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...

Rethinking "Buy Nothing Day"

In my earlier entry, I suggested people consider turning "Black Friday" into "Buy Nothing Day" and opt out of the wanton consumerism that will ensue in stores and malls across America. While people are already spending beyond their means on stuff they don't really need, it struck me that this weekend could be a "make or break" situation for our economy -- because of the media's obsession with "opening weekend" numbers. Just like a movie's success is now judged not by the reviews, the awards, or if it's any GOOD or not -- it's all about the opening weekend numbers. Nobody cares what it does its second week, or if it stays in theaters two months because of good word of mouth and eventually makes money. It all boils down to opening weekend now. Maybe I'm showing my age, but I remember when people had NO IDEA how much money a movie made -- it wasn't part of conversation. Now it's the entirety of the conversation when it comes to movies.

Take the movie "SiCKO" when it came out this summer. It had limited release, meaning not every multiplex in America had it, and maybe even some cities didn't have it. Whether this important film would "open wide" or even remain in theaters beyond the first week depended entirely on its opening weekend... so it was important that people went out and saw it immediately. I did my part, it was a hit, and went on to be very successful by documentary standards. It became a topic of national discussion and got people talking about the idea of universal health care, which may not have happened if it "only" made a few million its opening weekend.

What's this have to do with "Black Friday" you ask? Plenty. Pundits and news media are falling all over themselves to report whether sales this Friday are up to expectations, and their conclusion could very well effect the economy for the rest of the holiday season, and into next year. If reports are that consumer confidence is high and stores did well, people will believe the economy is OK and feel good about going out and spending, where as if stores don't do well, it will be reported as a harbinger of doom, causing people to stay home and start knitting their holiday gifts. This will lead to layoffs in retail and manufacturing and related industries, tighter credit, and so on and so forth -- based largely on how someone interprets the guestimates from the experts. The economy is on the brink, and this could definitely push things over the edge.

To a large part, the economy only does as well as people BELIEVE it is doing, so whatever the verdict, it will become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Just like the stock market... instead of looking at the huge gains most stocks have made over the past couple years, people have the jitters due to some sub-prime loans, so they're panic selling, which drives prices down and creates more panic selling. It's also prompting the US dollar to take a beating compared to world currencies, which could spell real trouble. Of course, it doesn't help that W. has borrowed almost a TRILLION dollars for this pointless quagmire that will only serve to destabilize world economies, or far worse. The world's respect for and confidence in the U.S. hasn't eroded over the past 7 years -- it's crumbled. All due to fear and stupidity...

So, buck up campers, make your list, check it twice, make sure you have headroom on your charge cards, and get out there and spend! If only to help create a placebo effect for our sick economy... or at least score some cool stuff before the shit comes down.

The photo is Mandy, doing an interpretive dance expressing the confusion and angst of Alan Greenspan's failed policies. Or maybe she's just posing beautifully as she does so effortlessly.

Withdrawn

"Better to be silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt..."

Was talking with another photographer who has a blog, and he said he was probably going to be backing away from the whole blog-forum-comment thing. Maybe he's right, and he's not the only one to express this view lately. Too much drama, so much potential for backlash and hard feelings, things so easily misinterpreted, and for what?

(Of course, does making a statement like this have additional drama inherent in it?)

"Never miss a good opportunity to shut up."

Maybe I should just let the pictures do the talking for a while. Like Mandy here, bending over backwards to please.

"I'm just a soul whose intentions are good... Oh Lord, please don't let me be misunderstood." (The Animals)

_______ Beauty...

On edit: Since two of the three parties mentioned in this entry asked that it be reinstated, here it is, slightly edited to remove reference to the third person, and to render it politically correct.

Had the pleasure of working with the famed Mandy again yesterday, who was joined for part of the session by my new friend Malinda. Mandy has only been modeling for about a year and a half now, but caught fire immediately and in that short time she has worked with many of the top photographers in the midwest, as well as being a featured model at a number of photo workshops around the country. Her physique is truly remarkable, and it's no wonder that she's highly sought after for figure work, plus she's just adorable and is just delightful to spend time with. (That's her in front on the top photo, and in the middle photo.)
Malinda is just starting to get her feet wet with modeling. She'd contacted me to do a private session of pin-up, lingerie and nude photos to give to her husband, and once she got over her initial jitters, she really got into it and enjoyed the experience. We'd done a couple other shoots since, but yesterday was her first experience working with another model -- and we got some beautiful results. I think she's doing great, and she's enjoying it so much that she's planning to start exploring modeling further after the first of the year. As with Mandy, the enjoyment and enthusiasm Malinda brings to the shoot is wonderful. I'm looking forward to working with her more, and seeing how she does when she broadens her horizons a bit.

"Timeless, like a fine watch..."

These shots of Mandy were part of an entry that never actually got posted for some reason. The original content is now highly irrelevant, but Mandy is always timeless, so here she is.

Really need to get together with her again... she keeps doing such remarkable work.

And evidently, someone from Japan is downloading the ENTIRE blog, presumably the full-size photos. Makes me wonder about removing the full-size images from entries over a month old... any thoughts?

Blue Moon

On June 30th, we'll have a "Blue Moon" meaning the second full moon within a single month. The old expression "once in a blue moon" means something happens rarely, but it actually works out to once every 11 months, more or less. The new shot over on Iris' blog reminded me of this shot I did of Mandy and Abigail last fall. Some photographers would get bent out of shape at the similarity, but it just tells me that it's a pretty self-evident idea when you're lucky enough to have more than one model to work with. Jim and the ladies did a nice job with the idea, adding a little sand texture to boot.

Coincidentally (I think) Mandy e-mailed me this morning commenting on the shot above and expressed an interest in setting up another shoot when time and travel will permit. Talk about once in a blue moon...

By the way here's another shot from the same session with Mandy and Abigail -- both amazing models. I still have some shots from this session awaiting editing. Maybe I'll find some extra hours in June somehow -- the 21st is the longest day of the year after all.

Blurring the lines...

Just thought I'd post a few shots, one from a couple months ago as part of a shoot geared for the Dirty Show, one from the heat of last summer, and one from last weekend. Photographers will often call up an ages-old technique and apply it in their own way. It's tradition, and there are just some things that are in the common "vocabulary" of photography. Been playing around with some in-camera blurring techniques lately, but I have only posted one of these before, so I just thought I'd "date stamp" them.

Coincidentally, earlier today, I purchased a book that my Amazon "Gold Box" suggested... I wasn't familiar with the work of Francesca Woodman, but she is a fascinating figure, kind of a combination Sylvia Plath/James Dean for photography. She started taking pictures when she was 13 and managed to create a substantial body of innovative and influential work, largely self-portraits, before taking her own life at age 22. I'm looking forward to reading this book and learning more about her work and her life. The coincidental part is that one of her frequent techniques was using motion blur to create very ethereal and surreal images. The image shown here is Space² from the late 1970s, but it certainly would look right at home in the portfolio of many of today's art photographers. It's a timeless image made using a fundamental technique and her personal vision, which is about the most any of us can aspire to.

"Naked models wearing clothes..."

Since it's so damn cold out, I figured I'd post a few shots of models actually wearing clothes. Granted, not a LOT of clothes in most cases, but something. From top to bottom, we have Jackie lounging, Kristina in fun fur, Foxy Tigress, Karla Fire, Redemption in vintage, Mandy beaming, AngelD mobster-style, and the charming Mara.

Funny thing is, all these shoots were either partially or primarily nude shoots. But oddly enough, models like to model clothing from time to time, too. Some just for a change of pace, others are primarily fashion/glamour models who are open to doing nude work as well. I've had a model tell me she wanted some shots she could send her mother, and others ask for shots that are "MySpace safe" more and more frequently.

I've seen models work to move away from nudes -- I recently lost two OMP showcases because the model (whose portfolio they appeared upon) removed them. She explained to me: "those timeless & awesome images are death for getting work out here - it's a bummer...economica over erotica." And the images were far from erotic or explicit. The part that puzzles me a bit is that she still has SOME nude images on her portfolio, but they're more glamour nude than art nude, so that must make them OK. I know a model or two who actively quash the nudes in their past, even to the point of claiming they've not done them and being insulted if you ask them about it. I guess it's still a stigma with some agencies and clients, even though Kate Moss, arguably the most famous fashion model in the world, frequently appears topless and nude. Oh well, not everyone can be Kate Moss. Or wants to be.

It works the other way, too. A model will start with a firm "no nudity, no implied, no sheer" stance seeking only mainstream fashion or glamour work, but eventually moves away from that. They might post a covered topless shot on their portfolio, and start getting offers to do more covered work, then they try something sheer, and those offers start coming in, then the right photographer will ask them to do covered art nudes, and so on... Some draw the line, others blur it, some cross it and find an entire new market for their modeling services doing nude figure work. On OMP for instance, these models might have nude images in their porfolio and discuss doing nude work in their text, but will NOT have any of the "nude" checkboxes marked so they will not show up in a search for "nude models," which can be a pretty smart policy. If you find them via their work, they'll consider nudity for the right project, but if you're just searching for nude models, maybe someone else is better for that job.

Then there are the models who start out doing art nude work and prefer it, some to the point of even shunning doing fashion or glamour work. I've worked with a fair number of them, and it's always very refreshing to find someone who greets the shoot as an opportunity to participate in making something beautiful without the nagging feeling that they'd rather be doing something else. As previously addressed, some photographers will only work with this kind of model, and while I prefer it for nude work, I'm not quite ready to rule anybody out, within reason.

By the way, the title of this post refers to the time I was yelled at by the building manager of my studio for having "naked models wearing clothes" outside the confines of my studio space. I knew what he meant, but it's always struck me as a funny way to put it...

"On with the show..."

Well, the Dirty Show is this weekend, and everyone is getting their nipple jewelry just so and deciding which latex miniskirt will look best in a crowded room. I've picked out a shirt, which for me is a real sartorial undertaking. It's kind of funny how much I've allowed this event to influence my behavior for the past couple months. I spent a lot of time considering what I was going to enter into the show, even to the point of gearing parts of a couple shoots to doing "Dirty Shots" that push the boundaries of what I normally shoot with an eye to entering them in the show. Funny thing is, the two pieces they selected for the show were not done with the show in mind, so I'm sure there's a lesson there.

I selected a number of images to print for sale at the Museum Store at the event, too. A lot of these had not been posted on my blog or portfolio prior to making the prints. I'll confess to not slaving over a hot enlarger in a darkroom to make my prints, but the service I use does a beautiful job with them, and comes highly recommended by a professional art photographer I know. It was really wonderful opening the package with the prints inside -- such a different experience from viewing them on a computer screen or even looking at inkjets. Then came setting aside time to mount and mat the prints for sale, which is more time consuming than it probably should be, although I'm getting a bit faster now. I'll have 30 different prints for sale at the event, about 20 of them never offered before.

I've also been putting off scheduling shoots until "after Dirty" for the most part, except for a few opportunities that couldn't be turned down. Combined with being busy at work, the general non-productive nature of the holidays, and a backlog of editing I'm trying to catch up on, it just feels like I've been in suspended animation for a couple months, waiting for the "Dirty" weekend to come and go, so hopefully things can get back to normal... at least until the next call for entries. Now that I've been through this twice, I'm hoping to take things more in stride next time around.

Common Taters

Once again, here's the amazing Mandy. She posted this photo over on her Deviant Art page, along with a few others of mine. She was even bold enough to post one racy image meant for The Dirty Show that I've been undecided about posting here. I was a little surprised at the number of comments she's received over there, and just how complimentary they are. Dozens of people have tagged the images as "favorites" too. Obviously, she merits heaps of compliments, but in general people don't always take the time to do so. Way to go, Mandy.

The "currency" of most portfolio websites is the comment. A photographer or model posts an image, and members of the site can leave comments, which are almost always praise for the image and the people involved. Image commenting is pretty universal, from the more "serious" work on Deviant Art and Model Mayhem, to MySpace and Flickr, which run the gamut from cameraphone snapshots to fine art.

Some might maintain that these sorts of compliments are irrelevant to a true artist, but deep down, I believe every artist wants to be seen and appreciated. I enjoy receiving comments and compliments on my work, and knowing that it's being seen by people looking for quality. Making art is its own reward, but there is tremendous satisfaction in finding an audience to share with, and in knowing a shot has prompted someone to at least take the time to post a comment.

Banned!

Well, maybe not "banned!" but this shot was deemed "inappropriate" by the folks at OneModelPlace. Apparently we're seeing just a little too much of Mandy in this image for their comfort. Or maybe it's the aggressive pose. Either way, the site wouldn't let me do anything further until I removed this image... so, I present it here and will let you decide if it's inappropriate or not. Obviously, it's their site and they're allowed to set their own standards for what's fit to be included or not, so I'm not complaining. Just observing and presenting.

Oh, and thanks Mandy!

"...and the Fluffy goes to..."

I must say I'm extremely gratified to have received two mentions on the excellent UK photo blog Fluffytek in their "2006 Fluffy Nude Photographic Awards" post. Not to be confused with Fuzzytek (an excellent photographer in Detroit), Fluffytek is an art nude blog run by photographer Richard Bang and his model/collaborator/wife Lin. They've been mutually linked here almost since I started I&E in June, and I always enjoy seeing their work and reading their philosophical take on matters of art and photography and modeling and such. Do check them out if you haven't already.

They selected my little blog here for their Award for Best Fine-Art Nude Blog, and the above image of the amazing Mandy was Richard's pick for Best Blog Image of the Year. It's great to be recognized alongside such outstanding photographers/bloggers as Don Nelson's Hotel Room Nudes, Nad Iksodas, Feminism Without Clothes, Iris Dassault, Pretty Girl Shooter, Magic Flute Nudes, Sascha Hüttenhain, and Marcus Ranum. I'm already making room on my mantlepiece for my Fluffy Award trophies. Thanks Lin and Richard for the recognition, and all your support and encouragement.

Mandy Claus

Just because we can never get enough Mandy... here she is in the holiday spirit, covering her assets, and practicing her ninja moves... thanks Mandy for a pair of fun and memorable shoots. Can't wait to go again!

Dial-Up Hell

Here's Mandy, caught cracking up during our most recent shoot. I love the "whole body" expression it captures, and in some ways captures the whole mood of the shoot. This one is pretty modest by the standards of the rest of that shoot and our previous shoot, nevertheless, this image was taken down from one online community she posts to. Specific reasons are rarely given when these things happen... is the "peekaboo" flash the problem? Or, since it is an art nude forum, maybe she isn't nude enough?

Due to a phone company SNAFU, I've been in "dial-up hell" for the past few days, and will probably have to endure it for a few more. Even though it's a DSL connection, it's only functioning at about 50kb speed, slower than a lot of dial-up connections. I'd heard somewhere recently that about half of internet users have high-speed connections, which would indicate the other half still endure dial-up. But I suspect this is misleading relative to the amount of internet activity that takes place over high-speed connections. I'm guessing the 80/20 rule applies... 80% of the surfing is done by 20% of internet users, and I'd guess that 20% is made up almost exclusively of people with high-speed connections. I'm sure there's a study on this somewhere that I could Google, but my connection is so slow, I can't take the time to find out right now.

I bring it up here because like most photo blogs, this one takes a bit of time to download through a dial-up connection, and I'd be curious to know what percentage of my visitors are using dial-up versus high-speed connections. And, to those of you who use dial-up, I have a renewed appreciation for what you put up with to view a page like this one... thank you for your patience. :) I'm beginning to think that website designers should force themselves to spend a week out of the year using only dial-up. Might change the face of eBay, Amazon and MySpace, if nothing else. It used to be that load speed was a primary concern in web design, and I remember worrying about squeezing a 24k graphic down to 16k -- because that's a 33% savings in load time. I'm guessing today that online retailers and marketers don't care about that any longer, because if a visitor can't afford a high-speed connection, they probably aren't the type of big spender the retailer is looking for.

But if nothing else, the slow connection has made me more deliberate in what sites I visit and how often I check my e-mail. And that's probably a good thing.

Thank You!

Nice Thanksgiving suprise... a couple more OMP showcases, one of Sativa (above) on my portfolio, and one of Mandy on her portfolio up high on a pedastal of sorts. These are two great models who are also a joy to work with... I've written about them both before here. So, thank you Sativa and Mandy for being amazing!

Mixed Feelings

Saw today that one of the models I've worked with several times, Amanda, has been featured as the "Model of the Week" on the New Nude Magazine website. Way to go Amanda! And while I congratulate her on the recognition, I have to say I'm disappointed that none of my images were part of the portfolio that went with the article. Guess that means I still have a ways to go...

New Nude has featured three other models I've worked with, Abigail, Mandy and Chrystyne (top to bottom) but I don't think my timing was right to be included in any of their features. At least this would seem to confirm that I have good taste in choosing models to work with.

Mandy Defined

A few from my shoot with the amazing Mandy. Her physique is simply incredible...no wonder she's been featured on The New Nude website and several other high profile sites. When I sent her the shots, she sent me one of the nicest notes I've ever received from a model.

I was fortunate enough to work with both Mandy and Abigail together as well... look for those someday soon. Thanks to Mandy and Abigail for a great shoot.