I’m starting to tackle the huge backlog of unedited shoots dating really back to late spring. Going back to about mid May, basically if it wasn’t photographed for a paying client or a trade shoot of some form where edited photos were part of the trade, I’ve not edited the shoot. In other words I’ve shoots that were done in late spring that I’ve not edited as we move into winter.
So if you’re a model that I’ve worked with since then, expect you may see some photos from that sometime soon as I work through them. Of course I’ll also be posting some here as I finish the editing.
For today a single image of the current group I’m working on of Theresa Manchester from early June.
This post is not photography related even though there’s a photo below. It’s also probably the most personal thing I’ve posted here. If you’re here for photos and happy subjects, skip this one.
This blog has been quiet of late, and I shared the reason the reason this summer. That post ended on a somewhat optimistic tone, and that came to pass. My father became quite ill unexpectedly early in July. He recovered from the initial illness and was able to return home in August.
It didn’t last.
He went back into the hospital in September, from complications of that original illness. He never came back home. On Saturday my father passed away at the age of 68.
He had entered a cycle where every time he was able to get over one problem, another set in. He kept getting weaker. Twice in the last month I really didn’t know if he’d make it through the night. He’d recovered, but each decline began to get lower than the recovery. Much of the last months has been spent trying to maintain work and what life I could while also dealing with his health problems. He’d improved over the last couple weeks so even though he was still quite sick, his passing came as a shock.
I’m fortunate enough to have a close and supportive family. My father’s illness was hard. Losing him is the hardest thing I’ve ever dealt with. I did get to spend a good amount of time with him the last months, which I’m thankful for. I saw him two days before he passed away when I had my last conversation with him. I loved him, and I’ll miss him.
I’ll be taking the next few weeks off from photography to help with settling his affairs, helping my mother begin to move on after more than forty years with my father, and to get myself back into the mental state to create again. I plan to start shooting again roughly in mid-December. There is a long backlog of shoots from summer and fall that I’ve not edited due to lack of time and often energy. Look for more content again as I move into the New Year.
And if you have a family member or friend that you’ve not spoken with in a while, give them a call and chat a bit.
The Flag from my Father’s Casket – Rest in Peace Dad
Last summer in California I’d planned a shoot on a coastal location. The model mentioned a grove of trees between the parking area and beach and we planned to work there a bit on the way.
We never actually got to the beach after I saw the trees.
Generally if you put me in a grove of trees, around rocks, or near water, I’m good for a while. Such is the case with this photo of Mikki Marvel from October near Charlotte. We came to a location she’d and this grove of bamboo. It ended up being the only place we worked that day while dodging the rain that marked my whole trip to Charlotte.
Still shooting as I can, but life still busy and editing is still not getting high enough in the priority list at the moment. Though it’s a bit late for national cat day, here’s my kitty Morticia working herself into my shoot with Xlcr Moon last night. @xlcrmoon
Had the thought come to me as I was driving home through the pouring rain from North Carolina late this afternoon. I don’t know the exact date, but sometime right around the end of September/first of October 2005 was my first “real” shoot. By that I mean model that somewhat knew what she was doing while I had no clue what I was doing. And the photos from it largely show I had no idea what I was doing.
Still it’s been about ten years, many models, and a lot of images since then, and I’m still enjoying it. Just had a wonderful few days working around Charlotte, NC and hopefully will be back editing this summer’s backlog of work soon.
Still really swamped by life right now, and editing photos really just isn’t happening very often. I’ve barely been able to shoot the last three months, little alone edit photos from those shoots. Still did have to get this one done as I’ve had the idea for literally several years for this shot, but water flow and weather never worked out quite right until a shoot last week with Rebecca Lawrence.
Continuing to show some film work with these scans of Freya Gallows on B&W film from back in April. We’d planned to work outdoors, but the threat of rain ended up with us moving into the studio instead for this work. Same day as the earlier posted work with her and Bree Addams together.
I like how these worked. The limitations in my scanner showed up here though as the roll was a bit unevenly exposed from I think a mix of expired film and me experimenting with lighting. Overall I find these Kodak TriX 400 works well for me. The grain is there, but doesn’t overwhelm. It also seems to work nicely outdoors and in the studio.
As I mentioned this roll of film had expired a few months before the shoot. They were also among the first batch of work I developed myself as opposed to sending away to a lab. As the other roll developed with this one (last week’s of Vex Voir) didn’t show the uneven exposure these did. I credit that to the film being expired, and really not well treated given I bought the roll (along with a few others) out of a bin in the sun at a flea market.
I’ve decided to get back to posting with some of my film work from this year. I’m fairly new to film having only started shooting late last year, and really not that seriously until the early months of this year. During the winter months I did some workshops and courses with a fairly nearby community darkroom to learn to develop and print my own work. I’m enjoying the development process, but am fully in love with printing from film.
So today some scanned film from my work with Vex Voir back in early May. We had the chance to get outdoors earlier this year and try a semi-new location. I’ve been here before, but together we tracked down a new waterfall location that had eluded me in the past, though no film work there. This work came in a quiet off trail area I’d not used before.
A few random observations from the last few weeks.
Most people are wonderfully understanding and supportive when you’re dealing with life. It’s easy to focus on the jerks, but there are truly a lot of wonderful people in the world.
Finding a coffee shop when you just need a couple quiet hours away from things can work wonders for your mind.
It’s surprising how many places contain a Starbucks. Or serve Starbucks coffee. Or are within walking distance of a Starbucks. Or are a Starbucks.
On a related note I feel like I’ve run most of the last month on coffee.
You probably wouldn’t be surprised that many hospital/doctor type places block ModelMayhem where you can encounter the occasional nude. You might be a little surprised that those that did block it classified it as swimwear. You might be very surprised to fin that fewer block Tumblr where you can easily find explicit adult content. Please explain that one to me.
Baring the unexpected, and that’s really been a description of the last month and a half, more normal posting should resume later this week.
o