Almost Blue

I've added a new link to Blue Art Nudes to the list at right, a blog run by Gunther, who also runs International Glamour Pictures. I'd not visited the sites before today when he sent me a request for a link, but I see he's working with a theme of "blue" nudes. The blue shot at left here is one of mine, Katelyn, from sometime in 2006--a fairly crude example of the technique. The "blue" look can be achieved with simple digital "cross processing" when shooting RAW -- shifting the color temperature of a normal exposure, or the subject can be lit with blue gels, or both.

I point it out because it's another example of someone taking a fairly common technique (or a simple visual element) and deciding to build a theme or project around it, in this case to the extent of having a couple websites devoted to it. This is something I've been considering a bit; whether the idea of doing a thematic project is something I want to pursue further. I've explored a few themes, and actually have something along these lines 90% ready to unveil, but maybe it's time to conjure up a new one. I've had an odd idea in the back of my mind for a while. I think I'll have a few chances to road test it in the next couple weeks...

The other thing I feel like saying is that just because one person starts working with a "theme" of one sort or another, that doesn't make it off-limits for others. Generally, themes are of an elemental level, such as repeated use of a color, or a wardrobe item, or a setting, or a prop, or a trick of the light, or using paint or oil or water or grape jelly on the model, or some simple notion that can be repeated with variations. For some, the theme is a short-lived exercise, maybe a few sessions, or maybe long enough to fill a book, and for others, it endures for years or even an entire career. But just because Richard Avedon did many B&W portraits on a stark white background, that doesn't mean "white" belongs only to him. Granted, if someone does portraits in that style (especially if 4x5 negative frame edges are added after the fact), they bring the inevitable comparisons onto themselves. And some themes are so deliberately unique, such as the Andy Warhol "Factory Treatment," that to get anywhere near them is almost certainly a case of imitation. But there will always be those who look at art to compare and find similarities, and those who look at each piece (or project) on its own merits.