Published in PHOTO Magazine Jan/Feb 2013 issue

Dear John, you have all my admiration and envy (in a good meaning of course) for this new series of shots.

I love this model and the mood you create with her.

Please never stop doing your beautiful works :)

The beauty of this girl is so stunning that I can't find words to express how impressed I am. Yet, what I really can't stand is this kind of shoes and fingernail paint in the kind of photograph like this one. Sorry. Could have been so much nicer. Especially that her pose and the overall composition are just great.

My friend, I "can't stand" the windows they have put into a new building near my home, but I don't think it will effect the relevance of the photos I have taken of it.

Should the colour combination be displasing to you, I would understand, but the elegant Jourdan shoes and nail polish should not affect your judgment per se in my view. The shoes are "props", just as the neckalace and head band are too. The "kind of photograph" you mention  corresponds appropriately to a style denoted as "glamour" and has been placed in that portfolio accordingly. This photo is not categorized as an artistic nude, so if that is what appeals to you, you are looking in the wrong place.

I thank you for having taken the time to express your views, we are here to exchange them.  I have given mine too.

Regardless of the category, this is  an excellent image.  The color contrast from the models lips, her fingernails, and the necklace (and the tonal contrast from the head scarf and the shoes) enhance the effect created by her facial expression.  The viewer's eye can't stop moving!  Kudos to you both, this should be in a gallery!

Jim Phelps

Mmmmmmmmm...??? What shoes, what nail polish? Actually the shoes seem the perfect pair to juxtapose against the filthy Romanesque tile pattern beneath them. They enhance the surreal nature of this work...

Thanks a lot for a nice reply. Obviously, I am biased somehow, as I can't look at photographs of naked beauties wearing shoes. Sorry but everything aches in my body when I am confronted with such a combination. There is simply no match, in my humble opinion. Irrespective of what category a photograph could be placed in. I can think of so many other and nicer props. But that's just my personal view, nothing more. Greetings :-)

John,

 I took an hour to look through all the pictures I have listed as my favorites and have enjoyed the revisitation with all the old images.  This one of yours jumps out at me again and I took the time to ask myself why.

I think it is because of the exquisite display of textures: the decaying wood frame and the background hung short of the floor with odds and ends so nicely contrasting the feelings of fine texture in the skin tones of your model.  The light falls upon the various reflectivities of her skin and gently responds to the gentle contours there.

It is interesting to compare this image to your more recent work.

Regards my friend,

Jerry

Congrats on the publication John! I got one too in the graphisme section.

Hy Steve, unfortunately can't find it under graphisme. Is it the French edition of PHOTO ?

Yes it's in the french edition,  there's no page number on most of the pages though.

Gorgeous pictures, probably one of the best, I'm intrigued about the  what sort of light / reflectors you used.

Congratulations again. 

Sergio

Thank you Sergio. This was an open doorwway to a ruin. The photo was taken at dusk with a setting sun and no reflectors were used.