David, fireplace

I know it may seem I'm picking on David, but I'm really not.  I've always felt that a good photographer can photograph anyone, regardless of his or her expertise as a model. David presented a challenge, and as an artist and photographer, it was a problem I wanted to solve.


Besides the issue of his expression, David was tall and angular, with few curves, and he was not experienced enough to know how to break up his lines.


Here I have posed him in an attempt to alleviate these issues, but it seems forced.

Triptych

Another approach.

Shot in low light, allowed to blur.

David, Torso

Please forgive yesterday's rant.  Censorship upsets me.


And now, back to David.  His first shoot was a disaster, although I did get the one image.  By his second shoot I had begun to realize that careful posing was necessary if I was to get anything usable.


As I mentioned, David was taller than I usually shoot, and that presents a different set of problems.


But it was his facial expression that was the biggest difficulty.  I attempted to solve this with shadow and pose.

Shot digitally in low light.

A small rant

I am a paying member of an on-line site that provides exposure and a clearing house of sorts for models and photographers.  The site is called (unfortunately) Model Mayhem.


The image below has been posted on the site - accessible only to members - since last February.  Today it was removed, citing the rule against the "non-flaccid" penis.


Censorship is alive and well.

Shot digitally with a one-light source, sepia toned.

Figure

A new model, with a back-story.


I had a shoot scheduled with my favorite model, Brandon. (Sunday, September 18, 2011)  He called an hour before to say he had a conflict and couldn't make it, but he had a friend who wanted to sub for him.  He had never posed before, but he really wanted the experience.  Since I was already set up, I agreed.


The model, who I will call "David", because that is his name, showed up about a half-hour late - a sign of things to come.  As I recall, it was March, and still a little chilly, but David was wearing a plaid flannel shirt, long-sleeved, buttoned to the wrist and the neck.  Not a good sign.


I attempted to warm him up with a series of clothed head shots, and after a few of these I suggested that maybe he could unbutton the top two or three buttons of his shirt.  He reluctantly complied, only to reveal another shirt - this time a long-sleeved rugby - underneath, also buttoned to the top button.


It took me about half an hour to get his clothes off, and even then I had to practically pry off his socks.  (He was self-conscious about his feet.)


Things weren't going well.  He was tall - a little under six feet - and well but not over muscled.  A nice body.  But his face, although attractive, was contorted in a mask of what can only be described as sheer terror.


I tried every trick I could think of to put him at his ease, but nothing worked.


Finally, after nearly an hour, I just gave up and turned him around.  The result is this image, which is one of my favorites.


MORAL:  Keep shooting.


I have worked with David now for four years, and it's still a struggle every time, but there will be other images of him.  Some will be surprising.

Shot with digital with a one-light set-up, sepia toned.

Figure in the Studio

Finishing out the week:

Shot with studio light on white seamless.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Just for fun, for my American friends and those of you around the world.

Figure shot in the studio, background digitally manipulated.

Figure in the Studio

Shot in studio light with seamless backdrop.

Figure in the Studio

Figure in the Studio

Shot in studio light against white seamless.

Figure in the Studio

I apologize for yesterday's digression.


Where was I?

Happy Birthday, Rob

I didn't forget.  I sometimes wish I could.

Shot on the Massachusetts shore, August 2008.

Figure in the Studio

A shoot with a young model who had never posed for nudes.  Nevertheless he photographed well and took direction.


The only glitch was that he had been over-zealous and inexpert with his "manscaping", shaving his chest smooth to an artificially straight line at his pubes, but leaving his arms and legs.  The result was somewhat disconcerting.


Unfortunately, this is typical of the inexperienced model.  Personally, I prefer everything to be left natural; I feel it photographs better, and looks less pre-meditated.  


More about that later.

Figure on Gray

Last image in this series.

Figure on Gray

Same model, softer curves.

Figure on Gray

Emphasizing the model's angularity, and changing the mood.

Figure on Gray

This one, in muted color, is a classic "faceless" pose.

Figure on Gray

The model on a gray background.  An entirely different mood.

Again, the model could not show his face, and the challenge was to produce an image that was believable, and that did not looked forced.

I leave it to you to decide to what degree I succeeded.

Figure on White

Third in a series:

Figure on White

The second in a series.  When there is a reason to hide a model's face, the emotional content of the image must come from somewhere else.  


In this case, the tension of the pose.

Figure on White

After years of working mainly out of my home, I finally got my first real studio, a small building in a historic section of Houston, originally built some sixty years ago as a storage building.  It was crude and basic, freezing in the winter and burning up in the summer, but it had wonderful space and light, and I was able to create in ways I had never been able to before.


One of my first models in this space was someone who, for professional reasons, could not allow his face to show in nudes.


Never an optimum situation, I was determined to make the best of it, and produced a series beginning with the image below:

Photographed in high-key light against a white paper background.

Figure in Gold

A Collage of Favorites

A Collection of Heads

Something a little different, and a little out of sequence, a montage of actor's head shots:

A Different Light, The Blue Hat

During a shoot at the model's home, we went up into the attic looking for props.  He found a blue tam that he got from the Cirque de Soliel.  

As we started to leave, I noticed the quality of light coming from the attic window, and quickly posed and shot this image.

Figure in Light

I love photographing in a light-filled space.  In this shoot, we were moving the model into his new apartment.  It was empty and white, with just the mattress on the floor.  A perfect location, and a perfect time.

End of this series.

Figure in Light

Figure in Light

Figure in natural light

Figure in Light

Figure in natural light.