Don’t Mess Up
If I am giving first credit to the success of any of my photographs, I owe it to the extraordinary men and women I have had in front of my cameras. There is little question I have had some of the most amazing people as models. And here the most breathtaking elegant ballet dancer Viktoria in this behind the scenes photograph from our photo shoot.
Yes I am lucky to have so much space available to realize most of what I want to do, from studio shooting to my outdoor pool and gardens. Close by I have even larger studio space available, the great outdoors, the Salton Sea and even vintage aircraft.
Next is what I and many others consider the finest equipment available. Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting.
What is left for me is to stage the photographs I have in the back of my mind, and more important than anything else, each and every time, don’t mess up. Thanks!
Voting
Would you vote for this photograph of Kajira full-length or closer up? The dilemmas I face when editing from a photo shoot. My vote… Must have both!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. Thanks!
Just Love It
I love the people I photograph! I love the creation, the wardrobe or lack of wardrobe, the makeup, the process, the cameras, the lighting equipment, even the light stands, all of it. And I am a true lover of photography, not just my photographs but the world of photographs.
My photo shoot with the beautiful Amber Flowers. The camera is Hasselblad digital. The lighting is Broncolor with the so unique Broncolor Para 133 reflector. I love it all, I truly do!
Looking At Me?
Yes we are looking at you! It would be a tragedy not to! Amber Flowers in our photo shoot. Superbly wardrobe styled and makeup and hair by Amber. Hasselblad digital camera system and lighting by Broncolor. I am sure happy I shot some photos to remember all this!
Another Look
So many people have commented to me about the looks of model Kajira. Here yet is another look, the look with that red hair that so greatly intrigued me. This woman is just so gorgeous and what a fun model!
Photo shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. Only the best!
Elegance Of Posing
Working with professional ballet, dance model Viktoria “Viktory” Hofstaedter. A photo shoot filled with her elegance of motion as part of her posing. Each and every pose a work of art.
Photo shoot notes… The beautiful makeup and hair styling by Natalie Lyle. Hasselblad digital camera system. Lighting by Broncolor. Only the best.
Simplicity
Sometimes I prefer simplicity. A 45 year old Polaroid instant film camera and one of my favorite models, Aristodeme. I think I will do more of this in my photo shoots. What do you think?
She Gets Naked
Seeing that my photography sometimes includes nude women, I am occasionally asked “How do you get them to take their clothes off?”. It is a question I find perplexing. It shocks me to think that people would surmise that these beautiful women are somehow tricked out of their clothes and that they are not freely being part of the art or creation. It truly befuddles me.
To that point I just read this wonderful story in “The New Yorker” magazine. “The Opposite Of A Muse” by Anna Heyward. I am not going to try to summarize but merely use a few quotes to explain the story of Isabelle Mage. Click on the photograph to read the entire feature and see more photographs.
“At the time she came to Paris, she had never met an artist, and had been to few museum shows, but she collected record covers and postcards of images that appealed to her. One Saturday in mid-July, she went alone to an exhibition by the portrait photographer Jeanloup Sieff at the Musée d’Art Moderne. Stunned by the images, which depicted anonymous and ordinary, as well as famous, subjects, she wrote to Sieff, telling him that she liked his work. To her surprise, he telephoned her a few days later. She wrote in her diary, which she kept from 1986 until 2008, “He calls me, I’m extremely moved, surprised, I feel drunk.” She asked him if he would consider making a picture of her.”
“She began looking at photography books, buying magazines, and keeping track of the names in the exhibitions she visited. Methodically, and recording her activities in brief, elliptical diary entries, she sought out other artists, explaining how she had encountered their work and asking to be used in it.”
“By 1990, Mège’s collection had grown to around sixty images—most of them black-and-white, and almost all nude, as she preferred to be photographed.”
“Nègre’s Fetishist,” a image from 1990 by Joel-Peter Witkin, whom Mège pursued for years before he agreed to work with her.
Instant BTS
Fun shooting behind the scenes photos with instant film cameras. This one with the Fujifilm Instax. Of course no one really cares because I know you are staring at the magnificent Noel VanBrocklin. Model, actress and the stunning creature in the blue lagoon of my pool. Shoot notes… lighting is a Broncolor Move 1200L and Broncolor beauty dish. The actual shoot with a Hasselblad digital camera system. Often overlooked, the stand and boom are Matthews Studio Equipment. Wonderful and sexy makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau.
Self Illuminated
Noel VanBrocklin almost like a self illuminated being in the darkness. Makeup and Hair Styling by Blanche LeBeau. Shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting.
Flashing Her Shadow
Model Aristodeme flashing her shadow. Shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system. Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector.
Noel No Not Christmas
My preference of Noel, not Christmas, actress and model Noel VanBrocklin. So very fun in a photo shoot! Looking forward to seeing her again soon in front of my camera. Makeup and Hair Styling by Estee Lauder’s world traveling Blanche LeBeau. Shoot notes… Hasselblad digital camera system, Broncolor lighting with the Broncolor Para 133 reflector. Only the best! Thanks!
Posing With Noel
Model and actress, Noel VanBrocklin posing for my camera. She said “let me try this”. I said “That Works!”. My camera, Hasselblad digital, lighting by Broncolor. Wonderful Makeup and Hair Styling by Blanche LeBeau. Perfect!
Acting Model
Acting when modeling, perfect! Adds another dimension to the photographs. A truly superb Noel Vanbrocklin in our photo shoot. With equally superb makeup and hair styling by Blanche LeBeau. Broncolor lighting and a Hasselblad camera system. Only the best!
Break The Rules
I just love this photograph I shot in a studio with Melyssa. Very casual and sexy. But it does break some of my photo rules. The left side is really somewhat over exposed. But I like it! It was shot on film, Kodak Portra in a medium format camera. Part of the magic of film is that you would, after processing, get back photographs that were not actually what you were expecting in one way or another. So fun!
Something else I sometimes hear from people is… “I don’t like that she is naked, I like something left to the imagination”. Well that’s fine, but I like her naked. I like the other gorgeous naked people in front of my cameras and the photographs we create too. It is wonderful and fascinating! And I like breaking these rules of society. Thanks!
When Is A Model Not Just A Model
When is a model not just a model? When the model is so very creative! Amber Flowers is not only gorgeous and knows how to work in front of the camera but also a wizard of wardrobe. She totally made my day with this!
Amber Flowers photographed by me here in Palm Springs. Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
What To Wear… Or Not
Wardrobe is always a big issue in photo shoots. Sometimes it is about the clothes, other times it is about what the clothes do for the shoot theme such as sports or dining or being a tourist. I like wardrobe decisions on how I imagine the photographs I want to shoot with a model. Sometimes it is more and sometimes less is even more. One of my favorite models, Aristodeme. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera system and Broncolor lighting. Only the best!
Rise Above It
The inescapable presence of model Tiana Joy in our photo shoot. Made even more so by the just the right water level in the pool. Such a candid feeling and view that would not be the same with modesty. Such a wonderful model! Thank You Tiana!
Tiana Joy photographed in Palm Springs by Ian L. Sitren. Hasselblad digital camera equipment and Broncolor lighting. Only the best.
Nova With Nova
When I was getting ready to do a photo shoot with Nova, I was excited to find that she had been featured in one of my favorite publications, “Victor” by Hasselblad. A beautiful publication that began as a very large format magazine and progressed to a book format. It is partially responsible for my having selected Hasselblad as my camera system.
So I was excited to have Nova sign her photograph in my copy of Hasselblad Victor Photography Book One during our photo shoot. And I am in great admiration of the original photograph and the series “Personal Visitation” by photographer Damon Loble. Applause!
This photograph with my Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. Thanks!
Fashion Styling
I often think I should use a fashion stylist on my photo shoots. But then again sometimes I get by. This is the “Papier Doux” look. Okay maybe not. What do you think?
Photo shoot with a Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. Aristodeme, one of my very favorite models.
Revisited – The Intense Environment Of Salton Sea
I attended a really fun event on Saturday night, “Open Desert – Music and Photographic Arts Showcase“. At the Annenberg Theater at the Palm Springs Art Museum, photographs from the nearby desert areas such as Joshua Tree and the Salton Sea displayed big screen behind the live music from “Tribesmen“, “Caxton“, “Mike Pygmie Ensemble” and “Drum Hall“. I was asked why I did not submit photographs for the show. Well for one thing, they were all turned black and white. I like black and white for some photographs but I think the colors and the light in the desert should be seen as you might imagine it. And another reason, well my photographs do not tend to be the usual landscape type photographs.
“The environment of Salton Sea can be very intense. Harsh Sunlight, desolate spaces, an eeriness to the Sea itself. In places a post apocalyptic look that would be movie perfect. But I find it uniquely compelling and beautiful. A favorite location for my photo shoots. Model Bailey Daniels.” – from one of my prior Blog Posts.
Fine Art Nude?
A panel discussion at the Palm Springs Photo Festival last week raised the question of what is fine art photography. Personally I do not like definitions such as that. Is the difference between fine art and not fine art a really expensive frame perhaps. I guess this is my idea of a fine art nude. Aristodeme the model is nude and she is holding fine art. Photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera and Broncolor lighting. That equipment is fine art, and so is Aristodeme, of that I am sure!
Porno Chic
It is not just naked. It is called “Porno Chic”. A term created by New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer in the 1970s to describe the work of fashion photographers Helmut Newton, Guy Bourdin and Chris von Wangenheim. Editorial and advertising photography that uses nudity, eroticism… sexual and sultry to be more than pornography. I also refer to it as “edgy lifestyle” and think it is great fun. That is why you see it in my photography. It is not just being naked.
If you follow my Blog you saw an earlier post I did jokingly talking about this series selling chairs or furniture. Actually this photograph does work. Does it not get your attention about the chair? You can see very well how it is made, the details of it, and the model makes it look really comfortable. It is helped out by having a great model. And also works because it is photographed with a Hasselblad digital camera and lighting by Broncolor. Only the best all the way around. Thanks!
Sports Theme
I always admire my photographer friends who shoot sports. Some of them have shot the Olympics many times. They photograph at the Superbowl, the World Series, major sports league games and the biggest fights. So just to feel like I am part of things, I like to add a sports theme to my photo shoots now and then.
Photographed by me with a Hasselblad digital camera. Broncolor lighting with a Broncolor Para 133 reflector on a Scoro pack. I truly like the light out of that Para! Only the best!
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