The Trunk Monkey Chronicles

" Find your niche and what you like, be professional, sometimes be patient and appreciate every memorable experience and great opportunity that comes at you." - Lorelei

I don't know if you realize it or not, but you already know you can read me here on this blog, but did you know I am ALSO a co-editor for Chris' Univers d' Artistes blog? Didn't know that did you? Okay, I may have already said it a couple of times here, but I'll be helping out over there from time to time. Chris St. James is posting EVERYDAY and I know its got to be wearing out Unbearable Lightness trying to keep up. Chris is a freak-n machine. So, by request, I just did a post on Lorelei.

It turned out great as I did a 10 question interviewed with her. I loved her answers and not cuz she hyped me, but because you could tell she was speaking from her heart and that she really took the time to give me some good feedback. I'm not doing any copy-pasting or reprints over here, but you can click on the jump link over there and check it out. Actually, I will copy over one request she made:

"...visit MAXIM.com and VOTE for your homegirl ! I'll be in week 6 of voting April 27 through May 4th until noon, much love if you can vote for me everyday til then, just takes a few clicks and no typing. Thanks!"

Life is good. I'm working. Dave's coming next month. My uncle is here for the weak. I'm happy. Yeah I still got a few issues to solve and things to work out, but that'll be the deal til I'm dead. What I want are NEW problems. "Gee, where am I going to invest all this money and what charities should I contribute to this week?". "Goodness, how am I going to find the time to shoot ALL these models I keep getting requests for?". "Should I go with the lace-up Berlutis or the buckle-down Lobbs as I accept my Ig Nobel Prize for Art tonight?". See what I mean...NEW PROBLEMS. Everybody should be working towards new problems rather than the elimination of problems in their lives all together.

I've been working on more of my non-nude images lately. I've taken several, but they sat on the proverbial shelf since I just couldn't bring myself to do the edits. I had too many nude works to edit. Its cool going back over old work and trying to get back into the mindset you had when you released the shutter. I worked on a series of compositions I did while on my way back from Phoenix last year during my road trip with Felix and Summer. Remember that? This couple is a shot (above) I took while visiting the Phoenix Art Museum. They seemed like an interesting couple that I knew I wanted to photograph, but I didn't want to harrass them. As it happened, they were leaving the same time we were and I got them in the parking lot. They were cool about it and flattered. Unfortunately, I was out of cards that day and can't find their contact info. Damn it.

The other shots were of a stop we made on the way back by way of Vidal, California. Some of it was just junk. Actually, all of it was junk or stuff on abandoned properties. I still got a few good shots, but even then, it would have been nice to have somebody naked there.

I don't know how long it has been out, but I just discovered Trunk Monkey. Oh, I LMAO!

If you can't see the video, -->click here<--

Cool Melissa

If you are not passionately devoted to an idea, you can make very pleasant pictures but they won't make you cry. - Ruth Bernhard

I took a break from photo work, and some other studying that I am doing to go see the movie "Knowing" with Nicholas Cage. All I could say was, "Damn..." after the credits began to roll. It started out fast, by impressing you with a plane crash, but then slowed down a bunch and made you try to figure out where things were going. It has few interesting twists, but in the end, left you wondering with a feeling of "NOW WHAT?" Interestingly enough, there is a question of faith that Cage has to deal with and when he comes to his conclusion, there is a reference to biblical prophesy. The thing is, nothing that transpires in the movie has anything to do with a prophet or how the Bible says events will unfold.


But onto photography...



As I write this blog, I am being interviewed via email by a young girl, or woman, I should say, who is the daughter of one of my models. She's a teenager doing an interview on people and their careers. She chose me since I am a friend of the family and she relates to me because I am an artist like she is. And this girl is good. She's got a talent and a potential, that properly cultivated and supported, could blossom into something great. Hold on... another email question... Okay, I'm back. She's asking some very good questions. At first I was wondering if her mom was helping, but she's come back with some fairly spontaneous remarks that would suggest otherwise. This is her own work. So for now, we are going over what its like to be a photographer and some of my background. Its cool.



I was recently featured by Unbearable Lightness, who's been helping Chris St. James run Univers d'Artistes. In her post, "The New Neasley", she made me sound like I was some high profile photog who went into a mysterious hiatus leaving everyone to guess and speculate what I was in the midst of creating. It was a good article that centered on my initial intent to suspend my nude work and the challenges I had in the attempt. Nine images of Brittani, Melissa, Trixie, Erica, and Gabriella were selected for the feature. This was a March 18th post but you can go directly to the link =>clicking here<=. You may notice that for this feature, Unbearable Lightness uses one of her recent photos as sort of a tribute the the Vegas theme for her image ID. Nice touch, Sweetness.



I mentioned before that you should be expecting images of a recent shoot with Model Melissa. This was our 3rd collaboration. It was right after editing the first work that I had the idea to do her with a wide-angle lens to exaggerate the perspective of her hips and legs (Canon EF-S 10-22mm). She's got the deceptive build for it. To look at her, she appears thin as can be, but when the clothes come off all that hidden shape and curvature comes to life. I was thankful for the fact that she allowed me to play with that idea. Not many models are willing to allow you to capture imagery that intentionally makes their butts look bigger. Melissa is very comfortable with the way she looks and trusted me enough to just let me play, 'cuz that's what I did. I experimented with angles and positions, while trying to get the desired effect with the camera lens. Many models would be very uncool with how close I had to get to get the exaggerations, but that's necessary when you work wide like that. When I get my Canon 5D Mark II, the 16-35mm L-series is definitely on the list. In fact, I don't think I will get that camera without two lenses...one of them being the 16 to 35.



One of the more interesting thing about this shoot is that its the 3rd time we've shot and its all been in her house in the same area. Normally, I'd have been bored silly by now and yearning to get her outside. She's even got the most interesting backyard, and I have yet to explore it. Part of that has been weather, but also, its been due to my business with the indoor work. The third shoot in particular took some patience because of the lighting challenges. I knew from the last shoot that coming during the time of day I was there would allow some interesting lines from the Venetian blinds in the window. This day however was very cloudy. We'd have the light for just a second or two and then it was gone. We'd wait for it to come back, but limitations on time forced us to move on. But when we'd see the lines return, I'd have her jump back on the couch, assume the same position and try to snap quickly. Some of it was trial and error, thinking I could bring it out in Photoshop with contrast corrections and blending options, but I finally got what I wanted. I love me some Melissa. And here is some of our latest work.

Hi, Charlie!

All About the Fun

Maybe things will be settling back to normal pretty soon. I'm very hopeful, at any rate. My friend and roommate, Jeff is back home from about 11 weeks in the hospital. It'd be inappropriate for me to go into details, but the dude is back at home, trying to recover and gain his strength back. So welcome home, Jeff.

Photo work has been sort of sketchy as of late. I've still been shooting and editing, but I've not been posting much of my work on my online profiles or website. Part of that is cuz of Chris St. James' fault. Because of his mentorship, I've got this thing with titles now. Since I haven't been able to sit down title my shots and post them, they have been sitting on my hard drive waiting to receive a name. This goes way back to maybe a year ago when Chris first discovered me and took an interest in my work. He began to encourage me, mentor me, and be a friend. Well, one of the things he'd knock me on the head for was the lack of titles in my work. Since then, I think I've really grown from his help and I've cherished the relationship we've had over the course of, wait...I think its been closer to two years now.

I haven't even kept up with many of the blogs that I normally follow daily. I still track Univers d'Artistes regularly. Unbearable Lightness has done a wonderful job at helping Chris. These are two people that I've cultivated relationships with, but have yet to actually meet. I consider both to be mentors and will be glad when I am totally back on track following my friends' blogs and back to posting my own at my usual rate of twice a week. I haven't even talked to my good friend, Dave Rudin in a while. I'm really out of touch. I don't know what's been going on with Iris Dassault, who's like the model queen of this country. And I need to get back in touch with the happenings across the waters with my friends at Fluffytek.

I need to go on some interesting outings. I haven't done that in a while. I think that was one of the attractors for a good part of my readership which was to hear about my adventures in the wild. Yeah, I need to get out more. The weather is starting to warm up and ice is melting off the mountains which means water falls and full streams again. This is what I do. I gotta get back out there. Whatever I do, I think I'd like to take some models out with me on a road trip or something. And speaking of which, I want to make sure I encourage you to utilize the services of the models I present on this blog and my website. If you're planning to be in Vegas and feel like shooting, feel free to contact these girl's links or even myself and plan something. Brittani from New Jersey is coming to reside in Vegas permanently next month. (Damn, I've still got to send her a disk! Sorry B.) I'm happy about that. I mentioned her in my last post along with several others. I've still yet to shoot with Marley. She's waiting on a tattoo to heal up a little first. But you've also seen some of my mainstays like Faerie and Trixie who I shoot quite often and of course there are several more. I shoot with Lieara this weekend. Lorelei has taken off like a space shuttle. The Brittany II maintains her role as one of the most prolific models in Vegas. And then there is Sarah Jane...come on! Really, do I need to say more. All these different body types and looks. I've got like the Wal-Mart of models, here. And wait til you see my next posts of Melissa!

Gabriella is one of the models I've been shooting with who is very up and coming. This girl can be on the cover of any magazine by tomorrow. She's different than the normal style of model I've been shooting because she's very suitable for glamor work that you might find in Maxxim or even Playboy. I've always been doing the girl next door type to produce my artistic style of nudes, but with Gabriella, I've been exploring the more sensual, sexy, and even erotic style of the art nude. She's hella fun to work with and is an instant boost to anybody's port. I think I'm going to start highlighting models I work with on my posts. I don't promote these girls enough and one of my initial objectives to starting my Las Vegas Art Models Group was to support art models. All of these girls are fabulous with great attitudes. For me, attitude is more important than they way they look. Gabriella is super sexy, but she comes with a willingness to work and gives you what you want and then some. You're sure to walk away from her shoot with more than you bargained for. I like the girl. Gonna work with her some more. You will too, so give this artist of her trade a hollar. Isn't she sweet? Tell her I sent 'cha. We'll both get cheese points!

"Dina Vierna, Model and Muse for Art's Masters"

"You must search for happiness in your life. Don't get discouraged. Look ahead with hope."

- Dina Vierny, art model/ art collector/ art dealer/ owner, Musee Maillol

This is my first post for the new year. I'm still not quite used to writing 2009 on everything I have to date just yet. I don't think I'm going to start blogging about everything I plan on doing this year or how I hope to achieve some specific goal. You'll forget about it after you close out of your browser and so will I before the month is out. Instead I'll just dive right in instead of talking about it.

One interesting thing I'll note is that Chris St. James reposted one of my blog entries...The Mature Woman. He seemed to like the points I made and added to them. In addition to the model Susan, who posed for this project, he also made mention of Unbearable Lightness who is also a model of maturity. Check out UL's blog post. I think she and Chris called it a woman in full bloom. Well I can tell you there ain't nobody on the planet blooming like Unbearable Lightness. She's so hot ... well, never mind. I digress. My point is that its really cool and gratifying to an artist when he or she is recognized for their work. I'm a photographer and I try to produce images that people appreciate. However its also gratifying to be recognized for what I write. It sort of validates one's work to be recognized so. All vanity aside, don't you think this is what every artist seeks? To share one's work and have one's efforts recognized and appreciated? Granted, there are some who create simply for themselves as an outlet or means of expression who have no desire to show anybody. There are exceptions to every rule. But is it not true that recognition is the greatest desire for an artist?

On a totally different matter, I've been tracking the work of Alex, another beautiful model in full bloom, on deviantArt. I've talked about her before on here and since then, I've made it a point to keep tabs on her work. A very unfortunate event has unfolded between her and another photographer over photo rights. I don't know the whole story on the matter, but the results were that she had to take down every photo that he took of her from her profile, which were quite a few and very good, I might add. All this took place over a misunderstanding which were not ironed out in a model release. Instead of being embarrassed about the event or demeaning of the photographer, I admire the way Alex chooses to take the high road on the matter. She treats it as a learning experience and then chooses to share this with everyone who will heed her words. Isn't that extraordinary? I can tell you that I make it a rule that I don't release the shutter with a model in my viewfinder unless I have a signed model release in my possession. There have been about 3 times that I've not abided by that rule and there have been 3 times when not having a release came back to bite me in the ass. Coincidence...? I think maybe so. Make sure everything is spelled out. I am also more than positive that, because Alex chose to take the high road on this issue, deviantArt has seen the light and she's in the clear with them.

And finally, I finish with another model who has now matured. A week or so ago, The Morning Edition on NPR did an segment on Dina Vierny entitled, "Dina Vierny, Model And Muse For Art's Masters" by Susan Stamberg. Dina Vierny is most noted for being an art model for sculptor, Aristide Maillol and painter, Henri Matisse. She started as an art model for Maillol, who was 73 at the time, when she was 15 years old. The article goes on to tell the story of how Vierny became the inspiration for Maillol's for the next 10 years. Later, when she is arrested for helping other artists and intellectuals escape France during the German occupation, it was Maillol who hired a lawyer and got her released. He then helped send her away to live with his friend Matisse to keep her from any further trouble. Well, now Vierny has opened a museum with Maillol's work. As it turns out, this art model had become an art dealer after being so encouraged by Matisse. In 1996, she opened and now runs Musee Maillol. You have to admit...this is a great story. I found it to be inspirational and was grateful for the lesson in history. I used the last line in her article as my above quote for the day.You can also check out another article in the NY Times on her entitled, "A Sculptor's Obsession, A Model's Devotion", written by Vicki Goldberg.

I thought I'd put up a few more images from my work with Erica. Sweet, huh? Enjoy.

Sarah Saved My Ass...

Alfread Stieglitz was once asked: "how does a photographer learn?" He answered without even a second’s hesitation: "By looking". - Alfred Stieglitz

I want you to stop for a second and just take a look at that face. Look into her eyes and take a deep breath. Maybe now, you can understand what it is to photograph Sarah. More on her in a minute. First, let me set the stage. For one of the best workshops I've put together, this was truly the most exhaustive one. When this one was finished, I could swear off any more of them forever, but I would imagine its kind of like that hangover after a hard night at the club. You make all kinds of promises to never do it again... til the next time.









This one was particularly gruesome simply because of the time constraints which put everything else in a bind. Initially, there was to be no December Art Nude Workshop at all. But then a few guys got together and said they wanted to do it. I polled the group and got several positive responses for participation. I knew this one would be challenging because it needed to be an indoor venue which costs more money. Along with paying the model, that can add up to a nice sum if you don't have enough participants to offset those expenses. I wanted this last, year end workshop to be a great one. Had I stuck to just keeping it simple, probably less headache. But if you don't know me by now, let me just say I am headache prone. I then made it more challenging by announcing an event date that was a little more than a week away. Nice, huh.

Well the first stress wave hit the shores of my brain when 4 days before the event, I've only got like 3 or 4 participants. I know that's not going to cut it. This is the day where I decide to cancel or go through with it. I choose to go for it. I also have yet to book a model and have no idea where my venue is. But lets secure a model first. The respondants to my casting call at this point are good, but not the glamorous look I am searching for. Normally glamor is not my thing, but I figure I'll give the group something different. I am scouring Model Mayhem looking for ideas. As I am browsing, I think about this one pretty face of a model that I remember seeing. I've never shot her before, but I know friends who have. If only she did nudes, I'd be gold. After another hour of searching, this pretty face comes back to mind. So I click over to her port. BAM! She's gorgeous...that much I already know. What surprised me was when I clicked on her port and saw her standing naked as a jaybird with one of the most elegant figures I've seen. Everything stops at this point. Am I getting melodramatic? Well, deal with it, cuz this is how it went down.

I'm blown away by what I am seeing, so I figure I'll at least ask. Its another day before she responds but while I am waiting, I notice her OMP Link and click on that as well. It was kind of like a shift in gears, or better yet, it was like a burst of nitrousoxide when you are already going 100mph. The girl is just fabulous and all I can think of now is that I hope she's available for Sunday and that her response is positive. Needless to say, it was. I am not editing some of her shots and aside from minor white balance corrections, I do not find myself desiring to enhance her in any way. Its really not necessary. Her natural self is as wonderful as any artificial enhancement be. This is clearly a case where less is more. If there is a mark on her, I am keeping it. In a sense, her imperfections are perfect.

But I still needed a venue and up til that point, I had planned on just renting a hotel room. I had recently done that with one model, but that was just one on one. Room for more than 3 photogs was just not there and it didn't allow for creative settings. After much deliberation, I settled on the Erotic Heritage Museum. The Art Director, Dr. Laura Henkel and I had been in talks before, but inadvertantly lost contact. By 10pm on Friday night, I had my venue. Well, get more into the EHM later in another post, but let me just say for the moment, the place will blow you away. It was an odd thing to do a photoshoot in this museum while patrons still wandered around. At times, they would come over to watch us shoot and at other times, they were surprised to see that she was not a manaquin! Two women jumped as they walked by suddenly noticing Sarah. Well anyway, we had a great time and everyone left with great images and smiles on their faces. Starting next month, I am sure to begin doing my figure drawing sessions again. See... headache prone.

On another note, I'd appreciate it if you all could go by to visit Chris St. James' blog to wish him well. He had to make another hospital visit and no one really knows the extent of it or how serious it may be. This was also a great weekend as it is always a pleasure to get to see my good friend Dave Rudin who was in town.

More on Melissa

"Photographers feel guilty that all they do for a living is press a button."

- Andy Warhol

Man, time sure flies when you are having fun... or just completely stressed out. I'm still upbeat and optimistic for the most part, but I royally screwed up this past Sunday when I overslept on a model I was due to interview and get some preliminary shots on. That was a first and I pray the last time that ever happens. I've been flaked on before by models time and time again, but I've never been the flaker. So my public apology to this model, whom I hope to introduce to you very soon.

For me, on that day, it was like the last straw and I cracked. I've pledged to make it up to the model of course and she's forgiven me. We're trying to reschedule right now. I ended up over at Felix's house getting full off of some more of his Thanksgiving turkey aaaaand then a whole bunch of Amaretto. Yeah, DiSoronno style. Needless to say headaches ensued throughout the night. I ended up leaving early that morning before Felix got up and missed out on Summer's pancakes. Damn! It was also the first time I slept through a Lord of the Rings movie. They put in Return of the King (at my instistance, mind you). I remember Smeagol trying to bait a hook. After that I woke up to Frodo hanging over a river of lava. So I missed the whole movie. At some point we're supposed to do a LOTR marathon.

I still need to recognize I need a break every now and again, but I also have to quit putting so much on myself. Sometimes its through volunteering or free projects, but I know I take on too much at times. One of the more important skills a person can learn is the ability to say "No". I've never really had to proactively employ that skill too much, so every now and again when it does become necessary, I'm caught off guard. Its kind of like I am out of practice on it. Dave Rudin and I recently talked and I advised him to take a day off, rent a boat load of movies, have a pizza place on speed dial, get naked and turn off the phone. Well, I just now threw in the naked part, but I should quite being so hypocritical and take my own advice.

Lets see, what else is going on...

My subscribership for this blog has doubled in the last two months. The same thing can be said of my website, TLNeasley.com. I'm guessing that is in large part to Chris St. James, who's done such a wonderful job of helping photogs gain some exposure. While the blog subscribership has doubled, the site visitors has stayed relatively the same. That's kind of an odd statistic since I know I've been getting more traffic to this blog, but Feedburner as a different way of calculating stats. I've been checking my statcounter and it just doesn't add up. Mystery. On my website, I'm seeing big traffic increases from the number of visitors and in terms of hits or the images they click on. Not long ago, I gave you the top 5 images that had relatively always stayed the same. Well, that's all shaken up now. Trisha still has the top spot, but everything else has been some of the newer models like Lorelei, Lessa, and Faerie. Elizabeth had 2 that rounded out the top 10 for November. Its been interesting to see these stats grow. I guess that's one of the main things a blogger lives for.

I would wager the only thing a blogger or artist with an online profile gets a kick out of more than watching stats grow is COMMENTS. I'm no different. I like the positive feedback on my images as much as the next guy, but you know who wants these comments even more than me...yep, you guessed it - THE MODELS! So if you like the work, leave something positive. Trust me, these models go to my site regularly and check to see if they've gotten ANY comments. Since most do it for free, its their only real validation that they've done something worth while. But the biggest reward is mine. The more you guys comment, the more they want to model for ME! Case in point, last month one particular photo of Lessa got about 200 hits...but no commentary. Oh and I guess FOLLOWING a blog is a good thing too. Google recommends promoting that by adding a word or two about it in a post to spread the word. I don't follow anyone yet, so I guess I had better get on that.

I think I'll start featuring one or two models for every post I do. So that will be something I am now adding on. Claudia from Museworthy is an excellent one to start with. She's an art model from the New England area and post regularly about her dealings. If you've ever wanted to get into the mind of an art model and see what this thing is like, you should skip right on over to her Museworthy blog. She spares no detail when she lays her mind out for the online community to review. She's writes so intelligently that you can use her material as a learning experience for yourself. I've talked to wanna-be art models before and have often sent them to Iris Dassault's site as to illustrate how a model should conduct herself. Well, let me add Claudia to that list. You'll gain a year's insight in a few days just by going to all of her past blog postings. You get to see the practical application of what a good model is, knows, and does.

And then I believe I will follow up again with ModelDonna from deviantART. Yes, I mentioned her in my last posting, but since then, we've conversed even more and I simply have to say the girl is fascinatingly worthy of mention a second time. I said before that she has that "it" thing, but let me add that she's got "it" plus some. She's photographed by her husband, Elric Doe who does a masteful job at capturing her in so many wonderful ways. She's added more material since the last posting. One of my favorite images is her "Waiting For...", done in low light. Its one thing to have such a superb model. Its something else entirely to be able to counterbalance and complement her with the perfect photographer. Well done, to the both of you.

I chose to go with more images of Melissa on this post. We'll talk more on her later as well. Still got more shooting to do, so be patient.

The Newest Muse

“I never refused when he wanted to take a picture,” said Eleanor Callahan, the 91-year-old widow of the photographer Harry Callahan. “I never complained, whatever I was doing. If he said: ‘Come quick, Eleanor — there’s a good light,’ I was right there." - New York Times "The Artist's Wife: A Constant Muse Who Never Said No"

Chris St. James has been gracious enough to feature me on his Universe d'Artistes blog a number of times now. However his latest post on me is a recreation of an interview we did a year ago. He's added to it using some of my own posts as well as dialog/commentary I've made on his own blog. Its truely remarkable to witness this man's imagination and I felt very honored to be worthy of his time, energy, and creativeness that produced his 21 November 08 posting of our interview. In fact, go ahead and click over to it now. I'll wait.....

Welcome back! So what did you think? The man's a genius, is he not?

In other news, I'm still working on wrapping up this year's final projects. I've got just a few more to go, but lots of edits. I was hoping to take advantage of the holiday season with some more freelance work, but I'm not sure if its going to work out as I may have liked. Four or five good projects would have been nice. So now I have goals for next year. For the time being, I stick with my endeavors to shoot more subjects other than nudes, retool my business persona, and manage my workflow and activities better. At the same time, I've desired to try to take some time to relax a bit. You know... SLEEP! I think it was last week or the week before whereby I was averaging 3 hours of sleep a day and for the longest, I hadn't even slept in my own bed. Much of my rest time came with my head down on my keyboard or my neck cracked over sideways as I slouched over in my computer chair. Crazy, I know. Well, I'm trying to make a concerted effort to do much better at prioritizing sleep IN a bed, for more than 5 hours at a time. If I can get at least 5 hours in the bed a day, that'll be sweet and I have been doing better at it. There have even been 2 days this past week where I slept 9 hours...straight!

The images you see here are of my latest muse. I've worked with Lessa, Lissa, and now Melissa. She was referred to me by Faerie and even though it took a while to actually meet, I am so glad we did. I shot her last week sometime and the experience was marvelous. I made reference to her in the last posting about being a homie from Texas. She's the one who we share the experience of both having our first jobs being at Braum's Ice Cream. Grandy's is another place we discussed missing so much. They've got some of the best fried chicken for when momma ain't making it at the time. I tell you this girl is full of energy and imagination. I am sooo glad I got to finally meet her. It was one of those things were we just hit it off right as I stepped into the door. We didn't get to go through all my normal interviews and such. In most cases, I have to insist on at least some of my basic protocols. In this case, we had a mutual trusted friend, so I knew she was cool and she also works as an art model, thereby I know she's already comfortable with being nude. Basically everything else I needed to know we covered via email and we just made it happen. The woman is a great in conversation and so darned intuitive. We'll be doing this again.

I hope everyone has a Happy Thanksgiving. Please take it easy, relax with family and friends, and make this a safe holiday. Also enjoy these featured artist links. Both of these are models I have been in dialogs with from deviantArt. The first is ModelDonna. There are some models who simply have that "it", and Donna is definitely one of them. I made a comment that she's someone I could probably photography exclusively. I think I could make a career off this girl alone. And then there is AlexB244. I've just started a series of work on the mature woman. Alex has that grace and beauty that is evidence the art model can go on beyond the limits of time. The supermodel has a shelf life of 5 to 7 years. Not many are able to make it beyond 10. The art model is different. She can go on as long as she desires. I wish it were a truism that the art model is the ideal woman by whom young girls measured themselves against. And when you look at Alex, you know for sure that your real beauty is to the core. Photoshop is only a layer deep.

Happy 1000 To Chris St. James

"Dear artists, I'm wide open to all new ideas, creative and technical help ! Because I'm nothing without you, all together "yes we can" make something better, bigger and never seen before...My wish for this so particular moment is that for a better promotion of your work, and to keep the Art alive, you backlink this site. It would be such a nice gift !"

- Chris St. James, Universe d'Artistes

You can mark November 7th down as a special historic day. Chris St. James, Blogger-in-Chief at Universe d'Artistes, has just posted his ONE THOUSANDTH article! That's a thousand different issues, subjects, and bits of information that he has brought to us in the form of interviews, exhibitions, features, book and web reviews, and general information concerning photography centered around the artistic nude genre. You've seen me comment about him several times on this blog. For a while, he had to take a leave of absence from his charge to us, in order to tend to matters of his own health. His will to survive and then come back to us full-force is just a testament to how much this man lives to give. A lesser person would have resolved to a life of self-pity and depression. Chris chose to overcome and become more. Click on his link and scroll down to the Nov 7th post.

This is my message to him in honor of that celebration:

"What Cal Ripken, Jr. is to baseball.... What Brett Favre is to Football... Chris St. James is to photographic art nudes. I am glad and indeed honored to be able to call him my friend, despite the fact that we have never met.Over the last year, Chris has been invaluable to my growth as a photographer and as a writer. My blog would not be what it is today without his tuteledge and guidance.I am very thankful that he is an overcomer, a super-achiever, a survivor, and most notably a man full of genuine love which he bestows upon us on an almost daily basis.His prolific blog has helped countless photographers emerge from the dark confines of obscurity into the light of exposure and visibility.This is a very dedicated and committed man. I love him for it. One of these days we'll meet, I'm sure. I am looking forward to it. Chris, thanks for being so strong and perservering for us! Your eternal Friend, Terrell"

On another note, this was also a pretty exciting weekend for me as well. As I have mentioned, I've pledged to concentrate on a few other things, rather than just the nude. Again, I am not giving up nude photography...I am just going to do some other things for a bit. In fact, Trixie is coming over this afternoon for some work and I have a few other projects that were already planned that I still need to follow through with. This weekend, I got to try my hand at some NHRA races at the Las Vegas Motor Speedway. Talk about AWESOME!! This was something new to me. I'd never shot race cars before and I quickly learned there's more to it than shooting the nude. As with any subject, it requires its own perspective. I was instructed by the chief NHRA photographer that I'd have to shoot this pretty much like a portrait. I added a few things to that. I quickly learned that I needed to shoot from a lower perspective. Also an extreme wide-angle lens served very well...two things you don't necessarily do in portraiture work.

So right now, I'll post these images for you to enjoy and will speak more on how this all came about later. I gotta get ready for Trix.

Tunick and Uelsmann

"My creative process begins when I get out with the camera and interact with the world. A camera is truly a license to explore. There are no uninteresting things. There are just uninterested people."

- Jerry Uelsmann

"All eyes can see 'how a country can be free and treat the naked body as art. Not as pornography or as a crime, but with happiness and caring.” - Spencer Tunick

Today, I am going to cover some of my inspirations. I've recently posted about Iris Dassault, Dave Rudin, and Chris St. James, who by the way, just posted a piece on me for Univers d'Artistes that made me all bashful inside. So those guys, notwithstanding, I wanted to also post on some of my original inspirations that had a lot to do with me doing photo work and artistic nudes, in specific.


As far back as I can recollect, I've had a fascination with the female form. It wasn't until my military tour in Germany, however, that I was freed from the mindset which prevented me from separating the idea or concept of the nude with the notion that sex had to be implied. This then brought on a new and more liberating appreciation for the female nude, unencumbered by the notion of lust. Next came the introduction of Spencer Tunick, via his HBO special, "Naked States". He is best known for his installations of using thousands of nudes in a single photographic work. Prior to this, I had no creative outlet for my appreciation of the nude because everything that I saw that depicted the nude form was either in a museum or associated with the adult industry in some fashion. Photographic artistic nudes just did not exist to me before Spencer Tunick, who followed the original HBO special with his next one, "Naked World". I admired his sense of dedication to his artwork at the risk of his own freedom. There was one point where the cops in NY were waiting on him to release the shutter on a nude model. He gave quick instruction to his assistants on what to do while he was away in jail, took the shot, and was immediately hauled off. Good thing he had a good attorney.



That was my outlet. I wanted to see more. Who else could be doing this? The answer to that question brought me to Edward Weston. There is not another photog that I identified with more than Weston, but I have already given him several mentions on this blog. You can do a search on his name in the search box for this blog. This allows me to get to my next inspiration, Jerry Uelsmann. If Spencer was responsible for my interest, Uelsmann was responsible for my commitment to it. I shoot digital now, but I was a film purist up til right at a year ago. I was seeking my place in film and wondering what was the next step. I wanted to see something different and I wanted to do something different, but I thought I had already reached the limits of what could be done in film.

"For me to walk around the block where I live could take 5 minutes. But when I have a camera, it could take five hours." - Jerry Uelsmann

Over one Christmas break, a few years ago. I studied photography day in and day out, particularly darkroom explorations. It was while I was looking through an interesting photo book of digital artwork in the library that my commitment to photography solidified. Paging through the book, I saw interesting photos, but I knew that digital manipulation did not appeal to me. I felt the creative process was somewhat diminished with the addition of computer-based filters and processes. The thought crossed my mind that if there was a way to do this with film, that would be totally magical. As I lifted the book to return it to its proper place on the shelf, the word "darkroom" on the back cover caught my eye. I retrieved the book once more to peruse the book's back cover summary and to my utter amazement, read that all these images were done using ONLY darkroom manipulations through mulit-negative exposures! The creator...Jerry Uelsmann. I couldn't breathe, I tell you. When I began to see what was actually possible IN the darkroom, IN film, IN photography, I knew that my creative outlet could be boundless. I was released to explore again. At that moment, photography became more than a hobby or a past time. It was my thing.

"I just create shapes and forms with human bodies. Its an abstraction, its a performance, its an installation." - Spencer Tunick

Jerry Uelsmann would utilize more than 8 enlargers each set with adifferent masked negative while moving the paper around to each enlarger and only exposing a portion of the paper to that particular negative. Those of you familiar with darkroom prints know how challenging it can be with one negative to obtain a good test exposure and working print before even beginning to create the final print. I found this page with a kind of video clip on how he actually creates a masterpiece with his unique process. Just click on the IN THE DARKROOM tab when you open the page. You can check out books by him via this Amazon Link.


These images are of my original attempt at multi-negative exposures and I only used TWO enlargers, combining the image of Katie taken in a studio against a black background, and landscape images taken while scouting weeks before. Take my word for it when I say creating these images were exasperating...but exhilarating!