Archive for 2009

2009: What A Long, Strange Trip It’s Been

So, here we are. Just minutes from midnight and the beginning of a new year - the final year of the first decade of the 21st century and the Third Millenium.

I definitely have plans for that new year, but before I write about them (next time), I’ll finish off this year with my annual recap.

January and February

The year began with the threat of the sword of Damocles hanging over photographers and artists who work with the nude figure in the United States: federal regulation 2257A, which would exact severe criminal penalties on such artists who would not follow rules regarding record-keeping that are difficult, if not impossible, to follow. I wrote a blog posting about it back then. (If you haven’t read it, you can see it here .)

I really didn’t do much photographically in January, but things began picking up in February, first with catching up on developing a big backlog of film (wh

ich I seem to have in perpetuity). The big event, though, was when the beautiful Julie Maximova came to my home studio for a photo session of several hours. These were the first photos I’d shot in three months, and though my lighting set-up could have been better, it was still a worthwhile effort. I hope that I can work with Julie again in 2010.

March and April

March was a good month for looking at photos. First, I went to an exhibit of Edward Steichen’s fashion work from the 1920’s and 1930’s at the International Center of Photography – one of my favorite exhibits of the year. The month ended with my attending – for all four days – the annual AIPAD photography dealer’s show at the Park Avenue Armory in Manhattan. This show is a great place to see lots of photographs in one place (and all for sale, too!), and anyone with a serious interest in art photography should try to attend some time.

The bad news was that the Damocles’ sword of 2257A was strung up to hang over photographers and artists on March 19. I guess it remains to be seen how the government will try to enforce it. For the time being, right now, the Free Speech Coalition has filed a lawsuit to have this law declared unconstitutional – and I certainly do wish they succeed!

As for April, I guess the biggest news for me was that I turned 50. Thinking about it now, it seems like ages ago rather than a span of less than eight months.

May

Th

e biggest event of May for me was a trip to Las Vegas and to Oregon. I went to Vegas to visit family, but I also met my friend Terrell Neasley one night, along with local model Melissa. We went for dinner and then went to see the new Star Trek movie. I did not like the film (which is “Star Trek” in name only) and Terrell did not like the fact that we had to sit in third row and look almost straight up at the screen.

In Oregon, I met up with my friend, the photographer Steve Anchell, in the state’s capital, Salem. Then I drove to Lincoln City on the coast where I spent a few days at Steve’s “Nude at Westwind” weekend workshop. You can see one of the first photos that I’ve scanned from the workshop here.

As it turned out, it would be the only time that I photographed outdoor nudes in all of 2009. I hadn’t planned it that way, but that’s just the way it happened.

June

Italy and Germany. That’s where I went in June.

In Italy, I spent 17 days surrounded by some of the best art, architecture and food in the world. I stayed in Rome, Florence, Venice and Milan, and also made a day trip to Lucca in Tuscany. This was my first trip to bella Italia in 11 years, but my first to Rome, Florence and Venice in 19. (Hopefully I will return again much sooner.)

I had never visited Milan before, and capped off my trip to Italy by seeing Verdi’s great opera “Aida” at Milan’s La Scala opera house on my final night there.

Here you can see two photos of Rome that I recently scanned, showing both the old (above, at the top) and new sides of The Eternal City.

I also visited my sister and niece in Berlin for a week. Among the photographic highlights were an exhibition of photos by the Italian fashion photographer Paolo Roversi at a local gallery, plus a visit to the Helmut Newton Foundation, which had an exhibit celebrating the anniversary of his humongous book, Sumo.

July

The highlight of July was when I photographed model Erin in my studio set-up. Among the props that I used were some papier mache masks that I had bought in Venice in June.

I still haven’t developed any of that film yet (though I hope to do so this weekend), so here’s one of my digital snapshots from the session.

August

I saw another great exhibit of fashion photography at the ICP, this time by Richard Avedon.

Still, the highlights were visits to New York by two friends. First, Dave Levingston (pictured, right) visited New York and stayed with me for a few days early in the month. The main highlight was a day trip up to Woodstock, New York, to attend an illustrated lecture by Mary Ellen Mark. It was worth the four hour-plus drive up to Woodstock – much of that time spent sitting motionless in traffic. We also visited a gallery in Woodstock whose owners do good art nude work, and one of them took us in the back and showed us a lot of prints. Dave and I also went to the Museum of Modern Art in Manhattan one day, but sadly the photo galleries were closed for installation.

A little later, my friend Terrell Neasley (or “Big T,” as I call him) made a trip her

e from Las Vegas to visit New York for the first time. I think he was impressed and wants to return some time. (Maybe next time he’ll bring a camera.)

You can see Terrell in the photo on the left here at a restaurant where we dined at the South Street Seaport. That's yours truly on the right, our beautiful hostess on the left, and in the middle, looking like the proverbial deer caught in the headlights, is Big T himself.

Not to be left out, I also began printing photos in my darkroom for the first time in three years. These early efforts were a little problematic, but things would improve later.

September

The best thing about September was that I took the week of Labor Day off from work and somehow managed to develop fifty (50!) rolls of medium format film in that time. It really is amazing just how much one can accomplish when one does not have to do things like going into work.

At the end of the month, my studio was graced by the presence of the model called Muse.

October

As I mentioned before, the Free Speech Coalition has filed a lawsuit against Federal regulation 2257A and this is the month that it was announced. I’m sure I w

asn’t the only one who was waiting for something like this to happen. In fact, my friend Dave Levingston is one of the plaintiffs in the case.

Early in the month, I attended the “Take Home A Nude” art auction of the New York Academy of Art. I went home with a couple of inexpensive drawings. I also made my last photographs of the year when Nettie R. Harris worked with me in my studio and stayed with me for a few days. (Any one who’s worked with Nettie will understand me when I say that it was an experience like no other.)

The second half of the month, though, saw my life turn topsy turvy due to a family visit and I had to spend weeks trying to get things back to normal again. (Still, for family, one endures.)

November

This was a big month for art, beginning with my first ever visit to the IFPDA Print fair at the Park Avenue Armory. This is very much like the AIPAD photo dealers show, except that these dealers and galleries were displaying etchings, lithographs, mezzotints and the like.

Then I went one night to see the Modernism show, also at the Armory, and met actor Michael Richards (Kramer from “Seinfeld”) there.

Lastly, I made my annual trip to Philadephia to attend the Photo Review benefit auction and came home with a couple of prints.

At the end of the month, I posted a photo which proved to be controversial, to say the least. I’ll try to follow up on that topic some time soon.

December

The month began with my final benefit auction of the year – this one to raise money for Friends Without A Border, a non-profit organization that supports the Angkor Hospital for Children in Cambodia. As I did the year before, I came home with a couple of relatively affordable prints.

I also made another short trip to Las Vegas. I met Terrell again for breakfast at our usual haunt – a pancake restaurant – but this time we were joined by Wolf, who we had never met before. A good time was had by all as we talked about photography and other stuff.

Regarding my own photography, I had my final darkroom session of the year, printing photos from four Holga negatives. Let’s hope I can continue to print on a regular basis – perhaps once a month.

I also had a scare when the external computer disc drive on which I store my photos refused to work, but thankfully I got that problem solved by putting it in a new housing. I got a totally new, much larger drive, too.

Finally, 2009 ended on a high note. For the past two years, I put together a calendar or two of art nudes for people to purchase. I have not had the time to compile a 2010 calendar, but I was happy to be a contributor to the newly released book, “f – eleven,” that was edited by the aforementioned Wolf.

I wrote about this book last time, and if you haven’t had a time to take a look at the preview on Blurb, I wish you would. Just click here. There are ten pages devoted to me and my photography (both nudes and travel), plus two more of my photos – including the cover. The book has some great work in it by the other contributors, including Wolf and Dave Levingston.

And remember, all proceeds from the sale of the book will be donated to Friends Without A Border, which I just wrote about.
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So, that’s it. A year condensed into a few pages. Once again, it’s amazing to look over my postings from throughout the year to see how much (and how little) I did. I didn’t do that much outdoor nude photography, for example. In fact, I think this is the first year when I’ve actually shot more film of models in my studio than I have outdoors – and I prefer to photograph outdoors.

Before I forget, I have to say that the close of 2009 was a bit less interesting than that of previous years without the Golden Fluffies to look forward to. Thank you’s again to Lin and Rich for putting them together in the past.

Now, I will finish just by wishing everybody out there in bloggie land a happy and a healthy new year and a prosperous 2010. May we all be back again this time next year.

Several weeks ago, I was asked to participate in a new book project that would include photographic work by a group of people that I’ve met online. The editor, coordinator and brains behind the project is Wolf189.

Well, the book is now available for purchase on Blurb, and you can see a preview and buy a copy by clicking here. Its title is “f-eleven,” and do please take a look. Every single page of the book is available for viewing, and I think you’ll like what you’ll see. The book contains over 260 images by 20 photographers over its 160 pages.

I think you’ll also agree with me that Wolf did a terrific job in putting everything together and laying it out. With such a diverse group of contributors, there are a variety of styles: portraits, erotica, landscapes, travel, fashion, documentary and (of course) art nudes, plus more. So, as I’ve said, do take a look.

I also need to say that when I first saw the book online, I was surprised – though pleased! – to see that one of my photos was chosen for the cover. Thanks again, Wolfman! (I’ll write more about this image below.)

For those who are interested in purchasing a copy, you should know that proceeds from sales will be contributed to the charity Friends Without a Border, which supports the Angkor Hospital for Children in Cambodia. You may remember that I wrote about this organization and its annual benefit photography auction a few weeks ago (here - second half), so I’m glad that my nomination of this group as beneficiary was accepted by the book’s other contributors.

Interested people should also know that Blurb currently has some promotional codes that will give $10 off for each order (one time use) made through the end of the year. The codes are:

Orders from the US (using US $): GREATGIFT

Orders from UK (using UK £): GREATGIFT2

Orders from EU (using EU €): GREATGIFT3

Orders from AU (using AUD $): GREATGIFT4

*Offer valid through December 31, 2009 (11:59 p.m. PST).

About the cover photo

I made the photo on the book’s cover in May 2005 in Nikko, Japan. The story behind this one was truly a case of “if life deals you lemons, make lemonade.” Here it is:

Nikko is a beautiful, peaceful place. It is best known as the location of the Toshogu Shrine, which is the mausoleum of Tokugawa Ieyasu, the founder of the Tokugawa dynasty of shoguns who ruled over Japan for several hundred years.

One weekend each May, there is a two-day festival to honor the shogun. On my last trip to Japan, I was fortunate to be there during that weekend, so I made two daytrips from Tokyo to see and, of course, photograph it.

One of the events of the first day was an archery competition. Archers dressed up in full old time regalia would ride fast on horseback along a track and shoot arrows at wooden targets along the course.

I managed to find a spot along the middle of the course with a clear view. The problems that I had to deal with were 1) that there was no way that I could manually maintain focus on a horse and rider traveling at full gallop from my left to my right, and 2) even if I could, the overcast sky and the shade from the trees forced me to use a shutter speed much too slow to capture any action sharply.

So, given these lemons that had been dealt to me, I decided to make lemonade. I used a show shutter speed (probably 1/15 of a second) to do the old “pan and blur” technique. For those who are unfamiliar with this, one follows the camera along with a moving object using a slow shutter speed. The intention is to keep the moving object relatively sharp in the image, while the background gets blurred.

I took a number of photographs like this that day (you can see another one below), and these were probably the most anxiously awaited during my developing of the film back at home. Fortunately, the idea worked, and I managed to get several images that I think are good. The one you’re seeing here (above) is the one I consider to be the best of the bunch.

I know now that at least one person other than me likes it…LOL

I printed some more photos this past Sunday. I hadn’t realized it, but it had been nearly four months since I last printed, in my attempt to get printing again on a regular basis.

This time I used a different paper – Ilford Multigrade IV Fiber. I think it worked well for me. Previously I’d had trouble getting as high a contrast as I wanted, but this time I had to even lower the contrast from the average setting for a few prints. Overall, things went very well, I’d say.

I decided to print only negatives made with my cheap, plastic Holga camera. That’s because I’ve submitted some photos to the Soho Photo Gallery for its annual Krappy Kamera competition, and I want to have the exhibition prints already made in case any are selected. Next time, I’ll try to print some “sharp” pictures, probably from my travels in Asia.

All of the four that I printed Sunday are nudes. Two of them were made at Prince Edward Island, Canada, in 2006. The other two were done at Joshua Tree in California last year. I’m posting the two Canadian photos here today.

I also realize that I need to get a new printer for my computer here at home. The competition I just mentioned is asking for work prints – not photos on CD – for judging.

Ordinarily, I would have made the prints on my printer here using files scanned from the negatives. That I could not do, as everything my printer prints basically has a black smudge running down the middle – and that’s not something I want on my photos.

To get the photos I needed, I had to take the files on an SD card to a pharmacy near my office and use one of the photo machines there to order prints for about $20. I do not want to have to do that again.

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Finally, happy holidays, everyone!!!

Photography: Martin Krzywinski
Styling: Jenn Miira Chang
Make up and hair by: Elie Kim
Models: Aleksandra Rea (Inspiration ALL) and Roza Joba (Lexington Models)

Technorati Tags: Aleksandra, Rea, Nasteska, TLC, Magazine, Fall, 2009.

I went today to the big computer store near my office to try to get some things to remedy my current computer dilemmas. One of the problems is that the hard drive on my computer and the external drive I’ve been using are pretty much filled up to capacity with data, so with that in mind, I bought a newer and larger external drive. The old one can ho

ld 200 gigabytes. The new one has a capacity of one terabyte – five times more than the old one.

Of course, the problem with the old external drive is that is wasn’t working any more, so I also bought an inexpensive housing, hoping that transferring the disc drive would get it healthy again. I’m glad to report that it did. I wasn’t going to try it tonight, not wanting to hurry, but then I thought “oh heck” and went and did it, after all.

It was a fairly quick process, and after I connected the USB and power cables, I thought a little prayer and flipped the power switch. The blue light came on almost immediately, and shortly thereafter my computer recognized a new drive. Naturally, I was thrilled – even more so when I opened my photo browser and saw for sure that everything looked okay.

Then I connected the new external drive, got it up and running, and began the process of transferrin

g data from the old to the new drive. I began by copying over the photos from my current digital camera – pictures that I had not backed up previously and were therefore the most at risk from the drive failure. Those photos include the ones I made in Italy earlier this year, and here are three images of Venice from among the salvaged items.
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Here’s a news story I came across today involving models and photograph

y. It reports that an ad for Olay cosmetics has been banned in the UK. Why? The star model depicted, Twiggy – now 59 years old – looks very good for her age. Too good, in fact. While Twiggy claims that Olay is the reason why her eyes look so good, the company admitted to some “minor retouching.” As the story says, rather than the cream being her secret, “instead it's a skilled computer technician, which is something you just can't bottle and sell for $23.89.”

I guess enough people in Britain knew a certain amount of fraud when they saw it. You can read the full story here.
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Finally, I saw the Metropolitan’s Opera controversial new production of Tosca on PBS last night. I thought it was pretty good, overall - though it was odd seeing the Nordic blonde soprano Karita Mattila as an Italian brunette. The design of the church in Act I was not nearly as sumptuous as the church that the Met used when I appeared as an extra in that opera – and absolutely nothing at all like the real church in Rome where the action is set. The set for Scarpia’s apartment in Act II was pretty impressive, though the roof of Castel Sant’Angelo in Act III was pretty spare, although there’s no real reason for opulence there. (You can see photos of the actual locations on my earlier blog posting - here.)

The story is set during the time of the Napoleonic wars, an era of European history I really don’t know much about. The hero of the story, the painter Mario Cavarodossi supports one side politically, while the evil police chief Scarpia sides with the other. As we tend to think of Napoleon these days as a dictator, I used to think that Scarpia supported Napoleon, though in fact the opposite was true. Scarpia was a royalist, and Mario saw Napoleon as a liberator.

I guess he wasn’t the only one originally thought that way. One such real life person was Ludwig van Beethoven. He too saw Bonaparte as a liberator, and even dedicated his Third Symphony – the “Eroica” – to him, writing the words “Intitolato Bonaparte” on the manuscript’s title page. However, when Beethoven later found out that Napoleon was throwing people into dungeons, he became so enraged that he crossed out his dedication with such force that he practically tore a hole in the page.

I also read the Beethoven was even thinking of destroying the entire symphony. Thank goodness that he didn’t.

Not much has happened with me photographically of late. I had hoped to report that I’d gotten a new external drive on which to store my images, but that hasn’t happened yet. Neither have I gotten a new case to try to get my non-working external drive working.

I’d actually planned to try to get one or both today, but I ended up doing something else. I’ll try again in a couple of days, as tomorrow I hope to get some photographic paper for printing.

The little good news to report is that I began filing negatives again a couple of weeks ago, though since that time I haven’t done any. I guess I’m feeling a little overwhelmed with end-of-the-year stuff, so hopefully that will pass in a few weeks. Of course, I still have a fair amount of film still to develop, going back to my trip to Italy in June.

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I looked over the images on my C: drive and found this one that I don’t remember having posted before. The two backsides were photographed in Manhattan five years ago. That particular photo shoot came very close to being ruined as my tripod lurched and fell on the subway heading into Manhattan and the ballhead was nearly broken. As it was, it was very stiff, and I had to ask one of the models to hold onto the camera every time I wanted to change the camera position, as I needed both of my hands to try to wrench the ballhead free from the locked position.

(Actually, now I do seem to remember having posted it before. Sorry.)

I’ve got a few things to write about tonight.

First, I want to thank everyone who wrote to support me in the recent debate regarding a photo that I included here two posts ago. What began as a little exercise in multiple exposure technique to try to create something surreal turned into a Frankenstein’s monster. Some liked it, some thought it was misunderstood, some wanted it destroyed.

I even thank those people who wrote in with viewpoints different from mine – though I would have preferred that their tone would have been different. Thanks to my friend Dave Levingston for writing a blog entry (here) supporting my right to create such an image and in support of artistic freedom in general.

As most of you probably know, I did eventually remove the photo in question. This was because the model sent me a polite message asking – not demanding – if I would do so. That was the reason, and not the rantings and ravings of those who disagreed with my creating the image. I am much more likely to respond positively to the quiet voice of reason than to angry shouting, and that was the case here.

I’m planning to write another entry touching on the topic of that image and the principles of artistic freedom involved.
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Meanwhile, I’ve got a much bigger and serious problem to deal with that is potentially very serious. The external hard drive where I store my photos doesn’t work. I flip the power switch and nothing happens. The light doesn’t even go on – which has me hoping and praying that it’s a problem with the power supply and not with the drive itself. This was the internal drive on my old computer, which I turned into an external drive with a kit that I purchased. I’m hoping that getting a new kit will get the drive working again.

If not – well, I recently began backing up the drive to DVD, beginning with the images from my older digital cameras. I also was relieved to see tonight that my digital photos from Tibet, Laos and Cambodia (made in 2007 and 2008) were backed up to the C: drive of my current computer. Unfortunately, the drive was too full to allow backup of this year’s photos, and as I hadn’t gotten around to copying them to DVD, the non-working disc drive is the only place where they can be found. (Film can be scanned again, of course, but would be a huge undertaking.)

So, I’ll try to get it working again next week. I’m planning to buy a new, much larger external drive, too, while I’m at it.
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It was a cold, blustery, very windy night here in New York this (Thursday) evening, but it didn’t stop me from getting around to some art events. First, I made a short stop at the New York Academy of Art’s “Deck the Walls” party. This was an event where a lot of low priced works of art were on display and for sale to benefit the school. I saw one piece that I really liked – a beautiful mezzotint showing some shadowy figures on the street - and

as it was at the lowest price level, I debated whether or not to go for it . When somebody else got it, the question became moot.

You can see it in the photo here, along with a photo of some top

less young Santas (or Santa's helpers?) who were posing for artists there. (There were also some drawings for sale of some traditional looking Santas, except that they were nude. They reminded me a bit of Dave S. Well, maybe more than a bit.)

From there I went up to Sta

ley-Wise gallery to attend the opening night for a show of photos by the German fashion photographer Ellen von Unwerth, a former model who’s known now for her very sexy photos of young women. The exhibit is to highlight the publication of her latest book, Fraulein. An advance copy of the book was there and the photos are indeed delicious. The book is big and heavy – but so is the price. As it’s a signed limited edition, it costs $700, I believe. I’d love to add it to my collection, but at that price – well, I don’t think I have to say any more. She did sign my copy of her earlier, normal priced book, “Revenge.”

In the photo of the three women here, Ms. von Unwerth is the woma

n in the middle. You can also see a couple of pages from the book, along with the cover and the cover model, Sarabeth, who was there tonight..
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I haven’t done this for a while, so let me welcome a few more new followers to the blog: Jeep, Anna, Unbearable Lightness, Artistas Plasticos, DPX-Scott Edwards and znesic. I cannot promise more controversry as happened recently, but I will try to post some good photos.

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Finally, the painting at the top is Judith Beheading Holofernes by the great baroque artist Michelangelo Merisi, better known as Carravaggio. (I guess the name Michelangelo was already taken by another artist.) I saw the original painting in Rome this year at the Museo d’Arte Antica, and it is a masterpiece.

Katarina Ivanovska in Women'secret collection winter 2009/10

Famous lingerie chains Women’secret from Spain introduced their new fall/winter 2009/2010 lingerie collection modeled by the most famous macedonian top model Katarina Ivanovska. Below are the photos from the catalogue:

Model: Katarina Ivanovska
Editorial: Women'secret
lingerie collection Winter 2009/10

Technorati Tags: Katarina, Ivanovska, Women, Secret, Winter, Lingerie, Collection.

The elevators in the building where I work all have small data panels in them. These panels display some of the latest news headlines, sports results, entertainment news, stock market reports and so on. They also list the exchange rate of the dollar against the euro, British pound and Japanese yen.

Now that we’re into December, it’s time that I start thinking seriously about where to go traveling next year, and a return to Japan is high on the list. Nonetheless, it’s unlikely that it’ll happen. I’ve been keeping an eye on the dollar-yen exchange rate and its not good – for American travelers, anyway. When I went to Japan in 2004, I think the rate was about 106 yen to the dollar. Even then that wasn’t a lot of yen for the greenback. Now, the dollar buys only about 86 yen.

All other things being equal, then, a trip to Japan now costs about 20 percent more than it did then. Unless the dollar makes a miraculous recovery (and nobody is hold

ing their breath), it looks like Japan – expensive at any time - will have to wait.

Still, I do have plenty of film of Japan to go through. Of the three and a half weeks I spent in Japan in 2004 and 2005, I’ve only really scanned just a few days worth and have not made any prints at all – so I’ve got plenty to hold me over until I can get back.

Here now are a couple of photos that I scanned some time ago but that I don’t think I’ve posted before. They were made at one of my favorites in Japan, a Buddhist temple in Kyoto called Tofuku-ji. When we hear the word “temple” here in the U.S., I think most people think of a single building like a church or a synagogue. In Japan, though, Buddhist temples can be very large complexes with many buildings and a great deal of greenery. Tofuku-ji is one such place, and it is a gorgeous, very peaceful place to spend some time. I look forward to going back – whenever that will be.
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Tonight (Tueday) I went to another benefit auction, this time selling photographs to benefit an organization called Friends Without A Border. The autumn seems to be benefit auction season. In October, I went to the one held by the New York Academy of Art. Last month it was the one for the Photo Review – and there are plenty more, too, like those for the Aperture Foundation and the Camera Club of New York. What these all seem to share in common is that they raise money to benefit arts organizations.

Tonight’s auction is different, in that it raises money to support the Angkor Hospital for Children in Siem Reap, Cambodia. Supporting the arts is certainly a good thing, but if there were only one auction I’d buy from, it would be this one. I visited Cambodia last year and saw for myself the poverty and poor conditions that people live in. As I’ve said before about southeast Asia, the worst slum apartment in New York City is like a palace compared to how where many people live over there.

Naturally, quality medical care is something that many (or most) people have no access to. When I was in Cambodia, our guide told us that long lines of mothers with their children are formed in the wee hours of the morning outside another hospital, just to try to get in – so evidently a children’s hospital is sorely needed.

I had told myself that I would limit myself to just one (not too expensive) picture to take home, as I’ve spent a lot this year and need to start saving for next year. It looked toward the end of the silent auction that I would be the winning bidder on one photo, but thinking back to what I had seen, I decided at the last minute to get a second one with low bidding on it. It’s true that I also got it because I really liked the print, but as one of the speakers there said, buying something from this auction really does make one feel good inside.

Way way way out of my price range, the most expensive photo of the night was Irving Penn’s “Dahomey Children” (seen here) from 1967. It sold for $18,000 – which will hopefully buy a lot of medical supplies.

Silvana Stojkovska, Wallpaper for December 2009

1024x768 , 1280x1024 , 1600x1200 , 2048x1536 , 1680x1050

Model: Silvana Stojkovska

Technorati Tags: Silvana, Stojkovska, Wallpaper, December, 2009, Macedonia.

Photographing nudes can be boring.

I will repeat that for anyone who had trouble understanding what I just wrote or who had trouble comprehending that I actually wrote it: photographing nudes can be boring.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I shall probably never tire of seeing the sight of a beautiful, nude woman before my eyes. Still, trying to create interesting works of art with it is another story entirely. I’ve been photographing nudes since 1995, and just a few years after I began, I started to ask myself how much longer I could go on photographing models in the same Edward Weston-type poses.

I thought those thoughts in regard to my outdoor nude photography. Now that I’ve been photographing more in my home studio set-up (for various reasons), with its small space and large limitations, it’s even worse. (I believe that this has been the first year in which I’ve shot more rolls of film of nudes in my studio than outdoors or any place else.) I feel like my studio work is little more than a nude girl standing in front of a backdrop – again and again and again. How much longer can I go on just making “pretty pictures”?

So, what’s to be done about it? Well, I’ve thought of using more props in my studio imagery. The problem there is that I have no place to keep such things. I bought a few papier mache masks in Venice this year and I don’t even know where to keep them.

Another thing I’ve been playing with is the multiple exposure technique. I’ve used it outdoors with some success and a bit in the studio, too. Then I hit upon a strange, new idea.

The idea came about by reading some blog postings discussing the pros and cons of m

odels shaving off their pubic hair. (To me it is very much a con.) Then I thought of Marcel Duchamp’s drawing a beard and moustache onto a picture of the Mona Lisa. Add to that the old joke that my mother used to say: if Phyllis Diller had one more facelift, she’d have a beard.

So, I came up with the idea of using the double exposure technique to superimpose a model’s pubic hair onto her face to create something surreal, like the Duchamp.

I gave it my first try with a model who came to my studio this past summer. It’s not an easy thing to try to do. As I work with a tripod, it’s a real pain in the ass to have to lower and raise the tripod with every exposure to get it set at the right height. As my camera’s viewfinder does not have any grid lines that would allow me to register the overlay properly, I just have to try to remember where in the frame the important parts are supposed to go.

At the top here, you can see the result of that first effort. I made several different tries at this, and this is the one I think works the best. (I photographed another model with this method, but I haven’t developed that film yet. I purposely developed and scanned the photo you see here so I could show this second model exactly what I had in mind. She offered no objections.)

Was I successful with the photo you’re seeing here? Well, I do think it looks kind of surreal in the manner of the Duchamp. I think she might even fit in well with the Three Musketeers!

Still, while my intention was to create something absurd, bizarre, satiric or surreal, not everyone agrees that I did. I posted this photo on an art posting site a short time ago and I received a response from a woman who said she found the image to be offensive.

Well, as you can imagine, I was really taken aback by this. I mean, here I was – trying to create something in the same vein as Marcel Duchamp, and I get a reaction that’s more in line with the cover of Hustler showing a woman being put through a meat grinder. Marcel Duchamp and Larry Flynt. Does that make sense?

Therefore, I am asking you – my readers out there in bloggie land – to please give me some feedback here. Is there something about this image that’s offensive to women? Or is it more surreal than anything else? (Could it be both?)

Certainly, this is not the first instance when someone has tried to depict a woman as a man – or a man as a woman, for that matter. A few years ago I met a photographer who has gained a certain amount of recognition for photographing her middle-aged, bald-headed husband dressed up in women’s clothing and wearing women’s make-up. Did I get offended, as a man, by such images? Of course not. That’s her vision and let her go with it.

The one thing that the comment made me realize is that perhaps this kind of imagery contains a lot more power than I had initially thought. For that reason alone, I am even more determined to carry on with the series.

The annual Photo Review benefit auction is taking place this Saturday night, November 21, in downtown Philadelphia, PA. You can find out more about it by clicking here.

Benefit auctions are a great place for collecting prints as prices are normally below market (often substantially so) and the proceeds go toward a worthwhile cause. Most of the prints in my collection have been purchased at such events.

This year, two of my own prints will be up for grabs. They are Nude, Joshua Tree, 2008, #1 (photo at the top) and Children, Lanten Village, Laos, 2006 (seen below). So, if anybody out there has wanted to get their hands on a genuine print from me, that I printed myself, here's your chance to do so at a discount. You can see and bid on the nude print by clicking here, and do the same for the travel image here.

Of course, you can bid on the other photos, too.
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The past weekend was another one devoted in part to art. On Friday night I went to see the Modernism show at the Park Avenue Armory. I got a ticket for free admission that evening to attend a reception for the New York Academy of Art. (I guess I’m on the school’s mailing list, my having attended its own benefit auction last month.)

I didn’t stay very long at the reception, held by one of the dealers, but I spent most of my time walking around looking at what the other galleries and dealers had on display – a collection of paintings, furniture, jewelry, clothing, decorative lamps (think Tiffany) and so on.

One of the highlights for me was meeting “Kramer” – actor Michael Richards from Seinfeld. I was looking at some paintings and turned around to see someone who looked like Kramer. Then when I heard him speak, I realized that it really was Richards. I spoke with him briefly and told him that the painting of him from the TV show, “the Kramer,” should have been there. (For those who are wondering, yes – his hair really is like you see it on TV, though it wasn’t quite as wild as it sometimes was seen.)

On Saturday I had to go into Manhattan for a medical procedure, and decided to stay around to visit some galleries, too. By sheer coincidence, the first one I went to – the Old Print Shop - was having a reception for a new exhibit of contemporary prints soon after I arrived, so I stayed around for several hours. I have to say that it was one of the best times I’ve ever had at a gallery show opening party. Contrary to when I attend most such events at photography galleries – when I often stand around and ask myself why I’m even there - I actually spent most of the time talking with people, mostly about things like art.

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I wasn't going to write about this, but I just watched Dancing With the Stars and am absolutely shocked by who was voted off tonight. Is there no justice???!!!

I went on Saturday to the annual Print Fair of the International Fine Print Dealers Association (IFPDA), here in New York City at the Park Avenue Armory. I guess that the Armory has become the place in New York to hold art shows. This is also where AIPAD, the photography dealers group, has its big annual show.

This year was the first year that I attended the AIPAD photo show at the Armory (it having

previously been held at the New York Hilton), and this weekend’s IFPDA show was very similar to the AIPAD show. The difference, of course, is that this time, the dealers had with them etchings, engravings, lithographs and the like (plus some drawings) rather than photographs.

As someone who is interested in different types of art, rather than just photographs, I thought I’d go to this show to learn more about the world of art prints and get familiar with the artists who created them. I’d done a little research on the web, looking up some dealers’ websites to look at what they had, but of course seeing an artwork for real is much better than seeing a reproduction on a computer screen.

The work presented in the show ranged from engravings by the likes of Rembrandt and Albrecht Durer right up to colorful contemporary pieces. Some of the small Rembrandt prints on display were absolute gems, with very fine details discernable despite their very small size.

Of course, there were plenty of works to be seen by such well known artists as Pablo Picasso and Henri Matisse, but what interested me most were wonderful works by some artists who I had never heard of before or who aren’t household names – people like Martin Lewis, Emil Ganso, Betty Waldo Parish, Benton Spruance, John Sloan, Wanda Gag, Ernest Fiene, Agnes Tait, Adolf Dehn, Marie Laurencin, Raphael Soyer, Albert Sterner and Eileen Soper.

Then there were the Japanese prints, which seem to be a whole world unto themselves.

Probably the one print that I had seen online and most wanted to see in person is the one at the top of this posting: “Shadow Dance,” a 1930 drypoint engraving by Martin Lewis. It’s a stunner – and I love the group of three women in sihouette on the right, each wearing their flapper hats and each caught in stride with a foot off the ground.

I also coined a new term: “print fair shoulder,” which I came up with following my original “art show shoulder.” Photo d

ealers keep their inventory of matted photos in transparent sleeves, with an identifying label either on the front or the back of the sleeve. Not so with print dealers, who don’t put the mattes in sleeves, but rather put a transparent sheet to cover the print beneath the window matte. (The identifying information is generally either on the back of the back matte or on the lower front of the back matte.) Therefore, as most of the mattes were taped on the left side, I would use my left hand to flip through the matted images – as my right hand would often grab only the front matte. So, after spending several hours using my left hand and arm to do this, my left shoulder eventually began to hurt from it all. Hence, the phrase.

Here, below, you can see some of my favorite images from the show, with the names of the artists beneath them. (Sadly, I was not able to find some others online, but at least I wasa able to find these.) Unfortunately, I had hoped that you'd be able to click on them to see them larger, but that function does not seem to be working for some reason.