Tall Dancing
September 29th, 2013
When I retired from the day job some years ago, one of the things I started doing that I hadn’t been able to do when I had to report to work every day, was to start photographing dance again. I fell in love with dance and dance photography way back when I was a freshman at Ohio University a long, long time ago. So, I went back to the OU School of Dance and they graciously allowed me to again photograph their productions.
I’ve now reached a point in life where, once again, I find myself unable to make the commitment of time and energy that it takes to properly photograph a dance production. But, over the years of shooting those productions I have fortunately made a few friends. And every once in a while some of them will drop by my studio for some photos. As long as I have a studio I’ll keep doing this work because it’s fun and it’s a way to help out my dancer friends.
It’s been almost a year since Lindsay came in and we did these photos for her. In fact, it was November 2012. And, yes, that’s how far behind I am with editing my photos. Life has been like that for the past couple years. That’s just one indication of why I had to stop spending a week at a time shooting dance productions at OU. I just can’t seem to keep up any more. Seems like I’m getting a bit old.
Lindsay also does hooping performances. So, after a while the hoops came out and we did some photos with them.
And then Lindsay got really, really tall for a while.
Lindsay brought her friend and fellow performer, Jessica, along for this shoot. Seems Jessica is pretty damn tall at times too.
It’s pretty amazing to see someone that tall dancing around in the studio.
What could you possibly add to all this to make it even more amazing? Why an accordion, of course.
Don’t ever let anyone tell you that photography isn’t fun.
Chicago Reception
September 20th, 2013
I didn’t take a lot of photos at the closing reception of my show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago earlier this month, but I did play around with the fisheye lens and got a couple that are worth sharing. That’s gallery owner Veronika behind the couch with muses Ayn and Kelsey Dylan flanking my photographer friend Dave Swanson on the couch. The fisheye shows off Veronika’s lovely gallery pretty well. I’ve promised her that I’ll bring it along the next time I’m up there so we can do some shots with it on a tripod and with a low ISO to properly show the gallery.
A couple of my prints are still on the wall at the gallery because Veronika has graciously offered me permanent representation. Soon I’ll be printing up a small portfolio of prints for her to keep on hand to show buyers who visit the gallery. She does such a great job with her gallery and her shows that I’m very pleased and honored to be associated with Gallery Provocateur. And, as you can see, you just never know what might happen at one of her openings.
She has a new show coming up that is connected with Chicago’s fashion week. Another of Veronika’s many talents is as a fashion designer. The next exhibit at the gallery features fashion photography. Click here for the details on the show. She is also having a runway show at the gallery. Click here for details on the runway show.
And, here is one more photo with the fisheye at the opening, featuring the lovely models Ayn and Kelsey cavorting with all of my prints on display in the background. See what you missed.
Good Luck at Starved Rock
September 11th, 2013
As you know if you follow my blog, I’m about a year behind on editing and posting my photos. But today I’m making an exception. After the closing reception for my show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago I went with some friends to Starved Rock State Park, southwest of the city. It’s one of the most beautiful places on the planet…and a great place to shoot figure work, if you know where and when to do it.
Generally one of the nice things about Starved Rock is that the canyons are so deep and narrow that the sun only reaches into them at mid-day. That makes for nice subdued light. And generally that’s what I’m looking for when I’d doing nudes in nature.
But it pays to pay attention. Sometimes the photo gods will smile on you in unexpected ways. Ayn and I were working on some nice photos near where this one was taken when I noticed this little beam of sunlight hitting the canyon wall in a lovely way. Ayn quickly maneuvered herself into the right spot and did a perfect pose. Her red hair was definitely the right touch for this photo. In a few minutes the light was gone and the canyon was back to its normal subdued look. But I had just enough time to get this shot. I think it will be in my portfolio from now on.
I’ll go back to my normal way behind schedule of posting now. You’ll be seeing some photos from the closing reception soon. But this photo was just too good, at least to my eye, to wait in line to show up here. Thank you Ayn for helping me make what I consider a fine piece of art.
Don’t Forget
September 5th, 2013
Don’t forget the closing reception Saturday night, 8-11, of my show at Gallery Provocateur. Hope to see you there.
By Dawn’s Early Light
September 2nd, 2013
It’s the beginning of September which means the end of summer is at hand and fall will soon be with us. I love the fall. It’s my favorite time of the year. And I love the early morning both for the quality of the light and for the privacy that is available out in the woods, even near a city or in a popular park. Not many people are actually willing to get up early enough to be out in the woods when the sun comes up. Fortunately for me, one of my favorite models, the lovely and talented Kelsey Dylan, is willing to sacrifice her morning slumbers for the sake of my art. So early one October morning last year we headed out into the woods as the sun slowly moved into view on the eastern horizon.
The light is funny at this hour and I like that. The color of the light tends toward the blue end of the spectrum. I always debate a bit just how much to change that color back to what some consider “correct color.” I don’t really believe in correct color. I’m much more interested in the changes of color and how they affect the nature of the scene. I’ve done some correction on these photos…different degrees of correction depending on what I thought worked best for each photo. I’m sure you can see the differences. Of course, what you see depends on the variations of your particular monitor too. My monitor is calibrated, so I have a pretty good idea of what these should look like. But in the wild world of the internet, there’s no telling what each viewer is going to see, at least in respect to color. So it goes.
After traipsing around in the woods for a while the sun came on strong above the horizon and people began to appear in the woods. So we went a little way down the road to a favorite bridge of mine. All my life as a photographer I’ve enjoyed the light and the backgrounds that are available under bridges. On this day the direct sun was doing some fun things. I keep seeing Mr. Magoo with hair in the shadow Kelsey is casting here. Who do you see?
Don’t forget the closing reception for my Chicago show at Gallery Provocateur this coming weekend. Saturday, Sept. 7 from 8-11 p.m. 1621 Kedzie Blvd. I’ll be there. So will Kelsey and some other favorite models. You really don’t want to miss this.
The End of the Gorge Project
August 30th, 2013
For a couple years I’ve been working on a set of photos from a favorite place that I’ve known since I was a little kid. For some reason I had never shot nudes at this lovely location. I decided it was time to correct that oversight and started taking my favorite models there for shoots. This is the last shoot in this series, featuring long-time favorite model Angie.
One of the interesting features of this place is the old abandoned railroad tunnel through the rock. Each time I shot there with a model I tried, with little success, to get a photo that featured the tunnel. This is the best one of those attempts.
One reason that I’ve decided to stop shooting in this place is that it has become increasingly popular over the time I’ve been working there. I always did the shoots in the early morning hours. When I started we never saw another person. But that has changed. Just after I took the photo above we heard people coming down the trail. Angie covered up just in time as a group of about 10 or 15 runners came past us. I’ve pretty much decided that, at least for now, there is no safe time to work here.
Yes, I took the fisheye lens along for this shoot. One of the problems of owning a fisheye lens is that you are often tempted to use it. But I do think this photo is kind of fun.
So, that’s the end of this project, at least on the blog. I’m considering what else to do with the photos. I’m very happy with some of the photos and I’m sure they will make it into my main portfolio as permanent additions. But I’m also thinking I might produce a small portfolio of my favorites from here. If I do I’ll announce it here in case some of you would like to purchase the portfolio.
Studio Testing
August 24th, 2013
Ebay is a dangerous place. A while back I saw a spotlight for my strobe system on there and decided to bid on it. I’d always wondered what I might be able to do with a spotlight, but they were always way too expensive for me to spend the money to find out. Well, I went ahead and placed a low-ball bid on this one and much to my surprise I won the auction. Soon this new piece of lighting gear arrived at the studio. Now I needed to find out just what it was good for.
To my great good fortune, an old friend and model volunteered to stop in, shed her clothes, and let me aim the spotlight at her for some photos. As you can probably see, I decided to try shooting the light through an old cookie that I have at the studio to see what it would do. I did some other things with it too…but these were the photos that looked half way decent to my eye.
My friend looks great, of course. She’s a very impressive woman. On the other hand, I really wasn’t all that impressed with the spotlight. I think I’m actually happier with the light I get just using a grid on a strobe head. The spot is stronger and harder light, but I don’t really think it works that well for the kind of work I do in the studio. So now I’m thinking about selling it. I don’t think I’ll be using it much.
I even tried it as a background light, but, again, I’m not seeing how it is much better than just using a grid. I may do some more playing around with it before I part with it…but I’m really not feeling like it’s a great investment for me.
But it gives us all an excuse to enjoy the sight of a beautiful woman, so that’s something.
The Moon Over Moonville
August 17th, 2013
After Artistic Physique had spent the morning working at Hocking Hills we rounded up some lunch and went looking for some other places to shoot.
I had heard for years about Moonville…an abandoned town in the Zaleski State Forest, but had never been there. I got some directions and we set out, finding it with no difficulty. Nothing left of a town, but there is an abandoned railroad tunnel there. The tunnel itself was not that interesting, but at one end of it the deteriorating stonework combined with the sunlight through trees and the inevitable graffiti made for an interesting background. And AP, being of a somewhat compact size, was a good fit for the openings left by some of the missing stones. We saw no signs of the famous ghost, by the way.
One reason I decided to visit Moonville on this particular day was because it was the day before the full moon. That’s the day when the moon and the sun are both above the horizon at the same time for as little as a half hour to as much as an hour and a half, depending on the month. I thought it would be fun to do a moon photo at Moonville. Well, as soon as we got to the tunnel I saw that it obviously was not going to work as a location for a moon photo. There was no place there where I could get a clear view of the horizon in the direction where the moon would rise. So we did our Moonville photos and went looking for a spot to shoot a moonrise photo.
As you can see, we found a place…though not a good one. This is just an ok moonrise photo. So I’ll still be out there looking for a better location until I get the photo I’m after. One of these months. Everything has to fall into place perfectly to make this work. All it takes is a few clouds on the eastern horizon to make the photo impossible, regardless of the quality of the location. And, please, no comments about how easy it is to just photoshop the moon into a sky. That’s not the point and if you don’t understand the issues with that approach, we don’t really have anything to discuss.
More From The Hocking Hills
August 12th, 2013
Here are some more from the very successful shoot I had with Artistic Physique at the Hocking Hills in southeast Ohio. It’s always a pleasure to work with AP. She’s beautiful and a very talented model. And she’s a friend who I enjoy spending time with. What more could you ask for in a model.
AP is also one of the models featured in my current show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago. Don’t forget the closing reception for that show on Saturday, September 7. I hope to see you there.
A Little News
August 8th, 2013
There are a couple things going on that I want to let everyone know about. First, the closing reception for my show at Gallery Provocateur in Chicago will be Saturday, September 7. I plan to be there along with several models. I hope you will join us. It’s sure to be a fun evening.
And, in other news, French PHOTO magazine has opened an on-line store where they are offering prints for sale featuring the work of invited photographers. I’m one of the photographers who they invited to be in this store. I’m pleased about this because it will make my work more readily available to collectors in Europe. You can see my page in the store by clicking here.
