On Model, Outdrbeauty

“It is one thing to photograph people. It is another to make others care about them by revealing the core of their humanness.”

- Paul Strand

Model, Outdrbeauty - MM #868167

I hadn't been away that long so quit trippin'. Besides, I know I'm not your early morning cup of coffee that you can't start your day without, so I ain't trippin' either. I do miss reading and following up on some of the other blogs I track, though. I hadn't been up on the boards as much lately, so I think I've been out of touch with some of the people who usually hear from me regularly even when a few weeks pass on my own posts. As I'm sure is the case with many of you, lots has been going on.

It's certainly been a while since I've had to do so many photo editing as I've been doing lately, including for other photogs. I've had to just walk away from the computer from time to time and just do something other than shooting or editing. In those cases, I try to not even think about a camera, pictures, or the work. I go see a movie, do a hike, or just try to hang out with somebody that is not affiliated with photography. J.L.Wolfe is an actor and photo enthusiast who has been my friend for the last 3 years, but we hadn't seen each other in ages. We kept planning to hook up, but just didn't, for whatever reason. I gotta say it was so good to see him again and our catching up was one of the...well, I don't know how to really describe it, but I left there feeling a stronger kindred. You're right, I'm not going into details, but having a beer, some burgers, and excellent conversation with him was absolutely great. He's a very wise man and we must have been there for 3 hours sitting in a late night Japanese burger joint catching up. I left there feeling like some healing took place. It was marvelous. John is cool.

I need to catch up with my buddy, Felix. He used to be all over my blog talking about the latest adventure we'd gone on, or something we've done. That hadn't been the case of late. He's gotten busy and so have I. I think he's one of the best natural photogs I know. We have some different styles of shooting but often some of the same ideas. I was really happy when he called me up, a few weeks ago. It wasn't as if we hadn't talked in a long time, but I was already on another important call, and elected to get back with him. I then got a text message to call him right away. At that point, I figured, I needed to get back to him right away in case this was urgent. There was no emergency. Felix was just going on and on about how much he liked this latest shoot of mine. I kid you not...it must have been a little longer than 20 minutes with him raving like a mad Mexican on this shoot I did and how the shots got better the more advanced through the gallery. THAT was a first! Felix has liked some of my work before, enough to where if he needed a back-up, he'd call me. But this was just too funny! I admit it almost made me choke up a bit. Its always a good thing to be admired by one's peers, but even more so from ones you respect so much. Thank Felix.

After what seemed like months, I finally got to work with model, Outdrbeauty. We got together a little more than a week ago and put together a shoot. I got some pretty decent shots, but we ended up losing the light due to the time change and the sun setting faster. Because of her work schedule, it couldn't be helped. Then when we finally got on location, there were more people out than expected. I hadn't shot out in this spot in 2 years and since then, there have been developments. John, in fact, had told me about some of it before hand, but I really had no clue til we got out there. People kept walking into out shoot. We decided to pack it up, but on the hike out, there was a light in the clouds that was simply a must-do. It simply did not matter that a guy with his dog was right behind us, but in the time it took her to get naked again and for me to get out the camera, we lost the effect. It was gorgeous. I got "a" shot, but not "THE" shot. She and I will be hooking up again soon, hopefully in the same area before it gets too cold, to finish this shoot. The shots you see here are some quick edits I did in hopes of continuing again later.

One other thing that has kept me from writing is the nature of the way I write. I tend to write with my emotions on the keyboards and there have been a few things that have just been too raw to put out on the net. Some emotions are just too strong and some of it had nothing to do with photography. So rather than getting into an opinionated rant, I just held my tongue...or fingers, as it were. A few cases had to do with bad experiences and pain suffered by a friend as well as one who was not a friend, but rather whom I was affiliated with. Tragedy and loss haunt us all at some point. I will indeed blog about some of it at some point real soon, but to do so, so immediately might end up hurting some feelings or put people on the spot. So wisdom and consideration might dictate a need for some patience. I try to concede to wisdom every now and then. Timing is important.

Trying times lie before, but I take solace in the fact that trying times have also been overcome behind me as well. Despite all, I'm still here...