Weird

As I struggle to refine my style, what bothers me the most is that I don't think I'm mainstream, nor do I want to be. But I also don't think I'm weird enough to be considered cool and weird. I think people just look at my work and wrinkle up their brow and go, "humpf." Very few people "get me," but I think that may because I don't always "get me." I mean I don't know what, if anything, I'm trying to say. There's no deep, underlying message in my photos, and if there is, I don't know what it is. I just like to make unusual things and make people wear them. Can art be as simple as that? Should there be more to it?

I don't know.

Tourist Season

A model from California came to shoot with me. He's never been to DC before so I felt compelled to take him to all the monuments. Having been around DC time and time again, I get tired of photographing the monuments. So here's my shot from the day. It tells you a different story about tourists, I think. I have to admit, I was surprised to see so many apple cores, I thought tourists were much more unhealthy than that.

What to Shoot Next?

I strained my back last weekend (lugging photo equipment around, of course). It requires me to take super hots baths for 20 minutes at a time. I'm lying there trying to think of what to shoot next and, well, you see what I came up with.

Nothing like lying in your tub, trying to relax and then jumping up and getting your camera. Sometimes I think photographer's brains are wired a little differently. Always framing a shot, looking at lighting, figuring out what is the lowest ISO that will work in a location.

For those who care, I shot it with ambient light only, ISO 4000, F4, 1/50 sec. My bathroom is really dark and really tiny.

Wilson Bridge Shoot

I went walking across the Wilson Bridge today. I thought it would be a good place to test out my new tilt and shift lens. Well, I still need some practice with the tilt and shift lens, but I do like this image, shot from under the bridge. No tilt or shift used.

Here's one of my car on the road below. That has full on tilt, but it's not quite right. But it was a good day for a walk and I did need the practice.

More Perfect As Is

I've gotten a lot of interest in my Perfect As Is series. Today, I had two photographers come to get their picture taken. It surprised me that photographer's would be interested in modeling for this series. I'm honored. First, I'm honored they think it's art. Second, I'm honored they think I'm good enough to represent them as they are. I hope I did them justice.

Perfect As Is

I am going to start taking a different kind of portrait. One that's more natural. This is me with the tiniest amount of makeup thrown on. All my wrinkles and spots are there, every single one. And when you look at this portrait large, I swear you can see small families living in my pores.

But it's me. It's what I look like almost every day. I have some crazy furrowed brow, my lips are downturned making me look pissed off all the time, my eyebrows go every which way, and I have speckled eyes that stare intently trying to figure it all out.

I spend so much time editing out the "flaws" of everybody when I take portraits that I make them unreal. It's the fairy tale version of people. And right now, I'm tired of the fairy tale. I want to see the reality. I want the reality to be good enough - better than good enough, perfect as is.

New Ring Flash

I broke down and bought a ring flash. I'm not sure what possessed me to do it, but I did.

I had fun playing around with it. It's a bit heavy. I complain about a heavy lens, imagine adding a whole light to the weight of your camera! I'll probably overuse it for a while. It is fun.

My self portrait was taken with extension tubes and a ring flash. All my new toys.

The portrait of Jen is a more typical ring flash portrait. I overexposed a bit, but I like that look better than the correctly exposed shots. I like to blow out skin. Maybe because it's easier than processing out all the flaws! I don't really know, I just seem to like that look.