One Month

Well, Looks like I have been posting for one month now. Time sure goes by fast and I appreciate those who stop by to have a look. Please feel free to leave a comment on the blog.

So far work has taken 100% of my time. I have a big audit coming up later this month and getting ready has meant working 12-14 hour days. Not fun, but work pays for my trips and camera equipment and puts the food on the table.

So just a short post before I get back to work....

Happy New Year

Well, it will be a New Year in a couple of hours here (already New Years in most places) so time to make the resolutions. I have three. First is to lose the extra pounds I have put on (this must be the most common resolution for most of us), second is to really concentrate on my photography and third (which kind of ties in with the first) is to cut down on the beer (but not tonight). Hopefully I will stick to the plan. But tonight I will drink too much beer and spend time with my family. I don't go out on New Years Eve because I like to spend it with my kids and there are too many drunk drivers on the road. Better to stay home and party.

Been a real interesting year for me here. Job kind of sucks and the typical girl problems. But end of year started to look much better with my girlfriend and I getting back together and her getting pregnant. I'm looking forward to being a Dad again.

Well, I hope everyone enjoys their New Year. Thanks for visiting my blog.

Jill

Thought for a while what to post today on Christmas. Decided to be anti-festive and post a photo of Jill. Jill is a wonderful girl who fights for her sanity almost every day. I decided to post her as I remember her telling me how she never got a Christmas present in her life. A lot of time we think we are poor, but until you see how some people live overseas, you don't realize what poor really is. She figured she wasn't good enough for Santa to bring her presents when she was young and later figured Santa was only for the rich kids When I met her she was 19 years old and still had not received a Christmas present from anyone. I first met her in November and then later spent two days in December tracking her down just to make sure she got a present. In fact, bought her a whole bunch of stuff just for the heck of it, including her two younger sisters and brother. Never saw a bunch of people more happy and really made me feel good.

When photographing Jill I wanted to convey her somewhat dark mood and her feelings of solitude. I tried to capture this by having grainy and underexposed photos. A very simple photo.

In the second photo, I added some stuffed animals, but kept teh phto the same dark grainy appearance. Although I have other more happy photos of Jill, this is how I remembered her.

Lovers

My friends wanted a photograph that was erotic, yet something they could put up in their apartment. They wanted it not to be the typical portrait type shot. I had never photographed a nude couple, let alone two friends. They are also not shy about their excitment, which made it a little uncomfortable for me. But in the end this is the photo that they really liked.

I goof around with the photos a lot in photoshop. Heck, it gives me something to do. For this photo I took the original shot and then duplicated the layer. I changed the mode to soft light and it added a lot of contrast. Next I ran an action called professional retro and went in and played with the saturation. Lastly I ran another action called Midnight Black. I probably couldn't duplicate this again if I tried cause I also played with the curves adjustments for a little while.

Art/erotica or just plain porn

Is it Art? I don't know but I liked the way the photo came out. This photo was taken with two friends who ended up getting a little bit too frisky. Straight out of the camera I felt it was just too hardcore. I started goofing around in photoshop to see if I could make it more subtle. I ended up running a bunch of different things on the photo until I came up with this. More of a drawing than a photo at this point and since I thought it looked good I stopped.

How do you define art anyway? I'm sure there are a million answers to this one. Same for erotica.

simple post

Been feeling the Christmas blues today. Not really sure why, the kids are getting excited about Christmas and it is a festive holiday here. I even have a girl from the cook islands that will be posing for me this weekend (she finally said she would as long as the photos are tasteful). I have been trying to convince her for some time now.

Just a simple photo of a young woman I photographed. I liked this photo with her head turned down and eyes closed. Nothing special on post processing either in photoshop.

Built for sex

Some women are just built for sex. I'm sorry if I ruffle some feathers but it is true. Take the girl on the left. Everything about her is natural. If you met her, everything about her is exciting. But, she actually thinks she is not good looking with is unbelievable in my eyes. Not much on posing cause she is shy, I was able to get a few shots and agree to signing a release. I think it is more because her prior boyfriend always talked down about her and she actually started to believe the things he was saying.

I'm amazed how sexist the men can be at times in the Pacific. This is especially true in the South Pacific. I'm a man, but it is the truth. At my work, nearly 80% of the women are abused. Mostly physical abuse that makes me sick to my stomach. And those who are not physically abused suffer mental abuse at their husbands hands. Although it is slowly starting to change, abuse is still very widely accepted in these societies. I guess I'm angry because I just spent a couple of hours at the hospital with one of my workers who was beat up by her so called boyfriend. It makes me want to pack my bags and leave this place.

So just a short post tonight as I'm still pissed off. Time to open a beer and relax.

Speedlights

Life is tough sometimes. My girlfriend is more than 5,000 miles away and I probably won't see her for at least 6-months. There is a very cute Filipina girl I really want to photograph, but she has other things on her mind. Funny thing is all I want is to photograph her but she made it very clear she wants more. I would normally jump on it (no pun intended), but I'm trying to stick to one girl. So I sit here alone on a Friday night with my cell phone ringing. She just finished her work and I hope she doesn't decide to pop in to see me at the house. After a couple of beers I want to pick up the phone and call her but I know I will regret it in the end. Besides, my girlfriend knows I have kids and accepts that and she is pregnant. I guess that is why the cold shower was invented.

Okay..... This shot was made using two speedlights. The first speedlight is to camera left and slightly above her shooting down. I used a grid on the light to control the fall off. I pointed it at about shoulder blade height. The second speedlight is positioned inside the door to camera right. It is skimming the closet doors and has a red gel attached. Both are triggered with pocket wizards. I had to be careful to watch the light on the girl as when I had the power too high, it was hitting the closet doors and washing our the red gel effect from the other light. Again, get the light in close to control the falloff.

relationships

Yes, I kind of like the retro lomo look (if that is what you call it). Another girl met through a friend of a friend (you know how it is). It is amazing how in the Pacific, if they know you are single then they are trying to land you. It becomes almost like a contest here. Look, I'm not crazy and I know that for the most part a young beautiful woman going for an older man is looking primarily for either (a) money or (b) security. But I also found that many of these girls are truly looking for a long lasting relationship. I am lucky that I finally found that person. At dinner last night, my boss was telling me how can I settle down with one girl when I have a lot of options and played the field so much. I told him that you need to dig through a lot of rock until you find that diamond in the rough. Not that any of these women are in the rough, it is just you have to look until you find someone you are truly compatible with. I played the other game where I jumped right into a marriage with a woman I know for only a couple of months. Things changed almost from the beginning and I stuck it out for 10-years. Now, after playing the field and being with the girl for more than 3-years, I hope I found my soul mate. Of course, only time will tell.

Tomorrow will be the kids Christmas party at school so I am looking forward to taking some photos of them and having a good time. I try my best to spend time with them on the weekends even though my work keeps me quite busy. At least this year it is inside so no problem if it rains.