First Shoot
March 10th, 2010
After more than a month of moving and organizing and fixing I finally got the chance to do an actual photo shoot in my new studio. The giant windows face east, so I wanted to shoot with the morning light coming in through them. Light is a major interest of mine and I like to see what each natural lighting situation presents to me and see how I can use it to create something that works for me.
Of course, for this to work the sun actually has to be shining. That hasn’t happened much lately around here. But Angie and I went ahead and set a date for a morning shoot and much to my surprise the sun cooperated and showed up. That’s my favorite from the shoot above. And, yes, I know it relates to one of Edward Weston’s most famous nudes. But it’s different too. So it’s mine. But I had to acknowledge the reference point in his work.
My second shoot in the new place will be Friday night. That will be something completely different with darkness outside those huge windows, and probably some street lights shining in. So I’m looking forward to that…and it will also be my first shoot with a wonderful model. We’ve been trying to work out a way to work together for years now, but all sorts of things, including an ocean, have prevented it from happening. If you haven’t figured out who the model is, I’ll just leave you in suspense until I’m able to post something from the shoot.
New Studio
March 8th, 2010
Sorry posts are so few and far between these days. It’s a busy time. As soon as Dave Rudin headed back to his home in NYC I took off for a couple days of photographing a dance concert at Ohio University. I’m just now getting my head back above water. I’m still trying to get things organized at the new studio and there are shows coming up that I have to prepare things for. The show at River’s Edge Gallery near Detroit ends this weekend, so I’ll need to run up there and pick up my prints. If you haven’t gotten over to see that show, it’s worth a look and time is running out. Friday is the last day.
There has been some progress at the new studio, but it’s slow going. Below you can see the condition the cyc was in when we moved in. That’s all fixed now. It took me about a week of work, mostly while Dave R was here, to get the masonite replaced and plastered over well enough that the seams are blended. It isn’t perfect now, but it’s good enough for the purpose.
Except for the quick shoot I did with Angie and _G_ while they were helping me move in, I haven’t had a chance to work in the place yet. Angie will help me end that drought tomorrow. And another, very special model will be visiting Friday. So I’ll have new things to show soon. Meanwhile I thought I’d just share some more views of the place before I started working on it. Of course I think you’ll enjoy the way Angie and _G_ decorate the place.
That hardwood floor is pretty and you can expect it to show up in future photos.
The ugly green blob and the little pink blob are gone now. When I had the paint roller in my hand from painting the refurbished cyc I couldn’t resist blotting out those eye sores. That’s the office up the stairs, where I’m now sitting typing this.
So now I have to get to work and start editing 20 gigs of dance photos. Hope to have that finished by the end of the week.
Meet the Artists
March 2nd, 2010
I’m so far behind I’m afraid I’m going to lap myself. Not sure what that means. But I know it’s time for another post, so here goes.
On the last full day of Dave Rudin’s visit we drove up to Detroit for “Meet the Artists” night at the River’s Edge Gallery where I currently have a couple prints in a show. It was a fun night with a lot of good friends. Those are my prints on the wall in the photo at the top. The rules for this show were to send your favorite work of art and a self-portrait.
The wonderful creative force behind this show is Patty Izzo. That’s her on the right below with Dave and one of the hostesses for the evening.
And the big surprise for the evening was the arrival of Joe Crachiola who came all the way from his new home in New Orleans. He decided to do a road trip and visit family and friends as well as attend the opening where he had his own work in the show. That’s the lovely Iris giving Joe a hug. Iris had some great work in the show too.
Tomorrow morning I take off for a trip to Athens, Ohio, to photograph a dance concert. It’s always fun to get back down there and get back to shooting dance. I’m hoping to get some of the dancers up to Dayton in the near future so I can photograph them in the new studio with that 16-foot cyc that is now all repaired and ready for use. The rehearsals go late into the night, so although I expect to have internet access at my motel I don’t know if I’ll have the time or energy for another post before I get back…but there is still a lot to catch up on here, so I might give it a try.I’m Tired
February 26th, 2010
Sorry it’s been so long since my last post. I’ve just been too busy and too exhausted to sit down and write anything. Between Dave Rudin’s week-long visit and working on getting the new studio ready for shoots I’ve not had much spare time. But I’ll try to catch up in the next few posts.
First, there’s the week with DaveR. After we got back from Chicago Dave worked with several models who I had suggested to him. Here he is in my new studio working with Ophidian Marie.
One day during that week I took Dave to the Steelepointe Gallery here in Springfield, where he showed his work to my friend and gallery owner, Rob Steele. Rob represents me through his gallery and has shown my work there practically since he opened. Of course he liked Dave’s work and kept several prints to put on display.
For one shoot during the week, Dave talked a couple of my favorite models, Ophidian Marie and Angie in to doing a shoot in the snow. As some of you may know, Dave tends to work pretty slow. We joke that when we are shooting together I’ll fill up a memory card while Dave is setting up his tripod. Well, he wasn’t a lot faster out in the snow. Here it looks like Angie is praying that he’ll finally take the damn photo so she can get her coat back on.
And here is Dave directing his frozen subjects. Note how Dave is dressed. He’s using a tripod so he can’t even claim he has to stay warm to avoid camera shake…that’s my excuse when I do this kind of work.
I’ll try to post more often now, but next week looks pretty busy too. I’ll be in Athens, Ohio for a couple days shooting a dance concert at Ohio University. But there is more to tell you about Dave’s visit, our trip to another gallery in Detroit, and my work on the studio.A Day In Chicago
February 18th, 2010
The day after the gallery opening Dave Rudin introduced me to his friend, Ted Preuss, who does wonderful Platinum/Palladium prints from his 4×5 and 8×10 format photos of nudes. His work is amazingly beautiful. It was a real treat to get to look at his lovely prints.
We started our day by going to the Art Institute of Chicago, something I try to do every time I visit the Second City. I think the Art Institute is the best art gallery in the country. Their collection is remarkable. That’s Dave R shooting a nude in one of the galleries in the new wing.
This time I got to see the new Modern Wing for the first time. It was not open yet when I was there last to see the Karsh exhibit. I have to say the modern wing is a wonderful addition to the institute. I do miss the room that used to be filled with Picassos. Seeing all those wonderful paintings all together was a remarkable experience. In the new wing the Picassos are scattered throughout the galleries, so the impact of the totality of their collection is somewhat diminished.
After the Art Institute we took a little walk around the area which, of course, included a stop at the “bean.” That’s the three of us being tourists at the bean. Well, Ted is a Chicagoite, so 
he’s too cool to act like a tourist. I love the way Chicago has developed the lake front area. It’s really a beautiful and fun place.
Next we walked across the river to visit the “American Gothic” statues and walk around the Tribune building looking at the stones from famous places around the world.
After we had gotten cold enough from all the wind (who would have thought it would be windy in Chicago?) Ted took us over to his new studio. He has just moved in and hasn’t even had time to do the first shoot in the new space. It’s a beautiful place and I’m sure he’ll be turning out some great photos from it. You can see Ted and Dave R in the new space in the
next to last photo down below.
Then Ted dropped Dave R and myself back at our hotel and went home to cook a valentine’s day dinner for his wife. We went to a restaurant that Ted 
recommended, The Green Door. It’s one of the oldest wood frame commercial buildings in the city because it was built in the very short time between the great fire and the passage of a law forbidding wood frame commercial buildings. During prohibition it was a speak easy. Today it is an excellent restaurant that proclaims with pride that the building is tilted to one side from age. The tilt is very obvious from inside.
So, that’s about it for the Chicago trip. It was a great time. I’ll look forward to my next excuse to visit there. I’m sure I’ll be up for the “Hank Carter” show that opens at the art institute in the summer…but I may well find a good excuse to make another trip before that.
Detroit, Detroit
February 17th, 2010
I’ll add a new post with more news from the Chicago trip soon, but first I wanted to let you all know that I’ll be at the River’s Edge Gallery near Detroit this Saturday night for “Meet The Artists Night” for the show I’m in up there. So if you are in the Detroit area come on by the gallery between 6 and 10 p.m. and say hi. Don’t wait until too late in the evening, though, if you want to meet me. I’m driving up and back on Saturday, so I don’t think I’ll be able to stay all the way until 10 p.m. Dave Rudin, who is visiting me this week from NYC, will be coming to Detroit with me, so it’s a chance to meet him too.
Hope to see you there.
Chicago, Chicago
February 16th, 2010
Yes, I spent the weekend in Chicago. It was a great time. So good that it’s going to take 2 or 3 posts to cover it all.
The main reason for the trip was to go to Carrie Leigh’s gallery show opening and meet her and her husband Gary. That’s them at the show with my great friend and model, Unbearable Lightness, in the first photo. They are delightful people and I was very pleased to meet them and get the chance to thank them in person for giving me the Arts for Humanity Award.
The show was at Gallery Provocateur presided over by the lovely Veronika Kotlajic. That’s her in the center of the second photo. She had done a great job promoting the show, which was obvious because the place was packed to capacity all evening. You can get some idea of that from the photos here.
It was a great evening, a lot of fun. I met some old friends and may have made a few new ones. One lovely model came to the show to meet me and I expect you will be seeing her here in the 
future, once the weather gets warm enough for more outdoor shooting. So, I’m thinking I’ll be back in Chicago sooner rather than later. If this gawd-awful winter will ever get over with.
That Old Time Feeling
February 11th, 2010
For one of my last shoots in the old studio Angie brought in some Victorian dresses that she once wore to her high school proms. We were just playing around with some ideas that are pretty far off from my usual work. That’s one of the things I love about photography: It’s fun. I always enjoy just playing with photography to see what happens.
This time I shot with my regular Nikon with several lenses using the studio strobe system. But I also pulled out my new Canon S90 and turned on its built-in sepia mode. Just to see what would happen. I’m pretty pleased with the way it renders sepia. A lot easier to have files like this one right out of the camera without having to sit in front of the computer for an hour trying different setups to get a good sepia rendition.
I just used the modeling lights as the light source, put the S90 on Program, which is where I always keep it now, and let the camera chose the ISO automatically. It chose ISO 1000 for this shot. 1/20 second at f/4.9 at the long end of the zoom. Hand held with the image stabilization on.
As I said, not my normal sort of photo, but who wants to be normal?
My friend Dave Rudin is coming in tomorrow night for a visit. We are going to be busy while he is here, starting with a trip to Chicago for the weekend. We will be going to Carrie Leigh’s gallery opening there Saturday night. Any of you in the Chicago area please come by the gallery and say hi if you can. I’m looking forward to meeting Carrie Leigh and her husband and thanking them in person for honoring me with the quite unexpected 2009 Arts for Humanity Award over there at the right of this page.
Dave will be here for a week and will be doing some shooting in the new studio while he is here. And we’ll end the week with a trip up to Detroit on February 20 for the Meet The Artists night at River’s Edge Gallery for the “Secrets Revealed” show I’m in up there right now. Hope to see a bunch of my Detroit area friends there.
Don’t forget the f-eleven book is still available. You can buy it here. All the profits go to a great charity. There’s now a website for f-eleven books. This is the link to it. And there’s an f-eleven books blog too. Those links will give you lots of information about the current book, news about the contributors on the blog, and announcements of future books.
Also, I still have my calendars available, but not for much longer. I’d probably have them off the market by now, but I’ve just been too busy to deal with them…so you can still get one if you want. Hurry. Here’s the link. You can get a 30% discount by using the coupon code TIMEFLIES through the end of February.
Moving On
February 5th, 2010
That photo above is literally an iconic image for me. It’s been my icon or avatar image on Model Mayhem since I joined the site. I moved in to that studio in 2000 and did quite a bit of work to fix it up. When it was all painted I looked at it and said, “This room needs a ballerina.” So I found a dancer and we made this photo. That was a long time ago. I was working with a new 3 megapixel Nikon that I’d paid $1,000 for.
That has been a good studio. But the rent has continued to rise every year and it has always been just too small, especially after accumulating ten years worth of photo gear and general junk.
I’ve been looking for another studio for some time. I wanted to get out of Dayton and find something in Springfield, preferably in a location that would let me walk to the studio from my home. That was not to be.
Instead I was offered a new space in the same building complex where I’ve been for 10 years. The new space is much larger, but it will be less rent because I’ll be sharing it with my friend, GaryM. There’s plenty of room for both of us and there’s a much larger shooting area.
So I’ve spent this week moving. It was exhausting work, even with a couple great helpers, Angie and _G_. But it’s done. Yesterday I finally got the last of the debris out of the old space and turned in the keys. I filled a dumpster with stuff I decided not to move in to the new space. And this morning I slept in and let my beat-up body recover from the week of physical labor. I’m getting way too old for this kind of shit. I hope this will be my last move and that my survivors can deal with getting my stuff out of this studio after my body goes to the local medical school.
Here’s Angie in the old space after most of the stuff was removed:
And below is the new place with both _G_ and Angie decorating it. That background cyclorama is 16 feet wide. But the previous tenants tore it up, so there are holes in the curved portion blending the floor into the wall. It looks like I’ll be able to fix that with a couple sheets of masonite.
Next week I’ll try to put away all the piles of my crap that I moved in, and then get to work on fixing the cyche. There will be painting and some more minor construction to get the place up to standards. But it’s ready for shooting right now. A new decade in a new studio. I’m looking forward to seeing what I’ll be able to do with this new space. You’ll get to see the results here.
I knew something was up…
February 1st, 2010
…But I didn’t know for sure what it was. Now I know and, well, Wow!…just Wow! I’m blown away.
Carrie Leigh’s NUDE magazine has given me their first annual Arts for Humanity Award for my participation in Free Speech Coalition et al v. Holder, filed in federal court in Philadelphia. That’s the announcement from the magazine preview above.
