Signing off for 2007

One of the things that's been occupying my time and mind lately has been entering a few different competitions closing out the end of the year. Just got word from the Erotic Signature Competition that, while I finished "out of the money," one of my shots "Cruel Shoes" (featuring Iris) was chosen as one of the winners to appear among the 200 pieces in the book, "The World's Greatest Erotic Art of Today" Volume II to be published in May 2008. Congratulations also to Johnny Flamethrower, James Graham, Dave Levingston, Lochai, Jim Young, as well as the other included artists. And as always, thank you Iris for helping to create what's becoming a signature image for me.

The ES competition includes photography, sculpture, paintings, drawings, digital illustrations, etc. and while I'm not sure the exact number of competitors, there was an online gallery featuring all the pieces entered, and I would estimate the number to be well over 1000. There also appears to be plans for a traveling exhibit of show pieces from this year and last year, so I might have to venture to one of the exhibit cities when the time comes. The organizers indicate that 100% of the proceeds from the sale of the book will go to a charity voted upon by members of the site (they're making their money on entrance fees, etc). If you'd like to purchase a signed copy of the book through me, please let me know with a comment here, or via e-mail to garymphoto {at} gmail {dawt} com. I'll make more details available here once I get them, a little closer to the publication date.

So, between that good news, fun shoots over the weekend, and some other encouraging words and signs from various sources, it looks like things are on the upswing as I head into 2008. I'd like to thank all the models I've been fortunate enough to work with throughout the year -- without you, these images would be a lot less interesting. Thank you to my friends, old and new, for their encouragement and support throughout the year. And thanks to you regular readers of this little exercise in self-indulgence, especially those of you who take the time to comment now and again. Wishing you all a happy new year's and all the best in 2008.

Table manners

Today's group shoot was a lot of fun overall, with a few somewhat expected no-shows in the mix. It's almost necessary to overbook simply because car trouble, bad weather, finances, personal problems or whatever invariably result in what I would guess to be a 20% late cancel/no-show rate. It's understandable, since nobody's getting paid to take part, but still disappointing when someone you were looking forward to working with can't make it. NEVERTHELESS, I was able to work with six wonderful models, a couple new faces and several returning favorites including Miss Kittie (above) and Dreamscapes (below) -- these shots were from warmer days, but sort of two different perspectives on a favorite table in a favorite window. (Someone suggested to Dreamscapes that this shot would maka good billboard for a furniture company. Interested parties can contact me via the blog.) Look forward to seeing shots from today here soon.

After the shoot, about 25 or 30 models and photographers and such ascended on a local bar/restaurant where we were wisely sequestered from the rest of the clientele...

Tomorrow, I'm doing something of an impromptu shoot with a young lady I met at a wedding I helped Andi shoot a few months ago... trying to recall if I mentioned the wedding here before, but it was one of the nicest weddings I can recall attending, and the reception was a blast. But I digress... besides being tall and beautiful, she really struck me as someone with a strong presence, wit, and charm. She's not really modeled much before, but I'm confident that she'll do great in front of the camera, and I just hope I can manage to capture some of her spirit in our images. Been a while since I've looked forward to a non-nude shoot this much. Stay tuned for her, too.

Resolution

After a long stretch at home, looks like I'll have a bit of adventure to wind up 2007. Shooting most of Saturday, Sunday morning, and from there, it's sort of up in the air. Half tempted to just loaf around for a couple days, but part of me feels compelled to get back to my desk and back to work, no matter how non-productive I might be.

Welcome Teddie Fans

I've noticed lately that I get a small, but steady, amount of traffic from Teddie's portfolio page on ModelMayhem. She cleverly uses a link to all the posts tagged with her name, and lets visitors to her portfolio know they can see more of her shots and read all the nice things I have to say about her. A good way to expand beyond the 20 images they allow there... I'll continue saying nice things about her, except she's a little too far away. Just before her graduation, we'd made plans to schedule a shoot, even scouted out an interesting location, but between her finals and working and my schedule, we just never managed to find a time before she left. So, I'm hoping she'll find a reason to pay a visit down here, or maybe I'll finally make my long-promised Chicago junket a reality. Meanwhile, here's a few more shots of her to help melt the chill of winter.

Dirty minded...

This shot sort of reflects my state of mind trying to decide what to enter for the Dirty Show. The deadline is rapidly approaching, and I have a bunch of contenders, and a variety of input and opinions on what are the best choices. A lot of factors go into it... what will break through the clutter of several thousands of images being entered? Campy/funny or beautiful/artistic or just the most blatantly sexual images? (Yes, there have been a few of those from time to time.) I know I've complained on here before about similar situations, and in some ways, it's a good problem to have, as opposed to having too few suitable images to enter. I just seem to choose differently from almost anyone else, so do I pick what *I* like best, or what I think is going to get me in the show, or what other people think will get me in?

I know some people shoot things specifically for a certain show or event just a few weeks before they're needed. I tend to keep this show in the back of my mind all year, so when an idea or situation presents itself, I shoot images thinking "THAT will be a good one for Dirty." So, here I sit with a bunch of images from the past year, trying to narrow it down to just four shots. Another factor is the image submissions are limited to 504 pixels high or wide, which just seems tiny to me (images I post here are generally 800 pixels) so picking something that will "read" at that size is important.

I thought I'd come in tonight and get it all figgered out, but I'm more confuseder than before I started. I may just pick images from a hat before this is over...

400

Well, if you go by Blogspot's tally, this is the 400th entry to I&E, even though the real number is slightly higher. I'm not sure if I should consider 400 blog entries a substantial accomplishment, or a colossal waste of time. Comments anyone?

Well, it is Christmas Eve, so I'd like to take this chance to wish you all a most excellent Decemberween and a Happy Festivus!

Here's another shot of Sarah from our holiday snack cake series...

type/erase

Sometimes, I'll just type and type and still not be able to make sense of certain things, so those get shuttled into the 'draft' folder, probably never to see the light of day.

Here's Mandy, seemingly in the dead of night...

Still tied...

Had a shoot last night with Liz Ashley, who was in the midwest on a brief tour before heading back to Texas. She's in very high demand and has traveled all over the world shooting in some incredible locations -- kind of hard to believe she'd find herself in Dayton, OH, but there she was. Very friendly and relaxed, but with a lot of ideas and great instincts for posing. And in a way, I now feel I have a pretty good idea what Jessica Simps0n would look like nude.

Although I was there in plenty of time before the shoot, it wasn't until we were ready to get started that I discovered that my wireless flash trigger wasn't working. When using studio strobes, something needs to fire the strobes when the camera shutter is clicked. I've been using an inexpensive but (usually) reliable wireless system -- the trigger mounts to the camera "hot shoe" and the receiver connects to one of the flash units. This lets me position the flash pretty much anyplace, and I can be right next to it, or across the room, thanks to the wireless trigger.

So, last night it decides to crap out on me, and I had to go back to a cord connection for the night, which renewed my appreciation for the wireless trigger. For starters, the end of the cord that connects to the camera is just a shallow plug without any sort of "grip" to it, so it tends to just fall out, and to plug it back in, it's necessary to turn the flash off, then try to connect the thing in the dark, then switch the flash back on. And, once the cord is connected, I can still only get about 6 or 8 feet away from the light source, which is pretty limiting. Plus, having the cord connected makes it really easy to trip over and either bring the camera or the flash unit crashing to the ground -- I've had it happen a couple of times with the camera when I couldn't go wireless. Not good. The ironic thing is earlier in the week, I'd told a friend about the benefits of going wireless, and it prompted me to order a backup set, but it didn't arrive in time for last night's shoot. Story of my life...

But I made due with the cord the way the pioneers did. It was sort of a short-notice shoot, so we kept it pretty simple, and I feel we got some nice results for the evening. Here are just a couple quick previews -- more to come. Thanks Liz!

Closer

Saturday is the first day of winter, which means that after that, the days will start to get slightly longer... all this winter and darkness isn't doing much for my state of mind, and it hasn't even gotten seriously cold yet. The worst of the big storm missed us, which is nice, but that won't last long.

To warm us up a bit, here are a couple shots from this fall with "Plain Jayne Jones" -- I won't make the obvious joke. A fun afternoon's shooting, despite various obstacles... managed to fall in the stream just one time. Didn't have the heart to ask her to get down in the muddy bed of the creek. (Thanks Adam for the loan of your woods.) Guess I prefer the other kind of bed for shooting... Thanks Jayne!

Snow Tired

Well, we got part one of the big storm, so it leads me to believe that part two will present itself as well. Not holding out much hope for shooting on Sunday.

These are Alexis... hard to believe we shot these on the tail end of LAST winter. Where does the damn time go?

Weather... or not.

Well, this weekend is supposed to be another "storm of the century" here. I know it's been a pretty big problem out west and up north, but it seems about 75% of the time, these storms never amount to much here. Knock wood...

If the big storm passes us by, I hope to do another shoot with Danaid here this weekend. We've become pretty good friends in the year or so since we first worked together, and it's always a pleasure to spend time with her, and we always get work that I count among my best. So, cross your fingers and hope that the snowstorm passes us by.

Magical PXE

A nice little selection from my shoot not too long ago with a model who goes by PXE. Just wonderfully expressive and utterly adorable, she's a joy to work with and a natural in front of the camera. Funny thing is, she's in school studying to be a photographer, and sort of fell into modeling for her fellow students. Ah, to be in school again... As a photographer, she's very inventive and does a great job of creating atmosphere... just a natural, and I'm looking forward to big things from this little pixie.

Framed!

The picture frame within the frame thing is one of the oldest tricks in the book, but it can still be fun and interesting, especially in the hands of the charming Engle... it wasn't really planned, just happened to be at hand while we were working in that room, so we grabbed a few shots. Nice presentation...

Welcome NuExpo.com visitors

Got a nice little feature over on a French site, NuExpo.com... they picked three shots from the blog featuring these lovely models.

Danaid
Zinn Star
Malinda & Mandy

Merci beaucoup mes amis!

Mood vs. Technical

Here's an image from the summer, featuring London (see link at right) and Danaid. I like the contrast in their skin tones, and I think the softness of Danaid lends a nice mood to the image. What do you guys think?


Like Charlie Brown, I could certainly use a vacation and a change of scenery, and it never seems as simple as just picking up and going. I guess the question would be, if I decided to vacation someplace, would I take my camera? Should I try to arrange shoots? Would I end up working and negating the restorative powers of a vacation? Or if I left the gear at home, would I spend the entire trip wishing I'd brought it and seeing every striking shooting location and/or potential model as a missed opportunity? Maybe if I traveled more, I wouldn't feel the need for every trip to be productive. Or take the camera and just spend a week photographing seashells and sunsets and still life details. Snow on the ground and a temperature of 9°F this morning sure has me thinking... yes, he complains when it's too hot, he complains when it's too cold. Evidently, Goldilocks was an ancestor of mine.

Get some tape...

...because AngelD's ripped!

That is all... as you were.

Welcome Avolare Fans

Gary M photo., originally uploaded by avolare.

Katie West posted another image from our session a while back on her blog/Flickr, so welcome to all the folks who followed the link here from her page.

Thanks Katie... I'll get another installment to you soon. :)

P.S. Katie's having a print sale, so if you're interested in picking up some cool prints at a bargain price, check 'em out. Of course, you have to pay in Canadian dollars, which are now officially worth more than US dollars, so not the bargain they once were. ;) Thanks, George...

Dream Portfolio

I realize there's nothing less interesting than someone else telling you about their dreams, but I've decided to risk it this morning.

I'm not one who usually remembers my dreams when I wake up in the morning. I wish I were. One type of dream I do vaguely recall is the one where I'm seeing dozens of photographic images, and the impression I'm left with in the dream is that they're excellent shots, but it's not clear if in the dream they're shots I'm dreaming I took, or if I'm dreaming I'm looking at someone else's pictures. Once in a while one of the images will stick with me after I wake up, but it's rarely anything to write home about, but I can't help thinking that among all these images are some good ideas if they would just stick with me -- I just awake with the impression that I've been looking at a series of stunning photographs. I don't know if this has anything to do with my fuzzy real-life memory, or if in the dream state, I'm not literally visualizing the images, but just manifesting the impression of having seen them. Weird.

These usually occur after a long day/evening of editing and/or surfing, as I tend to have these dreams after doing something repetitive, like playing a video game or painting a wall, or driving all day. Who knows? Maybe the technology to record one's dreams will emerge, sort of like that movie, Brainstorm. Then it's just a matter of inducing a weird dream, recording, and editing -- filling the world with nightmares of trying to find the classroom where the final exam is being given for the class you forgot to attend all semester. Aaagh!

The picture is the dreamy Iris, always a source of inspiration.

Post for the sake of posting

Have had a lot on my plate, and a lot on my mind lately, but did want to at least check in and post a couple images.

Anyone still out there?

P.S. Thanks to Iris for the nice mention on her Univers d'Artistes "self-interview" there. They're posting so much stuff, it's already buried down the page, but the link above should take you right to it so you can check out what Iris has been up to and what she's thinking about these days. (BTW, these shots are Zinn Star NOT Iris.)

Thanks Liso...

A few weeks ago, I was fortunate enough to set up a photo shoot with Lisolette Gilcrest, an artist who is also one of the photographers in the MWSEP group. From seeing her self-portrait work and meeting her in person, I knew I wanted to do a shoot with her myself. :) Lucky for me, she took a chance and agreed. I'm very pleased with the results from a fairly impromptu session working in different spots around the RIC in Detroit, acting like we belonged there.

The other day, she decided to post a few of the photos on her Deviant Art page, along with a very sweet entry in her journal there. It was a much-needed pick-me-up in the midst of a dismal weekend. She's really a remarkable young woman and artist, and I'm honored that she decided to work with me, and for the kind words in her journal. With all that's going on in her life, that she took the time to do that means a lot to me. Love you too, Liso. <3

Torn

This goes back a few months, but fits my mood today. Props to Boyd for the rigging and the set-up (he's out in the hall shooting the opposite angle), and thanks to "Capricious Token" for her part, bound and broken on the floor...

Dinner is served

Just a little something from a while back that Raven wanted to try out... if I'd known in advance, I'd have brought some padlock meatballs and maybe some different razor blades, but I think it still plays pretty well. Seemed as good a day to post them as any.

Happy Thanksgiving!