Wet, Wild and Wonderful
October 27th, 2010
I’m in West Virginia this week working with the wonderful and stunning model, Kat, who I met recently when I was in Florida. She is a very special person. I knew as soon as I met her that she was going to become one of my favorite models…and that first instinct was absolutely on the money.
So, I’ve been dragging her around to my favorite places in this beautiful state and she has been doing a great job of modeling, despite having to cope with wind and rain and cold…and being a Florida person who isn’t used to this sort of weather.
This photo was taken near Seneca Rocks. It’s actually somewhere close to the old Seneca Rocks campground. That was the most beautiful, perfect campground I ever camped in. There was a rocky stream flowing right beside it. Each campsite was surrounded by trees separating it from the other campers. I would fall asleep to the sounds of that stream rushing past. There are many fine memories of good times associated with that place. Of course the Forest Service decided to do away with it and built a new campground in a field on the side of a hill nearer to the rocks. It seems they have completely obliterated all signs of the old campground. At least I have not been able to find the location despite several attempts.
But this is near where it was. Kat is posing on rocks above that stream that filled my tent with such peaceful sounds back in those days. So, I guess this is close enough.
That was on our first day of shooting. The next day we went to Hills Creek Falls. To my dismay the trail to the lower falls was closed, so we hiked all the way down to the middle falls and were unable to go on to the best location to shoot. We did some good shots at the middle falls, though.
Then on the hike back up I was walking on a flat rock covered by leaves when I stepped into a hidden hole and twisted my ankle. I heard the crack sound as I went down. I layed there for a moment taking stock of the situation. Then I slipped my pack off and slowly stood up on the uninjured leg. It wasn’t as bad as the last time I did something like this when walking in a dry stream bed in California where several inches of dust hid a rock that caused a similar injury. That time I was forced to cancel several days of outdoor shoots because I really couldn’t walk.
It’s not that bad this time. The ankle is swolen and it hurts, but I can walk on it without much of a limp. So we continued with our hiking and shooting today and will do more tomorrow. I’m glad it was this minor. I would have hated to call off shoots here when it is going so well…and I don’t think Kat could have carried me up out of those waterfalls by herself.
There hasn’t been a lot of wildlife to see here at this time of year. Kat commented on the lack of insects…but it’s after the first frost, so they are pretty much gone…and that’s a good thing. But we have had some sightings. For example here’s a shot of a West Virginia Wildkat running for cover. You just never know what you are going to see out in these woods.
Red On Black
October 25th, 2010
When I met Angie at the studio to head out to the farm for our shoot last week I saw the sunlight doing this on a piece of black foam core in the studio. I really liked the effect of what the light was doing. So I asked her to do a quick pose there for me. I had already loaded my gear into the truck, so I just pulled out the Canon S90 that is always on my belt and shot it with that. I’m pretty pleased with the result.
Right now I’m in West By God Virginia having a great time shooting with a great model in some of my favorite places. I think West Virginia is one of the most amazing, beautiful places on this planet. And I’ve visited here often, usually on my motorcycle, for more than 30 years. It’s great to have the chance to revisit favorite places with a model and do photos that have existed in my mind for years. You’ll be seeing some of the results here in a day or three. Too busy shooting to spend much time editing right now.
And, to all those new visitors here who have come from reddit, welcome. I hope you enjoy the visit and feel free to come back often to see what I’m up to. To be honest, I’d never heard of reddit until I saw all the visitors coming from there tonight. I had to ask my model what it is…and she doesn’t really know. So, I don’t really know how or why this is happening, but I’m always pleased to have more people seeing my work…so, again, welcome. Y’all come back now, hear.
Take That, Damned Sun
October 20th, 2010
Another shoot yesterday and my luck with the sun continued. Monday it rained all day. But yesterday morning when I met Angie to do a shoot on a local farm the sky was completely clear and the sun was beating down on us. Of course we went on to the shoot and I managed to get a few things despite the bright sunlight.
But then, in the late morning, some nice puffy white clouds started to show up. Not enough cloud cover to help with the lighting, but it ended up being the perfect sky for me to shoot another of my “Magritte Skies” series of photos. I don’t get to shoot these often because everything has to come into place: just the right sky, a good setting for the photo and, of course, an available model. So I pulled out the polarizer and the hat and the umbrella and we did this shot. And, yes, I do keep bowler hats and umbrellas in my truck all the time so they will be there when an opportunity appears.
So here’s Angie in a tribute to Surrealism.
And, here’s my favorite lightbulb joke:
How many Surrealists does it take to change a lightbulb?
Two.
One to hold the giraffe and one to fill the bathtub with brightly colored bicycles.
A Friend Comes To Town
October 18th, 2010
My friend, Lost Coast Photo, came for a visit over the weekend. While he was here I set up a couple shoots for him with two of my favorite models, Artistic Physique and GoddessAngie.
Here are a couple snapshots of him at work with Artistic Physique in and around my studio. I just snapped these with my little Canon S90 while he was hard at work with his Leicas.
Another Vermont Farm Scene
October 15th, 2010
Here’s another Vermont farm photo. You can get an idea of what the leaves were doing while I was up there. Not a great year for fall colors. I photograph this farm every time I go to Vermont and I’m starting to get what I find to be a fairly interesting set of photos that show the changing environment. I may be entering a set of them in a juried show or two in the next year. Or not…we’ll see.
I’ve been very busy since getting back from Vermont and it’s not looking like it will let up any time soon. But I’ll keep trying to find time to do short posts and put up some new photos. Maybe I’ll find a nude to post next time.
Vermont Sky
October 12th, 2010
Just a quick update from my mother-in-law’s basement in Vermont. This has been a nice family visit. We head back home tomorrow and are looking at a very busy few days as soon as we return. More on all that as it happens. Meanwhile I have taken a few photos up here, as I usually do. Bright sun in clear blue skies, the bane of my photographic existance for the past half of a year, have continued here, of course. Rain is supposed to move in Thursday after we are back home. But some clouds did move in for a bit early this afternoon which gave me a chance to take this photo of an abandoned farmhouse near where my mother-in-law lives. It really needed the clouds to make it work. This is a quick edit job on my laptop…I think I’ll be able to improve it a bit when I’m back home with my full version of PhotoShop. But I don’t think it looks too bad in this version.
More Peyton
October 8th, 2010
I don’t have much time to write, but I wanted to do a new post for you. I’m about to leave on a trip and I don’t know if I’ll be able to do any posting while I’m away, so this may have to hold you for a few days.
This, of course, is the lovely Peyton Fontaine at Wekiwa Springs. We had a great day of shooting there, despite the sunshine. This was taken at one of the few moments when the sun ducked behind a cloud and gave me some softer light. Wish I could have worked with light like this the whole time I was in Florida. Maybe next trip.
Peyton and Shadow and Light
October 4th, 2010
Here’s something a little different of Peyton at Wekiwa Springs. I like this one because I think it is a good example of the difference between what the camera sees and what our eyes see. As I’ve said, I was struggling with working in bright sunlight. The contrast range in this photo is beyond what the camera is able to record. Our eyes see all this and compensate for the difference between the bright sun and the dark shadows and we see all the detail in all those places. The camera can’t capture all of that. The photographer’s job in this situation is to understand what the camera is going to do to the scene and work with that to make an effective photo.
I’m pretty pleased with what I was able to do with this situation. I let the shadows fall into black while trying to hold most of the highlights, although I compromised and let the highlights go just a bit off the end of the scale too. That allowed me to get good separation between Peyton’s lovely body and the brightly lit grass behind her. Letting the shadows go black worked to highlight the colorful reflections and the brightly lit moss on the log in the water to the left.
So, we get not what the swamp actually looked like, but an interpretation of the swamp that emphasizes some of the more beautiful elements of the scene and incorporates Peyton’s figure and her red hair as a focal point to draw your eye into the composition.
This is one of the photos included in my Wekiwa Springs calendar. There’s been an extension on one of the discount sales for those calendars. Use the code FALLPHOTO at checkout before October 8 and you will get a 20 percent discount on any calendars you buy. Visit my store to see previews of all of my 2011 calendars.
Another Shade of Kat
September 30th, 2010
Here’s something a little different that I shot of Kat while I was down in Florida. She’s a very fine model and a very nice person. It was a real treat to meet her and work with her. I’ll have more work done with her to share in the future. This one was done in the condo the evening before our Everglades trip.
One of the things that is going on in this photo is something I’ve been playing with for some time, using the Vibration Reduction capability of a lens to cause slightly different types of blurring than would happen without VR. In this case the blur isn’t much different from what would have happened if I had put the camera on a tripod, but it still made a photo that I find interesting.
I don’t have much news to share. I’m starting a couple new projects that may take my work in some new directions, but that is just at the beginning stages now and I’m not sure where it will end up going. That’s my approach to doing new things…just do it and see what happens, then analyze what I’ve done and see where I want to go from there. I think through shooting rather than thinking and then shooting. But, as I figure things out you are sure to see what I’m up to here on the blog.
People are starting to buy my calendars. You have the rest of today to take advantage of those discounts I mentioned in the last post. If there are other discounts in the future I’ll do my best to post them here for you to take advantage of them…but there is no promise that there will be savings like those being offered this month…so don’t wait if you think you’d like one of the calendars.
Calendar Time
September 25th, 2010
I’ve just finished publishing my calendars for 2011. They are all available at my Lulu store. You can click on any of the calendar covers below to go directly to that calendar or click the store link or the cover in the column over to the right.
There are actually a total of eight calendars for next year. Each of the themes comes in two sizes, so you can chose the photos you like and the price that fits your budget. Lulu does a really good job with the reproduction quality, so these will give you photos at a very reasonable price that look just fine for framing if you’d like to do that.
There are previews of each entire calendar at the store, so you can see all the photos.
Brooke On The North Shore is all photos from my trip this past spring with figure model Brooke Lynne.
Goddess Angie is a collection of photos I’ve done with Angie over the past couple years when we worked together almost weekly on all sorts of photos.
Wekiwa Springs includes photos that were all taken at Wekiwa Springs in Florida with figure models Claudine, Noelle Elise, Peyton Fontaine, and Z chel.
And, Figure In Nature is a collection of my other outdoor figure work.
Go to the store and take a look. If you hurry you can take advantage of a sale that runs through September 30. Just enter the code HARVEST305 at checkout and you will get a 25 percent discount.
And I just got a notice of another promotion. Use code FALLFOTO355 and you will get a 30 percent discount. This one is also good until September 30.
