My First Workshop

by photoanthems | Feb 19, 2008 | Blog

My first workshop…

Stress is the best term I can use to describe it. Mainly it was the coordinations, but it was already starting out rough from my frustrating failed attempt at getting my drawing group established. I am the organizer for the Las Vegas Art Model’s Group, which is a Meetup.com group I created to give models an a forum to socialize with other models and artists, as well as to provide a venue for them to work. Since the majority of models work for drawing artists, I decided to let that be my priority. I’ve been at it for 3 months searching for a venue to hold drawing sessions and I thought I had one secured but somehow that opportunity was lost…long story.

Anyway, I decided to work on a photo venue. A member of the group made his personal studio available and we held our first workshop there this past Sunday afternoon. It went very well. I had 5 of 8 slotted photogs sign up. I interviewed 8 models for the job. The first I selected realized she was not going to be available for that date. I settled on another, but then lost communications before I got a firm booking. I immediately contacted one of the last two interviewees and secured a committment. She turned out to be great! She’s deaf which was an initial challenge but she is very spirited, enthusiastic, and charismatic, not to mention gorgeous. Our initial interview was about 2 hours and the second was an hour and a half. Everyone loved her. She’s very beautiful with the same characteristics on the inside. We are making plans for a shoot with just ourselves.

I know I need to find a more efficient and less stressful way to organize this effort. Right now, I am certain I am undercharging the photogs who attend and underpaying the models I need to do the job. I’ve got to beef up my resources. I’ve received responses from several models willing to work with me, but its a whole different story making sure they commit. My philosophy was to go with the more mature and experienced model to help kick off this first one. The model I lost contact with was experienced at this for more than 8 years and was around 35 or so years old, yet I was left hanging. It was a 21 year old with significantly less experience who charmed my group and bailed my ass out of a jam.

There are still some details yet to workout. My model was toast after just 2 hours for a four hour workshop and so was I. I didn’t shoot much at all. My job was faciliating the workshop and making sure everything was smooth. So, I need to workout how not to burnout my models while giving the photogs what they pay for. I’ve been on several shoots that lasted more than 4 hours. Maybe it was the warmth of the studio or the fact that I was exhausted from little sleep. But I know I need to find a way to keep my model fresh throughout the two 2-hour sessions. Oh well, its a process.

More to Come…

by photoanthems | Feb 16, 2008 | Blog

Virtual Relationships

by photoanthems | Feb 8, 2008 | Blog

I was just sitting here thinking about how easy it is to become connected with people on the net. Virtual relationships have become sort of common in my life as of late as I communicate with individuals, develop a bond…a connection, yet, never having met together face to face. In some cases I know that’s an okay thing, but I know for kids, the naive, and those less wary this can be a dangerous proposition. Common sense should always be the chief discretionary trait in any relationship you become involved in, whether virtual or in person.

More of My Take on MM

by photoanthems | Feb 3, 2008 | Blog

Kickoff is getting ready to start for the Super Bowl. My Cowboys didn’t make it and neither did the Packers, so I am not as hyped for this game, but I hope its a good one.

Its one of several online business models that allow to you post information and images about yourself and then communicate with like minded people who might like to do business with you. Its quite popular, but the format to gain more exposure keeps you on it constantly to say hello, comment on someone’s work. The more you say…the more you are seen, so you are constantly being polite and courteous in the belief that its the proper etiquette to respond to someone else’s comment about your images. You get a forum to seek out potential models in your area and they can also find you.

The thing is, this doesn’t always pay off. You can expect to see several profiles where the user has not been active for several months or longer, because they get frustrated at becoming comment whores eagerly awaiting feedback. On the other hand, its great for MM in advertisements. The longer you stay on and the more often you come back, the better potential that you will see an advertisement that catches your eye. You may not be the type to be sensitive to these ad placements, but I can assure you, more money using this type of business model for generating ad revenue than they get from your subscription. Thats why they can afford to let you have the space for free. I’d be willing to be less than 8.2% of all MM users upgrade to the VIP service that allows them to post a hundred pics in stead of the 20 free ones they get. For the moment, even that service is suspended while they do some server renovating. If they are smart, they’ll be virtualizing those servers.

On another note, I think I am getting ready launch my first photo workshop for my Las Vegas Art Model’s Group as soon as we get enough participants to sign up. My drawing workshop is back on hold again, pending studio space. I am still looking forward to shooting Trixie again. She’s got an excellent backside as you can conclude from these abstracts. I’m also anxious to interview with a few others who have contacted me about shooting. Its a process…

On Model Mayhem … Website problem fixed

by photoanthems | Jan 30, 2008 | Blog

The world might just be returning to normal. My web site can again be accessed via an AOL browser. Its been, maybe two weeks and I can tell a significant decrease in my viewership numbers. Still, no explanation of what happened, or if it is prone to happening again.

Anyways, I got to check out a studio for my Las Vegas Art Model’s Group to use for photography. It was one built by a videographer who is a member of my group and he’s got this thing hooked up. Millions of props, a variety of lighting set ups and sets, and spacious. I can now start the process of arranging MeetUps. I am still waiting word on the studio space for my drawing group. I’ve signed on with the Contemporary Arts Collective, here in Vegas, and will begin volunteering my services in whatever capacity useful. I’ve been in talks with the new Art Director there about using the facilities to host my drawing group there in the evenings and weekend afternoons. So we will see how that goes.

I guess my presence on Model Mayhem is starting to pay off. I’ve been in contact with several models who wish to work with me, but I get several from out of town, mainly California, who plan to visit in a few months. I have not had that same opportunities with models in Vegas just yet, at least not any that seem serious enough to result in anything definite. This is my profile page…I am MM#579934. I am still learning the ins and outs of exposure on this thing. I can’t say I am fond of posting announcements that disappear in 4 seconds of posting as other announcements are made which force yours to the bottom of the page and then off the screen. I kid you not… 4 seconds. So many people are posting announcements that you can click off the main screen and then go back and your avatar is already moved on.

So the next way of exposure is posting vane comments on people’s pics. Nice pic…Nice port….Stunning…Beautiful…I like this alot!… If you are a model, you’re inundated with photogs who comment on wanting to work with you. Basically, you become comment whores along with everyone else. BUT, I think once you have established a presence, things start to roll for you. You get seen more often with less effort. People are requesting to be added to your friends list and your comments fill up with the same mundane “nice port” crap. Its never really any type of critique you can use, but you still live for it. Just the attention is what you crave. But then you sometimes meet some interesting people and exchange in pleasant dialog. You make future plans to meet up at some point and schedule a shoot. I guess that makes it worth while.

My Friends…This is Trixie

by photoanthems | Jan 24, 2008 | Blog

I hope everyone has found time to get around to Chris’ Univers d’Artiste to wish him well. As promised, I said I’d post some new material. Its been a while since I’ve gotten to do new work. I think I introduced Natalie sometime last October or late September. I don’t plan to let a span of time like that traverse the continuum of space again without me getting somebody naked. Granted, a contracted project worked me for 12-14 hour days for 3 months in that span, but that’s still no excuse. In fact, I am very appreciative of having the job. It payed well and afforded me the ability to jump in into my Canon 40D, which I now have the benefit to enjoy. But still, art Nudes is like Jello, there’s always room for that.

So that being said, I introduce Trixie. I, initially, had no intention of posting the work I was able to do with her for out first time. We planned some preliminary shots just to get started and then maybe do some real work later on afterwards, sometime the next week. Well, THREE hours later, I was taking home some pretty good material that I liked. I immediately saw that I could use most everything we did. I tried to tell her to stop posing toward the end, but she’d ball up into something cute and I’d have to fire off the shutter a few times. I then attempted to put the camera away and in the course of conversation I would see another angle of her…back out comes the camera again. The last 45 minutes must have been me putting away the camera and bringing it back out because I would see something new I liked. It was only her driving natural force of hunger that finally abated another hour of shooting. I was trying to exercise better control and not attempt to get everything I liked from her at once. That would have been rude.

We first talked about doing the shoot maybe mid-December and I conducted my first two interviews with her. We hit it off well and agreed to shoot, but thought it would be best to wait til after the holidays settled. I could tell right off that she was a person of great character and ideal for my to shoot on an ongoing basis. Spirit and a willingness to give are the two traits I can ascribe to her that I most admire. This girl is willing to work and has a sincere interest in becoming part of an artistic process. Its my hope that she, and maybe a few others, can help me develop my trade. Models like her, give me the opportunity to experiment and try new things. Her contributions just over this single shoot were invaluable. I was also thankful to her husband, for being so understanding and willing to “lend” me his pride and joy to create something I can now share with you all. I will be posting several of her images up on the blog. You can also see some on my website, TLNeasley.com, as well as on my profile on deviantART, which will be uploaded maybe tomorrow. Some will be the same, some will be different. I think I have 37 on my website but out of about 350 shots, I have edited it down to about 160. So they will be popping up all over for a spell. Thats not counting the set from our next shoot planned soon. I have also been contacted by a few other models who have expressed a desire to work with me, so we’ll see how that goes as well. By the way, AOL still hasn’t fixed the thing that causes my website to re-route to something else, so use Internet Explorer or Firefox to access my site.

On another note: There must be a huge interest in mail modling konserns, and errekshuns is almost always the main subject. I intentionally misspelled that so as to not draw attention from search bots. This has resulted from my 13 November 2007 posting on the discussion. I got enough requests on the matter that I responded to help mailartmodelz get over that concern. Good gracious, I really don’t want to answer any more questions about that and I am almost certain 30 percent (or more) of my blog hits come from searches that regard the subject matter. My blog is on top of those search results. I guess I can’t be mad at anything driving traffic to my blog, but I am pretty sure not all these mail modling konserns have to do with someone who is a modle worried about what to do if he gets an errekshun. What do you think?

Get Well Chris!!!!!!!!!!!

by photoanthems | Jan 22, 2008 | Blog

I’ll be posting new pics later this week. I still have to finish some last minute edits and title them! But right now I wanted wish my friend, Chris St. James a speedy recovery. As if you didn’t know, Chris is the man behind the super-bad nude art blog “Univers d’Artistes“. Chris supports the work of photographic artists who specialize in artistic expressions of the nude. He does this by featuring art from the most famous and highly acclaimed photogs as well as the unheard of, like myself. In addition, you can find valuable resource material on his blog as he keeps it updated and adds to it constantly.

So ya’ll show your support and wish him a quick and complete recovery. Show some love, dammit!

AOL is the problem… not ifp3.com

by photoanthems | Jan 13, 2008 | Blog

Apparently, my website host is not the problem. Its the AOL browser. You can view my site on Internet Explorer or Firefox, but for the moment, not AOL. For whatever reason, its re-routing all ifp3.com content and everyone’s webpages to the JBoss site. I am still trying to find out what the deal is, so in the meantime, keep that in mind and sorry for any inconvenience this might pose.

Website down, plus Matter and Nimoy

by photoanthems | Jan 12, 2008 | Blog

It would appear that my website host, ifp3.com is down at the moment. When you click on my site, all you get is a Welcome to JBoss page. Well, rest assure that I have not gone into a new line of business. I checked my bank account and my bill is paid up with ifp3.com, so that’s not it either. From the looks of things, everyone who uses this online webhost has the same page pop up. So just give them a little time, I am sure they will sort out this mess, refund me for the downtime, and all will be back to normal!

But since we are both here, I may as well use the time to post a few things. Jordan Matter … I came across his website when a nudist site posted my link on a page of nude resources. Browsing the links, I ended up finding New York photographer on a link promoting topless equality for women. I had no idea that it has been legal for women in NY to be topless! I am a big fan of the artistic nude. Number 2 to that is the topless woman. Spending time in Germany,France and Spain has cultivated that notion. After a discussion with a woman in France, back in 1989 or so, I became enlightened which led to my distaste for bras. I know some women feel they need them, and maybe rightly so, but as a personal preference, I hate bras. I do not care what anyone says, a man did not invent the bra, unless he was kidnapped, locked into a basement, and made to do so under force.

On another note, I picked up a copy of Carrie Leigh’s Nude, at my local book stand over the holidays. It’s still back with the porn mags, behind the counter and laid flat so you can’t even see the cover. Its available upon request. Anyway, I was glad my bud Dave Rudin got to make the first issue and I could see that the magazine had quality material in editorial and interview content. As before this second issue was no exception. I was particularly intrigued by the Leonard Nimoy interview. Granted, I have been a fan of Spock and Star Trek for years. But this was really the first time I got to see Leonard Nimoy and not visualize him with pointed ears. I had no idea that the man has been a photographer since before he was an actor. I was one of the ignorant who figured he picked up a camera after his acting days are over and pointed it at a naked girl. The man built his own first enlarger as a kid out of an old metal lunchbox and a spare camera! He goes on to describe his love for the print since before, during, and now even late into his acting career. I can’t say “after” his acting career, because I am pretty sure a new Star Trek is coming out and he’s in it. Well, I have seen his work before and can relate to his efforts to take on challenging and even non-popular subjects like the project he did on overweight women, The Full Body Project, which is in the magazine. I had seen these images before while browsing a library. Well, that’s enough for today, me thinks, especially since that’s two major posts, two days in a row. Don’t wanna spoil y’all.

Next Evolution of Photography

by photoanthems | Jan 12, 2008 | Blog

NPR (National Public Radio), had an interesting piece today that consisted of an interview by noted National Geographic photographer, Sam Abell. You can listen to a mp3 version of this 35 minute interview by clicking => HERE. RealPlayer or MediaPlayer will suffice. Mr. Abell is in Nevada to be the keynote speaker at Ceasars Palace for the “An Evening with CLASS! , 2008″, in support of a fundraiser for a high school organization. In the KNPR interview, he talks about many subjects of interest. In an answer to a listener’s question regarding post-processing software, he reveals that he is strictly a film photographer and does not use digital software to alter any of his photos other than to create digital reproductions of them. He has a deliberate philosophy regarding his craft, but a rather dismal prospect on the future of photography and photographers. It would seem he believes this may be a dying profession, going the way of the cassette tape, or at least that’s my opinion of his remarks.

I too have began to wonder about the business of photography as we know it. Camera technologies has been in a perpetual evolutionary state since the camera obscura and the daguerreotype. The advent of multiple exposure possibilities from emulsion coated a paper or plastic rolled substrate (a roll of film) instead of a single “one shot at a time” plate was seen as an advancement. Instant film by Polaroid was seen an advancement, just as the digital censor was viewed as an advancement. Photo purists have already began to lament the onslaught of the digital age, but Abell comments that the art and craft of the photography is dying much faster than what we might imagine. He discusses the advent of videography as a new tool that is quickly gaining ground as the preferred method of still capture. Abell recounts how it once took him 14 months to “get the shot” on a particular shoot for which he was charged. This sort of dedication would be absurd today. No longer is there a need to wait for the right moment. Video of the same scene allows the ability to become more selective with image capture.

I recall reading the Helmut Newton autobiography where he discusses taking maybe 10 images for an entire shoot. It was either in that book or the HBO documentary “Helmut by June”. Now photogs will use a digital SLR with a huge CF card from which they can select the best image from amongst a choice of hundreds or even thousands. It would appear that the new age of photographers, or rather videographers will not even need to do that. The ability to record video footage and then select the choice still image reduces the propensity to pull a muscle in your trigger finger from releasing a shutter a million times for every shoot. Is this really the future of photography? How much time do we have left before the art of fact SLR becomes an artifact SLR? Photojounalists will feel the impact much more than the photo artist, but is it simply a matter of time?