Another birthday portrait of Laecee. Sometimes I just really like overpowering rim-light. It may be an overdone trick in a way, but I think it works really well for portraits like these, where a slightly washed-out foreground creates a stronger sense of… captured moment. And I’m all about captured moments. And I don’t care if it’s been done before.

This was shot in Sonoma, during a wine-tasting trip we took for Laecee’s birthday. We had just finished tasting at Kunde and I pulled her aside to get a picture to commemorate the occasion. It was a beautiful and serene day and I love the way it shows on her face. There’s something to be said for simple honest no-frills portraiture. I think I need to do more or it.

This weekend I was treated to a rude awakening – apparently Fuji has discontinued production of Neopan 400 in 120 size and I’ve somehow missed the memo. I’ve looked around some and have not been able to find anyone who has enough of it for sale and I’m once again left without a 400-speed bw film.

EDIT: picked up 50 rolls from craigslist. This should last me over a year. Crisis averted, or, rather, postponed.

Here’s another shot from the same series. So far it seems to have gotten the biggest response elsewhere so here it goes.

A couple of days ago I did my second shoot with Sara (who appears on the title screen of this website). The first thing we shot, the main theme of the shoot, was my attempt to illustrate the way I perceive Death. After years of dancing around it, this is my first attempt to tackle the subject directly. Here it is. I’m also aware of the fact that I’m breaking all the rules by talking about this here – it’s too loaded of a title to assign to a picture, it will cripple your (editorial) ability to think about it on your own terms. But screw it, this is a blog, after all, and not an exhibition. Had this been an exhibition, the title would’ve been “untitled” or “***” or something else to that matter.

Another image from the same lazy Saturday morning, also taken on expired-in-97 Tri-X.

Marina, still mostly asleep, on saturday morning. I took it on a roll of Tri-X that expired way back in ’97. When taking the shots I had no idea what was going to come out, and now I regret that I don’t have any more – the texture of the grain is simply awesome for some of the things I like to do.

Also interesting just how capricious my relationship with my cameras is. The trusty old Bronica that I used here, for example, has been collecting dust for something like a year, all because of a slight crack in its prism, just barely visible in the viewfinder at just the right angle. A little while ago, on a whim, I replaced the prism, and only then realized just how much that really-hard-to-notice crack bothered me all along. Now, the Bronica’s back as one of my favorite cameras to shoot with. Go figure.

Sunday morning
Brings the dawn in
It’s just a restless feeling by my side
Early dawning
Sunday morning
It’s just the wasted years so close behind
Watch out the world’s behind you
There’s always someone around you who will call
It’s nothing at all

Sunday morning
And I’m falling
I’ve got a feeling I don’t want to know
Early dawning
Sunday morning
It’s all the streets you crossed, not so long ago
Watch out the world’s behind you
There’s always someone around you who will call
It’s nothing at all

Sunday morning
Sunday morning
Sunday morning

(c) Velvet Underground

Last Sunday morning, Marina and I were taking some pictures of Nastya, a friend of ours. She’s never really had her picture taken before beyond your casual snapshot and came in not knowing what to expect and even somewhat tense. The minute we put her in front of the camera, however, her tension went away and things got easy.

In this particular shot, I wanted to make it dreamy, to create a feeling of being in a pleasant daze. I shot it with my Bronica, covering the lens with a translucent metallic scarf and deliberately catching it with the back-light to create lots of flare.

This weekend Marina and I celebrated our anniversary over at the Harbin Hot Springs resort, swimming in the warm mineral pools under the open sky.

Incidentally, the first ever photo in this blog was taken during our previous anniversary.

Face-paint by my good friend and fairie extraordinaire of Happily Ever Laughter Parties.

This is one of the first shots in the yet-unnamed project I’m begining to work on. It will focus on the contrast and interplay between living human emotion and the sterile and still inanimate objects. I have not yet fully framed it in my mind, but it feels like I’m getting there little by little. Expect more photos along this theme.

This shot is from the same shoot as the previous one.