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.
Dirty
July 2nd, 2009
Kelsey is a great model and she really worked hard for me on the day we shot. Not only did she get up very early in the morning so we could start shooting at dawn, but she kept working all day long and went from one dirty uncomfortable setting to another with never a complaint. I shot this after she got up from a pose on the floor in this old building. Not the cleanest place in the world. But I liked what the dirt and sweat was doing on her back, so I had her do this pose. Just another dirty picture.
Thanks Kelsey. All the best to you out there in Seattle.
What’s Going On
June 30th, 2009
It’s been a very frustrating few days. I guess I’ll let any of you reading this know what’s been happening.
I’m looking at moving to a new studio. I’ve already rented the new space, but it needs some work to get it ready for me to move in. It’s more space for less rent and it’s within walking distance of my home, as opposed to the 30-mile drive I now have to do to get to my old studio.
I was supposed to move in this past weekend. I had movers and a truck all set and I tore the old studio apart, emptied all the cabinents and desks and packed everything up. But the work didn’t get done to make the new space ready, even after a promise from the landlord as late as Saturday morning.
Needless to say, I was pissed. I had to cancel the movers and truck at the last minute. My old studio is now non-functional, unless I undo all the work I’ve done to get ready to move. And the landlord has been nowhere to be found.
Finally this morning I went down there and found him. I walked in ready to demand my rent money back and just walk away and forget about moving. But, he told me he had been out of town because of a sudden death in his family. I decided to believe him, at least for the moment. So, the work is to be done over the next few days. But I won’t be able to schedule the move again until the middle of the month. And, of course, I have to go ahead and pay July rent at the old place.
At least it’s summer, when I don’t do much studio shooting anyway. I often question why I even have a studio…but I have so much stuff there that I need a place to store it anyway…no room for it at my house. My wife would kill me if I tried to move all that stuff home. Maybe someday I’ll decide I just won’t do any more studio work and I’ll just get rid of most of that stuff…but it is nice to have a place to work…a place to go and be away from the house to get stuff done.
So, everything is in turmoil right now. I’m waiting to see if the work actually gets done this time at the new space. But I’m not going to undo all the preparations I’ve done for now.
On a happier note, that’s the beautiful Adrina posing in an old building in my town…not the building I’ll be moving into, in case you were wondering. I’ll obviously be posting photos taken in that new building soon, assuming I actually do the move. Stay tuned.
More Kelsey
June 28th, 2009
I’m having a real busy and fairly unpleasant weekend. So, here’s something pleasant to look at. Another of Kelsey from this week’s shoot. She is a very fine model. Seattle’s gain is certainly my loss.
Hanging out
June 26th, 2009
A while back I edited my profile on Model Mayhem with the aim to cut down on the number of models contacting me wanting me to shoot them. I was getting way too many messages that essentially said:
“I’ve been modeling for 15 minutes now and I’ll be coming to your area and I think you should shoot with me. My rate is $300 an hour. And I don’t shoot nudes, so don’t even think about asking me to pose nude.”
