Introducing Briana!

"I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they now do." - Will Rogers

Since the last time I posted, I know there were several things I wanted to mention. Wisdom would recommend writing these things down or at the very least, start posts sooner. I can remember not a one of the points I wanted to bring up. So let me just talk about some new things then.

One, I'm starting to see several people start to ditch deviantArt. Several of my own mentors have either taken off their nude work or just deleted their galleries entirely. Much of its been because of dA's lack of responsibility of protecting artist's work, (or at least not encouraging theft), and then also in protecting the artsists personally. One mentor of mine experienced malicious racist attacks that went on unchecked for far too long. What's dA's stance? I really don't have a clue. The finally banned the guy, but why not act more decisively or even take preventative measures that either strongly discourages or keeps these sort of things from happening in the first place. In any case, I may have to abandon the site myself, if for no other reason than the principle of the matter. If they can't treat my friends with some respect, then why should I hang around.

I'm still looking to reinvent my Las Vegas Art Models Group. My 1st figure drawing session had a good turnout, but this past Thursday's did not. I've had to postpone my next Art Nude Photo Workshop for a few weeks, also for poor sign-ups. I want to stick to my original reasons for founding the group, but its not easy. Competition has become fairly stiff. But if there's one thing I learned in school on that, is that you can't go hating on the competition...at least as long as they are being fair. I was listening to KNPR about Jerome Boykin who graduated college and started his own business cleaning parking lots of major retailers. I laughed when he recounted a story of making enemies. Once, a competitor whom he was a replacement for dump a load of strash in a parking lot he was responsible for. Another time, somebody killed the battery on his sweeper truck. The fact of the matter is Jerome provided a service that was more desired than his previous competitors had done and word of mouth got him more contracts. So, provide a better workshop is what I must do. For me, the trick is to get ahead on my day job. I've been getting pounded here lately and it taking up time that I would normally be devoting to my own business endeavors.

I had a nice little back and forth on Model Mayhem with model Nettie R. Harris. Sweet girl. She's another one on my list of "Got to Work With" models. Very insightful, and a pleasure to talk to...you kind of get a sense of what kind of person she is, just by the way she writes. At least, I do anyway. I'm usually not far off on the feeling I get about a person when I read them. That's not to say, I will know everything about them or whether or not they are a Crest or Colgate person. I can just tell if I'm going to like them. And her, I like. She's a prolific model who gets around the country as a traveling art model. You already know my affinity towards art models, but I have more of a curiosity slash adoration for those who make it their livelihood and travels the country to do it. I mean, come on...imagine the life. You can also check out her blog, Rhythm Before Unknown.

Nettie has unique features that I think lend well to a high degree of versitility or maybe a dynamic range of possibilities. Despite her age, she has a very adult face for portraiture. She can easily range between early to late 20's depending on her makeup. Granted, anybody can apply enough makeup to look any age, but Nettie won't require much and still keep a natural look. I've seen her do that best with her Glamour or Fashion images, yet she can just as easily flip the script and become the lithe, hippie-chick, which I prefer most. She can give you flamboyant or simple. Sexy and classic or playful and awkward. Either way the girl's got range. She's been shot by the best and golly-good-jeepers, I want my shot.

Well, the model you see posted here is Briana. I shot her the same night as I did Keisha and what a great showing it turned out to be. I didn't get as many shots of her, (since it was almost 3 in the morning by then), so she's coming back for more. For now, enjoy these.

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On Patience, plus some on deviantART

Lots been going on... busy, busy, busy. But that's a good thing. Its all photo related and all I can see are opportunities. I'm doing a wedding in Texas in a just over a week. I have, work to edit on soon to be 3 models, and my second art nude workshop is this Sunday afternoon. Also, I am working a side project that's got me beating the streets and cranking out calls, but its all part of the vision of a new friend, whom I'd like to help realize a successful outcome. I like where I am right now in photo. I was getting ready to release a self-published book and a calendar last fall, but I decided to slow down for a while. Don't enter any contests, don't publish anything ... just concentrate on getting better. Keep shooting. Keep the blog going. Make contacts. Let things develop. So that's what I've been trying to do. Just be patient and keep grinding away and things will unfold or you. Keep doing what you love and do it right. At least that's what I keep telling myself. I am not a very patient person with regard to some things, I will admit. I want to continue to develop myself and my art, grow my Las Vegas Art Model's Group, keep rolling with my blog, and just be patient. Take a deep breath with me... and let it out... One more time...

Actually, I do have something that bothering me like a stickerbugs (spurweeds or sticker weeds) in your drawers. If you're from the South, you know what that feels like. I've talked about Model Mayhem recently, so let me also give some time to deviantART. In whole, I like it. In part, I could live without a few things, two in particular. One, I'd like to see a block, screen, or filter made available to artists to keep their images from being faved, (and maybe even viewed) by people who lurk like scavenging bottom dwellers in other people's profiles, and have no gallery of their own. Sure, I know everyone is not an artists. Some are just art appreciators, but I have run into several questionables lately who fave my images that I have a difficult time saying thanks to when I check them out.

Second, I wish the moderators did a better job of screening what goes into the art nudes section. Now, I know they cruise through and dump some of your images into your scrap folder, but the other day, I was perusing through the latest additions and became quite annoyed at all the images of guys holding their peniises in their hands. One that really got me was a close-up image of a male buttt-holle. Is that really necessary? Can't we have SOME standards here? There were several more posted by the same individual sharing several intimate perspectives of the underside of his skrotum and I have a difficult time seeing this as anything resembling art. (Yes, I intentionally misspelled a few words to ward off evil spy-botts.)

Now let me also confess to my possible hypocrisy. I have had to defend some of my images that portray female genitalia with the pretext that its part of the body, just like anything else. I shoot the whole nude, and refuse to be stifled by taboos, opinions, and the such. I defend it as a beautiful part of the female body just like any other and if I shoot a nude who happens to have her nethers in view then just enjoy the composition or don't. Well, can the guy who posts his nads pose the same argument? Am I just biased towards women? Well, hell yeah...I know I am. I shoot what I love and it is the female form, not the male form, which appeals to me with great veracity. I just wish I could look at decent art nudes without the non-artistic elements added into this section. I don't mind mail nudes. I've done ma-ol nudes, myself as a mayle artt model. Dilemmas, dilemmas...