DuPont State Forest
December 2nd, 2016
The next day of shooting in the Smokey Mountains was with Nadine Stevens and Stevie Macaroni. For this day we went to DuPont State Forest, an amazing place just full of beautiful waterfalls.
These photos are all from Triple Falls. I understand that this was the location for some scenes in the Hunger Games movies.
Nadine and Stevie did a great job, as you can see. Thanks Ladies.
More Fun With Bunny and Nadine
November 29th, 2016
More photos from my day of shooting in the Smokey Mountains with Bunny Luna and Nadine Stevens.
It was a great day of shooting. We only went to one location and found several spots there where we could work.
And after a hard day of work out in the woods, it was back to the cabin to clean up and relax.
More Models in the Mountains
November 26th, 2016
Another day of shooting in the beautiful Smokey Mountains. This day I had “only” two models to work with, Bunny Luna and Nadine Stevens. That was not really a problem, as I hope you’ll be able to see.
They are both talented and lovely ladies who fit in quite gracefully in the beautiful mountain streams we visited that day.
I’ll have more from this day of shooting in my next post.
Behind The Scenes
November 22nd, 2016
A good number of the models I work with are also photographers. Sometimes they get referred to as “Modelographers.” I’m not fond of that term. I think it’s often meant as a put-down. I have a lot of respect for the models who also do photography. I’ve found that they frequently are very good photographers. And I think it makes them better models because they understand my concerns better than someone who doesn’t really know anything about photography.
Stevie Macaroni and Bunny Luna are two models I have worked with who also do very good photography. When I’m working with models who also do photography I always encourage them to bring their photo gear and do some of their own photography. That’s not so easy if we are just shooting one-on-one (though I’m always willing to model if asked. That photo of me in the column to the right was shot by Kat while we were doing a shoot together and she was modeling and photographing.), but when there are other models on the shoot it can work out well.
Sometimes when the ladies are switching back and forth between modeling and photographing it can lead to interesting situations like this one:
Here are a few more behind scenes from this day of shooting.
I was happy to stop shooting and let Stevie and Bunny work with everybody for a while. It gave me a chance to take a much-needed break as I was still feeling pretty wrung out from my health problems earlier in the year.
I think they just may have gotten some pretty fine photographs.
The models, in addition to Stevie and Bunny, are, of course, Melissa Troutt and Nadine Stevens.
By the way, the first four photos in this post were taken with my Nikon D7000 and an 18-200mm lens. The last four were shot with my Canon S90.
Abundant Beauties
November 18th, 2016
In addition to working with Melissa Troutt for the first time, I was also blessed with three other models on this shoot in the Smokey Mountains. Nadine Stevens was also with me, along with Stevie Macaroni and another model new to me who turned out to be quite wonderful, Bunny Luna.
As you can see, with that many great models available I couldn’t resist getting them all in a few photos.
And Melissa and Stevie worked very well together for some other shots.
My next post will be behind-the-scenes photos from this day of shooting. Stevie and Bunny are are also both very fine photographers. So they did a lot of their own work while we were out there. I’ll be showing you what that looked like.
Troutt in a Mountain Stream
November 14th, 2016
In May 2015 I was finally feeling better after my health issues. Not completely well, but better. And I got a chance to head down to one of my favorite places on the planet, The Smokey Mountains, and work with some models. I quickly found that hiking was still a bit of a challenge for me, but I managed.
And there was a special treat on this trip. For many years I had admired the work of a wonderful model who lives in Asheville, NC, Melissa Troutt. Our paths had never crossed, but I’d always thought I’d enjoy working with her. So, when I knew I’d be heading her way I contacted her and we arranged to meet up in the mountains and work together for a day.
As you can see, Melissa completely lived up to her reputation and we had a great time working together and producing some fine photos. I’m glad I got this opportunity to work with such a fine model because since then she has announced that she is retiring from modeling. I’m sad that I may not have another chance to work with her, but happy that I at least got in one shoot before the opportunity passed.
Thank you, Melissa. It was great to meet you and work with you. I wish you all the best in the future. Be well.
Columbus Casting
November 7th, 2016
Something a little different. I took this snap this morning in Columbus, Ohio. That’s Columbus Casting. It’s closed. I hear it will be on the auction block soon.
Must be why it’s blue.
Kinsey and Turkey Run
November 5th, 2016
In May of last year my friend Dave Swanson came down from his hideaway deep in the woods of Minnesota for the opening of what turned out to be the last juried show at the Kinsey Institute. A change of leadership at Kinsey lead to the elimination of that show and a lot of other things that had made me a fan of Kinsey. Nothing lasts forever.
We were joined for the opening by a lovely model, Nadine. Here are Dave and Nadine at the Kinsey show opening:
After the opening in Bloomington we went over to Turkey Run State Park to do a few photos. That’s where I took the photo at the top of this post. Unfortunately I was still suffering from the aftereffects of my hospitalization in January and found I really wasn’t up to much hiking and climbing around in the park. So I took it easy and just let Dave and Nadine go off to do photos, except for a couple shots I got before I gave up.
Here’s a shot of Dave working with Nadine before I pooped out and went to take a nap.
And one more photo of Nadine that I managed to do before I was done.
2017 Calendars
November 1st, 2016
It’s calendar time. I decided to do only one calendar this year. And I’ve changed the format to make it a little less expensive than my past calendars. It still gets you a baker’s dozen of my best photos reproduced on heavy paper stock that’s 8 1/2×11 inches. You can use the calendar during the year and then take it apart and frame your favorite photos, if you want.
You can see a preview of the whole calendar by clicking on the cover photo above, or in the column to the right. Please check it out.
Happy Halloween
October 28th, 2016
I seem to do a lot of Halloween-themed photos, so I thought I’d share a collection of them to mark the spooky holiday this year. Theda is one of my favorite subject for these. There’s just something about her that lends itself to darker photos. Above she is being “Gothic Eve” for my Eve series. Below she’s being a bit “batty” continuing the Gothic Eve theme.
This photo below came about after Theda and I were talking about photos capturing a model’s soul. She told me, “No one can photograph Theda’s soul because she doesn’t have one. And, besides, she traded it to the devil for a mix tape many years ago.” That led to me making this photo, “Theda Trading Her Soul For A Mix Tape.”
Here are a few more of my Halloween photos from years past:
Thanks to all the lovely models who have a great sense of humor and are willing to help me make these kind of silly photos.
