Sweatin’ With An Oldie
July 7th, 2010
Sorry for the lack of updates. It’s not my fault. I’m in Vermont visiting my mother-in-law. Her 95th birthday was yesterday. There is no air conditioning at her house, which is usually not an issue in Vermont. But this record heat wave the eastern part of the U.S. is experiencing is here now too. It’s been in the mid-90s pretty much every day since we arrived here.
Since many family members are also visiting, we are staying in a motel, so we get to cool off at the end of the day. But the motel has wi-fi that doesn’t work, so I can’t be on line there. My brother-in-law has installed wi-fi at his mother’s house now as a birthday present, so I can get on line while we are at her house…where it’s in the upper 90s. But we’ve been pretty busy with family things and just going for drives in the mountains to get away from the heat. So my on-line time has been very limited.
If you look at the comments on the last post you will see that my friend, Mo, has asked some questions about figure modeling and photography that deserve a response. I intend to respond appropriately, but it is going to have wait at least another day or two until I have the time to spend writing. Meanwhile, if any of you out there have something to say about the issue Mo has raised I encourage you to go ahead and comment. I won’t approve disrespectful or stupid comments, however. But if you have something to say, go ahead. I’d like to hear some other points of view on this. I know how I feel about it, just need the time to order my thoughts properly. So that will be coming soon.
Meanwhile enjoy another photo of Brooke doing a somewhat unconventional pose during our north shore trip.
A Perfect Dilemma
July 1st, 2010
Usually when I’m working outdoors and I find a good location I look around for a little bit and find the photo at that spot that works for me. I often shoot a few variations and sometimes back at the computer doing editing I’ll find that the one I like best is not the one I thought would be best when I was shooting.
It’s good to allow a little bit of time between shooting and editing to aid in that process of finding the best photo without being influenced by what you were thinking when you shot.
And usually I’ll only allow one photo from a given location to end up in my “body of work.”
But what do you do when you are out with a perfect model and you come across a perfect location? That’s my problem here. We found this spot up on the Gunflint Trail. Those fallen trees were just perfect. And Brooke, as usual, was just perfect in her posing.
So I’ve ended up with a bunch of photos, all obviously taken at the same time in the same spot, but each one strong enough to stand on its own. I guess maybe a little portfolio of these might be in order.
I’m still thinking about what to do about this dilemma. It’s such a nice problem to have. Anybody have any suggestions?
Just a snapshot
June 29th, 2010
This is the last photo I’m going to be posting from my first day of shooting with Brooke on the north shore of Lake Superior. I’m calling this one a snapshot because we were taking a quick look at this location and were not planning to shoot, so I didn’t bring my camera backpack with all the normal gear. But when we got out there the light was cooperating, which we hadn’t expected, and I saw this photo. Fortunately I always have my little Canon S90 on my belt, so I just pulled it out and did the shot. I love that little camera.
I think you can see from the number of fine photos we got on that first day just why I think Brooke is the best figure model on the planet. I love working with her. If she lived closer to me I’d be shooting her at least once a week, if she would let me. She is so good for more reasons than just being beautiful. Brooke totally gets what I’m trying to do with my work. She understands what I’m after and what she needs to do to make her lovely figure work for the composition I’m working on. Working with her is a breeze because all I have to do is point out what I’m trying to do with a shot and where she belongs in the composition…then she goes where she needs to be and does what she needs to do. And it works. Add to that the fact that Brooke is one of the nicest people you are ever likely to run into and has an amazing ability to put up with me for days at a time. Yep, she’s the best.
A Friend Is Gone
June 25th, 2010
Yesterday I went to a memorial service for an old friend who was a very important person in my life. Bruce Humphrey was the photo editor at the Newark Advocate in Newark, Ohio, when he hired me, at age 16, to be an apprentice photographer. In recent years I would often joke with him that he was the man who ruined my life. Really, he set me on the path that would define my life. And it’s been a good path. Sitting at his memorial service I realized that I can’t even imagine what my life would be like without his influence. He was a good man and a great journalist. In a very unusual career path he rose from newspaper photographer to the position of managing editor. He believed in our system of democratic government and, above all else, the crucial role that the news media play in making this form of government work. He was not afraid to raise his voice to point out what was right and what was wrong in his community. He will be missed. He was just diagnosed with lung cancer in May and he is already gone. A reminder that we never know what tomorrow will hold. So live today.
And that’s another photo of Brooke from the north shore up there. Still from only our first day of shooting.
Reflections
June 23rd, 2010
I’m still way too busy to write much, but here’s more of Brooke on the north shore. This one is still from our first day of shooting. I don’t know when life is going to allow me more time for writing, but until then you’ll just have to be content with beautiful naked women in beautiful settings.
Brooke up a Creek
June 21st, 2010
Lots going on right now, little of it involving photography. It’s mostly good, though. I just don’t have time to write much here. So here’s another photo from the north shore trip with Brooke. This is what happens when you walk up a creek from the shore. I highly recommend it.
Brooke on the Boulders
June 17th, 2010
Here’s another of Brooke on the north shore. Beautiful rocks all over the place up there. Nice background for such a beautiful model. I’m still just on the first day of our shoot, so there will be lots more of these to come.
God Strikes Down “Butter Jesus”
June 15th, 2010
Sorry, but I couldn’t resist passing this bit of local news along. Along the side of I-75 between Dayton and Cincinnati there’s a huge, very strange statue of Jesus that we always called “Butter Jesus” because of the color and general similarity to those butter sculptures they have at the state fair. Well, it was there. Until last night when it was struck by lightning and destroyed by fire. There goes my scheme to sneak in there some night and shoot nudes on it.
Here’s the story: http://www.daytondailynews.com/news/dayton-news/jesus-statue-fire-damages-estimated-at-700-000-762245.html?cxtype=rss_local-news
More photos here: http://projects.daytondailynews.com/cache/galleries/News/Local/061410jesusfire/
Hmmm…do you suppose God is really an art critic? We already know many art critics think they are God…
Photos are from the Dayton Daily News.
North Shore In Review
June 14th, 2010
I’m back home now and trying to get everything organized from the trip. I’ve been at the studio this afternoon unpacking. I also have just picked up a new 2T hard drive for backups. So I’ve hooked it up and started the first of several data transfers to give me an additional place to be sure I don’t lose photos. But transferring a couple terabites of data seems to take a little bit of time. So, while that’s been going on I got all my gear unpacked and put away, back into the “home” configuration from the “photo trip” set up.
When I finished that the transfer was still going on, so I started looking through the photos from the trip. I was immediately reminded why I so much love working with Brooke. It’s really hard to miss when she is your model. I just pick a spot and have her go there and pose and start shooting. Magic happens. Art occurs. It’s really fun and inspirational. I really wish Brooke lived closer to me…I’d be shooting her every few days until she couldn’t stand it any more.
I’m going to be real busy for the next few weeks, mostly with non-photo related stuff. But I have so much material, thanks to Brooke, that I think I’ll just post new photos from this trip when I get a chance and let you enjoy them. I probably won’t be writing much, but you come here for the photos anyway, so that shouldn’t matter.
Meanwhile…if there are any figure models in Ohio who are reading this, I’m looking for a new, local model. I like to have several models who I work with on a regular basis and can call on when I have an idea. I have a couple great ones right now, but one of my favorites has moved away, so I feel like I should add someone new. I don’t like to shoot with a lot of different models, but rather have just a few who are friends and collaborators in my work. So, if you are a female model near Dayton who doesn’t mind getting naked and that sounds interesting to you, drop me a note through the contact button on this site and let’s talk.
Farewell To The North Shore
June 10th, 2010
I’ll be leaving the north shore early in the morning. Today was a good day of shooting, even though the sun kept us from starting until fairly late in the day. I’m not going to write much now because it is late, but I wanted to share the last of the photos now, since I won’t have time tomorrow with all the driving I’ll be doing to get Brooke and myself back home. So enjoy. The shot above is the one I tried to get yesterday along the Gunflint Trail. Today the light worked and I found the right location.
I played with an old cheap fisheye lens I’ve had for a while today. I’m thinking about buying a new fisheye lens that is actually sharp, but, of course, it’s hard to justify buying a lens like this because there are so few times when it is actually the right lens for the photo you have in mind. But I have something coming up that might lend itself to the fisheye treatment, so I’m practicing. Brooke makes a lovely practice subject.
You just never know what sort of creature is going to wash up on the rocks from a lake as big and deep and cold as Lake Superior.
But the rocks are beautiful and some of the creatures you find on them are really quite lovely.
So, goodbye to the north shore. It was a fun and productive visit.
