Angie Inside
January 28th, 2010
Yes, Angie is just as beautiful inside as she is out in the snow. We shot this on the first day we did snow photos, before we went out and froze her cute ass off.
Lots of changes going on. It looks like it will be Monday before I’ll be able to start moving in to the new studio. And then there will be lots of work to get it ready.
My long string of success with the annual photo contest at French PHOTO magazine has come to an end. Friends in France tell me that I did not get a photo in the magazine this year. So it goes. I’ll try again next year. This is the first time since 2003 that I won’t have at least one photo in that magazine.
But at about the same time I learned that I will have some of my work in the coming issue of Carrie Leigh’s NUDE magazine. Right now I don’t know exactly what photo(s) they are going to print, or what the article will say. I do know it will have something to say about the lawsuit I’m participating in seeking to have the “2257” law declared unconstitutional. I know that because the writer asked me questions about that lawsuit. And I also know that my friend, Stephen Haynes, will be featured in this issue for his blogging about 2257 and photographer’s rights. Way to go, Stephen!
As you may know, Carrie Leigh’s NUDE prints in black and white only. It’s a very high quality magazine with superb reproduction of the photographs. I’ve admired the magazine, but never considered submitting my work because, as you also must know, I work in color. A number of friends had encouraged me to send my work to the magazine, but I always declined for that reason.
Now I sometimes get a bit upset when someone comments on one of my photos to the effect that they would like to see it in black and white. Color is a very important part of what I’m doing with my work, so I usually would take such a comment as an indication that the person making it just didn’t understand what I was trying to do with the photo.
But, I realized eventually that I was being a bit obtuse on this issue. And violating some of my basic beliefs about photography to boot. I remembered what another photographer had said to me more than 40 years ago when I was about to do my first professional job with color film. I was worried because I had only worked in black and white up to that point. He said, “The camera doesn’t know if it has color or black and white film in it.” I guess you can’t really say that about a digital camera now, but the point is still valid.
And I remembered something Ansel Adams said that has always seemed true to me. “The negative is the score, the print is the performance.” I’ve always felt that the final print was what is important. How you got to that print, what process you use, is important to the artist, but not to the audience.
So, one evening while watching TV I fired up my laptop and did a bunch of quick and dirty black and white conversions of a bunch of my favorite photos. Some of them worked just as well, though for different reasons, in black and white. A few of them worked even better in black and white. And some didn’t make the transition to black and white at all. It was an interesting exercise and reminded me that the subject matter of all black and white photos is in color. Black and white is just a different rendering of a color scene. Sometimes an interesting composition with interesting light can work in both color and black and white. Showing some of my work in black and white was simply a different performance of the score I had captured in the original photo. Just as valid as the color version if it worked as a photo.
Well, I sent the successes from that exercise off to a friend and they eventually found their way to Carrie Leigh. And I’m pleased about that. I’m even thinking about producing some limited editions of some of my photos, printed in black and white on fiber silver gelatin paper. If I decide to do that I’ll let you know here when they are available.
The cold I’ve been fighting for more than a week seems to finally be fading. That is making me a little optimistic that it will be pretty much over by the time I have to start moving the studio next week.
All Good Things Must Come To An End
January 25th, 2010
This is the end of the snow nudes. Full circle back to Kelsey again. The snow is all melted here now. There will no doubt be more of it before the winter is over, but I think I’ve frozen enough models, for this year at least. Both Kelsey and Angie did a great job of putting up with the cold and looking beautiful. Thanks ladies.
And something else is about at an end. I’ve been in my current studio in Dayton for something like ten years. Yesterday I agreed to move into a new larger space that I will share with a good friend. It will give me a lot more room to work, and will reduce my rent, which is a good thing with the way the economy has been this past year. I’ll hate to leave this studio with so many memories, but I know I’m going to enjoy the new place. It’s in the same building complex, so if you know where I’ve been you’ll know where the new place is…just in the building next door.
Now, if I can just get this miserable cold I’ve been fighting since the middle of last week to end, that will be a happy ending. I seem to be on the upswing after having to spend the weekend pretty much in bed.
Lots more to post when I’m feeling better…and when I get caught up on all the stuff that hasn’t been getting done while I’ve been suffering.
Angiesickle
January 21st, 2010
After Angie froze her cute ass at our first stop, with temperatures at 5 degrees, we got back in the truck, turned the heater up, and headed for a second location.
The first place we shot was an easy hike. It’s actually handicapped accessible, with a flat, asphalt path back to the site. Not the case for our second destination. It has a steep, rocky trail along a cliff side. The trail had had a bit of traffic since the last snowfall, but was still completely snow-covered with ice on the rocks under the snow. Angie’s boots didn’t have real good soles for this kind of hiking, so she was sliding all over the place and having to hang on to me to keep on her feet as we hiked down to the spot.
It had warmed up, though. The truck thermometer was all the way up to 10 degrees when we started our hike down the cliff.
When we got there we found this wonderful frozen waterfall. This isn’t much of a waterfall most of the time and it often runs dry in the summer. But it had frozen up in a very beautiful way. Angie found spots to stand and I found a good vantage point to do the photos. We worked fast. Angie, as always, was a real trooper, hanging in there to get the shots.
There was water still falling down the waterfall, but, of course, we put Angie in a spot where there was no water falling on her. What I didn’t know because I couldn’t see it from where I was, was that where she was standing had just a bit of water standing on it, on top of the ice. She never mentioned it.
After a few minutes shooting these photos we went to another area beside the waterfall and found a few other spots where Angie could pose. But, as soon as she took one boot off I saw that all her toes had turned blue. She then told me about the water she had been standing in. That was the end of our shoot. I really don’t ever want a model losing toes doing a shoot with me.
Here’s that discount code to let you save 25 percent on my calendars. Use the code VALENTINE. The sale goes through January 31. Here’s the link.Playing Ball on Frozen Water
January 19th, 2010
I’ve written here before about the tricks Mother Nature can play on you when you work outdoors with the nude. You have to be prepared for the unexpected and able to adapt to whatever happens.
Well, Mother Nature really did a number on us with this shoot. After the day of shooting that produced the photos in the last two posts Angie and I were feeling so good about the work we were doing in the snow that we decided to do a second day of shooting. This time we would be up and on the road before dawn to make a 2-hour drive to a great location in southeast Ohio. The weather forecast for that location was reasonable. It was supposed to be in the 20s with an overcast.
When I got up at 5 a.m. it was very, very cold. But we had clear skies overnight, which always means colder temperatures. If the clouds had stayed over our destination overnight it should be a lot warmer there.
I picked Angie up and we headed off in the dark. At one point during the drive the thermometer in my truck read 1 degree. As the sun came up we could see that the skies ahead were clear. No clouds to have held in heat over night. Why do we even bother with weathermen anyway?
By the time we got to our first location the skies were clear and the thermometer was reading 5 degrees. That’s just too cold. But we were there and Angie wanted to give it a try anyway. So we hiked to the location. Angie had the heated insoles in her snow boots, “mega” heat packs to keep inside her coat, my expedition down parka and sweat pants. She was plenty warm enough with all that on…but, of course, to do any photos that would all have to come off.
Fortunately there was no wind, so it felt warmer than it could have. If there had been wind I would have called the whole thing off. But we worked quickly, with Angie nude for just short periods of time while I fired off a rapid burst of photos. Of course, my camera batteries started dying suddenly, always just after Angie had taken up a pose. But I switched batteries quickly and we kept working.
Angie is amazing. And tough. And determined. We got some good photos and she still has all her fingers and toes. More to come in the next post.
There’s a new discount code to let you save 25 percent on my calendars. Use the code VALENTINE. The sale goes through January 31. Here’s the link.
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.
Angie On Ice
January 17th, 2010
Here’s another from my first day of shooting with Angie out in the cold and snow. This was at another local waterfall that we had shot at in warmer days. I love the way the light is playing across the frozen waterfall and across Angie’s body in this one. More to come from our second, much more frigid day of shooting. Angie really did a fantastic job modeling in very adverse conditions. She’s just a wonderful model!
There’s still time to save 20 percent on one of my calendars. Use the code CABIN. The sale goes through Monday. Here’s the link.
My friend and great model blueriverdream said in a comment that the ORGANIZE code is expired at my calendar store. However, the code for valentines deals works for calendars and is LOVE. So use the LOVE code if you want to order one of my calendars and save some money in the process. Blueriverdream says that LOVE gets you 25 percent off. The CABIN code is supposed to be good through Monday, but it is only a 20 percent discount. So LOVE, of course, is better.
And the f-eleven book is still available. You can buy it here. There’s a lot of great photography in that book, and some of mine is in there too. 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.
Angie in the Snow
January 15th, 2010
Angie is really responsible for me continuing to work on snow nudes. Really, it’s all her fault. She sent me a message asking if I didn’t want to do a shoot with her in the snow. Now I always want to do a shoot with Angie any time, any place. And one of the things I love about her is that she is always bugging me to shoot with her. I love it when models do that. And Angie is so beautiful and talented that it’s always a pleasure to work with her. Plus she is a very nice person…always a huge plus in a model.
So, of course, I said I’d be happy to shoot her in the snow and we set a date, which was pretty easy since we’ve been buried in snow for the entire month. I picked a couple of my favorite local locations and we headed out. I did my best to make the suffering on Angie’s part as temporary as possible. I gave her my expedition down parka from my mountain climbing days in the Alps. I got heat packs and even found some that are insoles for her to put in her boots so she would have instant heat when she slipped them on after the shots.
As you can see from the photo above, Angie is a real trooper. But there’s a lot more to this story. I’ll fill you in on the rest of the details over the next few posts.
It’s Not Too Late For A Calendar
My calendar publisher is having another sale. It’s 20 percent off any order this weekend only. The offer is good through January 18. Just use the code CABIN when you check out and save some money when you buy one of my calendars this weekend. This is the link to my store.
I Love My Models
January 13th, 2010
The things my models will do for me…it’s just amazing. They are totally wonderful human beings. And tough as nails. And beautiful.
When Kelsey told me she was going to be back in Ohio for the holidays I knew I wanted to work with her again. She is so wonderful that I’d never pass up the chance to do a shoot with her. But the problem I had was that I just didn’t have any good ideas of what to do with her in December. I shoot in my studio, but I didn’t have any major projects going on, other than my head scarf and burqa photos. So we planned to do those. Kelsey particularly wanted to be in the head scarf project because she shares the underlying concerns for women’s rights that are driving those photos.
But what else to do with this fantastic model? I just didn’t know.
Then I woke up on the day of our shoot and saw a lovely gentle snowfall underway. And the temperature was pretty moderate for December. So I asked her how she would feel about going outdoors getting naked and freezing her pretty ass off for some photos. Kelsey thought it was a great idea, so off we went to one of my favorite local nature spots.
The snow was still falling gently, which I think adds a nice touch to this shot.
I’m actually not a huge fan of nudes in snow. It’s a pretty unnatural situation, unlike, in my opinion anyway, nudes in nature where the nude figure is as natural as the surroundings. Most nudes in snow just make me think about how cold the model must have been. The only thing they seem to say is, “Hey, look at that! She got naked in the snow!”
Well, I hope some of the photos I did with Kelsey go beyond that simple thought. I guess I think they do or I wouldn’t be showing them here.
There are a few photographers out there who really know how to make snow nudes work. Alex Ingram in Scotland and Dave Swanson in northern Minnesota immediately come to mind. They both live in places where it is very cold for much of the year, so I guess they know snow. I actually hate the cold and snow and want to move somewhere where I’ll never see snow again. But it doesn’t look like that is going to happen, so I guess I’ll have to keep looking for things to do over the winter.
It seems I’ve gotten on a snow nude kick…I’ve done two more shoots in the snow since this one with Kelsey last month. Must have something to do with it snowing all the freaking time since then, except for Christmas, of course, when it was warm. You’ll be seeing the frigid results of those other shoots here over the next few posts.
Meanwhile, someone hand that girl a sweater or something.
Show in the snow
January 9th, 2010
Sorry I’ve been so absent. But I’ve been busy. First there was the drive back home from Vermont through a snow storm. Two days of driving in blinding snow left me pretty much exhausted. But we made it back home safely. Then my daughter came to visit, followed by a visit by my brother-in-law from Florida who was passing through on a road trip. Daughter is still here until Monday, so family time has dominated this past week.
But yesterday I had to make a drive up to Detroit to drop off prints for the show advertised by the poster above. It opens next Friday at River’s Edge Gallery near Detroit. Thanks to Patty Izzo for organizing this show and inviting me to participate. It looks to be a very interesting set of work, worth a visit if you are in the Detroit area.
Meanwhile I’m tired of snow and cold. I want to move somewhere warm. But there’s little chance of that happening any time soon.
But I should be back to posting more regularly soon, now that the holiday stuff is receding into the past for now.
Don’t forget about the f-eleven book that is still available for sale at that link. I have my copy of the book now and I can tell you that the quality of the printing and the quality of the work by the many talented photographers included in it is simply outstanding. It’s a great collection of fine work beautifully reproduced.
And my calendars are still available. I’ll probably keep the calendars on the market for the rest of this month, but if you want one you should get your order in soon. You might be able to save a bunch on them if you order before January 15. When you check out enter the code ORGANIZE and it should give you a 25 percent discount.
A Bird In The Bush
January 3rd, 2010
Still sitting here in the very warm house in Vermont, watching the snow accumulate. It is still coming down fast and furious. We are hoping it will stop or at least let up a bit over night, since we want to leave for home in the morning. The hour at which we start our drive will be determined by the snow plows.
Meanwhile I snapped this shot of the local Cardinal hanging out in some weeds near the house. Florida is looking better every day. But we just talked with my brother-in-law who lives in Gainesville where it was only in the 40s…and had been down into the 20s overnight. That’s serious cold in that part of the country.
Vermont at the New Year
January 3rd, 2010
We are in Vermont and it is snowing. That, of course, is redundant when said in January. However, this snow is a bit more than average. About a foot in the past 24 hours and no sign of letting up. We are supposed to hit the road for the drive home tomorrow, but that is not a certainty at this point. It isn’t snowing much in New York State along our route, so, if it lets up by the morning and the roads are plowed we might be able to stay on schedule. They do a pretty good job up here with plowing the roads.
Of course, this is nothing like winter in northern Minnesota where my friend Dave Swanson lives. It’s only about 10 degrees above zero here today. A real heat wave compared to what Dave has been reporting from his frozen outpost.
I’ve been taking photos of my favorite farmhouse. Here’s one taken just a few minutes ago showing what is going on up here. Just makes me even more resolved to someday move to a place where they don’t have weather that I have to shovel.
