A Quiet Evening At Home with Death and Theda
August 9th, 2009
I’ve been busy since I got back home from my visit to New York. But I’ll try to catch you up a bit now.
First, whatever you do, don’t use Delta to fly out of JFK in New York. I like Delta in general, but their terminal at JFK airport is horrible beyond words. It took me an hour and a half to get through check-in and security. The vast majority of that was check-in at Delta. The terminal was complete pandemonium. Absolute chaos. A huge mob of passengers, almost no organization or signage. People all around me were crying and screaming because they had missed their flights. The Delta workers were doing their best to help, but there was no way they could overcome what has to be the worst managed and organized terminal I’ve ever seen anywhere in the world. I’ve already written an e-mail to Delta to tell them I won’t fly with Delta through JFK again until they fix that mess. I asked them for a response. That was Wednesday. I haven’t heard anything from them yet.
The last time I stayed with Dave Rudin in Brooklyn I was able to use someone’s unsecured wi-fi to get on line with my laptop at his place. Not this time. Lots of wi-fi signals, but all secured. So I wasn’t able to easily do blog posts while I was there.
On Monday in addition to our trip to MoMA that I described in my last post, we went to B&H and Dave introduced me to a friend, Dean Lavery, a fine photographer who also works at B&H. Dean told us that he had heard that Adorama had just gotten in a shipment of the last run of Polaroid 600 film to come out of the factory before it closed. So we took the subway to Adorama to see if it was true. Sure enough, they had the film, but were asking $20 for a pack of 10 exposures. I am working on a little Polariod project that isn’t quite ready…but I’ve shot up all my film. Still, $20 a pack was just too much for me. Instead I bought one of the new Fuji instant point and shoot cameras and a bunch of film for it…and paid less than just that much Polaroid film would have cost. I’ll try to finish the project with the Fuji camera and film.
Yes, I do shoot film now and then.
Dave and I finished off the day Monday with a trip to the Strand bookstore and dinner at the Washington Square Diner.
Tuesday I was on my own since Dave had to go back to work at his job. I went to the NY Public Library where, “under the lions,” I met the beautiful and charming Claudia of Museworthy. What a treat it was to meet and talk with her. We sat in Bryant Park behind the library and talked for several hours…moving from time to time to get away from the jack hammer crew that seemed to be following us around. I love Claudia’s blog. Now I know that the author is just as lovely and charming as her words would indicate.
After Claudia had to leave for her evening modeling job I walked over to the International Center of Photography at one corner of the park and spent a couple hours looking at the Richard Avedon exhibit. Well worth a stop if you are in NYC while it’s up. I do have to say that, while the prints were certainly of high quality, I didn’t completely agree with the decisions about how they were printed. Of course, I know that the norm for fashion black and white is high contrast, but in many of the prints there seemed to be so much contrast that there was very little detail in the blacks. Often the black areas just became a large black shape with no detail at all. I have to think this was intentional, but I don’t think it was particularly effective, nor was it a good example of what a black and white print can be. But the photos are excellent, even with that print quality. And I had to enjoy that there was a great series of photos Avedon did featuring a fashion model and a skeleton.
After the ICP closed I went back to Bryant Park and sat for a while, checking my e-mail with my i-pod touch on the free wi-fi there. Then I caught a subway to the upper west side where I met my good friend Diana Diriwaechter for dinner and a long evening of good conversation.
Then the long, uneventful subway ride back to Sheepshead Bay and Dave’s place. And up the next morning to go to JFK and enter Dante’s Delta Terminal. Death returned to Ohio with me in my checked bag, which, once again, was not opened by TSA. Damn!
So, with that segway, we’ll return to Death and Theda. We had a good time with Death. As you can see, Theda feels right at home with him…or maybe he feels right at home with Theda. I’ll share a couple more from that part of our shoot and get to a few somewhat more serious photos in my next few posts.
Theda Playing Chess With Death:
Theda Cheating Death:
The Soul of Theda
August 4th, 2009
Well, one of my favorite models, Theda, let me know that she disagreed with me and informed me that no one could ever photograph the soul of Theda. “And besides,” she said, “I traded my soul for a mix tape about 10 years ago. But I still have the mix tape if you want to photograph that.”
Sounded like a challenge I couldn’t resist. So, on this trip to NYC I set up a shoot with Theda and I brought along a prop…the character of death…to complete the photo I had in mind, based on a classic portrait of Faust. Death travelled to NYC in my checked bag, but, unfortunately, TSA failed to open my bag for inspection this time.
On Sunday I humped my photo gear and a backpack full of Death over to Theda’s place through a downpour of rain, which I understand has been the standard weather here in New York for most of the summer. Theda had the mix tape ready. You see the result above. “Theda Trading Her Soul for a Mix Tape”
We did some other things too…some with Death and some without. You’ll no doubt be seeing some of those over the next few weeks.
I’m still in NYC. Soon I’ll be heading out to meet Claudia, the delightful muse and blogger of Museworthy. And this evening I’ll meet my good friend Diana Diriwaechter for dinner and conversation. Then tomorrow morning I’ll catch a flight back home to Ohio.
Of course, I owe this whole trip to a great friend and host, Dave Rudin, who invited me to come and join him for a lecture by Mary Ellen Mark. Dave did all the driving to get us up to Woodstock for the lecture on Saturday…and it was a very, very long drive…more than twice the normal time because of construction and traffic tie ups. It took us more than 2 hours just to get out of the city…Woodstock is normally about a 2 1/2 hour drive from Dave’s place in Brooklyn.
Yesterday Dave and I went to MoMA, one of the few museums and galleries that is open on Mondays. We were disappointed to find the entire photography gallery closed for installation of a new exhibit, but enjoyed spending some time with the rest of the permanent collection. The few photographs that were on display outside the photography gallery once again left me with the feeling that whoever is choosing photographs to add to the MoMA collection and to display there must have a very deep-seated hatred of the medium. But there are other places to exhibit photographs that actually possess some beauty and content. And perhaps this fad of hatred will pass from MoMA one day.
Hitting the Road
July 31st, 2009
I’m heading for the airport in a few minutes to catch a flight to New York. I’ll be visiting my good friend Dave Rudin, going up to Woodstock to hear a lecture by Mary Ellen Mark and visit a few galleries, working with a couple wonderful models, and getting together with some other friends. It’s looking to be a really fine trip with a lot of fun packed into a few days.
I had intentionally left the last post up for a while to make sure it received the attention I think it deserves. Go visit that gallery in Canton, Ohio, if you are anywhere near.
But before I leave I’m sharing another photo of the lovely _G_ from our most recent shoot. She is a very fine model, a nice person, and a good friend. It’s really wonderful to have her handy when an idea for some photos comes along.
Don’t know if I’ll be posting again before I get back from the big city…but it could happen…
Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography
July 26th, 2009
I didn’t make it to any of the other art walk galleries or events. This new gallery had the best collection of photographs that I have ever seen in one room. I’m not exaggerating. I include the galleries and museums in
This weekend I was back in
The Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography, owned by Tim Belden of
Bernice Abbot
Eddie Adams
Atget
Margaret Bourke-White
Brassai
Manuel Alvarez Bravo
Wynn Bullock
Robert Capa
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Lucien Clergue
Alvin Langdon Coburn
Imogen Cunningham
Edward Curtis
Robert Doisneau
William Eggleston
Alfred Eisenstaedt
Elliot Erwitt
Walker Evans
Roger Fenton
Lee Friedlander
Ralph Gibson
Ernst Haas
Philippe Halsman
Lewis Hine
George Hurrell
William Henry Jackson
Yousef Karsh
Robert Mapplethorpe
Mary Ellen Mark
Steve McCurry
Duane Michaels
Barbara Morgan
Felix Nadar
T.H. O’Sullivan
Marc Riboud
Sebastiao Salgado
W. Eugene Smith
Edward Steichen
Alfred Stieglitz
Paul Strand
Jock Sturges
Josef Sudek
George Tice
Jerry Uelsmann
WeeGee
Brett Weston
Edward Weston
Garry Winogrand
And that’s not all of them. You get the idea.
The gallery is large and beautiful, renovated, maintained and lighted to archival standards. If you visit you won’t see the entire collection on the walls, but there is enough space that some prints from nearly all the photographers in the collection are usually on display.
The breadth of the collection is just breathtaking. The goal was to provide something for everyone. “We wanted to produce as many ‘ah ha’ moments as possible, said McNulty. “Everyone pings on different things. We don’t want to be a niche gallery.” But rather, he said, they want only the best photography, but with something that will appeal to every visitor.
This is a commercial gallery, not a museum. The prints are for sale. And some of the prices are pretty attractive for the level of work in the gallery. Most print prices fall in the $2-3,000 area, but there are a lot of prints for less than $1,000.
But, before you pack up your portfolio and rush off to
But don’t go there expecting to talk with Joseph Saxton. He hasn’t been around for quite a while. Even most historians of photography may not recognize his name, but he was the first photographer in
I should also say a bit about the wonderful building which houses the gallery. It is in the
The Joseph Saxton Gallery of Photography is a treasure. It’s wonderful that we have it right here in
The gallery is open Wednesday through Saturday from noon to 5.
Their website is pretty sparse, but here is the link: http://www.jsaxtongallery.com/
Wild Flower
July 23rd, 2009
Not much going on and I haven’t really been that busy this week. But I just love that last photo of _G_ so I wanted to leave it for a while. I think that’s the best photo I’ve done this year, and that’s saying something with all the fine stuff from Glacier and the other shoots I’ve done in 2009. But that photo in the last post seems to me to be very much exactly what I’m after when I go wandering around in the woods with a camera and a nude model.
So, I had to do some thinking and hunting to decide what photo was going to follow the last one. I think this one of Brooke out in Glacier National Park does the job and holds its own pretty well. A very different setting, a different form of beauty, but beautiful all the same; a different use of color, but still with color as a central element. I am quite fond of this photo. Thanks, Brooke.
I think we all found ticks on us after this day of shooting.
Gaea Bridge
July 19th, 2009
Here’s _G_ providing a bridge over the troubled water of the past few days. No major disasters, but a lot of frustration in things going on right now. I won’t go into details, but most photographers who work with models have learned that dealing with flaky models is part of the process. You get used to it…and you weed out the flakes. The same goes for models who have to deal with flaky photographers.
But I’ve had a new experience lately, dealing with a seriously flaky client. This guy hired me to set up a shoot for him. He asked me to find the models and make all those arrangements while he would provide the location and the other props to be included in the photos. He was going to use the photos for posters and calendars. I don’t do much of this kind of work, but, for a variety of reasons, I agreed to do this job.
I spent quite a bit of time finding models who were available on short notice to do the shoot. I got my gear together and went a couple days ahead, as we had agreed, to do some test shots to make sure the lighting and background were going to work well. When I got there at the pre-arranged time, he was not ready to do the test shots. So I agreed to show up a couple hours early on the day of the shoot so we could have time to work out any kinks in the setup.
Good thing I got there plenty early. The client failed to show up. Didn’t answer his phone. Never did show up at all. I left messages and when I didn’t hear from him I called the models and told them not to come. At least I caught them before they had left home…but at least one of them had cancelled another shoot so she could do this one.
That was yesterday morning. As of now I still have not heard a word from this asshole. Needless to say, this is the last time I will be involved in any work with him of any kind. I’m sure he will have some lame excuse for why this happened, but no-show, no-call is just absolutely unforgivable. What a jerk!
This will help me remember that I really don’t want to do any commercial work anyway.
So, I’ll turn my thoughts back to the beauty of the figure in nature. I’ve found this great location close to where I live. It’s the same place where I shot Kelsey. Kelsey and I went there at dawn. I wanted to see what it was like at a different time of day, so _G_ went there with me at mid-day to do this photo. The gorge is so deep and the tree cover so thick that even in the middle of a sunny day the light is still great down in the gorge. I’ll be doing lots more work here as the seasons change. That’s a happy thought to push aside the problems with that idiot client.
Angie In The Morning
July 15th, 2009
I have my truck back! It is running better than new. I’m happy. I missed it. To celebrate I shot a model at dawn today. The waterfall had much less water going over it than when I was last there, but I still managed to get Angie pretty cold and wet. She’s cold and wet, but she sure is pretty.
Now that I have transportation again I’ll be able to get out and about better and should start doing more shooting. I have some trips planned for the not-too-distant future too.
Kelsey Indoors
July 13th, 2009
Another Kelsey
July 9th, 2009
You may have gotten the idea that I am very happy with the photos from my shoot with Kelsey. And, of course, you would be quite correct. It’s rare to have so many photos from one shoot that look so likely to remain on my “A” list permanently. I have barely scratched the surface of all the photos we got that day. Wish she hadn’t moved away a few days after we did this shoot. But I’m sure I’ll find a way to work with her again.
I’ve been pretty busy, as usual, but not for the usual reasons. I’m on jury duty this week and next. Yesterday we returned a guilty verdict and sent a thief off to prison for a while. I have today off, but have to call tonight to see if I need to report tomorrow for another case. Each day next week I also have to call in each evening to find out if I’m on a jury the following day. Makes it kind of hard to schedule anything. But I’m getting the itch to shoot, so I’ll probably try to set something up with one of my local favorite models in the next few days and just call to cancel if I find out I’ll be doing the jury thing on the day we set up.
Of course, I’m still waiting to get my truck back, so transportation continues to be an issue. That should be changed in a day or two and I’ll be back behind the wheel of my trusty truck. Can’t wait.
Clean Kelsey
July 5th, 2009
Another of Kelsey from near the beginning of our shoot, before I got her all dirty and exhausted. I think I have enough good photos from our day of shooting to keep posting them here for the next month. Did I mention earlier that she is a fantastic model and a great person?
The photo of Kelsey in my last post was featured this weekend on the French blog Univers d’Artistes. Thanks UL.
I hope you all had a great July Fourth weekend. We, as usual, went to a family gathering near Cleveland and so have been away most of the weekend. It’s always a fun get together with lots of good food and good conversation.
When I got back into town this afternoon I went to check on the progress of my alleged new studio. The landlord had promised that he would be working all this weekend and that it would be ready for me to move in this week. I gave him a letter setting a deadline of this coming Friday for everything to be completed. Well, as usual (and pretty much as expected) nothing has been done. I’ll go tomorrow and tell him my patience is at an end and we are going to end our business together. I’m a little hopeful that there may be another prospective location with a much more reliable landlord on the horizon, but I need to finish with this fiasco first.
Meanwhile a couple more new models have contacted me recently about doing shoots and I’ve been talking with a couple of my old favorites about some projects, so I’ll be getting some more photo work done soon…not that I need any more photos, what with all the great stuff of Kelsey that I still have to edit.
