9th, 2006
Had a great shoot with Lapis today. She is a hoot. Real fun, real interesting. Still don’t know if tomorrow’s model is going to be a no show or not…she’s not responding to e-mail or phone messages. Part of the drill when you work with “internet models.”
I have an old, single-element, soft focus lens that is in a Nikon mount. That’s what I used for this photo. It’s a very old effect, and different from what you can get with filters in photoshop. The Lensbaby is similar, though different, but uses the same sort of old-fashioned single-element lens to produce the soft effect. As you can see, the highlights bleed into the shadows, producing the soft look. So it works best when there are some bright places well located in the image. When mounted on my digital Nikons I’ve sometimes referred to it as my digital Holga, much to the dismay of some Holga fanatics. But I like the effect for some photos, and it’s fun to work with, so I pull it out of the camera bag every once in a while and see what I can do with it.
Even if tomorrow’s model fails to appear, it’s been a good trip, thanks to Lapis and CareLyn Anita. Thanks ladies.
Corset
December 8th, 2006
CareLyn Anita wearing her corset. Shot last night in my Chicago hotel room. CareLyn is a great model, a fun person to be around, and very good looking. She’s also only 4’11” tall, not the standard model height, but that’s never been an issue with me. In fact, I really like short models. And, you wouldn’t have known she was that short from this photo if I hadn’t told you…
When I left for Chicago I had shoots scheduled with 5 models. So far I’ve done one shoot and two models have cancelled. That’s pretty much standard when working with “internet models” so it’s not unexpected. At least these two had the courtesy and professionalism to let me know they were not going to be able to do the shoots we had planned. Still, two more shoots scheduled while I’m here.
I’m pretty disappointed in my hotel room as a shooting location. It’s a nice room, but lacks style. My Sunday shoot is the only one I’ll be doing during the day in the room and I’m hoping using daylight will help me make the room look more interesting. We’ll see. Tomorrow’s shoot is at a studio/home location, so that should offer more possibilities.
I spent today at Calumet Photo learning about some new printers and software. I learned that the NIK software is pretty much just a way to replicate cheesy filters and effects that we used to do in camera. Not much application for it in creative work. But the new Nikon Capture NX software looks useful. And I’m pretty impressed with the new Epson 3800 printer. Both color and black and white prints look great. In fact, I’d have to say that it goes beyond what is possible with conventional darkroom materials, color and black and white. Now I have to see if I can justify buying one. How many 16×20 prints would I have to make to make it pay for itself? Hmmm…
Another Pinhole
December 7th, 2006
I’m on the road to Chicago today and don’t know if I’ll have time to post after I get there. So you have to look at another of my digital pinhole photos to tide you over until I can post something from the trip or a more conventional nude from the files.
This is Nemesis again. She’s damn handy to have around.
Another crappy photo
December 6th, 2006
Well, I guess I’m just in a crappy camera kind of mood. This was shot with a good camera, my old Nikon D100. But it was shot with a home made pinhole in place of the lens. I like mixing old and new technologies and seeing what happens. It really doesn’t matter what method is used to record the image. And digital makes it a good bit easier in this case too. The instant review allows me to adjust exposure and composition. Since it’s impossible to see anything through the viewfinder that helps. And I don’t have to wait to process film to find out what effective aperture the pinhole happens to be. By increasing the ISO I’m actually able to hand hold the camera. And I can take as many images as I want, not limited by the single sheets of some pinhole cameras.
The model is the wonderful Nemesis who always seems to be willing to humor me when I have some weird new setup I want to try out. Light is window light in my studio.
I’m off to Chicago in the morning for a few days of shooting and a visit to the Calumet “Digital Days.” I should have internet access in my hotel, so I hope I’ll be able to post…maybe some of the new things I’ll be shooting there.
Mini Digital
December 5th, 2006
Just for fun. And why do we do this if not for fun? I shot this photo of Amanda tonight with a brand new digital camera I just bought yesterday. It cost $10 at the Walgreens up the street. It’s a real digital camera. Hooks up to the computer with USB. You can use it over and over as long as you keep downloading and deleting the files from the camera. Has enough internal memory for 20 “high” resolution shots. Yes, it’s crappy quality and the files are tiny (high resolution is pretty low). But WOW! Ten dollars! And it takes photos. This has shot in fairly dim light inside. I’m going to have to shoot something outdoors or by a window in daylight to see if the softness is camera movement or just the lens. It’s an f/2.8 lens…amazing.
Just for fun. But really, I can remember (showing my advanced age) when a digital camera of this resolution cost $20,000.
Could this be the true digital Holga?
