jonathancharlesphoto

Your modeling is as creative as your photography. A nature nymph caught venturing into town.  How did you persuade those guys to look the other way?

As before you have created a very expressive image with this unconventional composition - the crop on tour lip almost makes it come out through the screen.

You manage to make feeling blue very seductive! Everybody will want to "kiss it better"!

- a quick grab-shot as she immediately ran off (see the one after).

I just found some very old negs (some rather scratched) taken back in 1970/1, mostly of Marie shortly after we met.

I took this one as we set off for a walk in Knole Park near Sevenoaks on a warm day in early spring. I was wondering why she was wearing her sheep-skin jacket but she was in a playful mood (as you can see) and I soon found out!

This was the next negative...

I printed this high key to match the impression the misty light made that

morning. Comments and crits are welcome.

Yep, well spotted.  I shall correct the next version. Thanks.

To get an idea of the scale of the rock, note the figure standing at the top.

This is approaching Dodman Point, near Gorran Haven, Cornwall, UK

This hillside at the edge of the bluebell wood at Burnett, near Bristol, UK, is often shrouded in morning mist in early spring when I took this shot.  The scene inspired my "Wood nymph in bluebells" series which I took a month later.

Beautiful idyl

Published in JPG Magazine Issue 22 (Summer 2010)

re stubble: apart from blurring selectively as you have done a useful trick is to increase the colour saturation of the area as well to bring back the skin tone. The alternative is to clone across some adjacent skin.

Brilliant composition - my only nit-pick is the rather yellow cast masking her pale skin which could otherwise create a third contrasting tone.

Best wishes,  Jonathan

It takes a lot to make a sunset interesting rather than just beautiful, but this succeeds.  It reminds me of a painting by Edvard Munch.

Best wishes,  Jonathan

You have captured a joyous body position to match her smile.

Best wishes,  Jonathan

Mark raises an interesting question about her tan lines.  In some photos the tan lines are an important element either in the abstract design or because they hint that the nudity is an unusual situation for the subject - eg in an intimate bed-room type scene.  But effectively they just represent the design of the model's most recent bikini and in a figure-study like this I think the body shape is more clearly appreciated without them. It is a simple matter to do some selective adjustment in PS to hide them so it is just a question of whether you positively want to keep them in the picture.

Best wishes,  Jonathan

Yes I agree with Mark - it's an intriguing pose.  To nit-pick: the tangential light on her forehead creates a rather harsh texture which could be (partially) smoothed. I think I would also darken the lower right and lighten the upper left with a diagonal gradient mask (& maybe crop at the top of the tattoo) - sorry, I just can't help imagining how I would print pics I  like.

Wonderful light scattered by the mist and refracted by the water drops of the snow melting as the sun breaks through - a magical scene.

By strange coincidence I was looking again at one of your fine photos (..) for the first time after 4 years (mysteriously the whole "B&W" folder no longer seems to be generally visible) and found that another taken at the time had been made PoW last week.
I think that this photo has a raw power that comes from the excitement of getting started with art photography as which I still remember vividly from 40 years ago (see eg my "first nudes" presentation). It is quite a challenge to recapture that feeling though I think it is (nearly) possible when you appreciate its importance in driving the creative process. Your description of the rather haphazard method of taking this series makes it even more magical that you achieved such a beautifully balanced and interesting composition and interaction with the light coming through the window.
I hope that seeing this again yourself will inspire you to return to your personal vision (but obviously a different one from those years ago) as a source for your images and avoid the pitfall of constructed and over conscious pictures.
Best wishes, Jonathan

Returning to this image after 4 years I am again struck by its intensity, represented by the original composition, lighting & print technique and your engagement with the act of photography.  It is one of the quite few pictures that I wish I could have taken myself - but, of course, I could not as it is essentially a self portrait and expression of personal feeling that was specific to you and that time.

Best wishes,  Jonathan

Thank you, but no - I'm not from Hornchurch (I grew up in Sevenoaks, Kent).

For this candid shot, taken directly into the sun I deliberately

exposed fro the highlights to catch the shiny texture of the water

surface, which looked almost as bright as mercury. It meant that the

shadows became almost black making the figure a near-silhouette. For

me it captured the overall impression of the scene - what do you think?

Comments and crits are very welcome.