Back to the Ranch

This past Sunday I had the opportunity to pay another visit to the Flying F Ranch, this time with a trio of amazing models.

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Holly Loveday, Katz Pajamaz & Rusty Shackleford met up with me in the morning for what turned out to be a very fun and perfectly beautiful day in the Lucerne Valley.

Trouble

It was great to see everyone again, John and his crew and their beautiful Arabian horses, Holly is riding Sampson in the first photo, Katz with Dallas in the next two, Holly riding Dallas and all three with Samir in the last image.

Hear The Whisper

The ranch is a very special place, you can't help but notice it when you spend time there, it is always a source of great inspiration and great memories.

Promise Of The West

I'm gladly planning more trips out there this summer.

A Matter Of Will

"When I bestride him, I soar, I am a hawk. He trots the air, the earth sings when he touches it." ~William Shakespeare

More Thoughts on the Muse

Having a text conversation yesterday with a fellow photographer talking about models, Muses and relationships I got to thinking about how things have changed but also remain the same.

Projects

The Internet, the digital camera and a bazillion images online have had quite an impact on modeling and photography no question, places like PureStorm, Model Mayhem and Model Insider have made shopping for a model or photographer as simple as clicking a 'search' button. And if you're just starting out, looking for something different, or just bored, there are quite literally dozens of people representing every genre of art & culture looking to collaborate. 

Literal Dream

This is a good thing in many ways, it makes it easier for people to meet, get together and explore their creativity, find someone you'd like to work with, send a message, set a date, it's happening all the time every day, everywhere. 

The Bridge

I'm really not surprised however to often see the same models and same photographers in gallery shows, it seems, as far as my experience goes that there is a smaller circle inside the huge ring of people working that are making the current iconic images. It's my feeling, in the art nude genre at least, the more well known photographers submit work they create with a small number of models. The reasons can vary widely but what is interesting is it seems apparent there is some kind of connection, either in style, in aesthetics or possibly in their working relationship.

Life In The Day

Going back in time a bit and I find some of the most famous combinations came from discovery rather then search engine, Mario Testino and Kate Moss, Paolo Roversi and Guinevere Van Seenus, Andy Warhol and Edie Sedgwick, David Bailey and Jean Shrimpton to name a few. These combinations launched careers and created some of the most iconic images of thier time, what brought them together and what did they see in each other?

Step Lightly

Going back even further to names such as Man Ray, Edward Weston, William Mortenson, Alfred Stieglitz or Harry Callahan and they didn't search for models, they found a woman who became their vision. By chance, by luck or simply by will they created their images in collaboration with their Muse, who in most cases never aspired to be a model and in some, never thought of themselves as such. These could not have been the only ones, I would think they likely represent the inner circle of a larger group, so what was the magic these people found, was it in their skill or their passion, or was it the collaboration and vision? For whatever reason these people believed in each other and they truly left us with amazing images. 

Timeless

 "...the goal of art was the vital expression of self." ~Alfred Stieglitz

Solstice

Something unique happened in June 2011 when art models NevaehLleh, Conundra, Pearl and I went out to the desert to shoot photos, it ended up being more than just a beautiful morning with three very talented people. What I didn't realize at the time was, we happened to be there just hours ahead of the summer solstice, when the sun is at it's most zenith point in the sky. 

Zenith

Yesterday I learned that the image "Zenith" will be part of another gallery show "Nude But Not Rude" at Linus Gallery in Pasadena, CA Opening reception is June 15th, 2012

Here are a few other images taken on the lake bed that morning. 

Story Of Life

I've been quite fortunate to have worked with NevaehLleh in several different areas of southern California desert, from the Salton Sea to Joshua Tree and Hinkley to Lucerne Valley, beginning when we first met in 2008. 

Form

A superb art model and more, so expressive of emotion and a joy to work with.

Trying To Remember

It was a special morning in June of last year, from the clouds in the sky to the morning light, the empty lake bed and the amazing company with me that day, it's times like these that are the most rewarding.

Lost In The Landscape

"To see is to forget the name of the thing one sees." ~Paul Valery

Always

Several months ago while driving out to the desert Conundra mentioned a project she was doing, a book of poetry, "The Captain's Verses" written by Pablo Neruda was her inspiration. The idea is to have photographers choose a verse and shoot for it, simply put the results would be a collaboration between model & photographer with a verse from the book as their inspiration. I had read a couple of the verses previously but not the book in it's entirety, so I purchased a copy and on my second time through, my verse became obvious.

Always

Facing you
I am not jealous

Come with a man
at your back,
come with a hundred men in your hair,
come with a thousand men between your bosom and your feet,
come like a river
filled with drowned men
that meets the furious sea,
the eternal foam, the weather.

Bring them all
where I wait for you;
we shall always be alone,
we shall always be, you and I,
alone upon the earth
to begin life.
~Pablo Neruda

Stepping Stone

We left a bit early, a little too early for the sun and had to wait a bit for it to get lower in the sky, we spent some of the time shooting in the shade we found among the rocks. During the drive out we had discussed the verse which perhaps put it in the back of my mind, but to be honest I really didn't think about it, I knew something from the day would fit because this is how I view life and my work.

See The Way

I can't know what Pablo was feeling when he wrote "Always", though I see in my images my interpretation of his verse, I tagged my first book 'two people and a camera' for that reason. Whatever baggage we carry around, drama we've been subjected to or previous relationships we've had, whatever man or woman have come before us, when I am out in the desert it no longer has a meaning, it no longer matters because out in the desert we are alone, just us, and we are photographing life.

Handful Of The Earth

"While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see." ~Dorothea Lange

Testing the waters

Pearl & I have been shooting together for several years now, which translates to many early mornings and longs days traveling through the deserts of southern California. For years now we have worked really hard to create the best images we could, which has truly been a labor of love.

Object Of Thought

This past November we were planning another shoot but the wind and cold of the high desert would have made shooting out there uncomfortable at best, and more torture than fun. So for something different and in an attempt to expand our repertoire, we moved inside to shoot in natural light and under regular room light. We were very happy with the images and even more so to capture some very good images and be successful in testing ourselves in a new genre and new environment,  

Please

It was exciting to see that we could do beautiful images so far out of our normal zone, it was encouraging and inspiring as well, and so we decided to experiment even further and into a more erotic style. I can only leave it to the viewer to decide whether we've been successful but I can say that Pearl & I love the work, in all the time we've been working together we always have.

Touch

I don't see this as a natural progression or direction or anything like that, I see it as two people doing what they love and trying new things, our last shoot included some bondage, but also chocolate sauce, strawberries, a collar, a bit of lingerie, some conservative art nude, some erotica and a little green hat with spiders on it.

Neverending

My feeling as well as Pearl's is this experimentation can only serve to improve our work, we haven't changed, only expanded and tested the waters, we plan on doing more desert art nudes this summer and taking what we've learned to further define our work, we actually have a lot of concepts in the works across several genres. I hope we can be successful at everything we try, one thing for certain, we can't be successful if we don't try.

Stay Awhile

"I want to reach people inside, way down — to give them a quiver in their stomach. I've reached a certain plateau at this point, where I can sense an even greater intensity in a situation than I'm able to get on film. That's what I've got to learn to capture, even if it takes the rest of my life." ~Roy DeCarava

San Diego

Last weekend I had the opportunity to travel to San Diego and work with the amazing Katz Pajamaz

Using GoogleEarth I thought I spotted several good locations, and also found an old bridge, as we drove by the bridge we found it very overly populated by people, hikers and dog walkers. It seemed there was plenty of open space further east, lots of Jeep trails along rolling hills where we could work, but as we drove along I discovered basically that every trail had a fence or locked gate.

Pathos

Undaunted, we headed for the hills, planning to return to the bridge later in the day with the hopes most of the humanity there had headed home. I did have a map to a second location but I over shot the turn off, so we turned around and while I drove Katz searched using the GPS, We did eventually find the general area we were looking for, but the skies were overcast, the roads narrow, we made the call to just use an open area near a creek bed.

So we parked Rocksy and climbed down a small hill, beautiful rocks and trees, small but usable, the sun would peek through the clouds every so often but mostly we had overcast. I can't say enough about Katz Pajamaz, her photo should be in Wiki when you look up the definition of Art Model, she's phenomenal and did we ever make the most of the space and light we had.

Reclaiming The Inner Goddess

I'm not sure how long we shot up there, but since it was a long drive back to the bridge, we got what we could, shot images in the trees, on the rocks, a small open bridge, did the shots for my flower series, jumped back in the Jeep and headed for Sweetwater Bridge. I'm looking forward to shooting with her again near the end of March, but out in the desert, for a couple of reasons, lack of fences, she's wonderful company, an amazing model and she makes the best damn cookies I've ever tasted!

Sweetwater Bridge

"The thing that's important to know is that you never know. You're always sort of feeling your way." ~Diane Arbus

Desert Wedding

Yes, I know the title of the blog is Desert Art Nude, but tell me, who can resist a pretty girl in a wedding dress?

Desert Wedding

We were out shooting in the Antelope Valley on a cold and windy day, not ideal by any stretch of the imagination.

A Heart For A Picket Fence

Pearl brought along a beautiful wedding gown.

The Day We Said Goodbye

I did my best to help her with the dress, you can probably envision the scene, strong blowing winds, a big dress with a train, a photographer who is all thumbs and this tiny effing miniature zipper, it's a good thing no one was nearby with a camera!

The Big Day

Plus a few wonderful people we found who helped us out, but as the story ends ...there are still places to go.

What I Must Do

"I think it very important never to confuse psychology or literature with photography. This is why I wouldn’t dream of trying to explain my work. Thus my pictures are quite simple: me, thinking in images." ~Sam Haskins