Helmut Newton is always provocative and always frank. It is interesting to see this documentary created by his wife June.

I ran across this video on another photographer's blog. It is a humorous take on going out on your own for the first time. Mixed in with the humour are some great wisdom and words to live by when striking out on your own.

Going Solo. from Studio Botes on Vimeo.

Finally getting a chance to edit some fashion influenced images from earlier in this year. I have to admit I prefer the taller fashion agency models as they look better from more angles. That is not to say there are not some gorgeous and versatile shorter models, but getting samples in smaller sizes is usual difficult if not impossible.

It always strikes me as strange that perfection in the human form in terms of advertising is really less than 1 percent of the population.

Model: Teisha

This image was also accepted to the traveling show.

I am pleased to have made the finals of the Erotic Signature competition this year. The top 200 finalist will be published in an anthology and will tour in a 5 city show.

This is a shot of Rachael Reckless done in Portland Oregon early this year. I am just getting around to processing the set now. As usual with my schedule I am behind in editing.

Rachael is a great model, easy to work with and a real trooper. These shots were done early in the morning after a long day when she had one shoot early in the day, had a dance a burlesque set for a late night cabaret and then had to meet me to shoot at the hotel suite.

She really has a sense of style that is all her own. The makeup was also done by Rachael.

I am shooting fashion tomorrow for the first time. This is the culmination of weeks of work, including model selection, fittings, wardrobe shopping and makeup selection. This really is quite a financial commitment, but I am hoping to expand my photography horizons and one needs to invest in their art to become more than just a dilettante.

At least I am slow moving up in height for models. I was joking with a friend the other day, that I started with 5 foot nothing models and I am slowing moving my way up to 6 foot models. Fashion is brutal for portray woman one way and one way only, but it is business and you do need to know what sells and give the customer what they want.

I getting a little burned out shooting though. Working a full time job and planning for 3 photo shoots with a lot of conceptual content is starting to be grind. I just need to get through these 3 and then take a break. I have tentative made commitments for May and June already though.

Burning Man 2005

I am finally getting a chance to process some of the photos from the 2005 Burning Man event. The event was a great deal of fun, but also can be a very overwhelming event as well. There is a lot going on at all hours of the day and night. The problem of being there as a photographer is that you spend all your time looking for "the shot". There is so many great shots in terms of the artwork and the people dressed up in costumes. Unfortunately, this can separates you from the experience. It is unnatural for the photographer to put down his camera, but after 3 days of shooting I put the camera away for the most part in order to enjoy the experience.

This is a shot of a sculpture which I am calling the "Face of Burning Man". I never did find out the name of the art piece. This was shot during the day, but at night it took on a whole new personality. The artist had set up a tent in front of the sculpture with a projector. You could go in and put your face in a jig and your face would be projected on the larger face. Combined with music and morphed in background imagery, it created a perfect forum for those brave souls looking for soup box in the middle of the Nevada desert. The artist's friend had this whole comedy routine about an alien coming from the planet of the big heads and trial and tribulations of having a big head such as needing giant reefers. Very funny stuff.

CLEOPATRA GOTHIC MISTRESS.

Image from a recent photo shoot in Los Angeles. Not an ideal shoot. The lighting system was nothing like what I expected. I couldn't take my own lights as it is difficult getting a lot of equipment through customs. The lighting system on hand was just three bare lights with no filters, reflectors or soft boxes. I managed to get some good shots considering the conditions. This was shot with a single light and with the one diffision grating the studio happen to have on hand.

The studio was a good location with a number of pre-setup sets. One of the rooms was made up to look like a dungeon. This shot was taken in a corner of that room.

This shot was done with an ISO setting of 1600 in apeture primary mode. It is a little more grainy than I would like as a result, but I thought it turned out alright. More shadow on the left side of the models face would have made for a stronger image.

The low light conditions played havoc on the camera's auto focus system. This would not normally be a problem, but I find my eyes are going as I get older. Manual focusing is just not as sharp and crisp as it once was.