Brooke At The Pinnacle
February 25th, 2012
Some more of Brooke at the top of her game at South Coyote Buttes. That spot on top of that red rock pinnacle with all that other rock in the background…well, it just looked to me like the perfect place for Brooke…and she agreed. So there she is. I think we made something beautiful.
I’ve been busy. Last night I was in Pittsburgh for a gallery show opening and I got to have dinner with my friend, Sita Mae, and another photographer who I should know better, since he used to live in Dayton, Aaron Kennison. It was a great time. This morning I woke up in Pittsburgh to see snow covering everything and wonder how the drive back to Ohio was going to be…but within a few miles the snow had vanished and I had an easy, uneventful trip back home.
Tomorrow is art pickup day for the Dirty Show…and it’s my turn to pick up my stuff and that of my friend and studio mate, Gary. So, another day of driving tomorrow. But again I get to meet up with some friends while I’m up that way, so it is bound to be a good day.
Coyote Buttes and California Gallery
February 20th, 2012
First a few more photos from beautiful South Coyote Buttes. That’s Kat above and below are a couple of Brooke.
And I’d like to tell you a bit about a new gallery out in Oakland, California. The Gray Loft Gallery at 2889 Ford Street, #32 is having its first show right now. The final weekend is coming up, so don’t miss your chance to see it if you are in the Oakland area. A good friend, Mariah Carle, is included in this show and let me know about it. I was going to include a photo of Mariah standing beside some of her work hanging on the wall in the gallery, but I couldn’t get the link from a flickr page to work here, so you’ll just have to go look for yourself. Here’s the direct link to that shot of Mariah by the gallery’s photographer, Styros. You can read and see more about the gallery and the current show at the gallery link. And see lots of photos of the opening at Styros’ link here. And be sure to check out Mariah’s site too. She’s a very fine photographer.
More Wandering Around South Coyote Buttes
February 15th, 2012
Here are a couple more photos of Kat and Brooke taken as we wandered around in the vast, amazing, beautiful South Coyote Buttes area.
I’ve just finished packing up my print for Nude Nite Tampa. Now I have to run the box to the UPS place, so I’ll just leave you with the photos today.
On To South Coyote Buttes
February 12th, 2012
Just a quick post today. Life is keeping me pretty busy. Have to work on the taxes this afternoon.
After our day in the slot canyons, we woke up the next morning and headed for South Coyote Buttes. We had picked up our permits the day before, so we just headed straight out the 4WD road and climbed the mountain in the deep sand. The famous Wave is in North Coyote Buttes. It’s almost impossible now to get a permit to go there because it has become so popular. I was there 10 years ago before it got quite as bad as it is today. I doubt that I’ll ever go back. And a big reason for that is that South Coyote Buttes is vast, filled with rock features every bit as interesting as the Wave…and there’s no one there. So, please, don’t all of you head out there now…let’s keep it nice and wild.
Here are a couple photos of Brooke and Kat in the first places we stopped to shoot after we arrived in this area. Many more to come.
French PHOTO
February 6th, 2012
I just got word that I have a photo in the current issue of French PHOTO. I’ve been published in their annual contest issue many times, but after a long run of being in the magazine every time I entered the contest, I didn’t make it the last couple years. I’m very happy to be back in the magazine again this time. It is always a special honor to be included in this magazine since it is the largest photo competition in the world. That’s the cover of the issue above and the page with my photo below.
In an example of what a shrinking world we live in, I learned I was in the magazine from a friend in Venezuela, Mauricio Luzuriaga. He gave me the good news through facebook. Mauricio also has a photo in this year, as he has in the past. We first met when we were both in the magazine and Mauricio asked to trade prints with me, which we did. You can see his work on Model Mayhem, flickr and deviant art. He’s a very talented photographer.
And here is the photo they chose for the magazine, featuring the lovely Brooke and taken at Blackhand Gorge near my childhood home. Brooke happens to be in Paris modeling for painters right now, so I’ve told her about the magazine…maybe she’ll be able to find a copy before I do.
Farewell to Buckskin Gulch
February 4th, 2012
We didn’t spend a lot of time in Buckskin Gulch. Soon it was time to turn around and head back out through Wirepass Canyon. So this shot of Brooke, taken with my 12-24mm lens at 12mm, will be the last slot canyon photo from the trip.
This month is turning out to be quite a month for gallery shows. It’s been keeping my very busy just getting all the prints made, framed and shipped off to the various shows. Right now I have three prints in the show at the Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont. I’ll have prints in both the Dirty Show in Detroit and Nude Nite Orlando, both opening next weekend. Then there’s the “You’ll Find This Offensive” show in at the Red Door Space gallery in Pittsburgh on February 24 and Nude Nite Tampa the first weekend in March.
I still need to frame the prints from Pittsburgh and Tampa, but everything else is done. With some luck, maybe someone will buy a print or two and I’ll at least break even on all the costs involved in shows like these. And, of course, there are more shows coming up to enter.
The Story of a Photo
February 1st, 2012
Word arrived last night that I have a photo accepted for Nude Nite Tampa. The photo they chose is this one that I did of Carhenge with Brooke and Kat on our trip out west last fall. It’s nice to see this photo getting some recognition because it was a long time coming.
I first visited Carhenge shortly after it was built in 1987. I thought then, and still think today, that it is a great work of truly American art. What could be more American than to take something ancient and British and reproduce it in a corn field using junk cars? It’s brilliant. Way back then I was quoted in a national magazine saying Carhenge was the greatest work of art done in America in the decade. I stand by that comment.
And, way back then, when Alliance, Nebraska was still trying to get it removed, calling it “a junkyard too close to the road,” when I first saw the place, I saw this photo. I knew I had to take it…I couldn’t get the photo out of my mind. That’s how it is with me when I get an idea for a photo. It won’t go away until I somehow get it taken.
Over the years I returned to Carhenge a number of times, but never with all the elements I needed to make this photo. Several years ago I went there with Brooke and tried to do a photo with her modeling after dark using strobes to paint in each car with Brooke beside it. I bought a bunch of expensive equipment to do that photo. But with just Brooke and I…with me stumbling around in the dark…I just couldn’t get all that technology to work right and I failed to get the shot. I decided that it would require a full team of models and assistants to make that shot happen…and that, well, it just wasn’t worth the effort and cost involved.
But, on this last trip, with two wonderful models available, I thought I’d try it with less technology, dropping the painting with light approach and instead shooting it at dawn. We were on our way to Alliance to give it a try when that deer leaped out of the pre-dawn darkness and altered our plans.
But, after getting things settled in our deer-imposed hostage situation in Alliance, I managed to rent a car and we got up at dawn and went out to Carhenge, a few miles outside the town, to give this photo a try. And this time it worked. Obviously it isn’t a straight photo, but there’s not a lot of photoshop work involved. I simply set the camera up on a tripod and did a series of photos with Brooke and Kat moving from place to place. Then I just stacked the best shots in photoshop and erased them so that the portions with the lovely models showed. A simple process.
And there you have it…I’ve added the one missing element from this great work of art: The beautiful naked young women dancing around the site as the sun rises. Perfect!
I’m glad the jury for the Tampa show agreed. If you are in the Tampa area, go to the show and check out the print. A couple clicks on the photo here will also let you take a look at it in a larger size.
Into Buckskin Gulch
January 28th, 2012
After the open area Wirepass Canyon ends when it flows into Buckskin Gulch. That’s where these photos of Brooke and Kat were taken. Buckskin Gulch is a very different canyon from Wirepass. It is much deeper and much, much longer. In fact it is the longest and deepest slot canyon in the southwest…maybe in the world. It is 12 miles long, ending at the Paria River, which flows on into Lake Powell. The canyon is as deep as 500 feet. It’s a bit dark down in there…but it’s a beautiful darkness.
We only explored a short distance in Buckskin Gulch, going for a short hike in each direction, upstream and downstream. It takes more than a day hike to explore Buckskin Gulch. Maybe I’ll try hiking it all the way some year…but I doubt it. One time when I was down there I saw people hiking up from the Paria River. They were covered head to toe in mud. At that particular time, also October, there were pools of water in Buckskin that had to be waded…and they weren’t shallow pools. They required taking off your backpack and holding it over your head while you waded in water that left just your head above the surface. Not my kind of hiking.
Out of Wirepass
January 22nd, 2012
Back to our hike down the slot canyons. Before Wirepass Canyon leads you to Buckskin Gulch it opens out into a beautiful open space. When we got there it just seemed that a couple of the niches in the rock wall were meant to contain Greek sculptures…or beautiful figure models. Since I had beautiful figure models hiking with me, Kat and Brooke took up the appropriate positions and these photos resulted. Lovely Greek sculptures.
Joel Belmont is a friend. It happened that while I was in Page with Brooke and Kat, Joel was out on nearby Lake Powell leading a nude photography workshop. When I heard about the workshop I contacted Joel to see if we could meet up for lunch or something while we were both in the area, but his schedule didn’t allow it.
Joel has just finished a brief video about his workshops out on Lake Powell. If you think you’d like to shoot nudes in this beautiful area but don’t feel comfortable just doing it on your own, Joel’s workshop would be a great way to do it. Here’s the video (if I can get it to embed):
Now back to the football game.
More Shows
January 20th, 2012
I love that photo of Kat in Wirepass Canyon. And it looks like I’m not the only one. I’ve gotten notice that it was selected for exhibit at Nude Nite Orlando on Feb. 9, 10 and 11 in, obviously, Orlando, Florida. This is the first time I’ve entered this show, so I’m very pleased both that they accepted one of my photos, but also that it was one of my favorites…and that the model is also one of my favorites…and a Florida person to boot. I’m not going to be able to make the trip down to Florida for the show, but I hope to hear about it from some of my Florida friends and maybe see some photos of my print on the wall through their good graces.
I’ve also had a photo accepted for another show in Pittsburgh at the end of February. That show is “You’ll Find This Offensive.” My entry was a bit of a departure for me from the kind of thing I post here, but we all need some variety in our work from time to time. This particular departure was an attempt to do some commentary on all the fetish photography that is all over the web by shooting some faux-fetish photos that make absolutely no sense at all. A difficult challenge given that there is probably someone, somewhere with a fetish for every single object on the planet. But, I think I came up with several that achieve this difficult goal. And one of them was chosen for this show. If you want to see it, though, you’ll have to go to the show because I’m not going to post it here. It’s a one-night show and auction on Feb. 24. I do plan to attend this show, since it’s an easy drive for me. Say hi if you go too.
