The idea when I took the photos making up this collage was to get my client up against
one of her favorite pieces of furniture, a large armoire / wardrobe closet. Later, when I
cut up the proof sheet into pieces to do a mock up of the piece I realized how
crucifix-like the pose was. This led me to this page and it’s challenge to think about
beauty and pain/hurt together.
This is the third in my week long series showing selections from the ‘sketchbook with voices’.
The top two photos were of friends of mine from the restaurant where I worked back in
the 80s and 90s. The bottom photo was a family friend from church. I know what you
are thinking; you took photos of a church friend’s cleavage? What sort of church did
you go to? The answers are yes, I did and it wasn’t the church that was odd, it was
me.
As is often the case the photos had no idea they were destined for each other’s
company. At the time I had a big work table and I would have hundreds of photos on it
at a time, sort of like a person with a messy desk having piles of papers. In this
case the two bigger photos, of the breasts facing up and the cleavage, just happen to
land close to each other on the table at some point. I saw that maybe they would
match up and started to see the heart shape. I found the ROMANCE page shortly
thereafter and it all made sense.
The angel type image at the top just added the final element both compositionally and
thematically to the idea.
Another weeklong series. This is from a book given to me way back in the 80s. It is
called ‘Sketchbook with Voices’ and each page was blank for sketching. But at the top
of each page was a statement, idea, assignment, or something else from an artist. I
chose to make the sketchbook my photo sketchbook instead of my regular drawing
sketchbook. I will post a page a day for the next week so you can see some of my faves
from the series.
This is the fifth in a week long series on Photography. Check out Monday’s offering
to get the scoop on it from the beginning.
One of my favorite artists, Robert Irwin, has a saying that became the title of his
biography. ‘Seeing is forgetting the name of the thing one sees’. That is why
drawing instructors teach on how to see negative space because negative space doesn’t
have a name, it doesn’t make you conjure up what an elbow is suppose to look like, or
a breast, or a tree or a couch. It is just a shape and it is just defined by the line
or the shadows or texture, that’s all.
So, when wondering what to take a photo of, don’t worry so much about the ‘thing’ you
are trying to photograph, all named and defined, but look at it without naming it.
Find the line or tone or texture or color that is within it and make an image of
those things. Your photos will be much better, I promise.
This is the fourth of a week long series on my take on photography. Go to Monday’s posting to see the series from the beginning.
Actually, I say stand too far away or too close… or too low or too high. The demon
of creativity is often the eye level shot and the ‘just right’ distant shot. Break the
plane of your own eye level, of the model/photographer comfort zone and the resulting
‘well composed’ but boring shot. If you are worrying about what someone will think,
the model or an onlooker or whoever, then go back to your house and sell your camera
because you are only going to create something that looks like someone elses work,
since you are allowing someone else to decide what you do while in the act of creating
an image.
This is the third in a week-long series on my take on Photography. Go to Monday’s posting to see it from the beginning.
The rule is to get the whole face in the frame, the whole person, everything perfect.
But my rule is that that rule sucks. Are their times to do that? Sure. But for
Christ’s sake (and everyone else’s) don’t be a slave to the perfect shot. Try
getting the persons face just partially in the frame with most of the image being a
background or something else. Try working with angles and composition in an abstract
way instead of worrying so much about the subject matter being perfectly upright.
Here is the important thing though. Don’t think every experiment is just so cute and
precious that you just have to show it to the world. Remember, chances are every
experiment you are attempting a lot of other people have tried it as well. So go look
around, see what other people have done. Be self-critical but NOT self-condemning.
There is a BIG difference. Being Self-critical means you evaluate and look honestly
wat what you have done in context of your own work and others. Self-condemning means
you deride yourself for not being perfect or more like someone else, etc. It is
boring and selfish and oh so last century to wallow in that. Get over it.
This is the second in a week long series on my take on photography. Go to Monday’s posting to see the series from the beginning.
Whatever you do, LEARN what your camera can do! Do not brag about ‘Oh, I don’t know
how to do that’ or ‘Yea, I don’t read manuals’. Both are excuses masking laziness or
fear. Read, practice, goof off, experiment. But for God’s sake (and anyone else’s)
don’t put a stop sign in your head just because you are afraid. And don’t think that
taking bad photos is something to avoid. Take the photo, dag nabbit! How else will you
know what is good or not? Do dancers wait until they are perfect to dance? No, they
practice knowing they are going to make mistakes and fail. Do the same.
I had gone down to Oklahoma City from my home in Tulsa (about 100 miles) to drop off my presentation for the upcoming Photoslam event. I decided to take the day and check out some galleries down that way, something I really hadn’t done before.
When I entered the ‘Untitled’ [art space] gallery this woman was at the door greeting people, explaining the current show, etc. She was very helpful about explaining how the show came about (it was a year end showing of multiple grant recipients’ work).
We got to talking about me being an artist since I had my camera with me, and I asked her if she was as well. She turned out to be an art historian in training, going to college.
The gallery was somewhat dark, but there were large windows in the front that let in great ambient light. Her eyes, as is obvious, were brilliant blue. I told her about my reason for being in OKC, and explained the ‘truth’ project I would present at the show. I asked her if she would be willing to pose for a collage from the truth series as well and she thought it would be a cool idea.
One of the artists in the gallery had large constructions. One of the constructions had a shredder attached to it that was churning out shredded paper very slowly. Photos of that, with photos of her were the perfect combination for what I learned about her as we talked; her life, doubts, fears, wonderings, etc.
We were in San Francisco for a mini vacation and took a tour of the south of Market
gallery area. This San Francisco gallery was airy and the assistant had great eyebrows
and there was an interesting painting with the word penis in it and there was a
colorful potted tree outside and a wall of tile and next thing I know I have a collage.
She wasn’t sure what the photos were going to turn out like, and either was I. I
loved the light in the lobby where I worked and this student happened by one morning
as the sun reflected off the granite floor.
I liked her red complexion but when I worked half the collage up in black and white
and took out 2 of the 3 channels I also loved the porcelain look of her skin. This
got me thinking about how others might perceive her in different ways; red, white,
porcelain, ruddy, however, her perception of her self, her truth is the same no
matter who she is in front of. That is how I came upon the title for this piece.
It is in the ‘Truths and Things I Made Up About This Woman’ series, even with the
variant title.