Surely, you've studied (formally) - It is a very difficult task to create the set and then be a Subject who connects to the Camera's Lens and the Viewer's Eye: much more difficult than a mirror Self Portrait.
An expressive Artist with a passion for the technical, also. 35mm and 50mm Focal Length on 135 Format certainly cut to the guts, don't they.
Very few have eye contact with the Camera - the simplicity, yet chaos of the props makes one look, then look again - to interpret then re-interpret: as with any excellent creation, the more one looks, the more one sees, the more questions one has.
Primal, powerful Body of Work.
Brava.
Thank you for your thoughtful words, Michael. Yes, I have studied formally. I took my first film 101 Street Photography class with Henry Wessel Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute. You many see his work here: https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Henry_Wessel/ ( FYI ANSEL ADAMS is the one who created the photography dept. at SFAI. ( now dumbly closed--another SF debacle)
Henry was a wonderful teacher. A real nuts and bolts photographer who helped me set-up my darkroom in San Francisco. I worked with him exclusively for two and a half years. He had great integrity and a big personality.
After spending ten years with film photography, I made the leap to digital with some grumbling. I am sure all the old school photographers on Photo.net understand what I am saying when I say... GRUMBLING.
I saw all my photography stores around town take down darkroom material week by week and replace it with digital. Oh boy... those were hard times, but I bought a digital camera, and I fumbled my way with it and with the photo applications which are married to it.
I mostly created street photography for over ten years, but then I lucked out and found a cheap studio on Pacific Ave. that was large enough to create a stage. This is where I taught myself studio lighting. I thought it was going to be easy... Ha ha ha... took about a year just to get a handle on lighting in any real deep sense. After that, I began a lot of experimentation.
I scouted for models out on the street and through the web. Brought them into the studio and created. Many of them are artists, so they helped with the staging which I am grateful, for two heads or more are better than one in my opinion. There were a few photoshoots where the models presented an idea which initially I thought was stupid, and fortunately, I acquiesced, and those sessions turned out to be some of my best! Ego is never a plus when creating. One of my gripes with the art world in general.
in Nude and Erotic
Posted · Edited by kellyrae
Thank you for your thoughtful words, Michael. Yes, I have studied formally. I took my first film 101 Street Photography class with Henry Wessel Jr. at the San Francisco Art Institute. You many see his work here: https://www.sfmoma.org/artist/Henry_Wessel/ ( FYI ANSEL ADAMS is the one who created the photography dept. at SFAI. ( now dumbly closed--another SF debacle)
Henry was a wonderful teacher. A real nuts and bolts photographer who helped me set-up my darkroom in San Francisco. I worked with him exclusively for two and a half years. He had great integrity and a big personality.
After spending ten years with film photography, I made the leap to digital with some grumbling. I am sure all the old school photographers on Photo.net understand what I am saying when I say... GRUMBLING.
I saw all my photography stores around town take down darkroom material week by week and replace it with digital. Oh boy... those were hard times, but I bought a digital camera, and I fumbled my way with it and with the photo applications which are married to it.
I mostly created street photography for over ten years, but then I lucked out and found a cheap studio on Pacific Ave. that was large enough to create a stage. This is where I taught myself studio lighting. I thought it was going to be easy... Ha ha ha... took about a year just to get a handle on lighting in any real deep sense. After that, I began a lot of experimentation.
I scouted for models out on the street and through the web. Brought them into the studio and created. Many of them are artists, so they helped with the staging which I am grateful, for two heads or more are better than one in my opinion. There were a few photoshoots where the models presented an idea which initially I thought was stupid, and fortunately, I acquiesced, and those sessions turned out to be some of my best! Ego is never a plus when creating. One of my gripes with the art world in general.
Thank you for your consideration, Michael!