That’s right she has super powers.  She can defy gravity.  She can fly.  I have the pictures to prove it.  These were taken in the hallway next to the Memorial Union Theater.

So this is a very large post in terms of the amount of pictures.  Depending on your connection it might take a while to download them all.  We took these pictures just after the last set.

So JimmyD (http://twitter.com/pgshooter) tweeted the following article From Polanski to “Big Love”: Hollywood’s Twisted View of Child Sex Abuse by Marci A. Hamilton.  Some of the article I agreed with, some I didn’t.  I read a few of her other things and again, some I agreed with and some I didn’t.

This post isn’t about any particular view that she and I share or differ on.  It’s about her apparent non-desire to communicate with her readers.  There is no comment system.  I could not find an e-mail address anywhere on the site.

I, and many others, especially of my generation and younger, have come to expect the ability to interact with content creators.  Be it a musician, photographer, writer, etc., the idea that you’re finished once you’ve created something is very much a last century idea.  I know that sometimes in the blogs I follow the comments are more interesting and informative than the original work.  I’m not saying that to be detrimental to the creators.  The original work is generally outstanding, but the ability to question, appreciate and criticize, especially when paired with the different views, experience and knowledge from people all over the world, makes it better.

Creators that I can’t communicate with seem to be saying “This is what you should think (do, look at, listen to).” rather than “This is what I think (do, look at, listen to).”  It’s the difference between a lecture of 300 students, and a discussion with the professor at his/her home.  It’s the difference between radio and iTunes.  It’s the difference between being passive and being active.

And I would much rather live in a world of active people, who are part of the conversation, than passive people who do exactly as they’re told.

Sydney Max being active

The Biocore Prairie that is.  So this is the first set from my shoot with Rebecca on August 22nd.  There are a LOT more sets from this shoot.  We stared shooting at around 7:30pm.  We planned to start an hour earlier, but someone was late.  She made up for it though because we took our last picture at 3am.

To find out more about the Biocore Prairie just click the link above.  It’s a really amazing place, along with the rest of the Lakeshore Preserve.  I just discovered most of it last year.  I’d been out to Picnic Point for the first time about 6 or 7 years ago, and have visited a few times since then, but I’d never explored the other direction.  There are some amazing places that I’ll be showcasing more of, especially for University Nudes.

And now on to Rebecca.

This is the very first picture I took for the day. It's rare that the first turns out so well.

I love the mood in this one. And the coloring looks almost 70's film like.

If your monitor is not calibrated correctly this one may not look good to you.

After the sun had gone behind the trees on the horizon Rebecca climbed the tree to get more light.

My next post will be either Sydney Max defying gravity, or Jason my newest University Nude.

Syl Arena over at PixSylated posted a blog on where the photography industry is headed.  I started to comment, but then realized my comment was getting long enough to be a post so here it is.

I think that some segments of photography will be effected more than others.

For example, sports. Currently you have still photographers and television cameras at most major games. Television cameras are only 1080P at the best. But what happens when they start using a Red One or something better? Why would you pay for a still photographer when you can pull a single frame from a video guy who’s already there?

Portrait and wedding photographers I think will see less of a change. Take the pictures in Harry Potter as an example where these industries are headed.  There not really movies as there’s no storyline or anything.  I’ve been calling them motion photographs, and the new profession a “motion photographer”.  And you don’t even need a video camera.  Check out this post by David Hoby at Strobist.com.  He highlights a music video that was shot using a DSLR at 10 frames a second and lit with strobes.  As David says, “The vid is, technically, 16,000 still photos.”

I think the still image, whether from a still camera or single frame will be around for quite a while. First a static image of a scene in many ways has more impact. When you hear Tiananmen Square you think of the photo of the man standing in front of the tanks, even though there is video available.

Second is a question of bandwith, not so much of our devices but of our minds. Humans can speak and listen at about 150 words a minute. But we can read almost twice as fast, 250 to 300 words a minute. This is one of the reasons I don’t watch TV news anymore. I can get more information in less time, and my understanding and enjoyment is enhanced by a relevant still image.

This is the second set with Sydney Max.  Again, these were shot on August 20th.  The weather this day was difficult from a photographic standpoint.  The temperature was good, but the sun kept moving in and out of the clouds.  In one frame the sky looks like it’s about to storm, in the next frame it’s a beautiful summer day.  To try to compensate for that we moved to the chairs under a small tree.

So I’ve been wanting to do some pictures at night.  The colors, the locations, it seemed like it would make really good pictures.  And it did.

Lin over at Fluffytek said in her latest blog:

On photography blogs, certain standards are inherent. The pressure to be as good as your peers is intense.

It reminded me of something I’ve been thinking about for the last few days.

On Monday I dropped off the three framed pictures at Cafe Montemarte.  (see my previous post)  The woman in charge was surprised that I’d never shown any of my work before, she really liked it.  It got me thinking about why I didn’t think about it in the same way.  I decided it was because I compare my work to others that I see most often.  Because I regularly read the blogs listed in my blogroll, and see a lot of excellent work on Model Mayhem, I compare myself to them.  These are some of the best photographers in the world.  On the one hand it’s good to compare myself to them, it makes me want to emulate the high quality that I see in their work, makes my work better.  On the other hand it does make me think that my work is inferior.  I like the work I’ve done and am proud of it, but I wouldn’t necessarily say it’s up to the same level.

Thinking about this is the first time that I could empathize with women who say that beauty magazines give them lower self esteem.  Prior to this I thought “how could a magazine do that?”.  Now I kind of get it.  There is a difference in that I have greater control over the outcome.  I can learn and change what I’m doing to improve my work, where as a woman is limited in how much she can change herself.  Yes, she can wear make up, dye her hair, even go to the extreme and get plastic surgery, but that can only change so much.  She’s not going to get any taller, you can only get so thin, and every day you get older.

Getting back to photography, I now realize I am better than the vast majority of people on this planet.  I’m not bragging, I just am.  Even when comparing “people who take pictures” I’m better than average.  I guess I’m just saying be more aware of why you do things.

I heard that phrase a number of years ago.  They were talking about guys who wore glasses.  Some men think of glasses as a handicap, others as an asset.  In the particular story the gentleman had an eye infection and couldn’t wear his normal contact lenses.  So when he went out that night he wore glasses and asked women if he looked better with or without them.  Great way to start a conversation with something that may not be ideal.

It popped into my head in response to a thread on MM.  This thread is about one young woman’s difficulties in how people respond to her nude modeling.  In this particular thread it was her parent’s responses to her first real nude shoot.  Many of the things they said to her would apply to any number of people, from other family members, coworkers, and the general public.

And they’re all wrong.

I’m not gonna refute everything that’s in the thread.  You can go read that yourself and just use common sense.  What I am gonna do is to relate this back to the title of the post.  One of the things that her parents said was

No one will want to marry you.

Now, I’m sure that there are some people in this world that would not marry such a woman.  They would not even entertain the thought of marriage if they knew or even suspected that such an event had taken place. That any woman who would do that is morally bankrupt.  I don’t agree with the people in this group, but they have their beliefs and they’re following them.  I respect that.  Much more than the next group.

The hypocrites.  They’re okay with female nudity.  Until it’s their daughter, or their fiance.  They don’t mind seeing your girlfriend, or your wife naked, but theirs is “special” only for them.  These are the guys I like the least.  They’re usually jealous and insecure.  So many women I’ve photographed want to do nudes, but don’t because of guys in this group.

The next group we’ll call the apathetic.  They don’t really care either way.  They may tend to be slightly positive about it.  They might get to see the woman naked before having sex with her, which is usually a plus.  On the other hand if the woman hasn’t posed nude, it’s not gonna bother them at all.

I really don’t know what to call the last group.  Why don’t we call them people like me.  Nudity is important to me.  And not just sexually though that is a nice side benefit.  All of the women that I’ve met who have been nude in front of a camera are women that I want to know outside of the photography industry.  They share many of the same traits like confidence, intelligence, creativity and a willingness to try new things.  I don’t know if they had these traits before they posed nude or they developed them after posing.  Perhaps it’s some of both that feeds back on each other.  Either way these women are better than the general population.  Which is why I won’t become involved with a woman that isn’t willing to pose nude.

Now, I don’t expect a woman to strip right after I get her phone number.  And I’m not going to rule a woman out because she hasn’t posed yet.  But if she’s downright against it we won’t be spending much time together.  If the relationship progresses, and she hasn’t been in front of my camera sans clothing, then her finger will be sans ring.  That’s right.  I won’t marry a woman UNLESS she poses nude.  I would hope she enjoys it as much as I do.  I don’t expect her to have a career in nude photography, unless she wants to.  And if she only wants to pose for me, that’s fine.  But I’m not gonna stop her if she wants to pose for others.

And now we’re finally back to the first phrase at the top of this post.  What you can’t fix, you feature.  I can’t change the people in the other three groups.  But I can show them a better way to act.  So besides the personal benefits of having a wife willing to pose nude, I’m hoping that my example may help others.  And, just to show that I’m not a hypocrite, here’s some photos of me.

Josh Nude

Josh Nude