CRIME SCENE: Bloodletting..

I had the opportunity to shoot more of my crime scene series today with some new faces who brought fresh ideas to the table..

I normally dont do gore, but something about this just felt right..

More to come..

MODELS: ANGEL EYES , HOTCHILD , NATASHA FATALE

Beauty Is..

Beauty TRULY is in the eye of the beholder..

Beauty truly is subjective.. I tend not to look for conventional beauty when I shoot but find beauty in the mundane.. I try to reach each subject where it is.. Find what is interesting about it and capture that..

That is because rarely are my subjects the people IN the pictures I take.. They are normally there to respresent the intent of the images.. not to be the subject of them..

There was a time when all I wanted to do was take pretty pictures of pretty women.. So I shot strictly to capture what I thought made each of them beautiful in a way that was the most flattering for them.

Then I took some Art classes and "drank the kool-aid" that my professor was serving.. Not quite Jim Jones, thankfully, but the things he made us find to shoot were things I would have never done on my own.. They were things that made me have to focus beyond the physical to find the essence of them..

I think that is why I dont have the same passion for shooting glamour.. I always hope there can be more to it than the obvious.. I was told by someone whose opinion I respect that whenever I do shoot glamour there is always something lacking.. and I think what is lacking is my passion for it..

Just as I tell the models I shoot with that they need to lose themselves in the process and buy into it enough to become whatever is necessary to play the role the image calls for convincingly because there are things few can fake well visually..

I guess this is the proverbial two way street..

So my goal for this summer is to find some passion for glamour.. and translate that visually..

This past week was my first attempt..

Thank you to JENNIE and HOTCHILD for coming out to play with me.. And to RICK J. for the Kool-Aid.

MODELS: JENNIE , HOTCHILD

CRIME SCENE: The Beginning

I wanted this whole series to be like a Vintage horror movie.. Not the new flashy kind, but that old school feel to them.. Before all the special effects and high tech computer graphics..

The goal is not to focus on the gore, but go back to when the SUSPENSE was what kept you on the edge of your seat..

Back when everything wasnt spoon fed to the audience because of short attention spans and people had to use their own imagination..

More coming..



Thank you to Nicki for not killing EVERY bug in the forest in order to get this shoot done.. and to DJ for all his input and multitasking..

MORE Video links to come.. http://au.youtube.com/watch?v=swCfenFWFt4


MODELS: NICKI DEE , DJ - DIGITAL DEV

Mother Nature

Something about Maternity and Motherhood that always fascinates me.. People are quick to tell you about how beautiful it is, but there is also a deeper side that many wont discuss in public..

There is often a feeling of abandonment and isolation that most new mothers feel that can be overwhelming. and the responsibility of caring for a new life is bigger than most can grasp, so they tend not to think about it and just function day to day..

But what happens in those quiet times is what people really need to know about.. The part that is felt and not verbalized for fear of being shunned or judged..

Thanks to Char and her new hubby for sharing their bundle of joy Garrett with me..

MODELS: CHAR ROSE and Garrett

CRIME SCENE : VOYEUR

I am often surprised at how dark my thoughts can be.. Not that I have the urge to perform any of these acts, but I am often fascinated at the visual and psychological aspects of them..

So I try to capture these thoughts the way they FEEL to me, not so much the way they would look if I witnessed it. So often the gruesome visual elements dont come into play for me, just the emotional ones.



I often wonder how far each of us are from becoming the worst of ourselves..?? How much of ourselves do we suppress in order to not be judged harshly by those whose judgement we care about ??

This is not just in reference the violent side of ourselves, but EVERY aspect of who we truly are..

I got the urge to add a difference element to my Crime Scene Series this time.. Not so much CSI, as Voyeur..

I say Voyeur because it is emotionally gratifying to be able to capture what was only random thoughts swimming around in my head hours earlier..



Thank you to Rick and Cassandra for coming halfway across the state to play with me on a wet and rainy day in the middle of nowhere..



MODELS: CASSANDRA LARAE , RICK MESSER

FORM STUDY: BARN Series

This is the start of my Form Study in various Rural Locations...

I have decided that this year I am going to get back to why I picked up a camera the first time.. and embrace the frustration that I felt..

TIA

was brave enough to come out and be my "Virgin Location Guinnea pig". She has been the catalyst for a few of my current projects.. She came out to play with me "eyebrow-less" on a wet and chilly day and fight thru the Horse Poop and random Cat Urine for some images that I didnt even know would work visually..


Because of that, I went back the very next day to shoot more..




I want to thank those who trusted the concept enough to be a part of it..

MODELS: TIA , ASHLEY S , CHICRACER

Sensuality

Where does the line between Sensuality and Sexuality reside..??

I tend to think MOST women are naturally sensual, even when I am not physically or sexually attracted to them.. There is a comfort that comes with that sensuality that cant be quantified..

So, at least for me, the two are not synonymous... Sexual attraction doesnt necessarily mean sensual and Sensual doesnt mean sexually attractive..

I think you can want to have sex with someone who is physically attractive but isnt sensual at all.. and someone who isnt necessarily physically attractive to you, but oozes sensuality and confidence..

I am sure for most that line is so blurry they have no idea where one ends and the other begins

MODELS: ITALIAN KITTEN, KATE Z

MASKED SERIES: MORE Masks

Ok.. Shot a few more.. tried a different approach.. Wanted to go for more negative space and a single light.. I wanted them to go from an almost childlike innocence to an androgynous womanly feel..




MODELS: ITALIAN KITTEN

Dolls and Masks..

I am in the process of shooting a DOLL SERIES and a MASKED NUDE SERIES. I want both to be very straight forward portraiture while allowing the content to be interesting on its own merit.


With the Doll Series, I dont want to make the models LOOK like dolls, but have somthing about them that resembles the dolls they choose..


The Masked Nudes are much more about the Mask than the nudity.. I hope the body language adds some depth to the images and allows the personality of the model to shine thru the mask.

I like the red background with these for some reason.. So I think I will continue with that for the future shoots with both of these projects.

MODELS: REBECCA LYNNE , B , TIA

GLAMOUR SHOTS

I decided to shoot some Glamour Shots only to realize that I dont like to shoot traditonal glamour.

Most of my ideas have little or no glamour intent at all.. I try to find something beyond the superficial with most of what I shoot, but glamour is about the superficial and anything more is often seen as a distraction from that intent.


I would rather shoot in an effort to capture the essence of an idea.. I would rather shoot something interesting than something pretty.. SO where does that leave me..


I had an Art Professor tell me that my models were often too attractive and a distraction.. I didnt think that was possible, but now I understand what he meant..

Since beauty is subjective, can it be interesting as well.. ??

Does it have to be one or the other.. ??

MODELS: EKATERINA K , ITALIAN KITTEN , CASSANDRA L

CRIME SCENE: CSI

I dont know why the darker aspect of life always seem to get my creative juices flowing.. I have been shooting stuff lately that didnt really inspire me but was fun to shoot because of WHO I was shooting it with.. Then I decided to shoot something that would inspire me no matter who I was shooting it with..

After being sick and watching way too many CSI reruns on USA network, I felt like I wanted to capture that same feeling in some new pictures..

It made me remember why I used to luv being in photography classes because each week there was something different we had to come up with and find people or things to shoot in order to realize our vision.

My professor would require us to have something beyond the superficial to offer, something deeper than a pretty picture or something done well technically..

So in planning this shoot I tried to think about evidence trails and what would help to lead the investigator back to the killer.. So there were little cues and clues left around to help tell the story..

MODELS: ANAVAY , CASSIE , TIA

Original Woman

Ok.. I had planned on doing a Woodland Nymph series at our Montly Group Gathering this past month, but the scenery in Ohio is unpredictable this time of year and the brush was baren already where it looked like deep cover three weeks ago..

So I had to change my gameplan at the last second and went for more of a primal approach..

I wanted it to feel more animalistic and an almost "original woman" kind of mentality.. SO at the last second I had to try to make what each person brought to the table fit the intent of the images..

So between fighting a sinus headache the whole day that had me sitting in the shade of a picnic shelter for about 3 hours during prime sunlight, and having to rethink what I had planned for 3 weeks at the last minute, I am happy with the outcome..



THANK YOU for those who braved the elements for me.. and stepped outside of their normal comfort zones..

MODELS: MS CHRISTINA , ITALIAN KITTEN , CHAR ROSE , ANAVAY