Institutional bigotry just got personal.

Griffin - 072512

I am pretty torn up over the news that a friend (and a model I've photographed) was fired from being a Boy Scout camp counselor for being gay.   I do not have the full story and have not talked with Griffin about the ordeal, so I wont comment on the specifics of the incident.  His firing (and that 10 of his colleagues quit in protest) though made it into the Sacramento Bee newspaper.  Here is a link to that article. 

Hey Griffin - Good luck in your struggle. 

New stuff

Jacqui - 111311

Last Sunday I drove down to the central coast to visit my photography/model friends Jacqui and Griffin.  It was great to see and work with them again.  I photographed Jacqui for my Borders diptych series I am almost finished with.  I will post that series and write about it at a future time.

Jacqui - 111311

You may remember Jacqui from some photos I took of her in my truck.  I knew I wanted to work with her again.

The photo up top is one of my first shots with Jacqui from this session.  We warmed up with some simple nudes and then worked hard going for the stuff I needed for my project.

After the nude work, I made some portraits of Griffin and Jacqui for my photographer portrait series.  I will share those later as well.

Thanks to Jacqui and Griffin.  You two continue to inspire and push me on.

Jacqui - 111311

Put a nude on it.

Porcelain Figurine - 050111

I recently saw an episode of the IFC sketch show Portlandia.  One sketch is based on those cheesy decoration/arts and crafts shows (think of low budget Martha Stewart) where the two main characters paint birds on everything to spruce them up (at bottom).  I laughed at it so hard and started thinking of photography.  After perusing a few websites, I found I could switch out the "bird" for nude.  Put a nude on it.

I've read articles about the nude photo cliches (gas masks, railroad tracks, hand bras, angel wings, etc.) and thought more about where the nude model was photographed than what she was wearing or doing.  Put a nude on it.

There is a rock - put a nude on it.  Hey, is that a railroad track - put a nude on it.  OOOOO, a crashing wave, put a nude on it.  You get my point.

I am not disparaging all scenic nude art, just much of the copycat/uninspired versions of it.  Why did you put a nude there?  (Even that questions is a clue to the answer.)  It all depends on the intent of the artist.  Is the nude an integral element of the photo, or did you just put a nude on it?

My photographer friend Griffin both models and photographs nudes in urban/suburban settings outside of churches, police stations, etc.  He creates his "guerrilla" nudes to make a statement about sexuality and transgressing the social norms of public/religious institutions of the politically conservative California town he lives in.  His nudes are an integral part of the photo.  Both the nude and the other elements need each other to complete the image and the series.  He isn't simply putting a nude on it.

Going to the other extreme of put a nude on it is the cultural icon of the little silver lady on the mud flap.  I am sure you have passed an 18 wheeler with these little ladies on them.  There really is no significance or purpose for putting the anatomically impossible lady on the mud flap.   She is little more than decoration.  It is this intent of using a nude as decoration then that separates an artistic nude from put a nude on it.

I was going to use a few of my own photos to illustrate my point.  I am guilty of having put a nude on it, but I am not going to show those for two reasons.  First, I respect the models too much to put one of those up.  Second, those images were all parts of sessions that yielded good stuff and I redacted them from the final group for that reason, they were weak photos.  As a photographer, I need to continually strive to show my best work, not just the kind-of good stuff.

Some recent work.

Jacqui - 032611

Jacqui - 032611

I've recently been working with two photographer/models from the college I am talking courses from.  Jacqui and Griffin are two amazing artists/photographers/models.  Both have done a lot of great work in front of and behind the camera, as well as in other media.  G and J are close friends, I would even say artistic soul mates.  Griffin and Jacqui are fine art figure models as well as conceptual models.  For these sessions, I wanted to build my conceptual theme I am create a portfolio on. 

Jacqui - 032611

A few weeks ago, Jacqui and I headed out to the windmill farms near Collinsville, CA.  We took my old pickup as a prop and went shooting.  It was a cool, sunny day.  The hills were lush and green,which didn't matter much since I was going to convert our work into black and white.  We got some great gold out of our work. 

Jacqui - 032611

 

Griffin - 032611

The Sunday after working with Jacqui, I worked with Griffin.  We shot around the college campus.  It was pouring rain, so lighting was both a blessing and a challenge.  The heavy cloud cover gave a beautiful even light, the rain made it hard to set up auxiliary lighting.   As you can see, we got great gold as well.

Griffin - 032611

Griffin has a Model Mayhem site for his modeling and a great website of his own, Griffinly.com.  Jacqui is building a website and I will put a link to it as soon as it is published.  You can see some of their collaborative work at Griffin's website.  Check out their work in the Vacaville and the Injected Sculpture and the Guerrilla Nudes series.

Griffin - 032611

Thanks to both models.  They delivered in ways beyond I could have wished or planned.  They were magic.

You will see more about them in future posts.    You can click on any of the photos for a larger view.

Griffin - 032611