I Shoot People

In recent weeks I’ve been thinking about serious things and it’s time to get back to the “work.”

One Light, One Woman

I’m still looking for just the right model….. somehow the spine doesn’t do quite what I was hoping for, but that’s the joy of photography, working with what is, not just with your imagination.

What makes a form male or female?

How do you portray that without being explicit?

Friendship cannot be compelled.  We all spend time with people we enjoy being around.  Take away the reward of enjoyable companionship and there’s less and less reason to spend time with someone.

But those who lie to themselves create special problems for anyone who wants to befriend with them.

Beauty is not the sole domain of the young. So much of beauty is perception; not perception only but intent.  It’s easy to find beautiful features whether the model is young, or in her 50′s — it’s all about what you are looking for.

The evolution of a woman’s sense of self will stand forever as one of the least understood subjects on earth by men.  I’m not different.

However, in a role where women are willing to appear without clothes in front of me, an absolute stranger, a woman’s sense of self takes on huge importance to me.

A popular view of middle-aged beauty is that it’s all about the skin:  about how you look, about the image you present, about how you are perceived.  Too often that is correlated to beauty treatments and plastic surgery.

But I shoot my models without makeup artists.  I shoot women from 18 through their 60′s and I have to tell you that attitude about one’s self and her place in the world has more to do with how a woman sees herself and how others see her than many other factors.

It’s easy to understand that a strange woman would be nervous about taking off her clothes — but how do I get so many smiles, such full body laughter,  so many pensive and reflective expressions?  Simply by letting the model be herself.

It was hard for a good friend to show the world the ravages of her cancer.  But just like this one friend, we all carry around scars — it’s just that some scars are more easily seen, and others cause more violent reactions to those around us.

Diseases can be cured; but the callous attitudes we sometimes entertain are a more deadly curse on our lives than any disease could ever be.

Part of my series on the human form as dune.  We wander along the beach and fail to see the similarities between disparate things that share the same form.

But while working on this one for some reason I remembered the roadside signs found along the highway preceding steep hills.

Trucks Use Lower Gear