"Is there concrete all around, or is it in my head?"

Seems like nothing on the internet is quite working today... must be some sort of 3-day weekend hangover.

Got good news about another publication opportunity, which I guess I'll keep under wraps a bit longer, although I've already let most of the models know that it'll be happening before long.

This Friday at 7 is the opening of the Kinsey Institute Juried Art Show 2009 over in Bloomington, IN. A shot I did with Tia that's a little more explicit than I like to post here was selected for the show. I'll be attending the opening reception Friday evening, and possibly the open house Saturday afternoon if you're in the area and care to stop by. Congratulations also to Lisolette and Vato for getting pieces in the show. See you there!

That's Ami there, behind the screen. Have a small series of these that I like quite a bit...

Hiding out...

Sorry for the lack of activity here... just trying to sort things out.

This is Mina from the last Chicago trip. Another one is in the works if anyone can suggest/offer shooting locations in the city.

Unconnected thoughts...

One of the more gratifying bits of recognition I've received as a photographer is the ongoing support of the folks at NuExpo.com -- the French art nude online magazine that ran an profile on me a while ago. Every so often, they pick a few recent shots and put me in the rotation on their homepage, alongside some of the world's best and well-known photographers. They then add the shots to my gallery next to my original interview. (Read the English text here.) The most recent selection features Tia, Char Rose, and Sweet Romance. So, once again, Bonjour à mes amies a NuExpo.com!

On another "worthy cause" front, print media is in pretty deep trouble these days... companies are cutting back on advertising in magazines and newspapers, people are used to content being free to the point where they won't pay for magazines or websites, and so many different specialized publications sprung up that the market is overcrowded. Sadly, some of the better publications are having tough times. Paste Magazine is one of them... Paste is a music magazine that covers "music for grownups" for lack of a better word, and does it quite well. But they're in a bind, so they're asking for donations to help keep them afloat for a while. The upside is, if you donate, you'll get access to a "vault" of over 70 rare songs by some pretty cool artists, such as Ben Folds, The Minus 5, Robyn Hitchcock, Bob Pollard, Decemberists, Cowboy Junkies, and tons more. So, toss them what you'd pay for one CD at Best Buy and get about 7 CDs worth of cool new music instead.

If you don't, Jessa will be as sad as she appears to be in this picture...

Art imitates The Onion

There's an article in the new issue of The Onion -- "Detroit Mayor Throws First Brick In Glass-Breaking Ceremony For New Slum" -- that brings up some mixed feelings... on the surface, it's pretty funny, as the absurdist newspaper usually manages to be. But at the same time, it's a sad reminder of the blight that permeates Detroit, a city that was once a beautiful, thriving community not all that long ago. (Right Joe?)

It's also strange, in that these are the kinds of places I like to shoot sometimes, so it seems almost like a good idea to construct something like this as a photo location. Realistic, but without collapsing floors, asbestos dust or rusty nails. Sort of like the "pre-decrepit" ghost town movie sets out in California. But it's not like Detroit needs any more slums, even faux ones...

This shot of Natasha was taken in Detroit, and despite the leaky roof, broken glass and random trash, this is part of a residential hotel that's open to the public, and charges a fairly steep rate for a night's lodging (in one of the somewhat tidier areas of the building). Honestly, Detroit is doing what they can, but the resources are so limited, it's slow going.

Recently spent a day in Detroit shooting some abandoned spaces that I'm sure were once magnificent, but are now trashed, probably beyond hope. Even out in Arizona, we'd approach a beautiful rock formation, only to get close and see countless names carved into the soft sandstone. Why is the destructive urge so strong in so many people?

Carrie Leigh at last

Finally saw a printed copy of the Spring 2009 Carrie Leigh Nude magazine with my feature in it, and it's a nice feeling indeed. They used four shots (one a 2-page spread) and wrote up a little profile paragraph. Congrats to the models in the issue, Jessica, Xaina and Katy T, for being chosen, and thanks to all the models from the past 3+ years for helping me progress and grow as a photographer.

Online sale of individual copies has ended, so to get the current issue by mail you can subscribe, or you can visit your local Borders, Barnes & Noble, Hastings, or other big box newsstand to see if they have copies for sale. I'll probably do that later myself...

Congratulations to my friends and acquaintances featured in the issue: Tia, Tom Lane, |ris/Becky, Chip Willis, Carlotta Champagne, David LeBeck, Betcee May, Antoine de Villiers, and Lloyd Rosen, as well as the other models and photographers.

P.S. Just found a number of copies at my local Barnes & Noble, so B&N and Borders would probably be the first places to look if you wanna copy.

100

Not that anyone but me is counting... the model is Jen, aka Sweet Romance.

Secured

Found this little note in my bag when I got home from the Arizona trip I wrote about but failed to post, in case you were wondering where I'd been for the past week or so. Tia got one on the flight out there, and I got this one on the flight home. I guess the good news is that I bought one of those special TSA padlocks -- supposedly they can open it while the "throwers" may be slightly deterred. Turns out it works, so that's good. Not sure why they picked me -- maybe my tripod looked suspicious under the x-ray... or perhaps they just love the smell of a week's worth of dirty desert laundry. But I know I feel much safer now. Or something. (Found out that Tia also got one on her hop from El Paso to Santa Fe... maybe they like sniffing her laundry, too.)

In other news, apparently the folks at Nerve.com have pulled the plug on their "monthly" photo contest... photos were entered along the lines of various themes they proposed. Used to be a monthly contest, then they'd let 'em run for two months, then three... finally, they just pulled links to the contest from the site, so apparently they won't ever judge the "Sexiest photo of someone with breakfast cereal" contest, or the "Sexiest photo of someone doing yoga" theme. If it's not generating visitors or memberships or whatever, I can see pulling the contest, but I don't really abide them not awarding prizes for the last couple of contests. (I've managed to win 3 times before, if I recall correctly.) Here are my entries for the yoga thing... Mandy, Engel and Spilt Sugar, getting their OM on.

"You load 16 megs, and whaddaya get..."

Going through some stuff the other day, I stumbled onto the Kodak memory card at left. It came with the Kodak DC4800, the first digital camera I purchased, and holds a whopping 16MB of image data. Of course, it was too small even then -- it would hold 1 uncompressed 3.1mp image, or 16 standard compressed images, or 48 images at .08mp -- but Kodak felt it was sufficient to ship with the camera.

At right is a 16GB card that I recently purchased... that's 1000 times as much data in the same space, for probably not a whole lot more money. Now, I know that's not news -- "computer memory getting more compact and cheaper" -- but it just struck me funny to see such a concrete example. But that's not what you're here to read...

In real world news, model Minxy D gave birth to a beautiful daughter this week. Congratulations Dani! We were supposed to do a photo session to document her pregnancy, but sadly, schedules never worked out... Here's a shot from our session somewhat more than 9 months ago. :)

The Walking Rose

Friend and a longtime favorite model, The Thorny Rose, is taking part in a fundraising Walk-A-Thon this weekend to fight Multiple Sclerosis, and could use your help. A worthy cause on its own, it's also a disease that's touched her through friends and family, which is motivating her to help raise funds. "My aunt fought this disease and passed away when I was still in grade school. I have two friends now battling and looking for a cure."

If you'd like to make a contribution to help fund her efforts, you can contact her through ModelMayhem or MySpace or via her blog to offer your support.

We've only managed one brief shoot together since she's moved to Chicago, but I'm looking forward to working with her again in a few weeks when get back that way. :)

Flight

Days

A couple images from my recent (and long overdue) shoot with Char Rose... we met back in 2007, and she lives in the next 'burb over, but various circumstances kept us from working together until now.

Also gives me a chance to point out that I've been playing with more post-processing lately. I still strive to get it as close to "right" as possible in-camera, but I'm enjoying the smörgåsbord of options now available. So, we have the top image, which is basically as shot, and the color image, with a little digital magic applied. Not sure if it's "just a phase" for me, or a new direction, but there it is.

Also, I've not done my usual "death updates" lately but I did want to note the untimely passing of two very different icons from my youth. Flash-in-the-Pan pitching phenom Mark Fidrych (54) and girl-next-door porn star Marilyn Chambers (56). They were both way too young to go. I'd just been reading about Fidrych a few weeks ago. Combined with the life-threatening illness of Farrah Fawcett, it all once again reminds me how little time any of us really get...

Welcome Carrie Leigh's NUDE readers...

The Spring issue of Carrie Leigh's NUDE Magazine should be arriving in mailboxes any day now, with newstand sales starting in a couple weeks, so I just wanted to welcome readers from the magazine who may have found their way here, and invite you to take a look around. Dozens and dozens of entries on all sorts of topics, with many of my photos to illustrate, such as this one of Sweet Romance.

In the right column, you'll also find links to various online portfolios and organizations I belong to where you can see more work.

I encourage you to leave a comment to introduce yourself, or "follow" this blog. Thanks for stopping by.

Parallel Development in Chains

Every year, Allure Magazine features a pictorial of several nude female celebrities, strategically posed to conceal the naughty bits, what I might call a "covered nude" or others might call "implied nudity." Well, this year's were recently posted, and I couldn't help but notice that their shot of actress Sharon Leal made use of a chain curtain as part of the conceal/reveal tactic.

A few weeks ago, I used a similar tactic in my shoot with Dani, as seen here, but I'd not posted anything yet... so, here she is, also tastefully concealed. Of course, these chain curtains have been used in this manner for decades, but it's just another "plate of shrimp" coincidence to share with you.

Here, I'll let Miller and Otto explain it all for you...

Gary, Indiana...

You may remember this little ditty as sung by little Ronnie Howard in his pre-Opie days... sort of paints a picture of Gary, Indiana, as a charming little town, which it might have been long ago. Today, its famous mainly for crime and blight, its population having dropped by almost half since its peak in the 60s. It's always been sort of odd, sharing a name like I do, as I remember wanting it to be a really great place when I first heard about it when I was a kid, and being told it was not a place anyone would want to go. I have to say that, despite the squalor, we didn't really feel we were at risk at all -- maybe because it was Easter Sunday in the afternoon.
On the way back from Chicago this past weekend, Tia and I spent a few chilly hours exploring the city, especially the downtown area, where it seems most of the buildings are abandoned or collapsing. The shot above is inside the old post Office, just for example. More from that shoot, soon, and probably a return visit when the weather warms up more.

The contrast was more stark after having spent four days in some of the nicest areas of Chicago, with a couple forays into the more run-down parts of the west side. Was lucky enough to work with Moon Marie, Jessa, Ami Amnesia, Mina Mechante, and Stephanie Cain while in Chicago. Thanks to my various location hosts as well -- I'll leave their names out to protect them from an onslaught of requests, but they were very generous and hospitable to be sure. Edits from those sessions soon, I hope!

"Wounderful"

Started this entry over a week ago, and only got the title and the photo in, and I only dimly recall that someone described one of my shots as "wounderful." Now, I don't think that's the British spelling with the extra "u" in there, but I kind of like the word.

"Wounderful" sort of describes how things have been going lately... on the one hand, many things are going great, and I'm doing my best to enjoy the experiences. On the other hand, I still feel kind of "wounded" for various reasons, which tends to temper the enjoyment somewhat. So, "wounderful" seems to fit me right now.

Sorry to have been absent so long from the blog. You may hear more from me the next few days, or I may lapse into silence again. Hard to tell... very busy!

Thank you for all the congratulations on the Carrie Leigh Nude news, and thanks also to Dr. Lightness and the folks at Univers d'Artistes for a nice profile piece the other day, since buried under an avalanche of amazing work. The link should take you right there though.

Oh, and don't miss the MWSEP art show next weekend in Detroit. "The Seduction of Art." Click the banner link at right for more details!

More soon. That's Tantila, striking the pose that's kind of hard for a guy of my build to demonstrate.