I did a photo shoot with her back in 2007 and witnessed what a vortex of activity and energy she
created while she was modeling. I kept having a feeling of watching a human tornado. I took
some photos around the house of objects, windows, etc. and put together this collage that really
seemed to play off this idea.
Hey it’s Fourth of July week here in the states. Can’t let it go past without posting my favorite
photos in Red, White and Blue now could I!
This was taken on July 4th, 2007 in Frisco, Colorado at the town parade. A perfect way to show
the american colors and still be stylish. I like it.
This week I am going to show you an early series of mine, one of the first where I
collaged photos onto other material. I had been focusing on photographing physical
memories that showed up on one’s body and I had done a series on tanlines earlier.
Now I focused on body impressions. These were photos I took of parts of the body
having been pressed by something. Maybe a bracelet, or a bra strap or underwear
elastic. Something that left an impression. I then had the idea of collaging those
photos on top of Impressionist paintings. The play on the idea of impressions on
bodies vs. impressions of light in paint appealed to me.
I took it to the point of making the images a collaboration between the original
impressionist artist and myself, titling the works so they included part of the
original title with my new addition and dating the work from the inception of the
original back in the 1800’s to the time I added my photos on top in the 1980s and
90s. Some fellow artists and gallery directors etc. thought that was a bit
pretentious of me, assuming I was equal to the impressionists. But I know this
much….the impressionists themselves would have enjoyed both the fun play on art and
the resulting images.
I noticed the woman in the distance drawing me while I waited at the coffee house for
my friend who was going to model for me. When she arrived I did some drawings of her,
then some photos. All the while the woman in the background was drawing me. This was
quite ironic since I had met my model while drawing her at another coffee house just
days before.
We were right next to a big picture window and my friend had this luminous glow on
her skin from the sky reflecting into the space. Meanwhile back in the establishment
the woman doing the drawing was bathed in indoor incandescent light. I loved the
contrast and did my best to get both in one image. I could have worked out an image
that had both in focus but I liked the blurred image in the back since you could see
all you needed to in it without the focus.
I went into a jewelry store in Tulsa looking for something specific for my wife. I didn’t find it but had a great salesperson help me. She was informative and thoughtful. The whole front of the store was facing south with big windows and it was winter time so the sun was streaming in. It bounced off the floor and glass cases and landed on her in a wonderful way. I asked her if I could take some photos of her and she obliged me.
I did a collage and showed it to her a few days later. She was upset about how it looked, thinking I had made her look rather ugly. I didn’t think it did, but I didn’t post it out of respect for her discomfort. I did this one later, working with less manipulation and distortion and I think she was happier with it.
I love this piece because of how I got the hair and the line of her face to match up. She is the same top to bottom but then a second look obviously shows something isn’t as it should be. Just a bit of a skewed perspective on the portrait.
Your take on this? What is happening here? Tell me what you think.
Parallel arms, lit pillow in the distance, sleep, warm skin tones, feelings, all combined so that I really liked this image. It is from a commissioned photo shoot, January, 2007.
Bruce Anderson was a fighter bomber pilot in WWII with the VSMC 243 Goldbricks, my father’s squadron. He was the flight officer, he got two distinguished flying crosses then, and another in Korea. He was very upset about the truce in Korea, we should have gone in and finished the job he thinks. Same with Vietnam. He lives in Florida with his wife of 60 years. His daughter came to the reunion from Utah, where she likes her Mormon neighbors.
What made this woman cry and smile at the same time? What is true?
Look closely for the answer.