Self-love & Self-Portraits
It's almost Valentine's Day, so how about a moment of self-love? Last year I made the resolution to take more self portraits because I often don't like how I look. Last summer while traveling in Europe I decided to make use of some dramatic window light and take some nude self portraits as an exercise in accepting my self/body as it is.
The experience was a nerve-wracking reminder of how difficult it is to be vulnerable in front of the camera, but eventually I found my groove and made a few soulful and erotic photographs I'm proud of. Thanks for reading, and I hope you take a moment to love yourself as well.
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Chrome Romantics
These were taken while on a walk several years ago. I really loved the reflections on the chrome surface of the mannequins, it made them seem like beings from another universe, perhaps one in which Terminator 2 had been a romantic comedy. The store itself was darkened and closed for the day; I shot these through the window.
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Retouching & Body Image
I was recently watching a time-lapse video of another photographer’s work retouching an image. The subject was an incredibly beautiful woman in perfect lighting. The retoucher’s cursor ran back and forth, cleaning up stretch marks, masking blemishes, smoothing skin, adjusting the shape of the woman’s eyes, and finally patching up a section of her eyebrow that apparently wasn’t up to his standards.
It made feel sad.
The kinds of imperfections that the retoucher was fixing were natural, real parts of what an adult human’s skin looks like. It made me wonder if the retoucher had ever been in love, when any flaw is an endearing trait to be cherished and treasured.
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Angel, Smoking in the Bath
This session was the most recent collaboration between myself, Angel Lin (@AngelMyDarling on Instagram) , and makeup artist Kylie Small (@makeup.bykylie on Instagram). We have worked together several times, and I first worked with Angel back in 2013.
This shoot was originally Angel’s idea, and I had a lot of fun mentally planning out the vibe of the shoot, balancing out the bright morning light coming in from the window with the deep shadows that were necessary to give the work a feeling of gravitas. Angel has worked with me enough times to know exactly the kind of mood I like to go for, and was able to bring the look out on command in a fiercely engaging way. Kylie’s excellent work made it practically mandatory for this session to be in color— I often shoot black and white unless the color is central to the photograph, and in this case it is without a doubt.
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What's the Opposite of Porn?
Today I was talking to a friend I shoot with frequently, and we got to talking about expressing sensuality in photography. In most commercial media, sexuality is something to be consumed by the viewer. Whether it’s actual pornography, suggestive artwork on an album cover, or an advertisement for deodorant, the message is the same: “Here’s a sex object for you to enjoy.”
The problem is that it erases the agency and personhood of the subject, as well as deadening the experience for the viewer. It’s the equivalent of free junk food— Here’s something salty and sweet, it won’t improve or even satisfy you but it’s easy enough to keep you wanting more.
What’s the alternative?
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Where the Camera Ends and the Photographer Begins
About twenty years ago, a shift happened in photography.
The automatic exposure and focus capabilities of state of the art film cameras finally got the ease of use provided by digital sensors. Taking a properly exposed photograph and making a print from it had required take years of practice, careful note-taking, and dedication to the craft of making images with light-sensitive chemicals. Now, the camera itself could more or less accurately judge the appropriate settings to make an exposure, and making that image viewable or ready was as easy as plugging in a memory card. Since then, the cameras and their computers have only gotten better, some even adding filter effects to replicate the style of film cameras. Now anyone can grab a camera and take decent photos with no experience.
The baseline shifted. Literally anyone with a modern cell phone can take great photos that would look great printed and framed on a wall. Taking a decent photo is now the expected default.
The photographer’s function now is to bring out the soul of a scene, or to see things in a different way.
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The thin arc of a Crescent Moon
Just before or after a New Moon, when there’s only the thinnest crescent of light illuminating the edge of the moon. When you can just barely infer the size of the moon, though its invisible in the twilight haze.
That’s what I strive for in my photography.
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Zen Mind
For me, doing photography has become instinctive. That is to say, some of my best work I did not think very hard about or pre-plan whatsoever. I see something that interests me, and I try to capture what I noticed before the moment passes. This makes it difficult to talk about my work, because I honestly don’t always know what I’m doing or why. Then, I’ll hear a remark from a friend or observer of my work, who will nonchalantly describe my work more clearly and more succinctly in ways that might not have ever occurred to me. I had thought that this was some flaw in my reasoning or my approach, but maybe it’s a more common thought than I had experienced.
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Walking around Japan
These are some snapshots I took while walking around Japan in 2017. These were taken in Aomori and Nagoya, where I visited my friend Satoshi. He makes good music, have a listen.
Photos were taken with a 1963 Leica M2, with expired Kodak Portra film
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Black and White vs Color: Layers of Abstraction
There’s a joke in the photographic community that if you want to make art, take photos in black and white.
Of course, color photography is just as fertile ground for creative expression as black and white, but why does black and white feel more “artistic” to so many people?
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The Painted Word
If you haven’t read Tom Wolfe’s book “The Painted Word” I urge you to grab a copy at once. He’s an incredible writer, and the book is short enough that you could probably finish it in a day or two.
Here’s an amazon link.
In short, With the advent of photography, Painting had to become conceptual because it could no longer match Photography's depictions of physical spaces/scenes. With modernist art on to contemporary, the text of the statement *is* the art more than the painting is. Or at least, it is more important to the people who buy and sell art.
That isn’t to say that the artist statement is necessarily fundamental to great art, or even beneficial. I think the best art comes from something else, either the subconscious or some other ethereal realm. However, I would like to get better at writing about art, at the very least. Hence, this blog.
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Seeing in Black and White
Seeing in black and white is all about seeing things in terms of shapes, both in terms of a three dimensional form, such as a person’s figure, and in terms of a two dimensional field, the graphical composition of the photograph itself.
For seeing the form, you’re working with light and shadow with the goal of representing your subject in terms of volume, highlights, shading, and so on. Like drawing with a thick slab of charcoal, it may help to think about things in broad strokes without worrying too much about the details. One technique I use is to half-close my eyes so I am mostly looking through my eyelashes in order to blur my vision so that I am not distracted by the sharp details and textures of what I’m looking at— just the light and shadow sculpting the shape. Let the light or shadow carve out the shape of the subject of the photo.
For seeing the field, you must learn to re-frame how you are perceiving the subject, and regard the real life scene before you as a flat photograph. This is all about seeing shapes, thinking about how the eye will travel across an image (generally starting at bright areas and faces, following lines and curves, etc).
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Making Intimate Portraits
This is my guide to taking intimate portraits. I cover building rapport during a shoot, developing a mood, posing, gear, and lighting.
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In the Garden of Eden with Meredith
An Allegory of the Garden of Eden with Meredith
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