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 

Percolate

Thoughts on a cool morning and an approaching storm.

Maggie

Capturing motion, while certainly not essential, just really adds something when you get it just right. Which is the never-ending search, but not entirely elusive. The key is to just keep looking for it, while you keep doing all your other stuff in your little bag of tricks. The thing is, if you just tried to always capture movement, that's what all of your images would look like— like someone who's always trying to capture movement, and sometimes nailing it. That's a redundant look, with unfortunately more misses than hits. When you're always looking for it, but still doing all of your other things— you'll occasionally get it, but your overall work won't look like that's your only quest.

Ajaye

There’s something pure about a portrait, a continuum that stretches back to the beginning of photography. An image that tries to capture the raw and unrefined truth— the sitter and what they’re wearing and how they hold and present themselves to the world. It’s photography as the uneasy balance between performance and reality. It's how we dress and how our attitude mediates between how we see ourselves and how the world sees us, the formality of a suit and/or dress, or the informality of a hoodie and/or t-shirt that shows who we are... at that moment in time.

Natalie

 Smoke & Mirrors.

Becky

Permission— so much of photography has to do with permission. Sure, it's permission to stare... longer than would otherwise be acceptable. You have to be willing to not linger too long, though, and do the work. There are other kinds of permission, as well— to demand, to control, too direct, and sometimes touch (within established boundaries). I have to admit that it's quite appealing, and I really enjoy spending time in that space. Beyond that, deeper than that, it's also permission to indulge in things weird, peculiar, whimsical— or even awkward or graceless. Or even kinky and erotic. To search for a moment that takes both you and your subject to a place of trust, exploration— and perhaps, if you're lucky, truth. It's permission to ask someone for their faith in you, in the hope you'll both be rewarded with the process.