Celebrating The Day (The World Didn't End)

The world was supposed to end, but it looks like it didn't after all. So here's how to get back to nature and celebrate the day!

Cold and wet for art!

Last summer i had a day out with a friend, Sam, to take photos. Along the way the conversation came around to my work as a life model. As the conversation developed she asked if i would pose for some photos, and the idea came about that we use a stream she knew of not too far away. Even in summer the fast flowing stream proved to be very cold, and fairly deep in one part i waded into.

I have to say that it's not easy to pose when slipping about on rocks, so what we ended up with was more of an impromptu, natural, and relaxed (though cold) set of photos.

In these three photos i did my own processing. The first, which is quite arty, i kept as simple monochrome. In the second i removed all colour but the green in the leaves. The third i got carried away and kept the green in the leaves, and the moss that was under the water, but i made it very vivid.

As an impromptu photo-shoot it was good fun.

You can find Sam on HERE on DeviantArt 

At Rest....

It was a cold and damp November morning when i had a day out with a friend, Pixi, a few years ago with the intention of making art nude photos in the woods. We had ideas to try out, which gave us some good images, but we also tried out various things on the day and ended up with these photographs which i feel have a very nice and peaceful look to them.

Although not a photographer, Pixi has an artistic flare. I chose poses and offered advice, but she also had good input and chose compositions.

Despite it being cold and damp, i think i look very calm and relaxed. I think this had a lot to do with the way myself and Pixi felt very at ease and trusting around each other. This of course is important between any photographer and model, especially when doing nude work.



I'm posting both colour and black and white for the first photograph as i really like both. Which one i prefer seems to depend very much on my mood at the time.
The second photograph was always going to be black and white. I love the composition with the figure to one side.

Pinhole Camera and the Figure

A few years ago before i went digital i drilled a hole in the body cap of an old film camera that had a few minor faults. As it had a slightly sticky shutter the plan was to use it as a pinhole camera. For various reasons i never got round to it. I dug it out recently and realised that with a bit of Blue Tac i could stick it on the front of my DSLR.
The results have been a bit mixed, especially outdoors in the sun as i think i'm getting too much light leaking in, but i tried some nudes indoors using just window light. The results lacked contrast but are quite nice in a very subtle way. I've processed some and kept that lightness and lack of contrast. I made a couple of versions, one toned and one black and white. Then i tried boosting the contrast in some, which i think works quite well.

Here's a selection showing the light subtle versions that i toned.....

Here's a few of the black and white, and higher contrast versions...and one toned but with a little vignetting.

Not Quite Glamour!

I decided that i'd do my own version of a fairly standard glamour photo we see all the time. Normally of course it would be a woman, almost always young and wearing either very little, or nothing. Now i'm not young, not a woman, don't have the breasts, and don't have the "sexy" underwear. For those reasons my version is perhaps not quite as glamorous. I also chose slightly different crops around the face with the view of playing on the not so glamorous look. I also used a high ISO setting to use the digital noise like grain in film. Personally i quite like the effect when used in monochrome photographs.

Overall i liked the results, but i'll show a few so viewers you can decide if any work better than the others. There are also different versions of some to show how they can look different depending on the editing.
The photos are better viewed large, which can be done by clicking on them.

I'll start with my personal favourite:

I liked this one with the shallow depth of field, and also just the one eye showing.

Here's a toned version for comparison.

I like the tilted head angle on this one.

I wanted one with both eyes in the frame, and also wanted something with greater depth of field, though it does make it a bit more "graphic".

Again there's a tonal version for comparison.

I tried this one with only the mouth in the frame as i was looking for greater anonymity.

Finally i'm back to my favourite. This time it was edited in camera using one of the art functions. It adds grain, and has three different contrast settings. I also tweaked it in Adobe Lightroom to get the highlights completely blown out. The idea was to draw attention  more towards the eye and face. It also leaves a subtle line of the body to the genitalia which is nicely out of focus.

Caged!

These photographs were mainly to express the way we "cage" the human body. Due to society and it's bizarre rules concerning nudity, we have to hide our bodies away from sight.

The Crawler!

Alone!

Out Of The Black

                        These two photos were taken in early 2002 using film. I lit them with a cheap 500 watt halogen lamp.
                         In 2008 i scanned them, and then edited them in Adobe Lightroom.