Well, it’s six days into 2008 and I am just now beginning to write my first blog of the new year. I had thought of writing one on Thursday, but that was the first night that I began to work overtime at the office – this current stretch of days being the culmination of the busiest time at work.
So, I worked three and a half hours of OT on Thursday night, four hours Friday night, nine hours yesterday and ten hours today (Sunday). It should all be over in a couple of days – but you can understand why I haven’t had much time for blogging this weekend. Still, the comp time I’ll get will help to make up some of the vacation time I spent recovering from foot surgery and getting hit by a car.
Now on to blog business. I mentioned in my last posting that Richard and Lin of Fluffytek.com were kind enough to award my blog the title of Best Overall Nude Blog, the top prize in their 2007 nude blog awards. I just want to thank them once again for this honor. I still don’t think that it has really sunk in yet. As I’ve written before, I will do my best to maintain the high standards here that you obviously believe I have.
I was originally thinking of titling this blog entry The Golden Fluffy, but then I realized that I should keep it plural to honor all of the other winners and the honorable mentions. So, at the risk of being repetitive, here’s a rundown of the 2007 Fluffytek Photographic Nude Blog Awards:
Best Overall Nude Blog
-well, you’re reading it…LOL
Honorable Mention
-Dave Levingston: http://exposedfortheshadows.blogspot.com/
-Gary Mitchell: http://garymphoto.blogspot.com/
-BT Charles: http://btcharles.blogspot.com/
So, I worked three and a half hours of OT on Thursday night, four hours Friday night, nine hours yesterday and ten hours today (Sunday). It should all be over in a couple of days – but you can understand why I haven’t had much time for blogging this weekend. Still, the comp time I’ll get will help to make up some of the vacation time I spent recovering from foot surgery and getting hit by a car.
Now on to blog business. I mentioned in my last posting that Richard and Lin of Fluffytek.com were kind enough to award my blog the title of Best Overall Nude Blog, the top prize in their 2007 nude blog awards. I just want to thank them once again for this honor. I still don’t think that it has really sunk in yet. As I’ve written before, I will do my best to maintain the high standards here that you obviously believe I have.
I was originally thinking of titling this blog entry The Golden Fluffy, but then I realized that I should keep it plural to honor all of the other winners and the honorable mentions. So, at the risk of being repetitive, here’s a rundown of the 2007 Fluffytek Photographic Nude Blog Awards:
Best Overall Nude Blog
-well, you’re reading it…LOL
Honorable Mention
-Dave Levingston: http://exposedfortheshadows.blogspot.com/
-Gary Mitchell: http://garymphoto.blogspot.com/
-BT Charles: http://btcharles.blogspot.com/
-Mark Saintz: http://newcastleartnudes.blogspot.com/
Best Fine Art Nude Blog
-Stephen Haynes: http://magicflutenudes.blogspot.com/
Best Model Blog
-Iris Dassault: http://irisdassault.blogspot.com/
Best Fine Art Nude Blog
-Stephen Haynes: http://magicflutenudes.blogspot.com/
Best Model Blog
-Iris Dassault: http://irisdassault.blogspot.com/
Honorable Mention
-Lela Rae: http://lelarae.blogspot.com/
-Orixx: http://helpmemaryplease.blogspot.com/
Best Glamour Blog
-Jimmy D: http://prettygirlshooter.blogspot.com/
Honorable Mention
-Boudoir Photographer: http://boudoirphotographer.blogspot.com/
Best Photographic Style
-Nad Iksodas: http://blog.nad-iksodas.com/
Honorable Mention
-Chip Willis: http://www.chipwillis.com/blog/
-James Graham: http://jamesmgraham.blogspot.com/
Best Writer of the Year (and winner for Best Overall Nude Blog in 2006)
-D. Brian Nelson: http://hotelroomnudes.blogspot.com/
To read Richard and Lin’s comments and to see their winners of the best images of the year award, go to their page at http://www.fluffytek.com/blog/2007/12/golden-fluffies-2007.html .
While I’m at it, I want to give my thanks to two websites in particular that feature the works of fine art nude photographers:
-Chris St. James’ Univers’ d’Artistes: http://universdartistes.blogspot.com/
and
-Michael Barnes’ Art Nudes: http://artnudes.blogspot.com/
So, congratulations to all of these fine people who do their best to keep the art of nude photography alive and well – and to all of the other bloggers, models and photographers out there who contribute and may one day join the esteemed people on the awards list of the Golden Fluffies.
Now, I just want to make a few comments on some of the things that Lin and Richard wrote about – specifically, how difficult it is to maintain a blog. I started my blog back in March of last year as a result of reading my good friend Dave Levingston’s blog. I thought to myself, “Oh, what the heck. It doesn’t cost me any money, so why not give it a try?”
Well, I remember in the early days of his blog that Dave L tried to make a posting just about every day – and I remember him telling me that the making of that posting seemed to permeate just about every waking thought he had each day. (Well, maybe not every thought, but you get the point.)
I knew when I started my blog that I would never be able to make a daily posting. I don’t have enough of interest to write and I don’t have enough good photos to post. My aim was (and is) to make a blog posting about twice a week if I can. I have aimed to keep my postings about my photography, though on occasion I have digressed.
I also decided to post photos from both my art nude and travel portfolios - two distinctive types of imagery to be sure, but both with a common vision. (At least, I think so. The two photos here, by the way, are of my friend Iris Dassault and a historic impersonator at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.) I think about a third of the photos I post are travel images – which makes it even more hard to believe that I won the top spot in the nude blog awards, considering that most of the other winners and runners-up post nude work almost exclusively, or almost so. (Personally, I would like to see more non-nude photos from other nude shooters.)
Actually, when you think of it, the numbers are pretty staggering. (There are 52 weeks in a year, but let’s go with 50 for a year to keep the numbers round.) For a photographer to post one good photo with each blog entry once a week, that’s 50 good photographs – and believe me, 50 good photographic images to produce is a helluva lot to come up with. To make two postings a
week requires 100 good photos. I like to typically post three photos with each posting if I can, so one posting a week will require 150 images – and to post three twice a week means having to come up with 300 good, distinct photographs!!! Heck, I work with film and sometimes I wonder if I can even shoot that many frames of film in a year!
Then there’s the time involved in writing. As I’ve explained at the top of this posting, sometimes life just gets in the way and keeps you from sitting down to write. Other times one just feels like doing something else – whether it’s to scan film, organize negatives or just sit back and watch a video. Of course, there are other things that demand one’s time like paying bills or doing the laundry – but time and again, I somehow find my way back in front of this computer to make a posting regardless of what else is going on.
In a way, it reminds me of the old TV commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts – the one in which the little guy with the moustache stumbles out of bed early in the morning and in a daze mutters to himself “Time to make the donuts.” Sometimes I can hear myself likewise muttering in my head the words “Time to write the blog.”
Of course, it all becomes worthwhile if one knows that his/her words and photos are being read and being seen, and that the audience does indeed enjoy this and appreciates the time and effort put into it.
So, in that spirit, I thank Lin and Richard once again for awarding me the top honor in their 2007 awards. I just hope that I can live up to the pressure of repeating!
-Lela Rae: http://lelarae.blogspot.com/
-Orixx: http://helpmemaryplease.blogspot.com/
Best Glamour Blog
-Jimmy D: http://prettygirlshooter.blogspot.com/
Honorable Mention
-Boudoir Photographer: http://boudoirphotographer.blogspot.com/
Best Photographic Style
-Nad Iksodas: http://blog.nad-iksodas.com/
Honorable Mention
-Chip Willis: http://www.chipwillis.com/blog/
-James Graham: http://jamesmgraham.blogspot.com/
Best Writer of the Year (and winner for Best Overall Nude Blog in 2006)
-D. Brian Nelson: http://hotelroomnudes.blogspot.com/
To read Richard and Lin’s comments and to see their winners of the best images of the year award, go to their page at http://www.fluffytek.com/blog/2007/12/golden-fluffies-2007.html .
While I’m at it, I want to give my thanks to two websites in particular that feature the works of fine art nude photographers:
-Chris St. James’ Univers’ d’Artistes: http://universdartistes.blogspot.com/
and
-Michael Barnes’ Art Nudes: http://artnudes.blogspot.com/
So, congratulations to all of these fine people who do their best to keep the art of nude photography alive and well – and to all of the other bloggers, models and photographers out there who contribute and may one day join the esteemed people on the awards list of the Golden Fluffies.
Now, I just want to make a few comments on some of the things that Lin and Richard wrote about – specifically, how difficult it is to maintain a blog. I started my blog back in March of last year as a result of reading my good friend Dave Levingston’s blog. I thought to myself, “Oh, what the heck. It doesn’t cost me any money, so why not give it a try?”Well, I remember in the early days of his blog that Dave L tried to make a posting just about every day – and I remember him telling me that the making of that posting seemed to permeate just about every waking thought he had each day. (Well, maybe not every thought, but you get the point.)
I knew when I started my blog that I would never be able to make a daily posting. I don’t have enough of interest to write and I don’t have enough good photos to post. My aim was (and is) to make a blog posting about twice a week if I can. I have aimed to keep my postings about my photography, though on occasion I have digressed.
I also decided to post photos from both my art nude and travel portfolios - two distinctive types of imagery to be sure, but both with a common vision. (At least, I think so. The two photos here, by the way, are of my friend Iris Dassault and a historic impersonator at Edinburgh Castle in Scotland.) I think about a third of the photos I post are travel images – which makes it even more hard to believe that I won the top spot in the nude blog awards, considering that most of the other winners and runners-up post nude work almost exclusively, or almost so. (Personally, I would like to see more non-nude photos from other nude shooters.)
Actually, when you think of it, the numbers are pretty staggering. (There are 52 weeks in a year, but let’s go with 50 for a year to keep the numbers round.) For a photographer to post one good photo with each blog entry once a week, that’s 50 good photographs – and believe me, 50 good photographic images to produce is a helluva lot to come up with. To make two postings a
week requires 100 good photos. I like to typically post three photos with each posting if I can, so one posting a week will require 150 images – and to post three twice a week means having to come up with 300 good, distinct photographs!!! Heck, I work with film and sometimes I wonder if I can even shoot that many frames of film in a year!Then there’s the time involved in writing. As I’ve explained at the top of this posting, sometimes life just gets in the way and keeps you from sitting down to write. Other times one just feels like doing something else – whether it’s to scan film, organize negatives or just sit back and watch a video. Of course, there are other things that demand one’s time like paying bills or doing the laundry – but time and again, I somehow find my way back in front of this computer to make a posting regardless of what else is going on.
In a way, it reminds me of the old TV commercial for Dunkin’ Donuts – the one in which the little guy with the moustache stumbles out of bed early in the morning and in a daze mutters to himself “Time to make the donuts.” Sometimes I can hear myself likewise muttering in my head the words “Time to write the blog.”
Of course, it all becomes worthwhile if one knows that his/her words and photos are being read and being seen, and that the audience does indeed enjoy this and appreciates the time and effort put into it.
So, in that spirit, I thank Lin and Richard once again for awarding me the top honor in their 2007 awards. I just hope that I can live up to the pressure of repeating!
********************************************************************************
I had originally planned to write about my plans for the upcoming year, but that will have to wait until next time. I’ve written enough here already and I’ve taken more time to write this than I’d hoped – and I’ve got to get ready to put in another long day at the office tomorrow!
