April Returns
April 27th, 2012
Wow. It’s almost May and here I am finally editing and posting photos from December. That’s when my old friend, artist and model, the lovely April, came by the studio for a visit. It was way too cold for an outdoor shoot, so we just played around in the studio. Since April moved to another state we don’t get to work together nearly often enough.
So these are just another variation on the kind of light I used for the photos of Kelsey in the last post. But a different take on the whole thing, of course, with very different contrast. I, of course, prefer to work outdoors and use the light that nature provides, but when that isn’t possible and a beautiful model is available for some figure work, it’s always possible to come up with some sort of variation on classic figure lighting in the studio. Thanks Phoenix, it’s always a pleasure to work with you and to have the chance to catch up on what is going on in your life.
The next post will move us into work shot in 2012. Still lots to catch up with, though.
And, in Epson 4900 news, my replacement printer arrived on schedule Monday. It took a little while to get the nozzles on the new printer cleaned, but after a few cleaning cycles it was working well and I completed a couple printing jobs that had been waiting since the old one succumbed to the nozzle clog. The shipping company wasn’t quite as fantastic as Epson had been and failed to show up on schedule to pick up the returning printer…but a few phone calls and they made the pickup the following day. All in all a very satisfying experience with customer service. Thank you Epson.
Kelsey in the Studio and Kudos for Epson
April 20th, 2012
Back in December the lovely model and delightful person, Kelsey Dylan, came by the studio for some photos. I have to do something to pass the time when it’s too cold to shoot nudes outdoors. And with someone as beautiful as Kelsey, it’s always fun to do a few classic figure studies.
In other news, I’ve been having a problem with my Epson 4900 printer. Sometime in the past week one of the ink nozzles clogged and was delivering no ink at all. I contacted Epson tech support and they talked me through a number of nozzle cleaning routines. This included twice unplugging the printer and leaving it overnight, followed by “power cleaning” the next day. All to no avail. Today they decided to send me a new replacement printer and replacement ink cartridges to replace the ink I used in the cleaning cycles. I should have the replacement printer Monday or Tuesday.
That is really fantastic support in my book. Everyone I talked to at Epson was great and very helpful. I love this printer and haven’t had a single problem with it until this happened. Just had to give them a shout out for the great support.
A Small Victory in the Fight Against a Bad Law
April 17th, 2012
I’m one of the named plaintiffs in a lawsuit seeking to have the laws commonly known as 2257 and 2257A declared to be unconstitutional.
The suit was first filed in 2009.
In 2010 the judge hearing the case dismissed the suit at the request of the government.
We appealed that dismissal to the US Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit.
The appeal was argued before that Appeals Court in January 2012.
On April 16 the Appeals Court ruled in our favor and the suit will go to trial in Federal Court in Philadelphia. No date yet for the trial, but I expect it will happen this year. I expect to be a witness at that trial.
No telling how long the whole process will take, but this is progress toward removing this unconstitutional law from the books.
Hoops
April 13th, 2012
I’m going to be working on catching up on posting things I’ve shot over the past few months for quite a while. I’ve made it to mid-November when Lindsay Nova and Justin Middlebrooks came to the studio for some photos of them dancing with hula hoops. I had met them both at Ohio University where they were students in the School of Dance. I regularly photograph the dance productions down there at my alma mater. And I like to help out OU dancers whenever I can. I started photographing dance there in 1969 and it has been an important part of my life ever since.
Justin is still at OU doing graduate work, but Lindsay has moved to Columbus, Ohio, where she is performing and teaching hooping and yoga and other things. You can learn more about what she is up to at her website linked above.
It’s kind of funny for me to watch the current popularity of these hoops because I can remember when they first became a fad back when I was a kid…oh so many, many years ago. Strange how things cycle through our culture.
More From Pittsburgh
April 9th, 2012
Here are a few more of Kelsey Dylan and Artistic Physique from our time over in Pittsburgh for the Outlaw Artisans show in November. Just some figure photos in the nice light that was coming through the window in that room.
In other news I’ve been notified that one of my photos has been accepted for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival again this year. I keep wanting to go out there for this show, but once again this year it is not going to be possible because of other commitments back east. Maybe next year. But if you are in the Seattle area you can go and see at least one of my photos in the show…and probably some more loose prints for sale in the store.
Reflections On Two Nudes
April 5th, 2012
I’m going to be working my way through all the shoots I’ve done since getting back from last fall’s trip out west. I haven’t been super busy, but there are several shoots backed up and unedited.
Not long after returning home I took off for a quick trip over to Pittsburgh to attend the opening of a show at a gallery there. That was the Naked In Pittsburgh show.
I had four prints in this show, all of them featuring a great model who I love working with, Artistic Physique. She was so pleased to be featured in my work in this show that she came in for the opening. Another of my favorite models, Kelsey Dylan, also went over for the opening. Of course, we couldn’t resist the opportunity to do some photos while we were there. The motel room where we shot happened to have a lot of mirrors, so I decided to play with the reflections and the shallow depth of focus of my 50mm f/1.4 lens.
I’m not sure if we made any art that day, but we did have fun playing around with the mirrors. Mirrors are always fun.
For those of you who care about technical stuff, I processed the RAW files from this shoot using ACDSee Pro 5. I like this program for lots of things and it seems to have a lot of capability when it comes to processing RAW, but after using it this time I’m thinking I’ll stick with Nikon View NX2. I didn’t see any real advantage to ACDSee for this task. I have used one version or another of ACDSee to manage my photos pretty much ever since I started doing digital photos. It does pretty much what Lightroom does, but has been around a lot longer and costs a lot less. I tried Lightroom when it first came out and have not seen a reason to switch to it.
Athena
March 30th, 2012
Athena is a lovely young woman, a talented photographer, a graphic designer and a beautiful model. I’ve known her for quite a while and enjoyed working with her. She’s the model in some of my favorite photos. But a couple years ago she got married and had her first baby. That pretty much put an end to her modeling and she has been a full-time mom ever since.
When I returned home from the trip Athena was pretty far along in her pregnancy for her second child. I did some family portraits for them and Athena graciously agreed to pose for a few nudes as well.
One of the wonderful things about photography is the ability to catch moments in time like this so Athena will always have a reminder of the time when she was carrying her new daughter. It’s sometimes hard for us to remember that only 200 years ago having images to remember times like this was not even something that could be imagined. Photography really has changed the world we live in…in more ways than we know.
One Last Time
March 25th, 2012
Well, the last time for this trip, anyway. I expect that Brooke and I will be working together many times in the future. At least I hope so. After the stop in Denver where Brooke modeled for wet plate photos by Mark Sink and Kristen Hatgi, we headed for home…well, for Brooke’s home in Minnesota anyway. We were like a horse headed toward the barn after being on the road for three weeks and weren’t planning any photo stops, just making time down the highway.
But as we were driving through Iowa I noticed the nice clouds in the sky. They are the kind of clouds that I use for the series of photos I call my “Magritte Skies” photos. Then I saw some of the new white windmills that are popping up around the country. I asked Brooke if she minded a quick stop for one last photo. As usual, she agreed.
As luck would have it, the spot I found to do this photo happens to be the location of the James Gang’s first train robbery, near Adair, Iowa. And, yes, I do carry derby hats and an umbrella around with me for those times when I spot a good sky for another of these photos.
Thanks, Brooke, for a beautiful ending to a great trip.
Wigwam
March 21st, 2012
I guess it’s about time to post something new so I don’t frighten all my regular readers away with that scary photo of me all bloodied. I’m doing very well, recovering and watching the red go away to be replaced by some serious black eyes. Still limping a bit, but my ankle is almost back to normal and everything is healing up.
So, back to the account of the trip out west. Brooke and I left Kat in LA and headed back east. First stop was at a Route 66 icon, The Wigwam Motel. We, of course, could not resist doing a few photos there. The place is “decorated” with old cars, including the one you see in front of our wigwam.
The rooms are actually very nice, well maintained, nicely decorated and clean. It was a great place to spend the night. I shot these interior photos with my 12-24. I don’t remember if I tried the fisheye and decided it didn’t work for the space, or if I just decided to go with the 12-24, but it did work fairly well to capture the feel of the room.
And, when I planned the trip I noticed that we’d be at the Wigwam on a night right before the full Moon. That’s the night that is best to shoot Moon photos with something on the Earth in the foreground because the Moon rises about a half hour before the sun sets. That means that the foreground on Earth and the Moon have the same light on them…direct sunlight. The Photographer’s Ephemeris allowed me to see that there was some possibility I could get a camera angle that would allow me to use a long telephoto lens to get a nice big Moon in the photo. It didn’t tell me about that chain link fence, though. Wish it hadn’t been there. There were obstructions and other buildings that prevented me from being able to get as far away as I would have liked, but I did the best I could with what the location allowed.
I also regret that I was too far away to ask Brooke to turn around for a shot with her facing away from the camera. That, of course, would have allowed me to shoot “Two Moons At The Wigwam.” Maybe another time.
Ouch!
March 19th, 2012
Never try to steal girlscout cookies from a motorcycle gang.
I thought I’d go ahead and post this here for those of you who haven’t seen it on facebook. I had a little accident yesterday. I wish it were a better story, but it is pretty mundane.
I went to the grocery store to buy stuff to make a special Irish stew for dinner Sunday night. On the way out of Meijers with my hands full of grocery bags I stepped in a small hole and twisted my ankle. That made me lose my balance and I couldn’t catch myself. I did a major face plant into the asphalt.
There were some great people getting in their truck right beside me and they immediately pitched in and helped me. Then some folks came out from the store and did a really good job patching me up and taking care of me until Emily could get there and take me to the ER.
Three and a half hours at the ER, a dozen X-rays and they wiped me off, smeared on some cream and sent me home. Nothing serious. It doesn’t even hurt much. Most of the pain is in my ankle, which is badly sprained, and in the knee above it which hit the asphalt hard enough to tear my jeans. Went to Eyemart today and got new glasses. The old pair were toast. I’m fine, really, just a little tired. I’ll be taking it easy for a few days, but all is good.
I’ve really got to come up with a better story…
