A Brightly Painted Boy

Happy Saturday. Enjoy this painted boy.

Model and photographer this post, unknown.

Bruce Weber: Live, Eat and Sleep Wrestling

Jay and I are going to go away for the next four days, so posting on this blog will be sparse (read: non existent, probably) until Sunday evening or Monday.

As a parting gift, I suggest you enjoy the short video by photographer Bruce Weber (and several of his Abercrombie models) about wrestling. Above and below are a couple of screen shots, and you can see the link at the bottom of this post.

Find the whole video (which is all of a couple of minutes) here: Bruce Weber: Live, Eat and Sleep Wrestling.

Photography/Videography copyright, Bruce Weber.

My Trainer Cleans Up

I’ve posted a new series of photos on the Dreams gallery of Vir Impudicus. This is how it worked out when David had to go somewhere after one of our shoots.

You can see the series, here.

The Vir Impudicus Store

I have created a store page on Vir Impiducus on which you can make direct purchases of some of my prints.

I’ll have a lot of my regularly priced prints (note that my regular prices have dropped) and I’ll also have some special pieces, framed or matted prints, and slightly damaged prints at special prices.

I can’t possibly load all of my photos onto the Store page, but if you see something on my site that you’d love to own, you can always contact me and I’ll give you similar deal.

Here are just a few of the things I am offering. Please click through to see more.

Curious Thing

Here’s a short film (eight minutes) about the sometimes complicated friendships that happen between gay men and man who claim to be straight, but send mixed signals. It’s an interesting look.

I found this film on Rainbow Colored South.

From Start to Finish

People sometimes ask me about photo editing, or specifically how much I edit my work. To be honest, I probably don’t retouch my photos as much as a lot of photographers do. I prefer photography over graphic art, and that’s what a photograph becomes if you change it too much in Photoshop, it’s no longer a photo but a digital artpiece. There’s a fine line.

This is what you’ll see when I post an image on my website.

This is what I saw when I shot the photo (in this case, of my model, Scott).

I’ll crop, lighten or darken. I’ll adjust the hues for skin tone. I’ll remove zits or a few moles (not enough to change the person’s character). I’ll smooth skin a little, or highlight the eyes just a bit, if necessary. I’ll fix problems with the background. I might convert something to black and white or apply a subtle color cast.

That’s about all. For some work, like my American People series, I don’t do nearly that much. That series is pretty much unedited, because I’m trying to capture people as they are, not as their perfected selves. It goes without saying that high fashion photography/modeling shots and fine art portraiture are very different things. One is designed to make the ideal person, the other exists to document the real person.

Yet in almost every case, I have a strong preference for subtle photo editing and results that look natural. So many new photographers start playing with editing software and the next thing you know they’ve completely fucked up their images. A little bit of Gaussian blur goes a long way — too much and a person’s skin looks like plastic; too much saturation and a person’s eyes look like they belong on a cartoon character. Don’t get me wrong, I realize that most of the stunning photography in French Vogue is edited beyond recognition, but it’s still done to look conceivable, if not natural. The models still look, well, human.

And this is not a slam against graphic art. I like some graphic art and some manipulated images, if done well. Jay and I even have some digital art hanging in our house. It can be amazing. It just isn’t photography.

Imagine That . . .

I am listening to the best interview about creativity that I’ve heard in a long time. It’s a Fresh Air story, and I’d encourage all of my creative friends to check it out. The author, a science writer, covers topics such as the “tortured artist,” why it’s important to unplug from technology sometimes, wall colors, Julia Child, why corporate brainstorming sessions don’t work, and a lot more. It’s really interesting, to me.

I’ll be downloading this one to keep.

http://www.npr.org/v2/?i=148607182&m=149058449&t=audio

Uncensored

I have a photo in this exhibit. It’s my first piece in a gallery in New York City. If you’re in the New York area, I’d love it if someone would stop by and let me know what you think of the exhibit. It’s not a juried show, but I’m still excited.

This is the (not safe for work) photo I submitted.

Nicola Formechetti: Awake for the Season

I’m normally not a fan of “glam photography” (read: boys in eyeliner and makeup, wearing shiny things). But this photo spread, titled “Awake for the Season” and shot by Nicola Formechetti, is an exception. I do like it, very much.

Of course, the spread was shot for Vogue Japan, which also makes it feel more authentic, to me. I feel like Americans can’t get away with this without looking like they’re trying too hard. I’m not sure why. Maybe it’s because American style has become so “un-glamorous” in recent years?

Photos found via Homotography.

All photos this post copyright, Nicola Formichetti for Vogue Hommes Japan. Model: Allen Taylor.

Double Impact

At no time in recent history has a TV commercial sparked TWO posts on one of my blogs, but here we go. Remember the sexy Liquid Plumber guys I posted about a couple weeks back? They are back, with a cute new photo, this time with Aaron (the one who’s originally from Indiana, and who I’d love to get in front of MY camera!) showing some abs.

Yes, the phone number is real.

Yes, I checked by calling it.

(Yes, I am a dork.)