Old Timey-Whimey. 30 years ago to present day, I'm not tellin'

Natalie.

Lee Loo La

 While I have always been mostly a perfectionist when it comes to many of the technical aspects of photography, I am typically not a pixel peeper (although, sometimes I am). A complimentary definition of a pixel peeper would be a digital photographer who magnifies images to critically evaluate image resolution at the pixel level. A pixel peeper could also very well be described in derogatory terms: a snobbish photographer who erroneously believes that the worth of a digital camera is determined solely by having the most megapixels, and/or the latest and greatest sensor. Pixel peeping has its place, but an image technically perfect down to the level of each individual pixel will still look terrible if it is poorly composed, or contains a boring and/or lifeless subject. It has its place, but it is the least important to me in the hierarchy of details. The majority of the work posted here is also represented by a portfolio of prints that are only 4 x 6 inches— at that size, it really wouldn't matter if I shot them on a half-decent digital camera from 2004 vs a brand new 100 MP medium format camera. I feel that the smaller print size is a good size to intimately handle and view the work, and they are kept in a larger hand-crafted wooden box with a linen inset that makes them kind of jewel-like. The way that I arranged the lighting of these shots is something that, for instance, I value over the quality of the camera, since if the lighting was crappy you would easily note that even in a 4 x 6 print... everything is relative.

Ajaye.

Ajaye has my favorite kind of eyes to photograph. In a portrait, they are soulful and expressive. In erotic images, they are bedroom eyes- sleepy, yet they draw you in. From the very beginning, eyes have been the main focal point in my photographs of people, and that has never changed. I can always help someone's eyes connect to the camera better with a few tricks, but there is only so much that I can do. In the end, either someone's eyes connect to the camera or they don't. The eyes are the best non-verbal indicator of our emotional and intellectual state of mind. That is why it is only every so often that I create a portrait where the eyes simply get an intense visceral reaction from most viewers. It's a constant frustration, but when I get it, it's such a joy.

Miss Skitzy Spotts

We all want to be remembered as valid, creative artists for the generation that we represent. We want to be remembered for doing a body of work that represents the time that we lived in. That's my goal, for better or worse, since we don't really know until in retrospect whether we accomplished it or not. Keep moving.

Izzy

Ajaye

Skitzy Spotts

If you ever feel as though your work is meaningless, which I hope is never the case, remember how you are bringing back to life and preserving an era that was so special.

Sonia

“Water sustains all.” ~Thales of Miletus

Diane

"We've gone from looking up at the moon to looking down at Instagram"  ~Bill Whittle

Ash

"Armpit hair is asshole deterrent, because the people who get upset about it are the sort of people who throw a fit about personal choices that have no affect on them at all. They think that women, even women they do not know and will never come into contact with, should modify their bodies in order to suit their specific preferences. These aren't the sort of people I wish to associate with on any level, so it's nice to have such an easy way to identify them."  ~Liv Sage

Skitzy Spotts

"For me, sitting still is harder than any kind work."  ~Annie Oakley 

"I ain't afraid to love a man. I ain't afraid to shoot him either."   ~also by Annie Oakley