Photography and Painting

At around the time I was experimenting with digital photography I had the idea of incorporating figures into the settings of some of my favorite paintings.  Many of them were female nudes, for which I began substituting male nudes.  Below is one of the first:

After Manet's "Luncheon on the Grass"

The model, Brandon, was posed to imitate the female figure in the original. Some of the drapery he is sitting on is real, the rest is painted.

Shot with an Olympus digital with one light source.

The original, by Edouard Manet

Figure

Shot with Olympus digital, one light source.



Expressions

Sitting on a sofa at an open window, with me sitting on the floor in front.  I put the camera on a tripod and we just talked - about what had happened since we last saw each other, about his experiences in New York theater, about his hopes and ambitions.

From time to time I clicked the shutter.

Shot with a digital Olympus in natural light.  Click on image to view properly.

Portrait in Sepia with Blue Eyes

This February 2004 session was intense and personal.  Looking back on it now, I think the viewer can see the relationship developing between the model and the photographer.

It was quite a ride.

Shot with Olympus digital in natural light, color manipulated in Photoshop.



Portait with Wet Hair

Rob, portrait with wet hair.

Olympus digital, one light source.



Two Portraits

From the Olympus shoot, February 2004.

Two sides of the same coin.





Torso in Jeans

Shot with Olympus digital in natural light.



Portrait of an Actor

One of a series done with the borrowed Olympus point and shoot in February of 2004.

The model, whom I hadn't seen in more than three years, was back from the New York theatre.  I almost didn't recognize him when he appeared at my door.

Below is what he looked like on the day he left, in the summer of 2000:

Shot on film in natural light.



Sailor on Shore Leave Album

The series as it might have been presented to the sailor.  Click on the image to view it properly.



Sailor on Shore Leave

Number six in the series.  Tomorrow I will post the entire series as an album.



Sailor on Shore Leave

Five in the series:



Sailor on Shore Leave

Number four in the series:



Sailor on Shore Leave

Third in the series.

The photographer coaxes; the sailor obliges.



Sailor on Shore Leave

Second in a series.  Things heat up.



Sailor on Shore Leave

An actor friend with a passion for the vintage look, in this case a sailor on shore leave in San Diego in the '40's.  He wanders into a photo studio near the docks to have his picture taken, and goes all the way.

The first of a series:

Shot digitally, manipulated to give it a vintage look, with an authentic photo frame from the period.



Figure on a Bed

Some shoots are serious; some shoots are fun.  Some turn out to be about the sheer joy of looking, and that's what this one was.  And Brandon enjoyed being looked at.

At one point, as he got more and more involved in the "sexiness" of what he was doing, he glanced in a mirror, saw his reflection and broke up.  I shot the result, and it is one of my all-time favorite images - completely spontaneous and natural.

Enjoy.



Figure on a Bed

Brandon needed no direction to be "sexy"; he just was.  As the shoot progressed I let him go where he wanted, and just went along for the ride.

It promised to be a wild one.





Figure on a Bed

Brandon was that rarest of models, a happily uninhibited soul with no agenda.

His sensuality was a given,and he seemed to glory in it without being vain.  What you saw was what you got, and I saw a lot.

You will see more of him.

Shot digitally with one light source.



Figure on a Bed

Although I often shot color film on theater assignments, I very rarely shot color for fine art figure work.  I didn't have the equipment to develop and print color, and so couldn't easily control the results.

Now that I was shooting digitally, I had to learn the color process all over again.  At first it was all too easy, and I succumbed to the ability to shoot color just about anywhere I liked, with very little discrimination, I'm afraid.

The image above is the result of an early attempt.  I met the model, Brandon, at a Bachelorette Party.  He was part of the entertainment.

His ease in the situation, coupled with his talent for movement, caught my attention.  And, OK, he was pretty.  But he had a personality  to match, and we started talking.  Before the party ended, he had agreed to a shoot.



Torso

My first shoot with a digital SRL - a Nikon D70, which I still use.  (I hate to change cars, doctors or cameras.)

Shot in color, converted to black & white.  Single light source.