AZ Falls shoot

Did a couple more shoots this week until I got very sick and the weather turned briefly nasty.  I've shot so many people recently to get a portfolio of fashion/ models/ portraits and I am glad to say I am almost at that point where I won't be relying on others to do free stuff.  It is really complicated for me to network, organize stuff and get my kids watched and so on and so forth, all for free.  However, comparing my earlier people work versus what I've done over the last month... there's just no comparison. 

This model was a photographer herself, and it always helps when they understand what you are going for or what something might look like in the end.

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CA Kids

Trapped in LA thanks to our van overheating.  I did manage to get a few snaps of the kids, always hard when they are constantly on the move.

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First Blonde

My first blonde model!  Really trying to push each shoot in a new direction.  Also trying to incorporate some of the influences I mention on this blog... Federico Erra definitely was in the forefront of my mind as I shot and processed these.

The true blast of having other people to work with, who are already aware they are the subject of a photographic session, is that each time I get to try something new and progress further as an artist;  I would never want to be an artist who rests on their laurels and does the same effects and same kind of images over and over.  The image with the hood up in front of a waterfall is actually a test for a shoot Dec. 21st, but this model was kind enough to play along.  The strange bit with her eyes being dilated/ colored differently was a side effect of my reflector placement, but it looks pretty darn neat if you ask me.  Whenever the light is uneaqually distributed-- like half the face in shadow, half in sunlight-- you get odd effects with peoples' eyes.

The big struggle is to move beyond the face and incorporate more of the body, yet as you can see in all of these images the face is what I am always drawn to-- kind of like the Animal Sight series... so I did shoot quite a few full body images, however they inevitably get processed last as I work through face images.  The image of the model fixing her hair in my car window may actually be my favorite so far, even though it may be the least sophisticated technically.  It was definitely a spontaneous moment and I always like things that are a bit behind the scenes. 

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Pipup Pop

My first pinup shoot, done with someone very into 1940s classic pinup and airplanes, shot at the Mesa Commemorative Air Force.  Lots of fun.  Every shoot I do with models is vastly different from the last... different concepts, different people, different equipment.  This "legs" picture in particular goes along with a sort of iconic graphic image that I would like to have as one of my artistic traits.  I don't think of it as generic by any means, but there are bits that general public can easily recognize-- the time period it evokes, natural yet classy sex appeal.

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Influences: Roger Ballen

Roger Ballen is someone I failed to appreciate when I got to see a show of his work in front of my face when I was visiting MCAD a few years back.  It was a show of freakish South Africans in desolate rooms, and at the time I took it as a riff on Diane Arbus, very flat looking portraits.  Since then I've wised up considerably and now Ballen is one of my favorites.  His art is stark and wirey, uncomfortable and maybe a bit annoying, like a buzzing insect in your bedroom at night that you can't see.  I love his work because it makes me feel something.  It's artists like him that make me want to push my work in a more visceral direction

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Stair Girls

Spent my weekend slaving over a hot laptop developing more images from this week's model shoots.  There were some raised eyebrows in the house that so many hours were spent staring at these images but I still maintain it is a form of hard labor.  These two I posted together as they are the same concept, girls on stairs shot from above.  I thought it worked quite nicely though some stairs are perhaps cleaner than others...

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