What’s Left Behind
January 20th, 2008
Another dance from the Ohio University Senior Concert in November. This one was choreographed and danced by Senior dance major Angela Nicole Patmon.
It was a very dramatic dance which offered many excellent photo opportunities. Very visual and very much amenable to capturing dramatic slices of the movement.
Concert photos
January 17th, 2008
Why Dance?
January 13th, 2008
One more from the Lois Greenfield workshop. These dancers are, top to bottom, Dario Vaccaro, Miguel Quinones and Colleen T. Sullivan. I really can’t say enough good about these wonderful talented dancers who worked so hard to make these photos at Lois’ workshop in New York. These are the best dancers in the world and it really shows.
But why dance? What is it that has drawn me back to photographing dance after so many years away?
Well, in one sense it is sort of a first love. I was only 17 and just beginning to experience the world of art and culture when I first encountered modern dance and fell instantly in love with it. I’m not embarrassed to confess that beautiful women in tights had some impact on that 17-year-old, but it was true love, not just lust, that was going on. That love has remained through all these years. I only stopped doing dance photography because the other demands of my life just didn’t allow me enough time to do it properly. I now have that time again.
Dance photography takes a lot of time for me because I insist on being familiar with each dance before I pick up the camera. Many photographers approach dance in the same way they approach basketball. The technical challenges are similar, so that’s not surprising. But in dance pretty much the same things happen at the same time and in the same place every time. There’s no reason not to plan. Also, dance means something. There’s more to it than just capturing a peak action moment. So I like, if possible, to talk with the choreographer to get some idea of the thoughts behind the movement and become familiar with the dance in rehearsal before I shoot photos at a dress rehearsal. All that takes time, but for me it is time well spent.
There are some other things that never would have occurred to that 17-year-old photographer…but after 40 years they are things I think about now. I do think that 17-year-old was responding to these things in an instinctive way, though he could not have begun to articulate the ideas.
Photography and Dance are just about as opposite as two art media can be. Dance may be the oldest, at least is one of the very oldest, forms of artistic expression. We’ll never know if our ancestors started beating on a hollow log to accompany their dancing or began dancing to the beat of the hollow log. But we can be certain that dance was there in the most primitive of societies. Photography, on the other hand, is a product of the industrial age, made possible by scientific experimentation. Digital photography has moved the medium into the information age, separating it from its physical and chemical roots.
Dance is performance. The instrument is the human body moving through space and time. Photography is a very different kind of performance with the result showing up later, completely separated from the photographer. It is still and two-dimensional.
And, most importantly, I think, dance is movement in space and time…it happens and it is gone. Photography is still…its speciality is freezing movement, capturing an instant, and saving it for the future…the exact opposite of the ephemeral dance.
The tension between those opposite tendencies and characteristics of the two media create a tremendous attraction for me. It is impossible to photograph dance. Dance must be experienced. But it is a wonderful challenge to try to capture something of a dance that helps save that instantly vanishing moment of artistic expression for the future. I love trying to do that. It seems I have been able at times to achieve a modest level of success, and it’s always nice to do something that you can do well.
So, that’s why I’m photographing dance now. I don’t consider my dance photographs to be art. They are, rather, an attempt to capture the art work of others, choreographers and dancers who bring tremendous skill and talent to their performances. I only seek to make some photographs that show that skill and talent and art.
Back to Dance
January 8th, 2008
French PHOTO
January 6th, 2008
Here’s the photo that French PHOTO chose to publish in their Jan-Feb issue. That’s Theda in “a pile of histamines,” as she stated when she posted this shot on Model Mayhem. Theda tells me that being in French PHOTO has been one of her goals for her modeling career, so I’m very pleased to have helped her achieve that goal.
French PHOTO is known to crop photos to fit their layout, so I don’t know just what this photo looks like in the magazine yet. Usually they print 8-10 photos per page in this contest issue, so it may be cropped to fit and run at a fairly small size. However, I was pleased last year when they chose to run my photo as a half page and uncropped. I guess I’ll have to wait until the magazines finally start showing up here in the US next month to find out what it looks like in the magazine. Unless some of my friends from Europe who read this can let me know in advance.
Thanks Theda…I guess the rash on your back was worth it…
Erotic?
January 6th, 2008
OK…some more on the whole erotic issue. I’m very pleased that one of my favorites of all my photos has been selected to appear in the book, The World’s Greatest Erotic Art of Today, Vol 2 set for publication in the spring. http://eroticsignature.com/ It’s another contest I entered with some reluctance. The photo of Lani that you see here is beautiful and has a sensuality to it, certainly, but I really can’t see it as an erotic photograph. In fact, to me, it is the least erotic of the several photos I entered in this contest. But it’s the one they selected as a winner to include in their book.
So, ok…some of you are asking, essentially, if I don’t like my work to be considered erotic, why do I enter things like the Erotic Signature contest and the Dirty Show. It’s certainly a legitimate question. And the answer is the core of my dilemma. In this country there just doesn’t seem to be an appropriate venue for exhibit of the kind of work I do. In other countries, like France, my work is seen as art and presented in the mainstream of photography, such as publication in French PHOTO. I’ve had a good bit of my work exhibited in Europe with no issues at all about nudity.
But here in the US it seems if it’s nude, it’s considered erotic, or even pornographic. I find that very sad. Nudes are seldom published in the mainstream photo magazines in the US. That’s a change from 40 years ago when I was a young photographer just starting out. Nudes appeared regularly in all the popular photography magazines. Now, because of companies like Walmart which will not put magazines with nudes on their newsstands, publishers won’t print nudes because it affects those newsstand sales.
There’s a wonderful art gallery in my home town. Friends of mine have had great shows of their photography there. It’s the sort of place, in a small town, that would take great pride in showing the work of a home town artist who has earned international recognition for his work. I know the woman who runs the gallery and she loves my work. But I’ll never have a show there because the gallery has an absolute policy to never exhibit nudes.
So, I look for galleries and publications and shows where nudity is not an issue. More often than not those venues turn out to be focused on erotic art. And, if it’s nude it must be erotic…at least in the good old USA.
So, what’s a figure photographer to do? Plenty of folks doing figure work have moved their work more toward the erotic. I’m not inclined to do that. In fact, I try very hard to not let any factors like this have any influence on what I do with my photography. My photos are my vision. I try to follow that vision and make photos that reflect it and not any current fashion or trend. And certainly not what any particular show or publication or contest is looking for.
While it is nice if I can sell some prints or get published or win competitions, those are not the goals that drive my work. In fact, I have serious issues with the whole idea of art competitions. Art is not a competitive sport. It’s an individual act of self-expression. Competitions are meaningless as far as art is concerned. I enter competitions as a way to allow my work to be seen by a wider audience, not in any way to measure it against the work of other artists.
So, I’m in the Dirty Show and several thousand people who attend that show will see some of my work. Maybe some of them will buy prints and help me save up for that Nikon D300 I’m going to have to buy this year. And my photo of Lani will appear in the Erotic Signature book where another group of people around the world will have a chance to see it. And where it will be preserved for some time into the future. I’ll admit to liking the idea that my work will still be around on this planet after I’ve gone. Maybe it will mean something to someone in the future. Maybe it’s just a tiny bit of beauty that I’ve contributed to this world. That’s good enough for me. If someone finds it erotic, well, who am I to say they are wrong?
Dirty Again
January 5th, 2008
The Dirty Show http://www.dirtydetroit.com/news.htm in Detroit presents me with a dilemma. I entered last year with some hesitation. One of my photos was selected for display. I went to the opening to see what it was like and to see what the other work on display looked like.
Well, the attendance at the opening was amazing. I’m used to openings with a few dozen people being considered a great success. There were thousands of people at the opening night of the Dirty Show. That’s quite an accomplishment for any art venue.
With that many people in attendance…and the crowds seem to be that large each night of the show…it’s no surprise that print sales are much better than at the average art show. My work sold very well from the “store” where loose prints are sold.
The show itself…well…I’d say that about 1/4 of the work on display was excellent art work. The other 3/4 was just…well, just dirty. Really bad art work that featured extremely dirty subject matter. It seems that if the work is “dirty” in the extreme it will get in the show regardless of quality. Maybe that’s why so many people show up to see it…I just don’t know. And then there’s the “entertainment.” I was looking forward to that because I’d heard so much about it. Again, it was a disappointment. Mostly really bad burlesque. And I mean really, really, embarrassingly bad. I can’t really describe just how bad it was…you’ll have to trust me on this.
So, there’s my dilemma. I don’t do dirty pictures. I don’t consider my work to be erotic at all. That’s not what I’m interested in in my art work. But I do like the print sales at the Dirty Show…so I entered again this year and one of my photos was again selected for display in the show. So, I’ll send my matted and framed print and I’ll send along boxes of loose prints of work I am proud of for the store and hope for enough print sales to make it all worth the effort.
I haven’t decided if I’ll attend the show this year or not. I might. There are some models who are interested in going. If several of them want to ride along with me for the opening I’ll probably make the drive and just enjoy their company for an evening of partying. Otherwise I’ll pass and stay home and let others tell me about it this year.
New Years in Vermont
December 31st, 2007
As has become the custom for our family in recent years, I’m spending the New Years holiday in Vermont at my mother-in-law’s home near Middlebury. That means very limited dial-up internet access, so I’m not doing much on line. But I do need to make note of some of the things that have been happening while I’ve been up here.
First, thanks to Chris at http://www.universdartistes.blogspot.com/ for letting me know and announcing on his blog that I’ve once again been published in French PHOTO magazine. If I’m counting right that makes 6 years in a row that I’ve had one photo included in their annual contest issue. One year they also published a second of my photos in the next issue as well. Every time I’ve sent them photos they have selected one for publication. I’m quite honored that the French seem to enjoy my work so much. When I return home I’ll do a post with the photo they selected. The model is Theda http://www.theda-b.com/eeyore.htm, who is undoubtedly one of the greatest figure models in the world. I’m pleased that she was the model in the shot they chose.
The other notable event in recent days is the announcement of the Golden Fluffy awards http://www.fluffytek.com/blog/default.html. I didn’t win one, but I did receive a mention as a runner-up to my good friend, Dave Rudin http://figuresofgrace.blogspot.com/, who won the Fluffy for best Overall Nude Blog. Way to go, Dave R…a richly deserved honor.
I don’t usually shoot landscape photos, at least not without a nude woman in the composition. But I love the look of that farm in the first photo. I photograph it every time I visit in Vermont. I’ve worked at finding the best angle, but have decided the best place to shoot from is my mother-in-law’s living room. That’s were I was when I took this one. It snowed last night and that was the view out the window when we got up this morning. The second photo is also taken from the warmth of the house, looking out across the driveway to an old fence. The snow has pretty much melted off the branches now, but there may be a new coat by morning again. It’s a beautiful place up here any time of year, but especially in winter. And this year it isn’t even all that cold.
Thanks again to Chris and Richard and Lin. I wish them and all of you faithful (or not so faithful) readers all the best in a happy and prosperous new year.
Eloquent Nude
December 28th, 2007
No photo with this post. My wife gave me the DVD “Eloquent Nude – The Love and Legacy of Edward Weston & Charis Wilson” for Christmas. We watched it last night.
Documentaries about famous photographers seem to have a tendency to be dry and boring. This is definitely NOT one of those. This film is wonderful! I encourage every photographer and model reading this to get a copy and enjoy it. You will enjoy it. It isn’t about photo technique or posing or the body of work that Weston produced. It’s a love story. It’s a very human story. It is beautifully photographed and intelligently told. It’s one of the best documentaries on any subject that I’ve ever seen.
Really, you should get and watch this film. You can order it here: http://www.eloquentnude.org/
I don’t get anything out of you buying this DVD, but you will. Trust me.
More Dario and Patty
December 26th, 2007
I hope Christmas was good for all of you who come here to visit. It’s a busy time so I’m not doing much writing, but here’s another photo of Dario Vaccaro and Patty Foster from the Lois Greenfield workshop earlier this month. I’ll post some more from the workshop and then I plan to share photos from the dance concert I photographed at Ohio University in the fall.
