Thank you

 

All I have to say today is thank you.

If you don’t know what I’m talking about then shame on you.  Tsk Tsk….

Creative Process

 

I often get questions regarding my creative process, specifically whether I plan out the shoot concepts and details ahead of time, or show up and improvise.

I really try to do a bit of both.  Especially if I’m working with a new model, the shoot may be more improvisational in nature, because I’m really using that first shoot to see what we are capable of together, and try to push the envelope with the next shoots.  I may do a first shoot in a location that will allow a bit more freedom of movement, to see what might happen if I really push a model to move and run around and not think so much about “posing.”  I’ll probably have at least some idea of any props or styling involved, makeup, etc. 

If it’s a commercial job, a specific shot I want to add to my portfolio, or if I’ve got some experience with how a model moves and what she is capable of, I’ll plan a bit more meticulously.  But I still like to leave some things open to improvisation, and try to recognize when something is happening that is a bit outside the box, but that I should take advantage of the opportunity.

I think a key element of being able to make consistently solid images with models from many different backgrounds is flexibility, and the ability to utilize a particular models strengths, and ignore their weaknesses.

Nuts and Bolts pt. One

 

I get a lot of questions about gear and technique, so I wanted to talk a little about what I use and why.
First I want to say that I am a firm believer that all gear, whether it is a camera, lens, strobe, etc. is nothing more than a collection of tools that you the photographer, as a craftsman, have at your disposal to make your art.
There are very few photographs that cannot be made in a multitude of ways, using a variety of gear, so one should really not get too hung up on what was used to make a particular image.
I currently use Canon cameras and lenses. I have used Nikon in the past and have no desire to get into a Nikon vs Canon debate, because frankly it doesn't matter one bit. Either are the cream of the crop for consumer to professional DSLR's. The choice between the two comes down to some minor feature differences, ergonomics, and economics. I do tend to steer people away from buying a Sony DSLR, because that funky proprietary flash shoe pisses me off to no end. Since a PC flash sync terminal isn't standard on most consumer/prosumer DSLR's these days, putting some proprietary mount that limits your use of external lighting to speedlights or continuos sources only just aggravates me.

I use Canon 50d's which are of course an APS-C format camera. I prefer the equivalent of a 70-80mm focal length, and fairly wide apertures for just about any photographs of people in which I want to isolate them a bit from the environment. I used to use a 28-70 f2.8 lens on a Canon EOS1N when I shot film, but found myself pretty much living at the 70mm end of that lens. So on a crop-frame sensor, I find that a 50mm prime is pretty much ideal for me. I use the Canon 50mm F1.4 USM version, btu I know a lot of people love the 50mm 1.8 II non-usm lens. I often shoot at 1.8, so I like the ability to stop down just a bit from wide open on the 1.4 to get there. I also like the much quieter and faster focusing.

For headshots, beauty photography, or if I need a different flavor of bokeh in the background, I love the 85mm 1.8 - it's actually probably my favorite lens, even though it's not the one I use most often. If I tried the 1.2L version, I'd probably cry as I signed the credit card receipt for it, but the 1.8 is perfectly acceptable for me.
The only other lens I use with regularity is the 17-40mm F4.0L. You won't see it much in my galleries here, occasionally when I want to include much more of a scene and am not concerned with depth of field. I use it a lot for my commercial photography, or for situations in which I want to exaggerate perspective a bit by getting up close and shooting wide.
I tend to use smaller CF cards - mostly 4gigs each. I like the security of not having an entire project on one card. I haven't lost anything to accidental deletion, but I would hate to lose a whole shoot that way. Easier to reshoot a portion of something than the whole thing.

I shoot mostly straight to the card. Sometimes I'll tether if I'm doing a studio shoot and I have a particular look I'm going for in post. Then I'll shoot tethered into lightroom 3, with the appropriate preset being applied on capture, so that I can determine whether my lighting, composition, etc. is appropriate for the way I want the final image to look after post production.

I think that's about enough for part one on camera gear and capturing images. Next time I'll talk a bit about my lighting gear and techniques, and how I decide what lighting is appropriate for a given situation. Cheers.

‘39

 

Don't you hear my call
Though you're many years away?
Don't you hear me calling you?
Write your letters in the sand
For the day I take your hand
In the land that our grandchildren knew.

 

Belle – Bohemia City, Oregon 2010

 

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The Trees

 

There is unrest in the forest
There is trouble with the trees
For the maples want more sunlight
And the oaks ignore their pleas
The trouble with the maples
(And they're quite convinced they're right)
They say the oaks are just too lofty
And they grab up all the light
But the oaks can't help their feelings
If they like the way they're made
And they wonder why the maples
Can't be happy in their shade
There is trouble in the forest
And the creatures all have fled
As the maples scream 'Oppression!'
And the oaks just shake their heads
So the maples formed a union
And demanded equal rights
'The oaks are just too greedy
We will make them give us light'
Now there's no more oak oppression
For they passed a noble law
And the trees are all kept equal
By hatchet, axe and saw

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Suite Madame Blue

 

Time after time I sit and I wait for your call
I know I'm a fool but what can I say
Whatever the price I'll pay for you, madame blue

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When all is said and done

 

I love shooting in abandoned places.  The idea of bringing something new into a place that seems otherwise lifeless, the contrast of a beautiful, vibrant young model against the decay of something left behind… certainly a them I hope to continue in future projects.

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My unapologetic love of dead woodland forest creatures.

 

I love meat.  Beef.  Pork.  Chicken.  Fish. Don’t get me wrong I love veggies too, and I’ve even been known to consume some tofu every now and then.  But my true love is game meat.  Venison.  Elk.  Pheasant.  Duck. 

I’m a hunter.  I fish too, but I enjoy hunting more.  I love the personal connection to the food I put on the table, and I love that hunting is one more big middle finger raised to the establishment of factory farming and the industrial food complex.

Some look at hunting as barbaric, and ask how I can look at a beautiful creature, center it’s body in the crosshairs of my riflescope, and send a bullet into it’s body, killing it.  Well, as a consumer, everything I consume had to die in order to become food whether it be plant or animal.  That deer, elk, boar, duck or pheasant had a truly free and fulfilling life until the moment it became food, for which I am truly thankful.  That ribeye steak or pack of hamburger wrapped in plastic in the store was once a living breathing cow.  It spent it’s last days cramped together with thousands of other cows in a feedlot being forcefed corn, not part of it’s natural diet, before it was forced through a chute, bludgeoned to death, and tossed in a pile to be processed without a second thought.

I feel a bit more respect for the food I eat whether it come from an animal or from my garden because I had a hand in procuring it.

As I sit here tonight eating grilled chili-rubbed venison backstrap, I feel very much alive and inspired.

It’s not porn as long as the naughty bits are covered….

 

ya know, it just baffles me when I read the profiles of so-called “models” on sites like model mayhem, and see something along the lines of “I don’t shoot nudes or anything vulgar” or “no nudes – I’m a classy girl” and yet their portfolios are full of images of them with their ass in a thong bent over hovering above the lens, or wearing the bikini top equivalent of two postage stamps and some dental floss.

Just because you can’t see a nipple or your crotch is barely covered doesn’t make an image “classy.”  In the same context, just because a model is nude in an image doesn’t make it dirty.

Mollie – Eugene Oregon

Back in the groove

 

The day job has been taking it’s toll lately.  We’re supposed to be heading into the slow season, but haven’t seen it yet.  We’re  really short handed too, so it’s been a really long few weeks.

Things are starting to get back to normal, and I’m working on putting some posts together to have a few in the can, for those days when my brain and my body are both mush and I don’t have the energy to post. 

Shot a commercial assignment yesterday for an aviation company.  No nudity, not even any models.  Just a jet.  It was a fun gig and was cool to step outside the box and do something beyond my comfort zone.  Oddly enough, Jets don’t respond as well to verbal direction as models do.  We had good light though, and brought a considerable amount of our own.  No equipment problems.  No problems timing the exterior shots with the sunset, kept everything on schedule…  I’m learning to be able to take yes for an answer…

 

Jessica Robinson – Eugene Oregon 2009

Organization

 

I’m getting a bit antsy… 

The last days of predictably good weather are upon us here in Oregon, and there (as it happens every year) are still so many things that I wanted to accomplish this summer with my personal work.  So many short trips I wanted to take.  So many locations to explore.  So many woulda coulda shoulda’s… 

I decided recently to start keeping a better system of tracking shoots I want to do.  Just as I track shoots I’ve done with keywording and such in lightroom, I decided to throw together an excel spreadsheet of shoot ideas that cross my mind, that I can sort and re-sort to my hearts content by location, theme, etc.  I used to keep things jotted down in a little moleskine sketch book, but that’s obviously not really indexed and searchable.  Hopefully this is yet another way to keep increasing my productivity, and a step towards my goal of world domination.

 

Wolfpup – Portland Oregon

 

 

 

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Can anyone find me a pack of type 55?

 

Is there any left in existence?   I’ve been tweaking and fiddling with lightroom and photoshop to get close to the look and feel of several different analog/vintage processes, and it’s left me wanting to shoot some large format type 55 in the worst way.  If anyone can track some down in any reasonable condition and quantity for me I’ll be happy to thank them with a signed 16x20 print of their choice.

Seeing Red Again…

 

Mollie and hear nearly flawless skin.  Eugene Oregon

Color Harmonies

 

It’s been quite a while but I used to dabble in body painting.  I’ve always been fascinated with it and was really excited to try out an idea with Mollie this weekend.  We started off with oil on the skin and watered down the blue bodypaint so that it would bead up when sprayed on the body.  After shooting a few frames of that I really felt like it needed a contrasting color, so I added a little yellow splatter here and there.  Thanks to mollie for being my guinea pig for this adventure.

Road trippin part 2

 

 

 

6 hours of driving.  An hour in line to get in and find our seats, 6 artists, 6 and a half hours of awesome country music.  I’m normally into rock and metal, but I’m slowly getting into country.  Brad Paisley played some of the most amazing guitar I’ve ever heard.

The Gorge amphitheater is one of the most all around inspiring locations I’ve ever seen.  The drive up has given me many new locations to come back to for shoots as well. 

Now just the 6 hour drive home.  The price to pay for fun.

Road Trippin…

 

I’ll be gone for a couple of days.  Going to a concert at the Gorge.  Should be a fun road trip, just me and the wife.  First weekend for the two of us away from baby in 19 months.  I wonder how many times we’ll find ourselves talking about baby…

A very chilly Velocity – Eugene Oregon. 

Interview for DA group Votre-Charme

 

I was recently interviewed by Halohid for the DeviantArt.com group Votre-Charme.  You can read the text and see some more images at DA Votre Charme Blog.  Registration may be required to get past the mature content filter, but it’s free.  Check it out, as well as some of the amazing work by some of the other photographers featured there.  It’s an honor to be featured along side some of the images there.

Jessica Robinson – Eugene Oregon 2009

Ckeck out my tweeter.. er… twitter

 

You can now follow me on twitter.  It’s fun.  It’s useless.  It’s something to do when there’s ABSOLUTELY nothing better to do online, and you’ve already seen ALL the porn that cyberspace has to offer.  When that happens, my tweets will be there to brighten your day!!!

Party

 

Late post tonight.  Satruday is my birthday. My wife threw me a little party tonight – a little BBQ, some friends, some drinks, some hot tub, some more drinks… I’m a bit faded.  Fun times.  32 tomorrow.  I feel more like 52.  Still need that vacation…

 

Velocity – Eugene Oregon 2010

One light nudes

 

One light.  Simple backgrounds.  Simple posing. 

New studio nudes coming very soon. 

Q and A

 

I’m going to be posting some model interviews in the near future.  I’ll be speaking with some of the models I’ve worked with regarding their experiences as a model who shoots artistic nude images.  Depending on how it goes I might make it a monthly feature – shoot and interview combined.

 

Oregon Art Nudes Dot Com?

 

So I’m working on building the site for Oregon Art Nudes.  I decided to put together a more extensive gallery and storefront and it’s underway.  We’ll see how long it will take…  I am NOT a web designer.  Getting help from friends where I can. 

Explosivo

 

Wolfpup – Portland Oregon

Kristin - Textures

 

Kristin G – Eugene Oregon

Influenced by my mood.

 

I must say I’ve found myself in a bad mood lately.  Just tired I guess.  Too much on my plate.  The little everyday things that would normally just be minor annoyances are really getting to me.  I think the cure is simply a vacation, but too short handed for the time being.  Can’t take any time off for a while. That leaves me a little bit pissed off, but that’s just the way things go. So, don’t be surprised if the next couple of shoots take a bit of a darker path. 

Here’s an old fave that I was happy with at the time, and even happier after pulling it out of the archives and reprocessing the raw file with lightroom. 

Leslie in studio, from the archives.  Eugene Oregon

Angel Smoke

 

 

I am a hookah
The water through which you pass
Angel smoke, angel smoke
I am a hookah
The water through which you pass
Danger smoke
Danger
I ride by flying horses
Nothing to declare
But cold knees, cold knees
I ride by flying horses
Nothing to declare
But cold knees
Cold
Delicate men, delicate men
You can be such fools (?) in my heart
He whispered to me
'I am the digger of eyes
Let me in, let me in'
Whispered to me
'I am the digger of eyes
Let me in, let me in'
Delicate men, delicate men
You can be such fools(?)
Delicate men, delicate men
You can be such fools (?) in my heart

Hookah – Carina Round

Fallen Angel – Eugene Oregon

Zoli – Garage Rooftop

 

 

 

    

Zoli – Eugene Oregon

They only come out at night….

 

watch out boy, she’ll chew you up.

Wolfpup – Portland Oregon

Funbags?

 

So yesterday at work my boss came by to pick up some inventory that I was sending to one of our satellite locations.  I hadn’t paid much attention but someone had left a pillowcase with something in it outside my warehouse door, underneath the stairwell that leads to the roof.  My warehouse is in a fairly sketchy neighborhood, and I figured the bag was probably filled with clothes that some bum had shit themselves in and needed to ditch.  I hadn’t been in the right frame of mind to want to clean up human shit from the driveway, so I left it there until I could get the requisite gloves, bleach, etc. 

Well, my boss’s curiosity got the better of him and while I was rounding up a few more things for him to transfer for me, he opened the pillowcase.

It was full of dildos.  And lube. And Hand Lotion.  And prescription antibacterial mouthwash. And a pile of gold and silver mardi gras beads. And of course some needles.  There were 8 dildos of various types in the bag.

Maybe one of our neighborhood hookers stopped to shoot up and left her bag of party favors behind when she decided to move on?

I ensured the boss that I would stop letting my extra-curricular activities interfere with my work.  LOL

An interesting week for sure.

New Deviantart Portfolio

 

http://oregonartnudes.daportfolio.com/

I decided to take advantage of DA’s portfolio feature.  I’ve been hosting a lot of my nude work on DA for quite a while and never really messed with the portfolio feature.  Slick little gallery tool really. 

Check it out.

In a better place

 

Yesterday was shit.  I was in a really pissy mood after a day that just didn’t go my way.  Oh well.  I don’t dwell on things long.  Dwelling on frustrations really gets you nowhere.  Today is a marginally better day.  But better.  So looking forward to the weekend. 

 

Kira – my first nudes with the lensbaby composer

Vacation

 

I need one.

 

Belle – Bohemia City Oregon 2010

Fridays are a beautiful thing.

 

Going to go meet up with a photographer buddy tonight to catch up and have a couple beers.  It’s been a long week. 

Day off tomorrow... going to the zoo with the wife and baby, another multiple model shoot on Sunday, then back to the daily grind on Monday to do it all again.  I don’t think I’ll schedule any shoots mid week next week.  I’m shooting a wedding on Saturday, which isn’t my usual gig, but it’s a favor for a buddy.  It shall be interesting… it’ll be the most people I’ve photographed with their clothes on all year in one place.

Here’s some more from the shoot with Jennifer last night.  Have a great weekend.

Nick

 

Jennifer – Eugene Oregon 2010

Last nights shoot with Jennifer

 

We had some great light last night.  Jennifer drove down from Corvallis equipped with bug spray and some killer modeling skills. 

Jennifer – Eugene Oregon 2010

Wetlands Series – Winter 2009

 

Model: Autumn  - West Eugene Wetlands, November 29th 2009

A frigid, foggy winter day in Eugene.  What’s the logical thing to do?  Take a girl who’s a transplant from Hawaii out early in the morning and have  her run around in the wetlands without her clothes, of course.

This was a shoot that I did, made a few work prints, a few quick edits, and then shelved to rework later, as I was just not in the right frame of mind to work on them.  I just spotted them while going through my hard drive and thought I’d play around with a couple.  I’ve been working on coming up with a light room preset that has some of the qualities of wet plate images.  This is a variation on that preset.  Obviously not going to be 100% authentic looking, but close enough for me until I pull the trigger on my own wet plate camera and start making tintypes.