No Water Waterfall
July 28th, 2014
This has been a very good year for waterfall photos. It’s been raining regularly all summer. I keep having to mow my grass. Most years, once a month in July, August and September is all that’s needed. Not this year. But last year was more normal. That meant when Ayn and I went out to shoot at one of my favorite local waterfalls there was no water falling. There was a bit of moisture on the rocks, but that was all. Of course, we didn’t let that little detail stop us from doing a few photos.
Ayn really wanted to do some photos with the water flowing. We were able to do that this year and I already posted those photos here. That’s the same location as this shoot, but with the waterfall in action.
Dirty Lady
July 23rd, 2014
A little more than a year ago…last July…Ayn came up with the idea of coating her with clay for a shoot. I knew this could produce some good photos, so I was happy to do the shoot. Ayn wanted to use some of the shots to accompany songs she was recording. So I got some clay and we got to work.
Ayn did her usual fantastic job of modeling and the clay added fun texture and color to her body. I think we were both pretty happy with the results.
The one below is one Ayn chose to illustrate one of her songs. You can find more about her work as a singer and songwriter and listen to some of her songs here.
Even though I’m not shooting all that much lately, as you can see, I’m still struggling to catch up and remain a year behind on my editing and posting work. So I’ll just keep working away at it when I can and I hope you’ll keep coming back to see what I’ve gotten edited recently.
Going Soft
July 18th, 2014
When I was in Chicago for the opening of my show at Gallery Provocateur last June a bunch of my favorite models came along to participate in the opening. You can see and read about that interesting evening here.
Of course, while we were all there we couldn’t resist doing a few photos in the hotel room. For these photos with the amazing, lovely models, Kat, Brooke Lynne and Claudine I decided to play around with my old soft-focus single-element lens. I like the way it handles highlights, so I deliberately included hot highlights to let them spread into the shadows in a manner that I find beautiful.
There were also some fun mirrors in the room, so I also played around with some reflections.
Today I’d also like to welcome the many new folks who seem to have come around after Scott mentioned the last post on facebook. I’m glad you are here. Please poke around and see what I do. I hope you’ll keep coming back. I’ll try to keep you entertained. Thanks, Scott, for the kind words. I’m glad you enjoyed the post.
Behind the Scenes
July 15th, 2014
Today I’m going to share a few photos of Scott Nichol at “work.” Scott joined Brooke Lynne, Blueriverdream and me for a day of shooting while we were in the Poconos. As you can see in the photo above, Scott is a very serious photographer.
Scott is a large format guy and often works with alternative processes. He was shooting film for part of the day, but also shot some paper negatives.
Scott is a very fine photographer, as you can see from looking around his website. He’s also a nice guy and a lot of fun to work with. We had a great time working with a couple wonderful models.
Another Day in the Poconos
July 7th, 2014
I worked with Brooke Lynne and Blueriverdream for a second day when we went to the Poconos. On this day we started off with a hike to a remote abandoned mill with some wonderful features. And some interesting tree roots. Blue did a great job working with this root.
A little bit of moss and make a building into a fun background for a beautiful model.
I was really astonished by all the colors the light was making at this waterfall beside the old mill. A wonderful rainbow in the waterfall and a beautiful glow off the pool above it. Blue adds her own beauty to the scene.
Later in the day we went to another location, an abandoned farm house and barns. The light was doing some interesting things. I’m very pleased with this photo of Brooke and the shadow of some leaves on a concrete wall. This may be my favorite photo from these two days of shooting.
Happy Independence Day
July 4th, 2014
Another recent photo to mark the July 4 holiday. This was my most recent photo accepted by Photo Vogue Italy. I call it, “Keep Out.” Taken on my block.
Be safe, friends.
Last Night I Had The Strangest Dream
July 2nd, 2014
It’s almost Independence Day. It’s been a while since I last posted this old photo. I took it in the aftermath of 9/11 when I was seeing a lot of really bad flag photos. I wanted to make something that reflected the mood of the country at that time. I think I succeeded.
With all the violence and suffering that is going on in the world today I found myself thinking back to that awful day and also thinking about this old song, written by Ed McCurdy back in 1950. If only it could come true. Think of all the good that could be done, all the hungry who could be fed, all the disease that could be eliminated, if we could turn the incredible expense and energy of war toward something positive. War is the main thing holding back humanity from achieving its potential.
But this song was written the year before I was born. Sadly, I see no hope that I’ll live to see it fulfilled.
Last night I had the strangest dream,
I’d never dreamed before.
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
I dreamed I saw a mighty room,
The room was full of men.
And the paper they were signing said
They’d never fight again.
And when the paper was all signed,
And a million copies made,
They all joined hands and bowed their heads,
And grateful prayers were prayed.
And the people in the streets below
Were dancing ’round and ’round,
While swords and guns and uniforms
Were scattered on the ground.
Last night I had the strangest dream,
I’d never dreamed before.
I dreamed the world had all agreed
To put an end to war.
Blue In The Poconos
June 27th, 2014
As I mentioned in an earlier post, I had the tremendous good fortune to work with two of the best figure models in the country, if not the world, when we were in the Poconos. I’ve known and worked with both of these lovely ladies for many years. In today’s post I’ll show you a few of the photos I did with Blueriverdream.
I haven’t worked with Blue as much as I have with Brooke, but I really should change that. Blue is just so beautiful and talented and really understands what I’m doing with my work. She’s just a perfect model for me. If only she lived closer.
If you are anywhere near the Washington, DC area and work with figure models, you really should get in touch with Blue and work with her. You won’t find a better model.
Brooke In The Poconos
June 22nd, 2014
I guess it’s about time I get back to trying to catch up on posting my old shoots. So here are some more from the Poconos. This time it’s photos of the amazing, beautiful Brooke Lynne.
This waterfall was beautiful too…but it was a bit of a challenge to find good spots for the models and also a camera position that would work for those spots. Coupled with contrasty light, that meant very careful work was required. But I think we found some things that worked fairly well. Very well, actually.
And after working at the waterfall for a while we went on to some other spots where I could actually take advantage of the contrasty light to make something different. As always, Brooke was wonderful to work with and really worked at coming up with beautiful poses that made everything pull together.
A good week for shows
June 19th, 2014
There’s a lot going on lately with my photos being seen. I just got word today that the photo above was selected for an upcoming show at Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, VT. The show’s theme is XY; Masculinity in Photography. My photo was also selected for an honorable mention. I took this photo sometime around 1980 at a strip club on the west side of Columbus. The dancer was a friend who asked me to take some photos of him performing. It was ladies’ night at the club. There were undercover police women in the audience. After the show all the dancers were arrested because they had “allowed” the women in the audience to touch them.
A print of this photo is in the permanent collection of the Kinsey Institute.
And, with this upcoming show I seem to have become a “Darkroom Master” at the Darkroom Gallery. This is a distinction they give to photographers who have been in a bunch of shows at the gallery.
And, of course, Saturday at 6 is the opening of the show, Stray Light, A Summer Art Experience. I have a few prints hanging in the hallway outside the gallery, which is on the third floor of the building where I have my Dayton studio on the second floor at the Front Street Buildings, 1001 East Second Street, Dayton.
I plan to be there at the beginning of the opening if you’d like to stop by and say hello.
