December 29, 2008

Michael Vasquez, art is our best medicine












You'll find Michael Vasquez at : his official (and very active !) blog, deviantART, his MySpace, Model Mayhem.









"Art"










"The Smile" - Model Leslie











Michael Vasquez (San Antonio, Texas, USA) and I share something special : the handicap. Beyond our common passion for photography and our love for women, his traumatic stroke and my multiple sclerosis learn us day after day the true meaning of life :

"I’m learning the things that are important to a quality life. I’ve learned how the handicapped and the aged feel. How they struggle to find not only the quality but the dignity to life that we take for granted."
Together, we daily discover a new "me, myself, I", someone more tolerant, less complicated, compassionate. You could tell me I don't talk about his style, his love for natural light or his deep respect for his models, but it does no harm just this once, I wanted to have a special thought for all those who are suffering, and maybe who don't know "The Secret" :

"Chris and I, and thousands more like us, we know "The Secret" : Art heals the spirit, which in turn heals the body. And that makes you, the photographers and artists out there reading this, more valuable to us than you could ever know."Lin Bee from Fluffytek













" I am a mature photographer with a practiced eye who appreciates women in all their glory.


I love working with natural light and with everyday backgrounds, I’ve done studio work and am thoroughly bored with it. I still love the look and the “feel” of real film so I’m a traditionalist. I prefer natural women in comfortable setting or in nature.












"White Shirt"





















For a little information I’ve been working in photography for most of my adult life as an event photographer, capturing ex-Presidents, Secretary’s of State and of course Congressmen and Mayors.

I lived in New York for 5 years and put my time to good use shooting with young model on their way up. I’ve always loved finding out about people and finding ways to report a thin slice of their lives at a given moment in time.

I returned from NYC some 10 years ago and like many of you I’ve struggled with the changes in our industry and economy ever since. My stroke changed all that, changed my life and how I view it forever.









"Dancing"










"Red"
Model Leslie












In November of 2005 I had a major stroke. With the help of the doctors, therapist and my friends I’ve learned to not take life for granted. I’ve had a lot of struggles learning to walk and to gradually regain the use my hand and arm.

I’m learning the things that are important to a quality life. I’ve learned how the handicapped and the aged feel. How they struggle to find not only the quality but the dignity to life that we take for granted.



I feel like I was given the chance at a new life, a better life and my desire now is to help others find their own ways to make it back to their own lives.


I don’t mean to preach or proselytize I have no agenda, pills or way of life that I’m pushing my aim is to tell my story and perhaps it will help.









"Redhead"










"Bodyscape"




I absolute love shooting bodyscapes of my models. I love the contours, the hills and valleys in landscapes. I find through my lens a wonder world of shapes and gentle curves.


Watching the way their body moves during the shoot is key to my methods. I’ll sit back when were shooting and some pose will seem awkward or forced : "give me something new" I’ll say. I won’t say what then I get the chance to watch them create a new look or feel and the body will move. I watch the play of light over them and maybe if I’m lucky I’ll find something worth a visit later. I’m looking as an artist trying to figure out what there is to find.










"Pensive"









"At the Window"




Yes, that’s what I look for the light and shape and angles and sometimes what a lucky young man I am. Other time I don’t see it until I look at the finished work and then I realize how lucky I am to do what I do.

There’s not really anything sexual in what my model and I create. It’s not hum-drum work mind you but we get to laughing sometime at the absurdity of it all.


We’re busy creating an illusion, a fantasy of the woman and we’re having a great time playing at that fantasy.


That’s the most fun I’ve had since sex people have told me, no muss or fuss. That is the way it suppose to be, you’re both there to create some beautiful art and to build up some trust so you can have a better time next time.











"Spacial"




I like to bring a sense of play and adventure to my shoots. I give my models a basic outline of what I’m considering shooting but I stress that my shooting is personality based. I think I’m good at that and that’s why I can occasional get that perfectly spontaneous look and feel to my shoots. Working with a nude the first time is such a grab bag of possibilities.








"Timeless"
Model Vada




I like for my models to feel free to experiment with different looks and emotions. It’s important to me that they feel comfortable and safe to just down right play and get silly if they want. Like I say, my photography is so keenly aware of the models personality and her moods.


I like that. Some people disagree and want there models as props in the shoot. I think it depends on the personality of the photographer and where his or her mind is at."









Model Rachel




December 27, 2008

Backstage work and Masters' quotes


" Photography to the amateur is recreation. To the professional it is work, and hard work too, no matter how pleasurable it may be." Edward Weston







Sylvie Blum -
"Backstage part 4"







" My creative process begins when I get out with the camera and interact with the world. A camera is truly a license to explore. There are no uninteresting things. There are just uninterested people." Jerry Uelsmann








Jenna Black
"Unique Nudes Behind the Scenes"
Art Model Kaylynn Hills







" All eyes can see how a country can be free and treat the naked body as art. Not as pornography or as a crime, but with happiness and caring.” Spencer Tunick








José Manchado -
"Chloé"
Art Model Chloé





" For me to walk around the block where I live could take five minutes. But when I have a camera, it could take five hours." Jerry Uelsmann









Mark Varley -
"P6067329"








" This then : to photograph a rock, have it look like a rock, but be more than a rock." Edward Weston









Franck Petronio -
"She’s quite a good photographer too"








" I just create shapes and forms with human bodies. It's an abstraction, it's a performance, it's an installation." Spencer Tunick









Nikola Borissov -
"Cet obscur objet du désir"
Backstage 3








" Never forget that the nurturing and preservation of your own muse is job one. Lose it and you may be losing a great deal." Robert Genn









Rudolf Imrišík -
"Flexaret IV"








" Consulting the rules of composition before taking a photograph is like consulting the laws of gravity before going for a walk." Edward Weston









Marcus J Ranum -
"Why aren't there more..."
Art Model Stacy








" If the affairs of the world were put in the hands of the screwball artists, it couldn’t be in a worse state than it is now !" Man Ray









John Peri -








" True muses stay dreams forever unless artists connect them to exploratory work." Robert Genn









Helmut Newton








"I take photographs with love, so I try to make them art objects. But I make them for myself first and foremost--that is important. If they are art objects at the same time, that's fine with me." Jacques-Henri Lartigue









Michael Helms -
"Iris 7544"
Art Model Iris Dassault -








"The question is not what you look at but what you see !" Henry David Thoureau









Salhuana Studios
"White Sands 2"
Art Model Katy T -








"Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that man has inherited and the wealth and confusion man has created." Edward Steichen









Igor Amelkovich
"Shoot me"








“I wish more people felt that photography was an adventure the same as life itself and felt that their individual feelings were worth expressing. To me, that makes photography more exciting.” Harry Callahan









Jarda Balek -
"Nude photography"








"Life is like a good black and white photograph, there's black, there's white, and lots of shades in between." Karl Heiner









Michael Helms and Perry Gallagher -
Art Model Kayla








"A photograph is an instrument of love and revelation that must see beneath the surfaces and record the qualities of nature and humanity which live in all things." Ansel Adams









Robert Lubanski -
"Silhouette"
Models Evelina and Pola








"To photograph is to hold one's breath, when all faculties converge to capture fleeting reality. It's at that precise moment that mastering an image becomes a great physical and intellectual joy." Henri Cartier-Bresson









François Benveniste -
"Self photographer"
Art Model Magda








"It's marvellous, marvellous ! Nothing will ever be as much fun. I'm going to photograph everything, everything !" Jacques-Henri Lartigue









Doug Faircloth -
"The Photographer's Assistant"