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 4th in the week long series from my ‘Sketchbook with Voices’
that I worked in back in the 80s and 90s.
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.
This is day two of the week long series from my ‘Sketchbook with Voices’ a sketchbook
given to me back in the 80s that had an assignment, idea, or statement about art at the
top of each page.
The assignment was to make something with one hand so instead of using just one hand I
decided I would only have one hand in the collage. I loved the idea of a hard to
recognize hand coming out of a figure with no hands. I was turning the two body parts
into a new, unknown body part.
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.
Definitely one of my freakiest collages. The hair pulled back so tight is what first
drew me to the model. I simply created a different type of ‘sensual’ portrait here,
with the senses all colliding out of synch, out of order, within her.
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.