Champagne Dreams

Just a quick "congratulations" to Carly on the launch of her new website, CarlottaChampagne.com.

She's been featured in a number of Playboy Special Editions and is one of their most popular website CyberGirls. As the name implies, she does lend an intoxicating sparkling quality to whatever she does, and it's been my pleasure to work with her a couple times. I still have more editing to do, but here are a couple goodies from our first shoot.

Last call...

End of the month already, and just a "last call" on a couple things. First, for any readers who are Silver or higher members of OneModelPlace.com, please stop by my OMP page and give me a nice vote in the "art nude photography" contest by tomorrow night. I'm guessing the winner will be someone who frequents the OMP forums and is a lot more aggressive about stumping for votes. Who knows? The winner might even actually be the best art nude photographer on OMP.

Second, as promised/threatened, I'm going to be ending the introductory pricing on my book, Dark Light, so if you've been thinking about buying it, now's the time. If you would like me to sign your copy, please drop me a message at garymphoto(at)gmail(dot)com and we'll make arrangements.

This shot is the amazing Carlotta to tide you over until I can do a more elaborate entry regarding this past weekend's adventures in the skin trade...

"Play This Movie Loud"

Been shooting a lot in July... tried to keep June light and everything got pushed into July it seems. I've enjoyed the shoots, but it falls under the category of "finding oneself in a hole, yet continuing to dig" to a certain extent. For instance, here's a shot of Carlotta from last year's shoot, but have yet to find time to edit the shoot we did a few weeks ago... I'm going to try to be the immovable object on this for a while, but I keep encountering all these irresistible forces. ;)

Finally starting to get the hang of Lightroom, which should speed things along. I think I have the basics down, but might actually have to RTFM to answer a few esoteric questions and learn a few more tricks. Anyone know any good free resources for Lightroom tips and info?

There has been some weirdness in the air, too, of late. Hard to put my finger on it, but it feels like that weird state of mind that Tim Robbins' character experiences at the beginning of Jacob's Ladder. (I should watch that one again soon, but when will I find the time?) Strange things keep happening on personal levels, day job stuff, photographic levels, and then there's the general collapse of the U.S. democracy happening in slow motion around us, seemingly unstoppable. Disconcerting to say the least.

Thought I could have one of my favorite movies playing while I did some editing today... The Unheard Music is a documentary on the band X that's largely music performances, and I've watched it at least a dozen times, so I figured I could just sort of listen while editing, but the damn thing is so well made and creative that it demands to be watched. So after about 20 minutes, I realized I'd not really done any editing with the movie playing, I switched it off and just listened to some of their music instead. This seemed to put me in a great mood and energized me quite a bit... had been in a good mood before, but just a bit tired from a long shoot in the hotbox studio.

I'll tout the book and the show again... obliquely. Hoping my prints arrive sooner rather than later...

Think too much...

Had the privilege of shooting with Carlotta again yesterday, but I have to admit I was a little bit off my game, largely because of the heat in the studio, and just so much other stuff going on cluttering my thinking. In hindsite, I realize a number of things I should have done differently and opportunities missed. While we got a lot of images I'm very happy with, I can't help but feel if I'd had my act together, it could have been a much more productive shoot. Thanks to Carlotta for doing a great job and for being patient and putting up with the heat. (This should motivate me to get set up in my basement space for studio work, especially as I continue to learn just how many top-flight photographers are working in their dining room or spare bedroom.) Thanks also to Danaid for stopping by for a bit as well. Love the tan and the new hairstyle. ;) The shot here is from my first session with Carlotta, which showcased yesterday.

Also honored yesterday by OMP was this shot of Alexis. Our last shoot was the type of highly-productive outing that I wish I'd managed with Carlotta last night. Alexis and I did quite a few different set-ups and styles. Of course, there wasn't the heat problem to contend with, and we shot a while longer, but I think it was also that I went into it with a less cluttered frame of mind (and definitely put less pressure on myself). Maybe Andi's right... I do think too much sometimes... funny how I can think so much about something without managing to end up with an actual plan. Next time for sure. Better start thinking...

Weekend update...

Welcome visitors from afuckaday, the beautiful blog with the unfortunate name...here are a couple of shots of the stunning Carlotta for your consideration. Blog comments encouraged.

Home again after a weekend in Toledo town... another Collingwood group shoot Saturday. Had a couple cancellations and a couple short sessions, but ended up adding a shoot with a new model, so a pretty productive day. I think I did okay for not having more detailed ideas (just hasn't been time to think the past couple weeks), and enjoyed a few nice surprises. Hope to get some stuff edited soon to share with you. Thanks to the lovely models who braved the dank basement...

Andi got a ton of tremendous images at the shoot. Trying hard not to be too envious, but she just makes it look so easy. :) Well done, sweetie. She's becoming the queen of cash and prizes...

Delivered my framed prints for the "Dark Visions" show, and one of the images is potentially a bit too suggestive for the venue, and not the one I'd guessed might be the problem. Because I want you all to come out to the big show, I'm keeping them under wraps for now... here's more details on the show if you think you can stop by.

After the shoot, about 20 photographers and models descended on the unprepared Spaghetti Warehouse for dinner... quite the spectacle, with some of the models in pretty sexy outfits, one model painted blue, and an intimidating-looking photographer or two, one small child was heard to remark "Mommy, there are scary people there" as we loitered around the foyer waiting for our table. ONE waitress was tasked with managing not just our group of 20, but similarly large groups on either side of us, so it ended up being about a 3-hour tour. A 3-hour tour... a long wait for a lot of people tired and hungry from a busy day's shooting, but a fine time was had by all.

Spent today rather leisurely hanging out with Andi... sleeping late, a bit of shopping, a bit of fine dining, a trip to the antique mall where we found a few treasures and met a lovely potential model (fingers crossed), and then stopped by two different beaches just to stroll around. Took a few shots, including this little mandala that Andi made, and a number of dead fish that seemed to be all along the beaches. All in all, an enjoyable weekend, and I still have tomorrow "off" so I'll need to decide what's the most urgent matter to be dealt with. I suspect I'll do some editing, so I'll hopefully have more goodies to share with you soon.

Up All Night

I know I've been neglecting the blog a bit of late... the day job complications are, well, complex, but slowly sorting themselves out. Have cut way back on shooting, other than prior commitments, in an effort to try to catch up. Have also been working on selecting and finishing images for the "Dark Visions" show, as well as another show later in the summer. And kind of by accident, I put together another little something that I may unleash on the public before long...got so wrapped up in it that I ended up pulling an "all nighter" -- just looked out the window at some point and the sun was coming up. Been a while since I did that, but it was pretty cool to be that focused after several weeks of being "scattered, smothered and covered" by the events surrounding me.

Here are a couple more of Carlotta, just because I can't go wrong with her. Right?

Lucky Charms

Here is Kristina once more from a shoot earlier this year. Had the pleasure of shooting with her this past weekend and hanging out...as sweet as she is beautiful. This one might be a bit more revealing than most of her other images, but I just love the simple straightforward beauty of it, and just a hint of bashfulness. Apparently she likes it too, as she posted it on her OMP... our third showcase from that shoot.

The second image is another shot of the lovely Carlotta... I'm still trying to work out details for another shoot with her during her midwestern swing. This is from last year's session which is going to be hard to beat... I just posted this one to keep things stirred up on my OMP, and surprise... another dinger. Both these women have been very lucky for me, and I consider myself fortunate to have worked with them, and hope to do so again soon. ;)

Voyeur

Shot these for a Nerve.com contest a while back that I didn't end up entering. Wonder what Carlotta's looking at... and here we are, the voyeur looking at the voyeur. Not a new concept, but it can still manage to intrigue. Carly's coming back around next month, and I think I'm on her dance card.

Lots of changes in the air and new situations to get used to... let's hope they pan out as changes for the better. Blogging may be a bit more sporadic than usual, so please bear with me.

"Gotta Carlotta Love..."

Carlotta, stretching in a hotel room in Dayton last summer. Need I say more?

"Friends of Carlotta"

Here's a shot of Carlotta that's been getting a lot of compliments lately. Let me know what you guys think of her... and anyone who recognizes what movie the headline of this post refers to, let's hear from you. No fair Googling!