Wow... It's been a while

So unfortunately I havent found the time it takes to keep this blog updated. In fact it appears that I havent been able to keep anything updated including my Model Mayhem, Deviant Art, or my Personal Website.

Yes there is a good reason for this... well i can't honestly state what the general opinion of my viewing audience would consider a good reason... but I assure you I have reasoning. First and foremost I met and fell in love with an amazing person. We just celebrated our 2 years together this past april and are planning to get married this fall.

We both work a lot. I devote 10+ hour days to work that does not involve photography... errr at least not portraits. At the end of the day this leaves little time for photography and well it sorta went on hiatus while we built our relationship and stabilized our finances to get an apartment together and all that goes with it.

Now things are settling in after 2 years, I am ready to get back to things. Yes I have several sets in the works and many shoots setup. So look for my latest work (ok some of it is actually older stuff im just starting to get to) to start showing up online soon.

Nate's Premier

So Andrew from the last shoot (my last 2 posts) as i mentioned came accompanied by his ex boy friend. I don't normally allow a great majority of people on my sets for many reasons. Not knowing them well they could be thieves, they could be clumsy and break something, they can just be downright distracting, or once in a while they can be quite useful. And by useful, i mean they could either be great emotional support for the model, have an electrical plug for one of my flash units when i have forgotten mine at my studio 40 minutes away (yes this actually happened) or just be attractive enough to model for me. Lucky for me Nate fell into the later category.



I prefaced the shoot with a small speech about keeping order and good scheduling to make sure everything that needed to be shot would get shot, as well as implement Nate into a couple sets also. Of course with the amount of people that were in that small amount of space chaos continued to erupt (see the last couple posts for more story on this conundrum). Good for me, my faithful assistant was on top of it with his handy list and i managed to actually sort out and create many beautiful pieces.



So Nate was something like a blessing, my goal this summer has been to mainstream my portfolio so i can submit to legit magazines for publication. I have worked with many alternative models as well as actors doing creative work as well as studio fashion and been quite happy with my success from that, however i knew that my next step would be to aim higher and target a slightly different audience. Nate was my answer for this, not only is he a dancer by trade (working in places like Tokyo and NYC) but he is also a very experienced model (i mean what good are looks if the model just stands there and doesnt know how to publish his emotions across his face)



As goes with all my brilliant collaborations before Nate, the ideas came out quicker than we could shoot them, however we managed to pull off several successful sets before he had to part for the evening.



Overall a great experience with an extremely talented young creative mind.



Enjoy the photos and lookout for his next set.....

A little Glam, and a lot of constriction

So if you have read my first post, you have already met Andrew. This set was done the same night as the Halloween shoot and started out equally as rough.



As i mentioned in the first post, the house was full and wardrobe and accessories were scattered all over the apartment creating a disaster area. I had my assistant working with andrew on putting together something sexy and yet creative, working within the many themes that Andrew had brought to the table. I had been shooting with Nate (Andrew's Ex who had tagged along) when Andrew announced he was ready whenever i was.



My reaction must have been similar to the halloween set, i was quite disgusted at the amount of colour strewn about in a way that would make cyndi lauper cringe. It was almost bad 80's, but i decided to snap a few shots to see what the camera thought.

After 10 or so shutter actuations i received another epiphany and had him remove the jacket and the glasses. What was left was an over made up guy in a hideous pair of pants, entangled in a tow rope (or whatever the red thing is) that was pulled from my assistants car. David bowie and elton john came to mind, but i had another goal in mind, this didnt really work and although they had spent a small while getting into costume and makeup, someone had to make an executive decision and i figured that that someone should be me (seeing as im the photographer) I had him wash as much makeup off his face as he could, and finally the photos started coming together. At the last minute we switched the rope out for jumper cables wich sorta worked more in the lines of what the shoot should have been, but after a couple snaps the idea had been exhausted and we were ready to move on.



I wasnt sure that i had anything readily worth anything with this set until i started retouching. Normally im a fan of muted colours, dark moody tones and ideas, but this set had a sparkle that i couldnt overlook. And although his face still had smudges of makeup, they cleaned up well with photoshop, and i stretched my wings by giving these a brighter, softer feel.

Again, like it or not, this is the glam/constriction set.

With Halloween Just around the corner...

I recently did this shoot with Actor/Dancer (now model??) Andrew Cox. We both went into the shoot with a myriad of ideas, some better than others, all however equally vivid and prepared with a variety of props and purposes.



The shoot had been in the works for several weeks and after several cancelations, both from myself and Andrew, we set a final date. It was a chilly autumnal night in New England, very typical i guess as one of our themes was to be a Halloween inspired shoot.

Andrew showed up in tact with his friend Katie (who was also modeling that night) and another friend of his who wasn't intended to model until i saw him and ended up doing a couple full sets of him as well (his set will be posted later on), as well as a full wardrobe of clothing and an assortment of toys, accessories and a fog machine. A fog machine? Yes! a fog machine. At first i fought the idea of a fog machine for 2 reasons. I first feared that it would set the fire alarm off, and secondly they have to be used in well ventilated conditions. This meant opening the windows which didn't bother me as far as the cool air was concerned, but more so the appearance of fog dissipating out my second floor apartment creating the appearance of smoke, causing alarm with the neighbors. After some slight coaxing i gave in and was quite happy when reviewing the results. I can safely say that i would consider using the fog machine again.



So the shoot started out slow, possibly my fault. But when you have a house of 5 artistic minds (oh yes my assistant was there also) you tend to get more ideas than productivity. I acted quickly however and tried to separate people into different areas of the house to get into costume, makeup and of course the set. Once the flow started it became a pretty productive night.... with a lot of wasted shots i might add. Andrew is an amazing person, creative and very talented, but he has the attention span of a child and often resorted to humorous poses, again maybe this was my fault as i didnt start the shoot until 8pm. I am a night person, and the thought of shooting anything creative during day hours churns my stomach.



So this segment of the shoot i kind of consider the rare gem. I honestly can admit this was andrews idea and not what i had originally intended on shooting.

He came baring the small jack o' lantern, the fog machine (wich we already established that i didnt want any part of at first) and requested to be greased up to look shiny. He brought witch hazel for this. The girl at the store told him it would make him shiny. This was a close your eyes and shake your head scenario, and i think we all had a chuckle, obviously witch hazel is an astringent and wont do anything besides dry up your skin and work (wonderfully i might add) as a toner. So I acted quickly and grabbed the olive oil. Yes folks, the shine you see on Andrew's body was Olive oil, that was an interesting experience, but like the fog machine i could safely say i'd do it again (and i did in another shoot that will also eventually be posted)



So at first he pulled out the assortment of macabre poses complete with the faces to match. I was horrified, not actually scared as in for my life, but that we would have no useable images from this shoot. Again i quickly rattled my brain and changed gears.

I suggested to andrew to try thinking more along the lines of a sexy Dr. Jekyl rather than an exaggerated Mr. Hyde, and quickly something clicked. Although im quite sure he was slightly goofing off, it finally clicked with his look and my intended portrayal of him. So what followed was an almost make-out session with the jack o' lantern. But in a more intimate way rather than a silly way. This was the start of the completed second photo down.

Then for the climax and epilogue of the set, Andrew displayed his array of bizarre angles in wich he could bend his body.

The photos ended up being the Pièce de résistance of the evening, and with Halloween coming i had them completed and ready for critique and criticism (and some praise) within a matter of days.

Like them or not, this is Andrew at his best and an amazing culmination to this style of photography for me (most of my earlier stuff almost always included some level of fake blood)