You Always Shoot the One You Love

<-------Harlock By Brick Wall 2010

We've been together for almost a year now, but I've been in love with him far longer than that. What started as a close and deep friendship became something much much more.

I love him more and more with each passing day, with each kiss, and with each touch. He is my inspiration, my muse, my man and I love him very very much.

You Know Who Rocks My Socks? Diane Arbus.

Diane Arbus rocks my socks.

Diane Arbus

When I first saw her picture, I thought Diane Arbus was just some apathetic photographer with a penchant for snapping the odd, offbeat, and taboo. I changed my opinion the more of her work I looked at. Arbus is best known for her captures of freak shows and transvestites along with portraits of the unusual people we all see in our daily life. I think that she captures the essence of humanity and is not afraid to show her audience what she's looking at. 

'Tattooed Man'

'Puerto Rican Woman With a Beauty Mark NYC, 1965'

Her portraits are stark and shocking often of people that many of us do not consider picture worthy by conventional standards. It is this willingness to show the truth that draws me to her.

I need to find the title for this.

Arbus was taking pictures of transvestites and transsexuals way before the issue was even muttered about. Some interviews about her talk about her ability to put people at ease, to make them comfortable enough to be natural even when in front of the camera lens. That ability is something that I strive for. Diane Arbus cared about who she shot; she wanted to know them, to be a part of their lives and reflect those lives to the viewers.  

A Variety of Links:

Some dude's Flickr Account with a bunch of Arbus pics: http://www.flickr.com/photos/likeabalalaika/with/4416945646/

A Kind of Virtual Photo Album. Worth the flip through: http://diane-arbus-photography.com/

Wiki Page (of course): http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diane_Arbus

An Interview about Her: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/A/arbus/arbus_articles3.html

Some Abstracty Urban Stuff

'Support with Obvious Vignette'

'Fire Escape'

Taken around back the Polk Theatre in Lakeland, Florida. 

Light Play 3

Taking these photos was a real learning experience for me and really strengthened my love for photography.

'Portrait with Glasses'

My favorite shot, 'Portrait with Glasses' was not really intended to be anything more than Harlock sitting around doing a variety of activities; talking and playing with the tarot deck while I shot. And it was in those actions that I was capable of catching the softness of the man that I love. My favorite thing to capture is the candid moment. The laugh, gesture, look that isn't meant to be immortalize but by some blind luck made it on film...erm...on the memory card of the camera.

'Tarot'

'Thought'

The elaborate make shift turban is clear to see in this picture along with the beaded necklace that acts as decoration for it. This was taken near the beginning of the night; he still has his glasses on. 

'Four of Cups color'

Another rare colored picture. He chose the Four of Cups for a few reasons. One of those reasons is that The Kid from Blood Meridian picked the card around the campfire. 

I'm hoping in the future to do something like this again. 

You Know Who Rocks My Socks? Irving Penn

Irving Penn rocks my socks.

What I like about Mr. Penn? Well, it's hard to put into words really. There's just something about his style and the way he shoots that draws me in.

'Tennessee Williams New York, 1951'

His portraits are usually up close often cutting off bits of the head. He went through this period where he stuck his subjects into corners. One of those subjects happened to be Georgia O'Keeffee whose expression is somewhat quizzical and even skeptical in my opinion. "Is this really going to work?" she seems to ask.

'Georgia O'Keeffee New York, 1948'

'Three Asaro Mud Men New Guinea, 1970'

Penn revolutionized the fashion photography world but he also took plenty of photos of people off the runway. I love the textures in this picture.

His works on still life and found objects are striking and even surreal. Giving the viewers a glimpse of everyday objects in completely new light; just what a photographer should be doing.

'Street Findings New York, 1999'

'Still Life with Watermelon New York, 1947'

I love the fly!

A variety of links discussing Irving Penn:

The NY Times article after Penn's death: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/08/arts/design/08penn.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

A short overview on his works: http://www.tfaoi.com/aa/1aa/1aa393.htm

A collection of photos: http://arttattler.com/archivepenn.html

Another collection: http://www.masters-of-photography.com/P/penn/penn2.html

A short article about Penn's photography with flowers but it includes an awesome picture; Woody Allen as Chapman which is worth a gander: http://www.humanflowerproject.com/index.php/weblog/comments/irving_penns_human_vases/

Light Play part 2

'Depths of Madness'

The costuming used was pretty simple but incredibly awesome. Harlock (my boyfriend) has an extremely long monks robe that was made for him years ago. His turban is a combination of three scarves; one of those scarves has skulls all over it which you can see here and there in some of the photos. In 'Depths of Madness' you can get a glimpse of the robe's long sleeves.

'Four of Cups'

'Judgement'

'Plot'

Light Play part 1

My boyfriend and I got together and shot the following pictures. We were hoping to catch the use of darkness seen in Apocalypse Now. I was impressed by the introduction of Colonel Kurtz and blown away by the use of shadow and light all throughout the movie especially during the interactions with Kurtz.

'Arm Rest'

If memory serves 'Arm Rest' wasn't really an official shot but a moment of contemplation. The initial start up of the shoot went slowly but after this moment things went much, much smoother.

'By the Light'

The set up overall was pretty simple. One light source positioned off to the side and a tripod was used to compensate for the long exposure times that were needed to capture each shot. There was some post processing but mainly to accentuate areas with light and to convert the images into black and white. Other than that there was nothing fancy done to any of the images; save one: 'At the Wall'.

'At the Wall'

Probably one of my favorites from the entire shoot, 'At the Wall' is one of the most processed images I have ever done. I suppose to the folks who venture more on the visual art side of photography my use of simple layers and a filter is nothing, but I like to try to keep my stuff as natural as possible. (Nothing wrong with photoshop art...just not my cup o' tea.)

'The Heartbeat of the Jungle'