Chicago Show Coming Soon
May 20th, 2010
Just over a week to go until the opening of my show in Chicago at Gallery Provocateur. That show has been keeping me busy getting my prints ready, and now I’ll be spending a lot of time in Chicago. The first opening is Saturday night, May 29. I’ll be there. And there’s a second opening the following Saturday, June 5. I’ll be there for that opening too. If you can make it to the show please come by and say hello.
The show at Gallery Provocateur is also serving as a launch party for the f-eleven Volume 2 book of photographs. That book as well as Volume 1, is still on sale. Bring your copies to the gallery opening and you’ll be able to get autographs from several of the participating photographers, including, of course, yours truly. For more information about the f-eleven books please visit the f-eleven books site.
Both of the openings should be a lot of fun. Hope to see you there.
Kelsey in NUDE Photographed by Carrie Leigh
May 17th, 2010
That’s one of my favorite models, Kelsey Dylan, as she appears in the new issue of Carrie Leigh’s NUDE magazine. The photo was taken by Carrie Leigh herself http://www.carrieleigh.com/ If you’d like to have your own copy of this issue of NUDE, pre-orders are available until May 21st at http://www.carrieleigh.com/Nstrbckiss.html
Kelsey is a great model and a delightful young woman. I was looking forward to working with her again in Seattle, but had to cancel that trip. I hope we’ll get the chance to make some more art together this summer when she is back in Ohio for a couple months.
In other news, I went to Chicago over the weekend (up and back in one day…12 hours of driving) to drop off my prints for a gallery show that will be opening on Saturday, May 29 at Gallery Provocateur. There will be a second opening on June 5. If you are in the Chicago area please try to come by and say hello. There will be a lot of art on display thanks to the several fine artists participating in this show. Hope to see you there.
The show at Gallery Provocateur is also serving as a launch party for the f-eleven Volume 2 book of photographs. That book as well as Volume 1, is still on sale. Bring your copies to the gallery opening and you’ll be able to get autographs from several of the participating photographers, including, of course, yours truly. For more information about the f-eleven books please visit the f-eleven books site.
It’s Personal
May 10th, 2010
No photo today. This isn’t about photography.
And that’s not how I do things here. I started this blog as a place to show my recent photo work and talk about what I was doing with photography. I’m not big on putting a lot about my personal life on line. But I feel I need to make an exception, so here goes.
I’ve received a lot of very nice messages and comments expressing condolences on the death of my father. Your thoughts and thoughtfulness are greatly appreciated. Unfortunately, my situation is not typical and most likely not what most of you are thinking it is. So I feel the need to explain a bit.
My father and I were not close. In fact, he wasn’t my birth father. My mother married her second husband when I was about two years old. He adopted me. But he never treated me as his son. I was just an obligation he took on when he married my mother. As a child I didn’t have the tools to understand, but I knew something wasn’t right.
As I grew up there were many conflicts between my father and myself. Eventually I started to be aware of him being cruel and abusive toward my children and I stopped taking my children to visit him. That also cut my kids off from contact with their grandmother, but I wasn’t going to allow my father to do emotional and spiritual harm to my children.
After my children had pretty much grown up I started to visit again, and even encouraged my children to visit, although they seldom did because of the toxic environment surrounding my father.
My mother died about 5 years ago. In the aftermath of my father’s death I learned, to no real surprise, that he had removed me from his will after my mother’s death. One final hurt delivered from beyond the grave.
The financial impact of that is insignificant. The insult to my mother is troubling. If I believed in heaven it would be fun to imagine her up there kicking his ass. But my children assure me that they know they have something that I have never had: a father who cares deeply about them and loves them unconditionally. So it was a small price to pay to keep them safe from the hurtfulness that I’ve had to deal with throughout my life.
So, this has been a very complicated time of grief, but also of bonding within the healthy and loving family I’ve created. Creating that family was a challenge for me since I had no role model for how to be a good father.
It’s been very hard for me to focus on much other than this for the past couple weeks. But the storm is clearing and I’m going to be getting back to work and back to blogging. I’ll have new things here again soon.
I’m concerned that this all sounds whiny and complaining. I don’t want it to sound that way. There are huge numbers of people in this world who have much more to complain about. My issues are minor in comparison. I am fortunate to have a loving wife and wonderful children. I am who I am because of all the things that have happened in my life, including my relationship with my father. And I’m pretty happy with who I am and the life I’ve made for myself. So I really don’t want to complain.
Quoting from the Desiderata:
“…Be at peace with God, whatever you conceive Him to be, and whatever your labors and aspirations, in the noisy confusion of life keep peace with your soul. With all its sham, drudgery, and broken dreams, it is still a beautiful world.”
Thank you all for being a part of my life and for caring. I’ve always been a little suspicious of the whole on-line friend thing, but over time I’ve met a lot of my on-line friends in person and I have yet to be disappointed in the people behind the web presences. You are all a bunch of great folks. Thanks.
Washed Up
May 3rd, 2010
Here’s another photo of the fantastic Angie. A couple weeks ago we went out looking for wild flower photos. We shot some, but we also did this one…another naked chick on rocks photo. This is the one I ended up liking best from the shoot. Maybe I’ll get wild flower photos next spring.
It’s a difficult time for me right now, dealing with the death of my father and all that that means. I’m having a hard time being interested in blogging right now. But I’m planning some photo therapy through a couple shoots this week to try to get my mind off all the other things, so I hope that will inspire some new posts with some new photos.
Man Plans; God Laughs
April 27th, 2010
Things have changed overnight. I won’t be going to Seattle. My father died last night.
That’s Angie up there, struggling with the darkness.
A Feather In Her Cap
April 25th, 2010
Still playing around now and then with the cyc in the new studio, trying to figure out the best way to use my lighting gear in this new environment. _G_ came in to pose for me a week or so ago and brought this variation on the outfit she wore to the Dirty Show last fall. The variation being that she wore pasties to the show. I wanted to shoot the outfit in the studio because I thought it would be a good way to show off the beautiful detail in that skirt…not to mention the beautiful detail in _G_.
I’ve been refining the lighting setup since I did this photo. It’s all working pretty well for me now. More to come.
Meanwhile I’ve been getting ready for the trip to Seattle this week. Sorting out equipment and rain gear (it is Seattle…rain gear is essential). Should be a good trip with fun at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and some good shooting in the great rain forest there. Not looking forward to having to fly again, but I’ll deal with it. I’ll be at the artist’s reception on Thursday night and the festival on Friday, so if you are going to the show try to find me and say hello.
And I’m going to be meeting some good on-line friends in person for the first time, so that’s a great bonus for this trip. I should have photographic evidence of all the goings-on out there on the blog by this time next week.
It’s The Bee’s Knees
April 22nd, 2010
That’s what Angie thinks of the new f-eleven volume 2 that she’s checking out in this photo. Do you have your copy yet? Better go to that link and buy one while you can. By the way, Angie is in two photos in vol. 2, in my self-portrait and also in my friend, Dave Rudin’s self-portrait.
Sorry I’ve not been posting much lately. Getting ready for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival and for my upcoming gallery show in Chicago at Gallery Provocateur has been taking up most of my time.
And, of course, there was the trip to the eye doctor for that wonderful laser treatment. It wasn’t bad at all. Once he started zapping my eye it only took about 5 minutes to do the full 100 zaps. It didn’t hurt at the time, although for the next couple days my eye felt a bit irritated, kind of like I had gotten poked in the eye with a stick, or that I’d had something in my eye for a while. But that feeling is all gone now. I go back in a few weeks for a follow-up where I’ll find out if the treatment worked and the pressure in that eye is lowered.
So now I’m starting to think about packing for Seattle. I’m working on the assumption that it will be raining while I’m there. That will give me a chance to work in bad weather, which always seems to result in the best photos. But I have to take extra pains to keep the gear at least dry enough to survive and be used another day. Except for one new piece of equipment that arrived yesterday. I now have one of those waterproof point-and-shoot cameras. If the weather is really bad out there I’ll just shoot with it. And in the future when I want to go for a jaunt in a kayak or run around in the surf to take some shots, I won’t have to worry about ruining the Nikon if anything goes wrong. I had considered getting the waterproof housing for my Canon S90, but this camera was actually less expensive than the housing, so I went with it.
Things may slow down just a bit now, at least until I catch that flight to Seattle. So maybe I’ll make a few new posts before I leave. Or not…
Changes
April 14th, 2010
Well, it looks like I’ve set a new record. I think this is the longest period of time I’ve gone without a post here since I started the blog. Sorry about that. I’ll let you in on a few of the reasons.
Let’s start with my web site. It’s gone. One day it was there, the next it was completely gone. Not even able to get it in google cache. Poof, no more. I’m not actually surprised. The webmaster is in Germany and it has been years since he has done so much as respond to an e-mail. I’m sure he has just moved on to other things and finally did away with the web space that I and a bunch of other photographers had been using with his web design.
So, I’ve been trying to figure out what to do. I’ve set up a temporary site using google sites. The website link to the right here will now take you to that site. It aint pretty, but it’s functional and looks as good as I could make it look using the amazingly awful templates and tools available from google. Seriously, if google had something that was even remotely decent I’d just keep the site there, but it sucks so bad that I can’t see doing that. I’m really surprised that google can’t do any better than that. WYS aint WYG over there.
My friend Dave Rudin is in the same boat as me because his site was at the same place and also vanished. In fact, it was Dave who sent me a message telling me my site was gone when this happened. He has built a new site using GoDaddy templates that looks pretty good. I’m thinking I might just do the same thing. I’ll let you know, of course, when I figure this out.
In other news, I finally got my prints shipped out to the Seattle Erotic Art Festival. I’ll be going out to attend the artist’s reception and will be at the festival on Friday night. I’ll also be meeting up with some friends and doing some shooting while I’m out there. This will be my first visit to Seattle, and my first chance to meet in person some folks I’ve known on line for quite a while, so I’m really looking forward to the trip.
Now that I’ve finished the work to get things ready and shipped to Seattle I’m starting work on the prints for my next show, opening in Chicago at Gallery Provocateur on Memorial Day weekend, with a second opening the following Saturday night. I’ll be there for both of those openings.
There’s also been non-photo stuff going on that has kept me away from the blog. We’ve had a very pleasant visit by relatives from Vermont. We will be going out of town for a couple days to attend a memorial service for an aunt who has died.
And, last week I went for one of my regular eye doctor appointments to keep track of the glaucoma that I’ve had most of my life. The doctor had been warning me for about 10 years that the day would come when the eye drops would not be doing the job and a lazer procedure would be needed to reduce the pressure in my eyes. Well, that time has arrived and next week I’ll be getting my right eye zapped about 100 times by a lazer. It’s an office procedure and he assures me the only possible side effect is that it doesn’t do the job and we need to try something else. Still, I’m not really looking forward to it. But, better than going blind, which is what would happen if this condition were left untreated.
With all that, I’ve also been doing just a little shooting. That’s Angie up there stretching a lycra sack that I stuck her in. I shot a dance concert in March that included a reconstructed piece that was choreographed in 1953 that had three dancers inside similar sacks for the entire piece. I loved the effect and found some similar bags and ordered them to see what I could come up with putting figure models inside them and trying different lighting setups. This is from the first use of them, just using the morning window light in my new studio. I’m sure there will be more “sack full of model” photos coming in the future.
A reminder that both volume 1 and volume 2 of the f-eleven books are still available. All of the profits from these books go to support charities. They contain some wonderful photography. Check out the full previews and other information at those links.
Volume 2 Is Out
April 2nd, 2010
Coinciding with the month of autism awareness* and to raise attention to the effects of the Fragile X Syndrome, 100% of the proceeds from the sales of the f-eleven vol. 2 will be donated to autism research.
The coffee table quality photography book, edited by internationally published photographer and art director Wolf189, features the work of 19 talented photographers of multiple genres.
The result is a trend-challenging, and visually stimulating collection presented in a luxurious format. Printed on 100lb coffee table book standard paper with a silky finish, the book will handle many years of viewing.
f-eleven vol.2 is on sale now: ( at above or by visiting : )http://www.blurb.com/my/book/detail/1239715
“We hope that this book would help raise awareness and provide some financial assistance for this worthy cause,” said Leo Lam, a fashion photographer in Seattle, and one of the contributors of f-eleven vol. 2.
f-eleven is an exclusive private photography group. The book project was started by its members in late 2009, and since then have produced two book releases. The books are diverse and progressive, with the fundamental aim to effect small positive changes in worthy causes; one shutter click at a time.
website: http://f-elevenbooks.com/
blog: http://www.blog.f-elevenbooks.com/
facebook: http://www.facebook.com/f11books
twitter – http://twitter.com/felevenbooks
tumblr – http://f-eleven.tumblr.com/
List of contributing photographers:
Brooks Ayola (portraits)
Ralph Barker ( fine art landscape + still life )
Mariah Carle ( portraits )
Sita Mae Edwards ( fine art nude )
Stephen Haynes ( fine art nude + travel )
Patrick Robert James ( fine art nude + landscape )
Leo Lam ( editorial fashion )
Dave Levingston ( fine art nude )
Frank Love ( street / documentary work )
Darryl Martin ( fashion portraits )
Stephen Melvin ( journalistic wedding )
Ken Mierzwa ( documentary / commentary portraits )
D. Brian Nelson ( Nude Portraits )
Keith Allen Phillips ( fine art fetish portraits )
Sarah Robertson ( personal work )
Dave Rudin ( fine art nude + travel )
Ward Shortridge (street photography)
roman T. (street photography)
Wolf189 ( editorial fashion + erotic portraits )
Thank you for all of your support… help us to make our efforts count.
Our intention (editor and the contributors of this book ) has not been coordinated with this respectful charity yet, but it is our wish and intention to donate all of the profits of this book to autism research.
Learn about Fragile X Syndrome:
http://www.autism.com/autism/behavior/fragilex.htm
More Angie At Night And f-eleven Volume Two Coming Friday
March 31st, 2010
Here’s another of Angie in the light from the street light outside my new studio windows.
Friday is the day for the new f-eleven book, volume two, to be officially released and available. I’ll have a link to it here on Friday so you can go look at the preview and order a copy. It’s a great book. Lots of very fine photographs from some amazing photographers. And some from me too.
Meanwhile you can find out more about volume one and read about the charities we are supporting with the profits from these books. Volume One profits are going to Friends Without A Border. Here is a bit about them from their web site:
“Every child has the right to a healthy and loving life. Friends Without A Border is committed to improving the health and well being of the children of Cambodia by providing quality medical care, extensive outreach and crucial medical education through Angkor Hospital for Children.”
Volume Two profits will be donated to The Autism Research Intitute. We especially want to bring attention to Fragile X Syndrome.
To find out more about the charities visit this link: http://f-elevenbooks.com/charities.html
Here are more links to information on f-eleven and our books:
f-eleven books: http://f-elevenbooks.com/
f-eleven books blog: http://blog.f-elevenbooks.com/
f-eleven books twitter: http://twitter.com/felevenbooks
f-eleven books tumblr: http://f-eleven.tumblr.com/
f-eleven face book: http://www.facebook.com/pages/f-eleven-books/241223479911?created&v=wall
