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.
Snapshot
June 10th, 2010
Here’s just a little snapshot of the harbor at Grand Marais shot this morning with my S90.
Brooke On The Rocks And A Bird In The Bush
June 10th, 2010
The weather was good to us yesterday, i.e., cloudy pretty much all day, so we got a lot of work done. We spent some time out on the shore, as you can see above, and we went to Illgen Falls and also did a short drive back up the Gunflint Trail to take a hike in the woods.
But, despite the favorable light, I didn’t really get what I was after at the falls or on the hike. When we got to the falls everything was perfect, there was no one around and it looked like we would have a good shoot. But, as we tried to get down to the water below the falls we quickly found that the rocks all the way down were wet and very slippery and there was what we call in rock climbing, “lots of exposure.” In other words, one slip on those slippery rocks and you were going all the way down the cliff into the river below. Neither Brooke nor I thought it was worth the risk. So we changed direction and found a more safe place to shoot above the waterfall. It’s a good shot that may show up here soon.
The hike along the Gunflint trail was slightly eventful in that we encountered what I think was a momma pheasant who had a nest full of chicks right at the edge of the trail. She was pretty upset that we were there and made it quite clear that she was not planning to let us pass on the trail. We didn’t get close enough to see the chicks…I think momma might have plucked our eyes out if we had tried…but eventually we managed to get past her and go on down the trail. That’s her giving us the what for. Unfortunately I had my camera in the backpack when she tried to attack us with her tail feathers spread, coming right down the trail at us. It’s been a long time since I’ve actually seen a pheasant in the wild and I don’t have any guide books with me, so if I’m wrong about what kind of bird this is, please let me know. (EDIT: Miles says the bird is a grouse. I believe he may be correct…any other votes?)
I saw a couple shots along the way that we were able to get, but not the one I was looking for. We may try again today.
But the sun is not cooperating today. It’s a bright, sunny, beautiful day. It’s even fairly warm for this location. But the light is not giving us what we want, at least so far. There seems to be some possibility that clouds will move in this afternoon, so we are waiting to see. But we’ve had so much success already that it doesn’t really matter.
Tomorrow morning we will be up early. I’ll return Brooke to Minneapolis and hope to have lunch with my friend, Stephen, there before I start the long drive back to Ohio. Don’t know if I’ll make it all the way tomorrow, or if I’ll stop along the way and spend the night. I’ll just see how that goes.
On The Gunflint Trail
June 9th, 2010
Yesterday Brooke and I drove north up the Gunflint Trail looking for places to shoot. We found a bunch of them. This is one example of the kind of locations we found to photograph. It is beautiful country up here. As I said in the last post, rain moved in after lunch and ended our work for the day, but we have been back at it today and I’ll have more new things for you soon.
North Shore Weather Report
June 8th, 2010
Brooke and I are exploring the north shore of Lake Superior and doing some photos. This is a beautiful place, though not quite as wild as I had imagined it would be. But there are still plenty of places to get away from the signs of civilization, which are really not all that intrusive on the natural beauty of the place.
Weather has turned out to be our biggest issue. Yesterday we spent the day trying to hide from the sun on a bright, blue-sky day. Despite that we were able to find plenty of places and times when the light was working. Like in the photo above on the shore.
Today started out pretty good with clouds, and we spent the morning exploring the Gunflint Trail north of the lake, but by the time we had stopped for lunch it was starting to rain and the rain picked up to a fairly heavy level…I don’t mind shooting in the rain, but this was enough water falling from the sky to have a negative impact on the kind of photos I am trying to make here, so we called it a day and are hoping the rain will stop by the morning.
I don’t do all that many portraits when I’m out on one of my photo trips with a model, but Brooke was looking so fine in this photo below that I couldn’t resist taking it and sharing it here. I think she was letting just a little bit of her soul show.
Field Work
June 8th, 2010
On Saturday Ken, who knows his way around the restored natural areas of Chicago, took Natalya and me out to a wetland where we could do some shooting. I think Natalya had a good time. And we got some fine photos.
Then we cleaned up and made our way to the gallery for the second opening of the show in the evening. That’s Ken and Natalya below in front of Ken’s photos at the show. The second opening was a lot quieter than the first, which was a good thing in that it was a lot better environment for actually viewing the art on display. I saw a number of people there on the second night who I remembered seeing the week before at the first opening. So I’m guessing they came back because they liked the show and wanted to get a closer look.
I left the gallery a bit early because I got up at 4 a.m. Sunday morning and drove to Minnesota where I picked up my favorite model, Brooke Lynne, and we headed off to the north shore of Lake Superior. That’s where I am now, after a day of shooting in this beautiful place with Brooke. We have a few more days of shooting ahead of us. It’s already a great trip. You’ll be seeing some of the results here, I hope. The wifi connection at the motel has been a bit weird. I couldn’t get on line yesterday afternoon, but it seems to be working fine now. So as long as I’m able to connect I’ll update the blog with our latest photos.
Starved Rock
June 4th, 2010
I had today set aside to work with Claudine. She is a great model and a great person. I try to get together with her whenever I’m in Chicago. We’ve shot several times, including last weekend, of course. Today we looked at several options and decided to head down to Starved Rock State Park. This park, of course, is one of my friend Dave Swanson’s favorite places to shoot. I’ve seen his photos, and now I’ve see the place and made a few photos of my own. It is indeed a great place.
Tomorrow I’ll be getting together with Ken and one of his model friends for a shoot in the morning. Then the second opening of the gallery show is tomorrow night. Hope to see you there.
Old Iron
June 2nd, 2010
After our opening of the show at Gallery Provocateur on Saturday night some of us got up early Sunday morning to do a shoot. I met Ken, Iona Lynn and Claudine at 8 a.m. and we headed to an old abandoned iron works that Ken knew about for a day of shooting.
It was a very hot, sunny day, which presented a bit of a challenge for making the light work. And there were lots of other folks around, it being a holiday weekend. But we managed to get a few worthwhile shots.
Tomorrow it’s back to Chicago. I’ll be shooting Claudine again on Friday and doing another shoot with Ken and several models on Saturday before we head to the opening.
And then I’ll be taking off for what promises to be a great little trip to a great out-of-the-way location with my favorite model, Brooke Lynne. More on that after it happens.
