Classic Abigail 13

I ended up hanging eight prints for the Art-A-Whirl exhibit, employing the re-usable framing system I had created a couple years ago for an exhibit of my Guatemala photos at an ad agency's anniversary party downtown. This time the photos are all of Brooke, from a single series we did, although the content is rather tame (especially when considering some of what I hung for our own show).

The show begins this evening, and I'm intent on being on hand at our gallery for a good deal of the time tonight and tomorrow. I may take time Sunday to visit other galleries.

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Thanks to two of my models, acting independently, I've been put in contact with a fellow about doing a one-night show in conjunction with a movie's afterparty. As usual with this sort of thing, it's doubtful that the effort will be worthwhile (sales-wise), but there's always the exposure, and at least in this case we're talking about showing prints already made and framed (except that I may select a few unframed prints from the recently concluded "Nudes" show, have them framed, and add them to the mix).

More as it develops ....

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Hurrah! for the California Supreme Court and its decision striking down California state laws that had only permitted marriages between a man and a woman, and in so doing ruling that same-sex couples have a constitutional right to marry. I wonder if my daughter is now regretting not taking that job in LA?

The battle of course is far from over, and the forces of evil will now press for an amendment to the State Constitution. A lesser but nonetheless heartfelt hurrah for Gov. Schwarzenegger, who says he opposes such an amendment.

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Some work shaping up for next week, including a first session with an exciting, enthusiastic, new young woman.

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There are big movies. There are small movies. Some movies are brash and outgoing. Some movies are intimate and introspective.

Some movies are simply enjoyable without any need to pigeonhole them. Such is The Secret of Roan Inish. If you've never seen it, well, what are you waiting for?

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Low-key monochrome is always so effective in focusing attention on the form. Here, Abigail's hair is virtually lost in the background.

Hommage à EW No. 1 (Christine 2)

Yesterday evening was supposed to have been our second-Wednesday-of-the-month Camera Workers' Group meeting. A mixup led to its postponement, however, so it's delayed for two weeks. My "15 minutes of digital" will wait, when I will detail how I made the 20"x30" prints for "The Nude in Minnesota" (and incidentally show one of the prints), and then talk about the skin smoothing technique I mentioned yesterday.

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If you have visited Nice (France) and are interested in art, I am sure you made the side-trip to the small village of Vence to see the Rosaire Chapel, designed by Matisse. We visited there in 1997, and I intensely remember the visual impact of this beautiful structure.

I mention this because I've just seen the exquisite little documentary, A Model for Matisse, which recounts the relationship between Matisse and a young nurse, subsequently to be nun, who was instrumental in Matisse's conceptualization and then realization of the chapel. Well worth watching.

In an entirely different vein, consider Black White + Gray: A Portrait of Sam Wagstaff and Robert Mapplethorpe, a fairly insightful and gently critical appraisal of the relationship between the photographer and his patron and lover.

If you have a high bandwidth connection both of these may be viewed via Netflix online, which is what I did.

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One of a triptych I did as a salute to possibly the most famous female nude ever photographed.

Amidst all the bad news, a little good ....

Dinner

Amidst the horrific or simply unpleasant news to be found in all media, yesterday's NY Times contained a bounty of inspiration and simple pleasure:

First, this wonderful story of medical science and a newly developed surgical technique coming to the aid of (potentially) thousands of children who develop a debilitating and ultimately devastating brain tumor. The play-by-play coverage of the operation itself is a fascinating read. (Lin, you will relate closely to this, I am sure.)

Second, another of those largely unknown tales of heroism coming out of World War II, albeit in this case from a wholly unexpected quarter. This is a must read for those who may think that the Poles were universally uncaring as to the fate of those living in the Warsaw Ghetto.

Third, for those like me who love matters astronomical and astrophysical, reports of new online tools for armchair exploration of our universe. (A caution and caveat, however: I downloaded and installed Worldwide Telescope on my PC, which according to their specs should have been an adequate platform, and it twice crashed my system, the second time after (obviously) a restart. So I've removed it and may try again another time. The software is described as their "Spring Beta.")

Finally, a good Op-Ed column by David Brooks, the one more-or-less conservative whose work I respect and read. This column, "The Neural Buddhists," asserts that the current wave of anti-religiosity will turn out less to affect the existence and need for spirituality in our lives, but will (and should) challenge the dogmas of the various "revealed" religions. In other words, good for "God," but bad for "The Bible" and the fundamentalists. Amen!

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After I sent out an email announcement of my photography that will appear at the MPLS PHOTO COOP during this weekend's Art-A-Whirl exhibitions, friend and fellow (much more successful than me) photographer, Craig Blacklock wrote, asking how I was "doing with selling nudes in the Midwest."

I replied, "Selling nudes in the Midwest is the pits! Thank god for the Internet, or I'd be living a life of total frustration." This conclusion was ratified by our The Nude in Minnesota show, where of the fifteen large prints I exhibited, certainly the best fine art nude prints I've ever made and among the best anyone in the Twin Cities may ever see, not a single one sold during the show.

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If you do portraits, including nude portraits, I recommend you check out the latest Photoshop User magazine at p. 86, an article entitled "Skin Smoother" by Kevin Ames. This technique, available to PS users even as far back as v. 5, is extraordinarily effective in realistically smoothing complexion -- better than anything I've ever used. (If you don't subscribe to Photoshop User, it should be available in the periodicals section of your local Borders or Barnes & Noble. Move quickly, however, as the issue is probably due for replacement within weeks.)

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Topic: Movie Scenes You'll Never Forget: the Grand Central Station waltz scene in The Fisher King.

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Spoke with my friend Russell Bevan yesterday evening. The man is head-over-wine-bottle busy, with multiple clients and making some of the most extraordinary wines imaginable. He also said to rush over to Dry Stack Cellars and buy some of their Sauvignon Blanc, which was selling fast. He was winemaker, and it's the successor wine to the vintage that Robert Parker gave a 93, second highest score he's ever given a Sauvignon Blanc.

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So titled because this was taken at a market along the Yangtze River. These ducks clearly were destined for the wok. (Click on the image to see in full size.)

Brooke with PVC 4

Getting ready for this weekend's Art-A-Whirl, where I'll be showing four photographs as part of the MPLS PHOTO COOP's exhibit. Ten other COOP photographers will be showing at the space at 2400 N. 2d St.

Otherwise, nothing much of note.

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Brooke. The problem we found in working with these PVC pipes was that, when you cross them, something just has to end up being asymmetrical.

Georgia 1919-4

Patricia has returned, so my week of bachelorhood has ended. Not a day too soon.

For all my introvertedness, for all the fact that very few people can abide me for more than a couple hours at a time, I long ago realized that I need a companion in my life. No matter what. If the time were ever to come to find one, the major problem would be .... Who the hell would be willing to put up with me?

At least now the diet will improve. (And drinking a bottle of wine solo, while pleasurable, means too much is wasted.)

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For Photoshop mavens among you, read The New Yorker article about Pascal Dangin, who apparently is the man for photo retouching among the fashion photographer types, like Patrick Demarchelier. (Which reminds me, I get a real kick out of The Devil Wears Prada, even though I'm about two zillion light years removed from those circles.)

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Students of the history of photography know of the intense relationship between Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O'Keeffe. She was his frequent model from when they first met in 1917 until the end of his photography in 1937. Not a few of those photographs were of O'Keeffe nude, as is documented in Alfred Stieglitz - The Key Set, the magnificent two volume set edited by Sarah Greenough et al.

Saturday a model ("Morphine") and I set out to replicate twenty-two of the nude O'Keeffe's, of which the above is but one (I also tried to reproduce Stieglitz's lighting "look").

Very Large Prints Available

Heather 13

Happy Mother's Day to all those who are, including my own mom, who at 97 is still crankin' along, from a sometimes less-than-dutiful son.

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Would you like to own a very large fine art nude print?

The prints shown at our "The Nude in Minnesota" show are available to my blog readers at extraordinary prices: $154 for 16"x24" prints and $260 for 20"x25"/20"x30" prints. Plus shipping.

16"x24" prints included are all #1 in an edition of 20:
Abigail Takes Charge 19
Halley Dances 12
Liesl 17
Meg in a Box 59
Pistol 1-12

20"x25" and 20"x30" prints included are all #1 in an edition of 20:
Allison & Mirrors 21
Angelique 1-39 (20"x25")
Bodyscape 2-9
Brooke Relaxes 12
Donna at Home 1 Variation
Earthly Body 4
Emily High Key 14
Lauren at Home 93
Rachel 35
Sarah J 9

The 16"x24" prints are made on Hahnemuhle Photo Rag Bright White fine art paper. The 20"x25" and 20"x30" prints are made on the magnificent new Ilford Gallerie Gold Fibre Silk paper, and if you purchase one of the B&W prints made on that paper you will find it looks closer to a traditional air-dried gelatin silver print than any inkjet print you've yet seen. All prints were made with Epson K3 Ultrachrome inks.

All prints have a small nail hole in each of their four corners (approximately 1.5 inches out from the image in the case of the Ilford prints, and over 1/2" from the image in the case of the Hahnemuhle prints), because of my display method, as seen in the photo below:


and, also because of my display method, the Ilford prints may have a very slight residual stickiness on the back side in small locations along the very top edge (always within the top 1/2" of the print, thus far away from the image itself; the stickiness is from an archival-quality adhesive so in any case will not cause deterioration of the physical print). (In all other respects, the prints -- and in particular the printed image -- are in immaculate condition.)

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An experiment with Heather.

The Grand Staircase entering The Palace of Caserta
(18th century residence and seat of power of Bourbon King Charles III)

I fished the half-full bottle of Navarro Pinot Gris (see entry from two days ago) out of the refrigerator door, wondering how it had fared. It's the rare white wine that improves after two days being open, even recorked in the refrigerator. This was one of them. Increased complexity and no signs of fading. Yummm!

I should have waited a couple hours, since I started it in late afternoon. My dinner was Chinese takeout, specifically General Tso's Chicken from Rainbow. Double Yummm!

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To turn the pleasures of my evening meal on their head, I would like to know why the world does not take action in Burma (Myanmar) similar to that taken by NATO during the Serbian genocide in Kosovo? Is this not genocide by neglect equivalent to the atrocities inflicted by the Khmer Rouge in neighboring Cambodia some three decades ago? It appears a naval military exercise is underway in the immediate vicinity. Why not begin taking out the military junta leaders' palatial homes and their supporting infrastructure until they bow to international pressure regarding aid?

Sorry if that reads unduly militaristic and bloodthirsty, but it hardly seems things can get worse for the people of that devastated country, and all indications are that the military junta only cares for its own survival. (Interestingly, Daniel Schorr essentially agreed with me this morning on NPR's "Weekend Edition," saying that the time has come for the UN to abrogate national sovereignty in cases like this.)

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Puccini for Beginners. Rent it. See it. Wonderful little movie. Not about opera, really, at all. Although it could be an opera. A comic opera. By Rossini, perhaps. Thoroughly enjoyable.

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One of our first visits on a trip to the region around Naples, the Palace of Caserta is now a large museum, devoted in part to roman archeological artifacts found in the Naples region. The photo is an instance where Photoshop's alignment and skewing tools permit a perfectly symmetrical, square-on image.

The Internet in Service of Exclusivity

Scarlet Briefly 13

I almost missed it. The three-star review in Wednesday's NY Times of the restaurant "Ko" on 1st Ave. in NYC. It's not the food -- although obviously the reviewer liked it. It's not the location -- although the East Village is rather chic just now. It's not the service or the prices -- after all, there is no menu and there's only one price for eight courses: $85. It's the fact that you may only make reservations online, exactly seven days in advance (the article said six days, but the website suggests seven), and only by submitting an online request exactly at 10 a.m. EDT. What a hoot!

I didn't go very far in the reservation system, since (1) you need to register first and (2) registration requires up-front entry of a credit card "in an effort to thwart reservation scalpers and automated internet robots or spiders." If the Internet is slow for you, you'll never get in, since at least by the reviewer's experience a request at seven seconds past the hour is already too late. I suppose you could game the system, set up multiple windows ready to submit, and then start hitting the send button steadily even a few seconds in advance of 10 a.m. Perhaps they've thought of that, too, and permit only a single submission per email address.

Still, this begs the essential question: Are you the type who is willing to play their game? Pity the poor Madison Avenue secretary whose boss say to her, "Get me a reservation at Ko."

This, by the way, is the ultimate expression of the idea of the Internet as a democratizing force. Assuming they've not rigged the system, assuming there's no secret phone number for "people who count," no one has an "in." No one can pull strings. It's strictly first-come, first-served. The lowliest Wall Street law firm associate has as good a chance as Michael Bloomberg. (Assuming, of course, that a Wall Street associate could ever plan a free evening seven days in advance.)

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Speaking of food, last night was the bachelor-week visit to La Belle Vie. By myself. I had made reservations for two and then called a young person to invite her -- an old man's prerogative, seeking pulchritudinous dinner conversation. Left a message (that was two days ago.) But she didn't call back. I changed the reservation to just me in the Lounge and went, accompanied only by a bottle of 1996 Pride Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.

The meal was as usual a tasty and interesting culinary treat. Small portions as usual, and I was given some complimentary glasses of wine to complement the food. The wine I brought, on the other hand, was distinctly flawed. I've had some other disappointing '96s from Pride and am thinking they suffered from travel or storage problems.

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"Art-a-Whirl" comes to Northeast Minneapolis a week from today, spanning that weekend. Our coop (MPLS PHOTO COOP) is a bit outside the usual venues, lying as it does across the Mississippi from the greater number of studios that will be open to visitors, but I'm told we can expect several hundred art "patrons" to drop by nonetheless.

I'll be showing four very innocuous B&W nudes, from a series I did a few months back. 12"x18" prints. Nothing to get very excited about, and representing a minimal investment for me since I'll mount them using the reusable system I developed for a previous installation (prints mounted temporarily to foamcore and covered by plexiglass, then everything bound together by clips. Much less ambitious than "The Nude in Minnesota" show.

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Scarlet on cold marble. This was the final set in our initial, highly successful session, which was followed by another, even more intense shoot. She's a wonderful, impassioned model, who is presently devoting much time building her actress career.

Intimate Touch 1-16

The Minnesota state legislature is proposing to mess up what I've accomplished in reducing our property taxes. As I understand it, they will be eliminating the property tax deduction from state income taxes and compensating by refunding at least a portion of the property taxes paid for those whose PTs exceed 2% of income. The key appears to be the income level cutoff that will qualify for the refunds. That cutoff is dangerously close to our annual taxable income. So, I can't tell at this point whether we'd win or lose under this new proposal. Bah! Another example of government making a mess for us to live with.

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After that wonderful steak and fresh corn dinner three evenings ago, two nights ago was an embarrassingly simple supper that I won't recount here. Last night was an indulgence: ribs from Famous Dave's. There are no doubt better ribs to be had than Famous Dave's, perhaps even in the Twin Cities. They are convenient, however, and actually last night's was especially good -- succulent, and tasty with that burnt brown sugar, vinegar and molasses glaze that I love.

I accompanied (well, really rather followed) the ribs with a Navarro Pinot Gris "Vendage Tardive" (properly, "Vendange," but Navarro spells it without the second "n"). At 2.9 degrees residual sugar, Navarro's wine is not nearly as sweet as those from Alsace, but it shares the same taste quality. (Want a really nice one? Find a "VT" from Zind-Humbrecht -- and be prepared to pay for the experience.)

Tonight I'm intent on dining at La Belle Vie. Can you tell I'm operating in bachelor mode once again?

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Do you remember the brouhaha over Vanity Fair's/Annie Leibovitz's photographs of Miley Cyrus? Read Germaine Greer's take on it in The Guardian. Of interest to those who follow the eroticization of young women.

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From a new series, "Intimate Touch," that will appear shortly on my site. Erotic photography remains for me the closest I get to schizophrenia. I love it. Yet it brings out my reticent side. Of course, I enjoy seeing it, and admire it when done well. I enjoy photographing the occasional erotic set. It's only done when the model is into the idea. (And the model always has the right to veto anything done.) Other than on my subscription site, however, I rarely show it. "The Dirty Show" and The Kinsey Institute show this year were breakthrough events for me, where I showed material considerably more graphic and sexually-oriented than any shown previously.

So, enjoy the above. It is a rarity. At least here.

Anderson Ranch 1
(Ashcroft Ghost Town)

Nothing much of interest this morning. Obama keeps inching closer to the nomination, which I think is a good thing. I wasted about an hour taking our Honda in for service, only to find the part they promised was to have arrived hadn't.

The view from my office window is filled with bright yellow-green leaves as the trees begin to fill out. Storms came through yesterday midday that brought more rain, so there's plenty of ground saturation to drive spring blooms and leafings into overdrive.

With time on my hands, I think cleaning and organizing the office would be a good idea. Fat chance! But who knows, I might run out of diversions and stop procrastinating.

Favorite model Brooke Lynne offered a nice writeup of "The Nude in Minnesota" show. Check it out!

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An early HDR photo. After an early morning workshop excursion to the Maroon Bells outside Aspen, a bunch of us took a detour to Ashcroft, a restored ghost town located farther into the mountains. (Click on image to see full size. Doing so better shows the interior detail that the HDR technique discloses.)