ed's adventures with ether

Nekole and Mayer

2011-02-09T10:37:00.000-08:00

When this plate did its magical-moment thing, turning from negative to positive, when dipped in the potassium cyanide bath, all three of us gasped "WOW", as if on cue. It was such a great moment. And, while many shoots are somewhat laborious in terms of trying to perfect a particular idea, this one came out beautifully on the first crack. A few more notes about this plate....

We were in a public space, just underneath the Bay Bridge in San Francisco. The fog kept rolling back-n-forth, putting the bridge in-and-out of the picture, as if God herself was just not sure whether the picture looked better with the bridge in the background, or without. In this plate, she chose without. I kinda liked it in, but one doesn't argue with mother nature.

Most readers of this blog will know that I'm a big fan of naked women, and a particularly huge fan of Nekole in her birthday suit. But we were in a public place, and I wasn't going to propose to her that we do anything too revealing. (Plus it was cold!) So imagine my pleasant surprise when she volunteered, "Can we do one with me naked on the back?" Me: "Uhhh ... OF COURSE we can!!!" And this shot came out next. Mayer rocked it too, with a perfect pose. The other plate that really stood out from the nice collection we made that day was this one....

The technical notes are pretty simple -- Dallmeyer 3B, stopped down to f8, at one second (there was a very surprising amount of available light!). But I owe a big thanks to Mayer for helping throughout the day with set-up and clean-up and transporting the gear and bike around. It was truly an all-day effort. Thanks Mayer!

Aja

2011-02-08T08:02:00.000-08:00

What a great session this was. After each plate, one or the other of us reacted with, "Now this one is my favorite!" I love when that happens. I used my Ross 12-inch f3.5, dating from about 1870. Gorgeous lens. The small spots you may see on the third plate are the tell-tale signs of using collodion from near the bottom of the jar -- technically imperfect, but I kinda like the insta-tarnish effect. Thanks for looking.

Yosemite

2010-11-06T09:17:00.000-07:00

For wet plate photographers, at least in the US, there are really two high points in the history of the craft: Matthew Brady's civil war images and Carleton Watkins' Yosemite images. Living not too far from Yosemite, I decided to give it a try. Of course, one can never walk in the footsteps of the great Watkins. Watkins and his assistants traveled by a wagon pulled by 12 mules, over what must have been very rudimentary wagon trails. In the wagon he carried his 18x22-inch camera, glass plates, portable (tent) darkroom, and chemical and food supplies to last weeks. My trip consisted of my Toyota FJ Cruiser, pulled by its reliable V6 motor, carrying me and my 8x10-inch camera, dark box, and chemical supplies over paved roads. And I ate and slept at Curry Village in the valley (mmm... pizza!).

Anyway, it was a rewarding trip for me. Here are a few of the plates I took.

Noel

2010-10-23T19:02:00.000-07:00

A gem of a man, my friend....

This was taken with a Ross Cabinet No. 3 (petzval lens, designed for whole plate). This Ross lens is new to me. And it is a beauty! It feels like a small canon. Very heavy brass. Did I mention the perfect glass? Perfect brass? Like just off the shop floor. 12--inch focal length, with f3.5 aperture. I guess most people don't get excited about lenses. I do. This thing is beautiful. And it dates from .... 1882! I just bought another Ross (1874!!) for my planned trip to Yosemite. More on that later. Anyway, I love this shot of Noel. I hope you too like it....

Discovering Josephine Baker...

2010-08-08T21:24:00.000-07:00

...Cwen made this banana skirt!!!
.
.
.
.

.
.
.
And I love this one -- Hemingway meets JB!
.
.
.
.

.
.
.

.

Nikki

2010-08-02T13:01:00.000-07:00

I've become friends with Alex LaMarsh. In addition to being a delightful person, she is a professional hair stylist and make-up artist. This past Sunday, she came over with her colleague-stylist, Heather Sansky. We'd invited the lovely Nekole Kemelle over for a shoot. I've shot with Nikki a couples of times previously, and she is a pro with the stunning good looks and work ethic to prove it. Anyway, we had a very good day. Here's just a couple of the large crop of good results....

Rachel Abby

2010-07-25T18:57:00.000-07:00

Because wet plate was invented in the early 1840s and came into the mainstream later that decade (overcome in large part in the 1870s by dry plate), it seems that in America at least the process will always be associated with the Civil War, as soldiers got tintype portraits of themselves and photographers made ambrotypes of some of the battle locations. I'm not aware of any "pin-up" type plates that may have been made, but had they been made I'd like to think they may have looked something like this...

Rock n Roll, aka Robert

2010-07-24T15:27:00.000-07:00

I was sitting in my house, thumbing through old albums, when I came across a live Doors record that I bought used a while back for a buck. I wasn't sure I'd ever played it before, so on it went OMG, the "break on through" track was awesome! WAY better than the sanitized radio version. This was Jim Morrison yelling wacky weird shit in the mic. Like jump outa the stuffy chair, pump the Krell, and hop around the room with the dogs looking at you funny, kind of awesome. Wow. It brought me back. For some reason, it reminded me of sitting on the garage floor getting good-n-drunk with my buddy Robert, listening to a little piece-o-junk boom box, smoking camel lights, seriously rocking out, and ogling our motorbikes talking about where we'd take `em tomorrow. So, here is a picture of Robert, in honor of that good memory. While not a particularly "handsome" shot of the man (who looks a lot more like Daniel Craig, in his better moments) you'll note that he looks good-n-healthy here. That's because he was smart enough to cut the booze and start endurance training. So, he runs 100 milers, while I run 3 milers! Oh well. At least we still ride motorbikes together! He's a good man, and one of my best mates....

Marina

2010-07-21T10:37:00.000-07:00

Here is a close-up of Marina that I really like. The eyes came out beautifully, as did the slightly down-turned head, with fall-off of focus. Also, the overall gradation of dark-to-light, top-to-bottom, gives it a nice dramatic effect. This is a full plate. I'm finding that the full-plate dimension, 8.5 x 6.5 inches, is a nice size with which to work (trying not to dangle my prepositions, Mom!) and also to view in-person. The slightly smaller 5x7, being a bit taller in dimensional size, is also nice. Anyway...

Mylen

2010-07-16T07:07:00.000-07:00

I've had the good fortune to have two photo sessions with Ms. Mylen, and you can likely appreciate why I'm much looking forward to the third.

Yankee Pin-Up

2010-05-06T13:52:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Amy and I headed out to Pt. Reyes to make some plates. I found an old barn and we started pouring away. I think the old barn gives a nice background. And with the torn lace top, it just seemed right to put the Union hat on her! We got a few good plates in ... before Johnny Law showed up and chased us off. Oh well. It was a beautiful day, finished with bbq'd oysters and cold beer at the coast.

Samiha

2010-05-02T10:58:00.000-07:00

May 1st is World Wet Plate Day, in honor of Frederick Scott Archer who invented the wet plate process in 1848. Why May 1st -- Archer died on May 1, 1857. He was buried in an unmarked grave in his local cemetery in England. Some fellow colllodionistas raised some money to buy him a tombstone, which they set just yesterday during a ceremony. On this day, collodionistas around the world shoot in Archer's honor and post-up their plates here:

http://www.wetplateday.org/index.php

On this celebrated day I had the great opportunity to shoot with Samiha, who has such gorgeous features that I suspect a monkey could get some pretty good plates shooting with her. In any event, the following is the one I liked best.

I note that this plate shows very well the attributes of the curved-field petzval-design lens. As you'll see, her eye is very sharp, but not much else in the picture is. Indeed, toward the bottom of the image the background almost melts into her skin, nearing the periphery of the curved field where the spherical aberration is strong. At f3, and a long-focal length lens (10 inches?), the depth of focus is very short indeed, probably not much more than an inch. This was a 14 second exposure taken on the side of my house. I used a small plastic pill jar to try and hold her head steady, and it appears to have worked. Also, there was a slight breeze, so the gray cloth in the background was moving a small bit, as was her hair, all of which I think adds to the softness of the background, drawing the viewer's attention to the detail of the eye. I love it! Thanks for looking.

Meghan

2010-03-11T07:36:00.000-08:00

Meghan and her hair. We went to Point Reyes for this shoot. It was a lovely day. Six pack of beer, bottle of collodion, and a stack of plates.

Miss Managua, take 2

2010-02-16T20:37:00.000-08:00

You may recall the Angel de Managua.....

At the lake...

2010-02-01T08:08:00.000-08:00

...well, reservoir to be exact. But lake sounds nicer to me - more natural. Anyway, here are a few shots I took with Nikki (the knife). She was a super trooper and even got in the water repeatedly! I really like shooting in nature, but it is hard to find spots that aren't "private property -- no tresspassing" and that are relatively private and that aren't too far from the vehicle (all the gear is heavier than you might think). Anyway, this spot at Nicasio Reservoir fit the bill. SF photographer Julia Comita came along to learn a bit about the process and she was very helpful throughout the day. Thanks for looking.

Golden Gate Bridge

2010-01-23T16:12:00.000-08:00

It has been far too long since last I shot. With a break in the rain, I loaded the gear and headed toward the iconic shot of SF through the Golden Gate. The plate below wasn't the cleanest of the day, but I liked the mood of it the best. Shooting among tourists was kinda fun -- no shortage of people with whom to explain what I was doing. And I realized that when (not if) I lose my job, I'm going to head here to sell some plates! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one....

V Revisited

2009-12-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

This is my second shoot with Ms. V. She is such a delight to work with and has such a unique look, that I couldn't pass up the opportunity when it knocked.

As we're entering the low cycle of UV light, otherwise known as winter, the exposures and development times are getting corresponding longer.

View Camera spread

2009-11-23T17:37:00.000-08:00

I'm happy to report that View Camera magazine published some of my pictures and an essay, in its Sept/Oct 2009 issue. It's still a bit of an ego stroke to see them in print! And I hope the essay is helpful to at least one soul out there thinking about jumping into the ether world....

Meghan's Hair

2009-11-23T09:20:00.000-08:00

Hair. It is not often that I find the pinnacle of a woman's attractiveness to be her hair. But it happens. And it happened in spades with Meghan. I think I've come a step closer to understanding the force that Jane Morris had over each of the greats, William Morris and Dante Gabriel Rossetti.

Here is my hommage to Meghan and her hair....

From the Archives, II

2009-11-14T13:42:00.000-08:00

Well, it is a rainy late afternoon in Wilmington, Delaware. And there isn't much to do here besides visit the Delaware Art Museum, which has a wonderful collection (the largest outside Britain) of Pre-Rafaelite Brotherhood paintings. It is a superb collection of one of my favorite genres. Other than that.... not much to report from the corporate state. So, badly missing my either fix, I return to the archives.

I've tried about five times now to shoot away from my home and its (well-lit, fairly spacious) darkroom. The difficulties with wet plate mount, I might add, when shooting "in the field." The portable darkroom is great in concept, but in practice it is a MUCH more cramped environment in which to work, ventilation is horrible, the wind can be a real annoyance and problem, and it takes a good bit of effort to pack it all into the car, unpack/set-up, shoot, pack back into the car, then unpack back into the house. Which doesn't mean it isn't fun, just that it is a lot of work.

But sometimes it is great to get out and try shooting in new environments. With this model, we went to the local park in my town. Fortunately, this park is not well travelled during the week, and it has some very remote spots, off the beaten paths. And, my model was absolutely fine with being naked in public! She's from Italy, and is a real charmer with her accent and enchanting demeanor. Fortunately, only a couple people came within 100 yards of us over the course of the day, and we had absolutely no issues -- it worked great.

I had noticed a wall of ivy, and thought it would make a nice backdrop for some shots. I like this first shot -- it is a bit of a mash-up between Julia Margaret Cameron and Madonna. The last shot was a "mistake" for a number of reasons, including leaving it in the cyanide too long, the effect of which is that the cyanide starts to dissolve away the image, which you can see starting to happen at the lower left. But when I got home and scanned it, I liked it! Also, I'm throwing in the third shot because it shows well the effect of the "petzval" swirly lens signature. I don't get much swirl in most of my images because I usually use a backdrop that is pretty close to the model (in my small home "studio"). But with an expansive background, especially of plants, the swirl is readily apparent.

Yahudi

2009-11-03T20:03:00.000-08:00

This gal is the last of the Jewish Persians, exiled from her home and land by the righteous ones. And now a resident of East Oakland. Talk about a change in scenery! At any rate, I adore her disposition and her looks, each au natural. Truly, one of the things I most like about my hobby is the opportunity it provides to meet such interesting people. And the Yahudi (a term in farsi for persian jew) has been a special treat. I hope to shoot with her again soon.

Fortunately, there isn't much to report on the technical side. The day went well. These are all full (or whole) plates (6.5" x 8.5" inches) at 14 second exposures. You can see in the bottom image the effect of the depletion of alcohol in the developer (as the 190-proof alcohol fumes out of the bottle over the course of the afternoon) -- without the alcohol, the developer beads up, as it is, how would you say, chemically adverse to the composition of the collodion. You see it happens in the bottom-left of the image, which is the far side of the pour (I pour from the top right), showing that the effect is compounded by the time the developer makes it across the plate. I don't mind the effect it has in this image, as it doesn't interfere with the optical focus of the shot, and gives that unique hand-made look.

Angel de Managua

2009-11-01T17:29:00.000-08:00

This seniorita recently moved to San Francisco from her home city of Managua, Nicaragua. And I think she speaks better english than I do! A delightful and beautiful young woman is she.
For this shoot I hooked up an angel wing that a friend gave to me from out of his dusty prop closet. Up close, the wing is pretty nasty, although it is made of real feathers. So I tried to keep it just beyond crisp view. I have both wings, actually, but I'll save the double wing job for another shoot.

From a technical side, the shoot went smoothly. However, I did get one plate that had a million "comets" on it, which I've posted below (second one). Also, the winter is upon us. These exposures were 14 seconds (down from a high of 1 second in mid summer in central California), which gives you an indication of the drop in UV light through the seasons. Such long exposures really test the model to keep still, and inevitably you get movement on most shots. c'est la vie (a nod to cafe selavy there ;)

I wish I could relate how great these look in-hand -- nothing beats a solid layer of silver for visual impact (screw ink).

The Derelict

2009-10-25T07:21:00.000-07:00

The Derelict could either be a reference to the grounded boat in the image below, or it could be to the roommate who punched in the chest the woman who was supposed to model for me yesterday. Seriously, the model had to cancel on me because her housemate, while drunk and high on mushrooms, punched her in the chest hard enough to give her a big nasty bruise. What a derelict!

Anyway, without a model I decided to head out to the coast with camera and darkbox. This spot is just up the road, in Inverness, CA, from the "Launch for Hire" spot where I shot previously. It was a bright fall day. I don't like bright images, however. I prefer moody images, which is one of the reasons I think I'm drawn to collodion -- it seems to render moody images very well. Anyway, I exposed this one for the highlights, such that the foreground went virtually black. More importantly, it rendered the sky dark (which under a longer exposure would have gone basically bright white).

The Performer

2009-10-11T21:18:00.000-07:00

I've been excited to shoot with Babette for some time, and today it finally came to pass. And I couldn't be more thrilled with this shot -- I love it. Babette is a circus performer, and I just knew we'd be able to come up with some cool shots. She brought some great attire, a super limber body, and a fantastic attitude. It was an overcast day, but I was still holding the exposures to 8 seconds, for fear of losing too much visual impact to movement, and extending the development times to nearly double normal. I don't like to do that, but as you can see here the resultant images didn't suffer too much for it. Not much more to say, other than I can't wait to shoot with Babette again -- she's a bundle of photographic possibility!

The Sheltering Sky

2009-10-10T15:51:00.000-07:00

This image evokes for me Paul Bowles' classic novel, The Sheltering Sky. I love women in confident poses, and this shot hits the mark with its north-african-meets-bohemia look. The woman, originaly from Bulgaria, is a lovely model, wife, and mother. I very much enjoyed our shoot. She had more of what I might call a classic vision for the shoot, and I always like the slightly different. We settled in the happy medium you see below. The dynamic with a model is always unique, and I always enjoy shooting with confident and collaborative women.

From the technical side, there isn't much unique to report from today's shoot (and I think that is a good thing!).

Madam Wushu

2009-10-07T17:20:00.000-07:00

This gal is, among many other things, an accomplished practitioner of wu shu:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wushu_(sport)

The presumption of her ability to kick my butt with two arms tied behind her back is a sound one. Anyway, she was a delight to be around, let alone photograph. I have a mongolian sword (or maybe machete) and it seemed to fit her very well. All in all, it was a great day of shooting wet plate.

On a technical note, I should add that about midday I tried adding a few drops of nitric acid to the developer, which is supposed to add a bit of "brightness" to the silver. And, by golly, I think it worked great! I'm going to use it going forward.

The Joker

2009-09-27T20:19:00.000-07:00

I've been looking forward to this shoot for weeks! Melissa Jean had a harlequin top, and she MADE the collar piece and hat to go along with it! Wow. She is a master of wardrobe. So, she and her beau, Matthew, drove up from LA for a shoot. And shoot we did. We got some great shots. And Mattew is a photogenic lad himself! So, I include one of him too....

Matthew....

V's New Look

2009-09-23T21:21:00.000-07:00

I've wanted to shoot with V for quite some time now. She's got a great figure and her portfolio had lots of cool artsy shots. So when she made it to the area and said she wanted to shoot with me, I was stoked. And, lo and behold, she'd just shaved her head! Wow. Opportunity Knocking! The top one below vaguely reminds me of the famous Avedon shot of the (Davis) guy with bees, but mostly because I just saw his show at the SF-MOMA (mixed bag in my view, great shots but too much of the same -- American West shots by far the best of the bunch).

The Flyer

2009-09-20T20:11:00.000-07:00

The Flyer is named Melissa. It was the end of a rather hot fall day, and the developer was beading up, having lost a good portion of its (190 proof) alcohol to evaporation. But I was starting to like the blotchy effect. I mean, who wants a totally clean plate? Might as well shoot film! So, we have the blothcy foxy Flyer....

Col. Scott W. Adams, III

2009-09-18T08:30:00.000-07:00

My buddy Scott Adams came over for a quick portrait session. I recently acquired a replica civil war hat, and I thought it would look good on him, espcially with his recently sported goatee. A suitable shirt was the next problem, and we settled on nice wool one that almost looks the part. I used my smaller mahogany box camera, as it shoots 1/2 plate size. I thought the 1/2 plate size would look more authentic for a civil war shot, in-hand of course, even though half plate sizes were quite rare at that time, from what I gather. I think most were 1/4 plate or less. Also, I wanted to incorporate my groovy headbrace, as I think it looks cool (though photographers of the bygone wet plate era strived to hide them from view). The brace is actually very useful to keep the sitter's head still. I've found that, generally speaking, if the eyes are sharp it greatly improves the impact of the image. Anyway, we had a good time. Colonel Adams is a good family man, and a notorious slayer of rebs....

From the Archives

2009-09-13T08:59:00.000-07:00

Sunday morning. Black coffee. Looking through old plates. I like this one. The exposure is off. I've used the pants/suspenders too many times. And there is a big thumb print on it. But it still works for me. This gal is one of the few I know who looks good in a bowler. And I don't know what caused the fall-off in the lower-right corner --maybe went into the silver bath too soon-- but the overall effect I like, a lot.

I Shot A Gal From Reno...

2009-09-11T16:06:00.000-07:00

...but not to watch her die. No, Katie is from Reno, and I shot her in wet plate. It was one of my first wet plate shoots. And, almost a year later, I continue to think that this is one of my best plates. This is such a classic look and she does it so so well. I've been waiting a year to shoot her again and hopefully my time will come again soon....

JT

2009-09-11T15:40:00.000-07:00

One of my best mates, Jon Terra. We've been buds since grade school, and he's aged very well, don't you think? Jon had come over one day and I asked him to quickly sit for a plate. I only had a bit of collodion left in a jar, and most of the ether had already escaped from it. So it was much more gooey on the pour than it should have been. Also, you'll notice here, and on the other plates, that there is one "pour off corner." The pour off corner is, literally, the corner of the plate that you choose to pour off the excess collodion. The pour off corner typically has lines of excess collodion coming down into it. When this collodion is not fully "fixed," and it often isn't, these lines come out blue in color in the end result. In the plate below, they are more like blobs than lines, because my collodion was so think. Actually, I didn't think this plate would come out when I shot it, but it did. yeah! Finally, I usually try to place the pour off corner in the lower part of the resulting image (though everything is reversed an upside down in the camera, so mistakes happen). Here's one of the few where it is on the topside....

Geisha

2009-09-11T15:35:00.000-07:00

Ashton Miyako put herself way into this shoot, thank goodness for me. She got the reproduction hair piece and gown in SF's Japan Town. Her housemate came with her (all the way from Santa Cruz) and spray-painted her face white. It was a great day, and we got some great plates out of the day as well. This one is my fave....

J and Zack

2009-09-11T15:23:00.001-07:00

You'll tire of reading this, but I love this shot. I have had a number of shoots with J in film, and gotten many great shots. This time she brought along her man, Zack. Zack has what I would call the fresh-off-the-boat look, like he just (circa 1890) got here from Sardinia or someplace. I envisioned him as an young immigrant to New Orleans, enjoying the pleasures of a local girl and, likewise, she of him....

Ballerinas

2009-09-11T15:19:00.000-07:00

This is the most painterly plate I have, and I love it. You may notice that the edge of the toes are clipped. I actually like the result, because I think it gives the image neat/hard vertical lines at the bottom edge, flowing upwards to softness and total lack of lines at the top. On this shot, as will all my others, I don't have a fixed visible boundary line on the ground glass to show me where the actual boundaries will be. My camera, wide open, is 10x10. So when I'm shooting something less than that, say 5x7 like the shot below, I'm approximating on the big ground glass screen where the edges of the plate will be. And I'm pretty good at it now. There is a fix to this problem, but I haven't done it yet (which fact gives you a glimpse into my mind). Anyway, I think this shot is simply gorgeous.

Nikki the Knife

2009-09-11T15:08:00.000-07:00

This shot is one of my all-time favorites. I love the old-London style with the sex-appeal twist. And you gotta love those eyes! In my prop closet I have a lot of hats that I've picked up over the years. This tophat I got in Sydney. I prefer this one to my other tophat, because this one has nice curves in it. See the curve in the brim? Also see the curves in the top portion? I think this shot works well with these lines running into the edge of the plate. The coat is an authentic US Navy pea coat, which was originally issued to a friend's dad back in the WWII era. The bra is well, nice on Nikki. Speaking of, I also have this shot without bra. But it isn't as good. I must be getting old!

Untitled

2009-09-11T14:59:00.000-07:00

This shot is a bit risque. But I like it. C Kudos, the model, is so calm and self-assured that it was a just a great pleasure to work with her. We were looking at some of my photo books (I have a lot) and decided to take as a launching-off point a shot by Robert Maxwell. (Robert Maxwell has some gorgeous wet plate work, and is a top fashion and portrait photographer). We took a number of different plates of this pose. I like this one best. We spent a long time trying to get the hand just right over the knee. I think this shot has a nice combination of a classical pose, modern props, and of course the tintype aesthetic overall. You can also see the effect of using a focal-length lens that is shorter than for its intended plate size, i.e., the blacking-out of the perimeter, which I think works well with this image (and has the added benefit of putting into almost-obscurity the modern seat she is on).

The Czaress

2009-09-11T12:32:00.000-07:00

This photo of Nikki --gorgeous model, as you can see-- is one of my favorites (though I have a lot of favorites). She is wearing a fox hat I picked up in Russia, along with a tattered lace blouse I picked up locally in San Anselmo. Her pose here just evokes for me a concept of a beautiful Czaress....

Dead Man

2009-09-11T11:50:00.000-07:00

I can't look at this plate, which I like a lot, and not recall the movie Dead Man. This plate also illustrates the phenomenon that wet plate photos are sensitive to only blue (UV) light, not the full spectrum. Accordingly, blue tints become lighter (more silver) and red tints go darker (less silver), while greens remain about the same to our normal vision. For this reason, wet plate shots of the sky are virtually always just a big blank white space. Also, tattoos tend to get very very light. The tattoo on this model had a lot of different colors in it, including red, so it came out a bit better than most....

Reenactment

2009-09-11T11:40:00.000-07:00

The model, Dominique, is great to work with. She comes from Germany and thus has zero to do with the American Civil War, other than wearing it so well!

Alee Cat

2009-09-08T18:35:00.000-07:00

Alee is a great model with whom I was able to shoot this last weekend. She has a great look and disposition. Lucky me!

This shot I like, notwithstanding its flaws (including a hair from my pouch, Max). But that is one of the benefits of wet plate -- some of the flaws add to the appeal! Who can't fall in love with a process with that benefit!

The Harlequeen

2009-09-08T17:42:00.000-07:00

One of my all-time favorite models, Vivian, did a fabulous job on her own make-up for this shot. It is one of my all-time favorites, for sure...

First Landscape -- Launch For Hire

2009-09-08T17:27:00.000-07:00

I always saw this place in Inverness when blowing by on my motorbike. And when I was shooting film, I always thought this place would be great to shoot in large format. SO, I'm particularly thrilled that I was able to make the capture in 4x10 format with a bit of the ether. I love this shot.

Fun with Ether

2009-09-08T17:18:00.000-07:00

This shot of Erin the Artist is certainly a new direction for me, in terms of visual impact. I like it. Erin was great to work with.

Tellason

2009-09-08T16:27:00.000-07:00

My buddy Tony Patella has started a new line of jeans (nice ones too!). He wanted a shot for marketing, so he brought the beer and I poured the ether....

And here is a nice shot of Mr. T himself....