Figure with circles, kneeling

As we continued to shoot, Steven nailed one pose after another.  It was all I could do to keep up, although as I look back on it now, there seems to be little real spontaneity.  Each pose is carefully struck.



Figure with circles, seated

I used four rolls of 36-exposure film on this shoot, unusual for the time. 

Now I would probably shoot twice that many images, but film was precious and expensive then.

I will post a few more of the images from this shoot in the days to come.

 

Steven, Figure with arms folded

Every once in a while a model comes along who can do no wrong. The camera loves him.  It's a cliche, but it happens.  I've been lucky to have had a few of them. Such a one was Steven. 

I don't remember how I found him; in those days it was all word of mouth, but he showed up one evening and we shot for hours, each image better than the one before.  He needed very little direction; he had an instinct for just the right pose, and I let him go.

We did a series of shoots together, and I will post more in the coming days, but I will start with the one above, a simple frontal pose, but rife with attitude.

The prop is a styrofoam cut-out that had been used in the decor of a local charity event.  I was always on the lookout for this kind of thing to use on a set.



Figure on a Bed, Self-portrait

I was asked if I had any more self-portraits from this period.  This is the only other one, taken c. 1982 in my room at Casa Tra Noi in Rome, where I spent every summer between 1974 and 1986.

Shot in a mirror on film with natural light.



Self-portrait with Obelisk

A study in self-portraiture, c. 1977.  A particularly earnest endeavor.  The prop, a pietra dura obelisk I bought in Florence, I leave you to interpret.  As I recall, I had no specific meaning in mind at the time.  The shirt and ring I bought in Greece the previous summer.

Shot on film in natural light.



Figure on a Stool

Unretouched image, never printed.  The figure is somewhat harshly over-lit, and the backdrop is a gray sheet.  The wrinkles are quite obvious, and the result is cluttered. 

Soon after this session I purchased six yards of 54" heavy polyester black jersey fabric, cut it in half and sewed the two lengths together to make a large drop.  It hung without stretching, absorbed the light and was virtually indestructible. 

I still use it today, some 20+ years later, and it will still be around long after I'm gone.  Even if it goes to the landfill it will last for centuries.

The same image, the exposure manipulated with Photoshop.  I could probably have done the same thing in the darkroom, but it would have taken a great deal of time and painstaking burning and dodging.  Instead, I just scrapped the image, until now.

Figure on a Stool, final image.  Cropped, dodged and burned in Photoshop in less than half an hour.  I do love digital technology.

The model, Lindsay, was a friend.  You will see him again.







Johnny, Figure on a Stool

Apparently. we had more pensive moments than I remembered.  I had also forgotten just how beautiful this boy was.

Shot on film with what appears to be a two-light set-up, 1990.



"Z", Crouching Figure

"Z" in a pose designed to show the strength of his back and thighs.

Shot on film with a one-light set-up.



Johnny, Kneeling



Johnny, caught in a rare pensive mood.  He was usually much more direct.

Shot on film with a single light source.

Torsos, Back and Front

A study of the male torso, front and back.  The model was a friend. (Figure With a Mask, Thursday, May 5, 2011)

Shot on film with a three-light set-up.



Figure with Newsprint

This series (You will need to click on the image to see it properly) was taken in the same studio as the prevous post.

The model, my painter friend, had a studio in a tower room above a 1930's deco shopping center.  The space was as funky as the model, and a great place to shoot.

In a storage room next to the studio there was a roll of newsprint paper he had acquired to use as drawing paper.  As we looked around for inspiration, he began to unroll the paper and improvise.

I told him to "go", and he did, abandoning himself to an orgy of flying paper, collapsing in a heap at the end.

Shot on film with a three-light set-up.





Model, Taking a Break on the Set

A photo showing a typical three-light set-up.  This is in preparation for a shoot I will post later.  The model is my painter friend, and the setting is his studio.



Figure in Natural Light

"Academic" model in a lighter mood.  The house I lived in had a guest room upstairs facing east which was surrounded by windows on three sides.  It was flooded with light most of the day, and a very pleasant place to be.  I don't know why I didn't use it more.

With a blown-glass paperweight.



Life Model

I have almost run out of archive prints.  I have started to scan old negatives, but the film scanner I have is a cheap one and the quality of the scans is not  what I would like.  It seems to be adequate for this format, however, so I will continue.

The image above is of the Art League model, and is an example of the kind of "effortless" pose he was so good at.  You can see why he was in such demand.

Shot on film with a 2-light set-up.

 

Monica

Something different.  My social circle at the time began to include a - for want of a better term - drag queen - out of drag.  I had seen him perform at local clubs, and I was both fascinated and a little repulsed, at the same time.  It was my first experience with drag, and I was somewhat uneasy with it. 

I wanted to photograph him, but I was hesitant to make the first move.  One night at a dinner party, he started a conversation and asked me if I would consider doing a shoot.  I was delighted, and readily agreed, and we got permission from our host to use his house, as it was rather ornate and lent itself to the kind of images we wanted to do.

I had thought about the shoot a lot, and my intention was not to do a conventional "glamour" shoot, which was what I knew the model wanted, but to "expose" the subterfuge and lay bare the pretense.  In other words, I planned to betray the model and create an "honest" image.  The idea made me uncomfortable.

On the night of the shoot, I arrived with a simple light set-up at our friend's house, and was met at the door by the model, dressed as you see him above.  I had never been "up close and personal" with someone in full drag before, and it was unnerving, to say the least.

I set up the lights and we got to work.  Immediately all my plans went out of the window, and I began to photograph him as I would any woman, adjusting the light for the most flattering shadows, arranging the costume to its best advantage.  The illusion was so strong that I was completely taken in, and any ideas I had of "exposing" the model vanished.

While we were shooting, our host's pathetic little poodle wandered in and sat down on the cape.  Her hairdo perfectly mimicked Monica's, and I shot the photo above.

We shot for three hours, much of it taken up in changing costumes and wigs.  One of the model's specialities was 1940's period dress, so we took a series of that.  The image below is a result.

During this part of the shoot, which took place in the host's bedroom, there was a large chair in the way.  When Monica, who was 6 feet tall in heels, started to move it,  I stepped in and said, "Oh, no, let me get that.  It's heavy."  The illusion was complete.

Looking back on these images today, I see that I did photograph the truth, after all.





Figure, Study in Low Light

Same model as yesterday's post, some years later.  There have been changes.  I think my experience in the darkroom shows, as well as a more, shall we say, "sophisticated" vision.  A lot has happened, both personally and professionally.

A study shot on film in low light.



Figure Reclining on a Carpet

This exercise is really taking me back.  I think this may be from the very first nude shoot I did.  Judging from the location it must have been taken around 1976 or 1977.  I can't remember how I got it printed, as I had no darkroom facilities then.  I must have had access to the university darkroom.

The image itself is quite straight-forward; there is little artistry here.  It was shot in natural light on my apartment floor.  The carpet is particularly distracting to me; I have always disliked images shot on that kind of surface; it strikes me as being especially amateurish.

Nevertheless I remember being very excited at the opportunity, and I suppose it launched me on the artistic path I still follow.

The model was my first; he has appeared in two other images here (Wednesday, June 1, Sunday, June 12, 2011).



Bacchus figure

Another in the series printed through a rice paper filter (Friday, May 27, Sunday, May 29). 

The model posed for life drawing classes at the Art League.  I wish I could remember his name; he was very good.  It may have been "Steve", but I'm not sure.



Figure with Newspaper

A window of opportunity.  We were preparing to paint a room in my new house.  It was a very large space, 17'x25', entirely surrounded by French doors, which we had masked with newspaper.  The floor had just been refinished, so that too was covered.

It suddenly struck me what a great setting it was, so I told him to take off his clothes while I grabbed my camera.

The result is what you see.

Shot on film with natural light.



Figure Squatting on a Chair

A portrait of a local artist, a potter, commissioned by his wife.  There was talk around town that he was talented in more ways than one.  This proved it.

The photograph hung in their master bath.

Shot on film with natural light.



Figure, Leaning Forward

The "OMG" model, whose name was Robert, in a contemplative pose.  From the same shoot as Monday, June 6, 2011.



Sunbathers on the Quai, Paris

All these years later, when I look at these images I am struck by the unconscious grace and poise of the figures on the quai. 

It's as though they were each carefully posed by a painter, and yet they are completely unaware of the photographer and each other.



Sunbathers on the Quai, Paris

A long view of the sunbathers on the quai at Pont Royal in Paris.  I discovered the scene while walking along the top of the embankment at the left.  The close-up images were taken from above.

Here a couple have unconsciously synched their positions to echo each other's body language. (See "Homme, Femme". Monday, May 30, 2011)





Paul, Von Gloeden Figure

Another in a series.  I have always been fascinated by the Baron Von Gloeden (If you are not familiar with him, Google "Von Gloeden"). 

He was photographing the male nude at a time and place where it was unacceptable; even illegal, but he persisted, cloaking his models in an air of "antiquity" in the vain hope that they would become respectable.

He remains something of a mystery, and his motives are still somewhat suspect.  After all, he did sell his images, under the counter,  to a "certain" clientele, posing his little Sicilian boys in decidedly homoerotic attitudes.  He also chose his models for their obvious endowments.

Since I recently had the opportunity to see a collection of his original prints at the Kinsey Institute, I feel I have new insight into his work.  In image after image, his personal enjoyment of what he was doing shines through; the passion is there for anyone to see.



Figure Reclining on a Modeling Stand

The "OMG" model (Friday, May 13, 2011) in a later shoot.  After the initial shock, he became quite adept at classical poses such as this one.  It was the '80's, and I never knew whether he would be bearded or clean-shaven, but it worked either way.



Johnny, Posing on a Bed

In contrast to the sunbathing figure on the quai (Friday, June 3, 2011), this model knew he was being watched, and not only being watched, but photographed.  His provocative pose was intentional.  Is there a difference?



Portrait of a Young Man with Mirror and Ivy Leaves

Double portrait on film; no digital trickery.  It was all done in the camera, using one light source and a shard of broken mirror. Now this could be done in a few minutes in Photoshop, but it seemed like much more of an accomplishment then.  Late 1980's.



Sunbather, Paris

On the quai at Pont Royal, Paris.  The kind of unaffected pose that can only come from the total unawareness that one is being watched.

"Z", with White Glove

I'm not absolutely sure of the date, but I do know that this image was shown in an exhibition, "Now You See It, Now You Don't" in 1987, so it can't be any later than that.

I don't remember the exact impetus for using the glove, but I honestly don't think it was Michael Jackson.  I wouldn't have consciously copied the look.

At any rate, "Z" carried it off with his usual poise.

Figure in Shadow

My first nude model.  I suppose it's a cliche that most artists begin with a model with whom they have an intimate relationship, and I was no exception. 

It was an exciting time, both personally and artistically, and it was thrilling to share that with someone.  In this case, he was an artist himself, and understood the process.

We spent hours exploring the possibilities, and although it ended badly - another cliche - I still treasure the experience, and have images such as this to remember it by.

This appears to be artificially lit, but I recognize the wall of the apartment I lived in then, and I had no studio lights at that time ( the late 70's or very early '80's).  I don't really remember what I used.