Rose

This is a one hundred percent unashamedly inspired homage to George Hurrell portraits from the 30's & 40's. George Edward Hurrell (1904 – 1992) was the foremost practitioner of the glamour idiom in photography and helped to create the standard for the idealized Hollywood glamour portrait. He invented the boom light (like used here) and is credited with developing other innovative lighting and darkroom techniques. While his photography was generally considered commercial photography during his career, he is now rightfully considered a pioneer in the history of photography.

Joe & Lissa

I typically avoid the "model holding a vintage camera" shot that I've seen a hundred times because it tends to look stilted, like so many other "vintage prop" shots. I prefer to recreate the past with make-up, hair, and clothes— paired with appropriate lighting. This was a couple shoot, and they were both on the vintage wavelength, so what the hell. I like how he looks like a beatnik amateur or paparazzi photographer rather than a fashion photographer, which gives things more of the Bettie Page feel.

Little One

A photoshoot, for me, is having a nice day with someone who intrigues me. Ultimately, it's nothing more than that. Creating something is the extra bonus, not the sole goal. Contrary to what it may look like here, I'm usually not looking for perfect bodies or faces. I'm looking for people that share my passion for genuinely artistic photography... people someone else might call "strange or different", people who are still discovering themselves. I don't really care about how much experience you have— some of the women in the photos have a lot of experience and some posed for the first time, and often somewhere in-between. Ironically, someone who is inexperienced offers me an awkwardness that can come across as a nice tension rather than representing an easy superficiality.

Setsuki

I've done a lot of maternity portraits over the years— but they are most often paid shoots where I tend to be more concerned with making my subject relaxed & untroubled above anything else. Setsuki is someone that I have shot with before, however, and she is very comfortable in front of the camera. I think she lent a slight eroticism to most of the pregnancy pics we did together. I would not have wanted it to be more than a slight eroticism, though, because that would probably be distasteful. I think that this is just right. Below the pregnancy shot, are a couple from a year earlier— you can really see how the breasts change as well as the belly...

Lee

Keeping on with the gritty. It's sometimes hard to believe that all of my work was so fashion magazine polished, with no imperfections. I still can appreciate that, and I can even still shoot like that— but it's nice that I've loosened up a bit.

Izzy

Old Izzy in the shower shot.

Vox Serene

You can often recognize a photographer by how they compose the edges of their frames, part of a language the makes their images as explicit as a fingerprint.

Sienna Luna

Ophelia.

Sienna Luna

I have to say that it's a really nice bonus of digital photography that I can shoot everything in color and convert to B&W in post processing. After all these years, I still tend to have no idea if something looks better in monochrome or color until I compare the two side by side. Obviously, much of my work fares well in B&W since everything that I post here is. I think that is often true because I think of and use contrast as I shoot. To be honest, though, not everything that I finish makes it here. I typically finish most images in color and then begin the grayscale process. Sometimes an image just looks lame after converting. That may not say much as to the inherent worth of an image, but sometimes it just does work better in color.

Izzy

This was shot the same day as the previous post (several years ago), but I don't believe that anyone has ever seen this image. File this under forgotten about, but not lost.

Izzy

This is one of my personal favorites. I was thinking of a Fellini film when I shot it, and it still reminds me of Fellini film as an image. I have to admit that there is not much humor in my work, with the exception of my portfolio of dolls & toys. This one cracks me up, though. That has a lot to do with Izzy, who never takes things too seriously, and is always a blast to work with. btw, she was shaking her tits at pedestrians below, before & after the shot- which was even funnier than the image itself...

Miss Chloe & Miera

Dungeon shoot.

Katie Marie

A little more fun than usual...

Ajaye

Why Create? When you’re investing time and money and effort into making something that nobody asked you to do, it’s an inherently wacky thing to do. You're not following the program, you're bucking against it. You’re going to have strange feelings, especially about the indulgence and uselessness of it all. Some days you think that is wrong, and some days you think it couldn't be more right. But then you think, I’m going to stay with it— because it’s more interesting than anything else that I could be doing...

Ajaye

Emotions that people feel but can't explain— Opia: The ambiguous intensity of looking someone in the eye, which can feel simultaneously invasive and vulnerable.

Ajaye

As previously mentioned, the dreads are now gone and Ajaye's hair has grown out— the weight of the dreads was giving her back problems :(

Heff

Inverta.

Ajaye

This is actually unposted from an older shoot— the dreads are gone. We just did a new shoot last week, which I'll be posting some from, to show the difference.

Sienna Luna

This shot has some very similar angles going on compared to the image of my last post, although they are very different images...

Kacie Marie

I have never understood why there has always been so much argument between digital vs film. To me, there is no debate— use whatever you want to, in whatever combination you want to. If it works for you, then the rest is just internet trolling. The whole idea is to get the images that are best in your eyes and suits the purpose you have for it. I use both digital and film. I don't really care what someone else does or doesn't use. Both processes have strengths and weaknesses. I don't care to give up either. I do not think either is going to replace the other at this point. For a while, many thought that film might go away. As with vinyl records, I knew that would not happen. To be sure, there were all of the frustrations of film supply companies going out of business. Thankfully, there is now a resurgence of supplies. The availability of cameras, on the other hand, was never an issue. I never got rid of my favorite film cameras or my darkroom, and I appreciate my foresight. I definitely find digital to be easier and more practical for most purposes. I have to admit that I found digital to be such a pleasure when it legitimately arrived as a viable option. But I don't think that you're going to get a good argument that a good platinum print from a large format film negative is not perfectly exquisite (and that it always will be), though. There is something to be said for how easy it is to care for collections of photos in a physical format. Darkroom prints kept in linen clamshells, or web images on sites & blogs, or images that are made from digital files and then printed or web sized. I use all of these methods. Plus I have a few gorgeous books utilizing the digital process. You then just store them on a bookshelf. No hard drives, online, or computer storage needed. I have thousands of photos stored on all of these places, but I wonder how archival any of this is. Will anyone care about these digital files when I am gone? I have a feeling that the hard copy stuff will be better kept and/or cherished— but who knows?. Long live choices. Use what works the best for you and makes you happy.

Heff

When it comes to portrait photography, I tend to find myself gravitating towards themes and styles that go beyond straight portraiture. Nothing against the usual posed model shots (actually, I do have something against them...), but portraits that reveal a bit more, that are unguarded or even awkward score more points in my book. This image, however, is not posed or unguarded or awkward or a even a portrait. I just like it.

Jezz

I used my beloved Mole-Richardson Fresnel lantern for this shot, along with some fill-in Smith-Richardson spots. A Fresnel is usually used these days just for theater lighting— you know, when the light looks very dramatic on the stage. For old Hollywood films and stills (especially film noir), though, it was the go-to light source. It can be rather unflattering and hard to control if you don't know how to use them, but they make exquisite images when used properly.

Vox Serene

The longer you look at an object, the more abstract it becomes, and, ironically, the more real. ~Lucian Freud

Ajaye

These kinds of natural yet bold portraits are actually my favorite and most satisfying things to shoot— mostly because they are so hard to pull off, and they are so few and far between. When you get one, it's a real treasure.

Heff

I've always been a fan of the extreme low-angle shot— photographed from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Sometimes, it can even as far as from below the subject's feet. Psychologically, the effect of the low-angle shot is that it makes the subject look strong and powerful. The downside is, well, it's a hard shot to get right. It's often not flattering or looks amateurish. Also, frankly, it's not really comfortable to shoot for long that way. The trick is to keep moving, looking and slightly changing up the angle until you finally see it working. Typically I can never really know if an image is successful until after editing— but with a low angle, you usually know it right away, because it will pack a punch. That is the upside.

Rhodanthe

I like this shot. It reminds me of the work of photographer Imogen Cunningham, who lived a long life shooting from the late 1800's to the 1970's. She would often create images like this— tightly cropped and more concerned in making a compelling composition rather necessarily flattering the subject. She was a big influence on my early work, and I've been trying to create images that might rate up with her ones that are always stuck in my head. Easier said than done, of course. This one is getting closer.

Sienna Luna

I shot these images the day after the bathroom shots in the previous post. I like changing gears like that— going back & forth from fetishistic stuff to natural outdoor portraits, et cetera. These are definitely different for me, though. Slightly Edward Weston influenced. I love Edward Weston, but I rarely take much direct inspiration from him. Seems to work here well enough!

Sienna Luna

There was a mirrored ceiling in this bathroom (which is a kinda weird thing in a bathroom, right?), so I decided to turn it into a unique opportunity. Shooting the images from the mirrors made for some really interesting straight out of the camera shots, although the first one here is something that I don't usually do— a two shot composite. I think that composite shots typically look like a gimmick, but here it seems to make for a noteworthy if not remarkable image. I'm very happy with these bathroom pictures. There are more to come...

Heff

This is my attempt at a late 1960's Diana Ross vibe...

Sienna Luna

The window series is easily going on ten years now— which means that I have to either stop doing them or get ever more creative. I've always pushed the lighting boundaries, so that's a given. I've been playing around with giving them extra depth and some movement to prevent them from being too static. Me likes this latest one...

Natalie

"If I knew how to take a good photograph, I'd do it every time.”  ~ Robert Doisneau

Holly

She came from Greece, she had a thirst for knowledge... she studied sculpture at Saint Martin's College.

Sienna Luna & Rhodanthe

Harness, walk & fetch.

During the past few years I've become very familiar with what professional dominatrix's do and their lifestyle. It is mainly from photographing them, as well as many conversations with those that I've become good friends with. I've never personally experienced a session (I have watched a few), since I'm not a masochist and don't really have any inherent desire or need to experience that. I'm none the less fascinated by the psychology of it all, as well as fetishes in general. It is certainly not a coincidence that fetishes and BDSM are a major sub-context of this blog, despite that I don't necessarily have any more fetishes than the average person. Maybe a few more... but I think that most people perhaps have fetishes without even realizing it— perhaps call them obsessions or distractions, because they think that fetishes are something that only weirdos have....

Vox Serene

”I went into photography because it seemed like the perfect vehicle for commenting on the madness of today’s existence.”   ~ Robert Mapplethorpe

Nathalia, Meira, Lady Lazurus, Tanya & Ajaye

I've been taking at least some completely blurred/out-of-focus shots on just about every shoot since I started shooting over 25 years ago. I've always liked the dreamy look of it. If I wanted to be indulgent (and make people roll their eyes), then every other image in my body of work would be one of these. To my mind, it always works— but of course, most others just see it as fooling around. I get away with incorporating blur into just about every image of mine by keeping at least a little bit of focal point and shooting at f1.2. The mind tends to see completely blurred as an accident or incompetence, but a razored edged focus at least somewhere in there takes a lot more effort. Which, well, tends to be true. I try to keep from showing the completely out of focus stuff to a minimum. I just look at and appreciate them on the contacts. It takes a lot of effort on my part, though, not to show them. Seriously.