More Florida Stripey Light
January 14th, 2014
After you’ve photographed all three models together in the bright Florida sun streaming through the mini-blinds…well, you still have to see what you can do with each of the models individually.
Here are Kat and JoJo making those straight lines have curves.
Florida Sun
January 8th, 2014
I think I’ll keep the Florida posts going for a while…maybe it will warm things up in the frozen north.
Trapped in a condo with three beautiful models. Bright, blinding Florida sunlight pouring in through the windows. What to do? Why, play with light and shadow, of course. Lines of light and shadow mixed with the curves of the models. Sure, it’s been done before. What hasn’t? But it was fun and some of the results are a little interesting.
Again, thanks to the lovely Kat, Kelsey and JoJo.
Florida Fun
January 5th, 2014
It’s been way too long since I’ve added a new post here. Between the holidays and some minor health issues, I’ve just had too much other stuff going on. But I’ll try to be better.
Since winter has been being so nasty to those of us in the frozen north, I thought it was a good time to share some photos from a trip last February to warm and sunny Florida. These are all going to be indoor photos, but the Florida sun plays a major role in most of them.
I had the good fortune to meet up with some great models who are also fine friends on this trip. Kelsey Dylan, Kat and JoJo three very different models, but they have in common that they are lovely, delightful ladies. It was a great pleasure to work with them on this trip.
We had planned to do more outdoor work, but the universe conspired against that. Between bright sunny skies that made the light much too harsh for the kind of work I like to do and a mechanical problem with my truck that kept us stranded at the condo where we were staying for a couple days, we just made the best of it and worked in the condo.
We had fun and made some fun photos. I’ll be sharing them with you over the next several posts. Stay warm, friends.
Searching For An Honest Politician
December 8th, 2013
A while back my friend, Matthew Cherry, asked me to model for a photo he wanted to do. I, of course, agreed. It took a while to get everything arranged and to match schedules for all involved, but we finally were able to do the photo last week. The team for this photo included wardrobe stylist Tanya Seeman, makeup artist Norman Bryn, and his assistant Chris Jadewitch Cantuccini.
I knew the resulting photo would be fantastic, because I know Matt and I’m familiar with his work. I wasn’t disappointed, as you can see. It was a lot of fun, a lot of work, and worth it in every way.
Maybe I’ll give up on finding an honest politician and look for something more common and easy to find. Like maybe Yeti.
Discounts on Calendars
December 3rd, 2013
My publisher has just announced some new discounts that you can use to buy calendars for Christmas presents. You can get 25 percent off the cost of your order by entering the code: HOLIDAY25. You can use that discount on as many as 14 items, so you can take care of all your Christmas shopping right there in my store. Also, they are offering free shipping by using the code: FREESHIP. I’m not sure if you can use both discount codes on the same order or not…but give it a try and see if it works.
Clicking on the calendar image above will take you right to my store. Or just click here.
Just Some Portraits
December 3rd, 2013
In the past year I’ve been shifting my work toward doing more portraits. I just found myself interested in doing more of that kind of work, so I’ve been doing it. Last December, as I was thinking about portraits, I decided to shoot some of Sarah. I’d worked with Sarah as a figure model in the past, but this time I wanted to just do some nice portraits of this beautiful and interesting woman.
Just a good subject and good old window light. Some things never change.
Instant Kelsey
November 30th, 2013
I work primarily with digital cameras these days. I have nothing against film. I worked with film for 30 years. But digital cameras are simply better tools for the work I do, in most cases.
But that doesn’t mean I can’t work with film now and then when it provides something I can’t get with digital. Or when it is just fun to do something with film.
Well, we all know that film is going away. It is rapidly becoming an “alternative process.” And that is very true when it comes to instant film. The reasons for instant film to exist are almost non-existent. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t fun to work with instant cameras. And the results of instant cameras are different from any other photographic medium.
When I was working all the time with film, I didn’t pay much attention to instant film. I really only used it to check exposures and lighting back in the days when we didn’t get instant feedback off little screens on the back of the cameras. Back then we often referred to it as “Paranoid” film, because we only used it when we were paranoid about our lighting setup.
But recently I’ve been using some instant cameras just because they are fun. And to make some photos with them before the materials vanish from the face of the earth.
I’m using both old Polaroid cameras with Fuji instant pack film and the Fuji Instax cameras with the Fuji film for them. I’m not bothering with the Impossible Project film because I’m not a fan of materials that are totally unpredictable and which consistently deliver shitty results. I’m sorry, all you Impossible Project fans out there, but that’s my opinion after seeing a lot of photos made with that film. It simply sucks, big time, all the time. As long as better materials are available from Fuji, I’ll use those. When Fuji abandons instant film, that will be the end, at least for me.
So, I’ve been dragging instant cameras around to most of my shoots. Some special projects are taking shape, but sometimes I just use the cameras and film for some more traditional photos. That’s what I did here with Kelsey Dylan last December.
These were all shot with a Fuji Instax camera. I’ve made a few modifications to the camera to get it to do more what I want. The main change that affected these photos was simply blocking the on-camera flash so that, even though it is impossible to turn the flash off, it was covered and no light from the flash reached the subject. By doing that I’m able to work with just the available light, which is what I wanted to do here.
Kelsey is a great model and, as usual, did a wonderful job posing for these photos. While it might have been possible to get something similar with a digital camera, there is a unique quality to instant prints that cannot be achieved with any other tool. And, of course, there are the one-of-a-kind original prints from each of these photos…what you are seeing here, of course, is just scans from those original prints.
You’ll be seeing more of my instant camera work here in the coming months…and as the projects I’m working on take shape, I’m sure I’ll be presenting more about them as well.
The Light in the Poconos
November 25th, 2013
It’s often said that photography is all about light. That’s not absolutely true, but there is truth in it. And light is very important to my work. But, every once in a while, the light does something pretty amazing and on a rare occasion, there’s a photographer there to record it. That’s what happened on this day last summer when I was shooting in the Poconos with the always amazing model, BlueRiverDream.
I was working on a composition with Blue’s figure and this waterfall when I saw the beautiful pool of golden light behind her. The sun was hitting that water from the perfect angle at the ideal time of day to create that glow. But, while I was adjusting the camera position to make the photo work, I saw the rainbow appear over the waterfall. All those colors, all that light! It was just so beautiful!
I didn’t really know how much of the color I’d been able to capture until yesterday when I was going through that shoot looking for something to enter in an upcoming show. I have been working my way through my un-edited shoots in the order they were shot and posting them here as I go, but I really couldn’t resist jumping the line with this one. Every once in a while magic happens.
Another Show
November 20th, 2013
It’s been a good year for gallery shows. I just got word that the photo above of the incredible Kat was chosen for the “Faces” show at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. The juror was Elizabeth Avedon. The show opens December 12. There will be an artist’s reception on the date that the show closes, January 5.
I entered six photos in this show. Four of them were black and white portraits that were not nudes. Two were nudes of Kat. I find it interesting that she chose this one, which is a Fuji instant print. It’s a bit different from a lot of my work, though I am working on some projects now using instant film before it is no longer available. This is also the only nude in the show, though it is a bit androgynous. You just never know what a juror is going to like. That’s one of the things I enjoy about jurored shows.
Hollywood Show Opens Tomorrow
November 15th, 2013
If you are in the LA area please don’t forget the opening of the Rated R Show in North Hollywood tomorrow night. It looks to be a very good show. So turn out and let Rob and Gina know you appreciate their efforts to show great work.
In other news, Epson shipped me a replacement printer from my 4900 that was turning out magenta skies. The replacement printer makes perfect prints with no magenta problems, so that at least confirms that the problem was with the printer and not with some weird thing that I had screwed up. Whew! Now if the shipping company would just come and get the old printer to return it to Epson. It’s been three days since I requested the pick-up. I’ve called twice and still no word on when they are coming. The huge 120+ pound box is sitting in our entry hall taking up quite a lot of space.
