Natalie

Film had/has this thing called grain, and while back in the day some photographers hated it— most accepted it, if not embraced it. I tend to use either a film that had little visible grain or went with the opposite— employing & loving something with a serious grain (I would actually amplify it in the darkroom). Film has always had imperfections that are easy to embrace. Since the beginning of digital, noise has sort of been the equivalent of film's grain, but almost no one has embraced it— mostly because it lacks the inherent charm of film grain. The holy grail has been pristine quality, despite the fact that quality like that has never been necessary for artistic ambitions— commercial ambition, yes, but not necessarily creative ones. Ironically, we’re starting to get to a place in digital photography where we’re becoming less obsessed with megapixels and more fascinated with “look.” Camera sensors from different companies each reproduce subjects in a unique way, and to many photographers, that’s starting to matter more than how many pixels are crammed into their cameras.

Vox Serene

I've always been a fan of the extreme low-angle shot. A low angle shot of a person is one photographed from a camera angle positioned low on the vertical axis, anywhere below the eye line, looking up. Utilizing an extreme version, 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.

Emily

This is a serious re-cropping, as well as a re-working, of an image that I posted a couple of years ago.

Izzy

These were single shots from the past (and posted as such a few years ago), that I shot consecutively and always meant to treat as a diptych... it just took me about ten years to get around to it.

Jezz

"In the beginning, it was all black and white"  ~Maureen O'Hara

Natalie

In real life, we typically have a brief amount of time to see things, then we move on. But photographs aren’t reality, they’re an illusion. So I get closer, and explore, and make up my own story. To really understand something, we need to sit still and get close. Really close.

Lucy & Nathalia

"I have discovered photography. Now I can kill myself. I have nothing
else to learn." ~ Pablo Picasso

Miera

Joel: Wednesday, do you think someday you might want to get married and have kids?
Wednesday Addams: No.
Joel: But what if you met just the right man, who worshiped and adored you, who'd do anything you say, who'd be your devoted slave? Then what would you do?
Wednesday Addams: I'd pity him.

Lee

Yeah, full disclosure: I (like many photographers) have a fetish for cameras. When the B&H photo supply catalog comes in the mail, my wife lets me know that my camera porn has arrived. I have a pretty large camera collection— film cameras greatly outnumber the digital ones. I love just looking at them, picking them up and giving them a feel... often. If I didn't actually shoot as often as I do, I would definitely consider it pathetic. Ironically, when it comes to what I actually shoot with, though, I treasure pragmatism over aesthetics. I value the ergonomics over anything else since I'm actually holding the damn thing for hours at a time, not to mention that I like to have quick control over all options. It seems silly, but there are a lot of cameras that I like to look at, and then there are the few that I actually use...

Tanya Dakin

This is an old one, from back when it was so easy to shoot at Eastern State Penitentiary. You could just wander around and shoot anywhere you wanted, and no one bothered you. Now it's impossible to do nudes there, and they confine you to one place. Thinking about it is like a golden period that you wish you could revisit...

Ash

There are so many reasons why a photographer would use, or a viewer would appreciate the use of, B&W in photography. I myself could go on & on listing and expounding on the reasons that I personally employ it... but there are definitely a few concise reasons that I use it here: It tends to add drama, it tends to add mystery, and it tends to remove time. These are all mostly self-explanatory— although I've always really appreciated the aspect of trying to make an image timeless rather than being instantly dated.

Natalie

Lady Garden.

Natalie

I never get bored of playing with mirrors. I don't mind that it is typically just a variation on the same shot. Yeah, this is one of my go-to's...

Claire

Looking down is symbolic of dominance, so I tend to us that point of view for images like this. I'll even get on a ladder to hype that up a bit. Conversely, when I want to make my models look fierce (like my window shots), I tend to lay down on the floor and look way up. I'm always fascinated by the potential to employ psychology in my photography. Commercial photographers and the advertising industry, of course, figured this out a long time ago...

Lady Lazarus

I made this gag out of a Nylabone years ago- it's finally found it's home. The brilliant red of the Nylabone gets a little lost in the B&W translation, but I still really like that it's readable.

Sienna Luna

"Who sees the human face correctly: the photographer, the mirror, or the painter?"  ~ Pablo Picasso

Sienna Luna

"Look up from what you're doing and look around for a minute. See what a beautiful world you're in. "  ~Ralph Marston

Ramonita

"Black and white is abstract; color is not. Looking at a black and white photograph, you are already looking at a strange world."  ~Joel Sternfeld

Ash

A little less Triangle, more Cowbell.

Ash

More Triangles, Twists & Turns. Triangles are my new cowbells— never enough.

Ramonita

"Throw off your worries when you throw off your clothes at night." ~Napoleon Bonaparte

Ash

Perhaps the most difficult task of photography is finding and holding a balance between the technical and creative. Allowing the technical aspect of the process to dominate is a mistake, as the final result will ultimately lack genuine inspiration. Letting the purely creative take over can also be unfortunate, as there needs to be some technical control involved in any artistic undertaking— otherwise, it's just crap. All photographers worth their salt have complete technical control over the medium, but after learning their craft, they tend to move forward into the uncharted areas of instinct. This is a step that requires confidence in one’s inner (and often sub-conscious) resources. After studying the technical aspects of the medium, this leap of faith revolves around a photographer's willingness to put that learning behind themselves and, in essence, forgetting it. Of course, a technique cannot be truly forgotten but must be forced into the recesses of the mind. A process that I have developed involves relying on visual intuition during the compositional phase and then adding technique during exposure and post-production. Pre-visualization, or coming up ahead of time with pretentious ideas, is odious to me— and I find that it tends to completely block intuition. The balance between instinct and pragmatism is so important to my work.

Meira & Heff

I'm sorry, but all I see in these are triangles. Actually, that is a big theme in my work— triangles are everywhere. Just take a brief scroll down the screen, and you'll probably be annoyingly distracted by how many triangles you come across...

Lee Loo La & Heff

The tar rooftop is really dirty and sticky. Seriously nasty. Not only years of dirt on top of sticky tar from the hot sun, but a Chinatown restaurant exhaust fan constantly blowing even more sticky stuff all over. Pretty disgusting to walk on— shoes are definitely necessary at the very least if doing nudes. The grimy aesthetic is to die for, though! I've never had a problem getting a model to shoot up there, though— it not only looks great, but it's also very private.

Adrian Louise

Jean-Paul Sartre's famous quote, "L'enfer C'est Les Autres" or "hell is other people," has often been quoted, but often out of context. This quote, which appears as the dialogue of a character in his play, No Exit, refers to a human being's loss of subjectivity when seeking the approval of other people. In the play, three characters arrive in Hell. They’re expecting flames and pitchforks, but instead, they’re shown into a plain ordinary room – and then gradually discover that this is where they’ll be spending eternity. Alone, together. It's about the difficult coexistence of people. This quote is very open to interpretation so there can be infinite takes on it— which is precisely why it's such a great fucking quote. Personally, though, I see it as how we are unable to escape the watchful and judgmental gaze of everyone around us.

Key

“Creativity is contagious. Pass it on.” ~ Albert Einstein

Jezz

I've always tried to maintain a strong lock onto the eyes. Normally, there is a natural rhythm of looking at people and looking away. When it feels right, we can hold our gaze a little longer, relishing a simple moment of human connection. We are naturally drawn into images by eye contact. There is nothing like that feeling of a tie bound by an invisible thread, as in sharing a unique moment with them. It’s very hard to articulate and explain in words that feeling that connects you to a subject, either in the viewfinder or on the printed page. When that connection is there, though, it's obvious— and doesn’t need words to explain it; we feel it.

Li

Yeah, I've always had a thing for super long lashes. I'm particular, though. They usually don't look good straight out of the box- at least the cheapie ones that I buy. So I get ridiculously long ones and trim them to my liking first. That seems to make them a little more original...

Setsuki

Setsuki is a circus performer— so whereas I usually employ rope work for a suspension, this just her and a simple heavy chain that we linked up to the ceiling hooks. She did it all— I just stepped back and clicked the shutter. The brick wall, which is always behind the backgrounds that I typically use, is a nice departure. I've tried the brick before and did not like it, as it tends to be too busy looking. I think that I got it right this time...

No One

A statue and a vintage nudie toy. The inanimate becomes animate.

Sophia & Cammy

Rhythm & Marks.

Mistress Veronica & Maggie

In my early years as a photographer, I was pretty content to simply emulate past masters, which was basically how I self-taught myself photography— study a style, and imitate it as well as possible. Pictorialism, Hollywood Glamour, f64, Pin-ups, etc. Eventually, though, I became frustrated by my lack of any special distinction in my work— other than that is was always well done. Searching for a singular style, all I was managing was a derivative portfolio. The need to establish a personal style (and to garner gallery and/or book worthy attention) had overridden the sheer joy of simply shooting. I wanted to truly create, rather than just follow in the footsteps of others. I gradually began to develop and refine a particular vision by giving more thought to portraying something contemporary in a way that I was not seeing elsewhere. That is what you are mostly looking at in this blog— current subcultures documented with old techniques, which I find to be a wonderful mash up. Everything really came together when I applied what I learned to a newer subject matter, along with little additions of my own particular way of looking at things— which is in large part getting in (almost) uncomfortably close to my subjects as well as trying to capture genuine emotions. Hopefully, that is what is coming across here...

Autumn

I made the mask myself, picked from a collection of masks that I've made but have not used except for this shot. I've always like the use of masks in photography (especially Ralf Eugene Meatyard), and this is my attempt at it...

Vanessa & Julie

Double trouble.

Autumn

Underwater.

Meira

This is from our last and something like one-hundredth shoot together.

Autumn & Percolate

I believe that I asked them to wrestle— but wrestle slowly, and with precision. My silly directions often lead to the most interesting images.

Natalie

"Happiness radiates like the fragrance from a flower and draws all good things towards you." ~Maharishi Mahesh Yogi

Ash

I believe it was Confucius that wisely said: "time spent researching the best camera models on the internet is not time spent learning a craft". 

Ash

My own opinion is that, in photography, the hierarchy of values runs something like this: subject… composition… exposure… focus. I’m certainly not the voice of photographers everywhere— but to me, small flubs can’t wreck a great photo. In the past, if one tried best with what they had and spent some time learning the camera and the fundamentals— then a little out of focus, enlarged grain, blur… won’t wreck it. On the contrary, it makes the photo easier to look at and love. The newest digital cameras are amazing, but they are often too good. Perfection can take the soul out of an image. Ironically, I have lately been purposely messing up my images a bit in order to give them some more organic feel that a perfect sensor doesn't quite give.