I haven’t been doing a very good job of blogging. Here is one photo from each of my shoots in 2018.
In March I photographed Abigail and her aerial hoop. She’s an amazing athlete.
In April, India was next as part of my food series, covered in modified corn starch. Look at how it wrinkles the skin when it dries.
August was a busy month. I got a new lens, the Zeiss Batis 85mm f1.8, and asked Melissa to shoot so I could try it out. We spent 4 hours walking around downtown Madison and the UW campus.
My trip to New York City in mid-August worked with three different models.
Anna Russel is a professional ballet dancer. We had an amazing morning in Central Park.
Dane Halo is a Canadian model who was visiting New York, we spent the afternoon in the Meatpacking District.
Jo Patrice was able to secure this amazing rooftop location in Brooklyn.
In September just before classes started Maria was the next in my food series, with a new product from Wilton called Color Mist Food Coloring Spray.
Angie Marie, a model and photographer stopped by in August and was covered with Lemon Pie filling.
And in December, Natalie was back in Madison visiting family and we got in a quick shoot.
Since the begining of the year I’ve been trying to do this series of photos with models covered with various foods. Flour, cocoa, sugar, and others.
The problem was, I’d have tons of people interested, but after a few messages they’d disappear, stop responding. Or maybe some would respond, we’d actually set up a shoot, then at the last minute they’d cancel. Both of these scenario’s happened MANY times. I was begining to think the series was cursed. So I stopped looking for a few months.
Then Elena contacted me, and we actually got to set up something and shoot it! These are the results of that. Elena is covered with flour in this set.
Keesh Lorraine is an amazing model in the Madison area. You can see some of her other work on her Model Mayhem site. I first contacted her about working with gold leaf, such as the ones I’ve done with Rebecca. We ended up going a slightly different direction doing outdoor nudes at Devil’s Lake State Park. While not the first time I’ve visited the park (many times as a boy scout), it was the first time I’d photographed there. And I hadn’t been there in quite a few years.
After stopping at the Visitor’s center for a vehicle sticker, we went to the south side of the lake to climb the east bluff.
In the far left distance you can see the lake, about a third of a mile away. At this point we’re about 200’ above the lake, though we’d only gone 75’ horizontally. I’d wanted to go higher, but, um, I’m not in that good a shape. So we stopped here and got quite a few pictures.
As you can see we’re above the tops of most of the trees. The colors of the rocks, and the lichen really match well with her skin.
This next pictures is my favorite. The diagonals of the rocks, the matching angles of her arms and legs, the straining of her muscles.
On the way back down, we took a little side trail, and found a boulder field much closer to the ground.
When I lost my job earlier this year I thought about going back to school to become a teacher. I don’t have any formal education training, but anytime I did any teaching or training at work I enjoyed it. And I’ve had a few people comment over the years that I’m pretty good at it.
I like to shoot nudes. I even have some nude self portraits on my blog. I don’t want to stop shooting or stop sharing in order to get a job. And I don’t want to get a job, then be fired because somebody sees my work. So I’m not pursuing being a teacher.
It doesn’t bother me that a choice of one thing prevents me from choosing another. There are thousands of decisions that I make that are that way. As an example, I purchased my Condo last year. While it does offer tax advantages and the ability to remodel how I like, I am prevented from moving as easily as someone who lives in an apartment.
What bothers me is that the Church Ladies think that nudity has to do with teaching ability. That people are being prevented from pursuing or performing a much needed job that they are otherwise qualified for. As much as 1/3rd of our current teachers could retire in the next 4 years, and our society is putting up artificial barriers.
And what about the people who do follow the Church Lady rules? Are they really the types of people we want as teachers? Just like in my experience people who pose nude share the traits of confidence, intelligence, creativity and a willingness to try new things. What characteristics do the teachers who are willing to follow the demands of the Church Ladies show?
