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fine art nudes story telling travel

Anne Duffy Overlooking the Edge

Anne Duffy Overlooking the Edge ©2016
Anne Duffy Overlooking the Edge ©2016

I’d love to take credit for it, but Anne Duffy is the one who spotted the tree first. A beautiful tree. And like so many trees on the island of Kauai, the erosion from years of the ocean doing what oceans do, left a stunning series of twisted roots in a way that made any onlooker feel they had x-ray vision and could see through the ground. Quite a place to make a photograph of the equally stunning Anne.

Anne and I spent several hours there one morning, and I made so many photographs of her, climbing, posing, arching, contorting, along those roots. It sparked a very interesting conversation.

Anne asked the question, why did I make so many photographs, while other photographers such as Zoe Wiseman, made far fewer exposures of her when they would shoot. Zoe is a brilliant photographer and the reason we were all here in this Hawaiian island paradise to begin with, as part of her nearly annual Zoefest.

I thought about Anne’s question for a moment. Many reasons came to mind. First, the ocean is loud. Communication can be a little difficult trying to shout over the sound of waves. I’m fairly sure my only direction to Anne that morning was the occasional, “Beautiful!”, or, “Yes, that’s perfect! Hold there!”

But as I thought more about it, even without the ocean roar, I do tend to make a lot of photographs during a shoot. So the environment being too loud to direct Anne, wasn’t quite the correct answer, I concluded.

I thought a little more and said, “I don’t know. Maybe Zoe is simply a better photographer than I am.” A little self-deprecating certainly, but I’ve always admired photographers who shoot a very limited number of frames during a shoot. I’ve never been that kind of photographer, even back in the days of shooting film. Even then, I shot many many rolls of film during a shoot.

Anne graciously countered, “I don’t think she’s a better photographer than you because she shoots fewer frames. You just have different styles of shooting.”

Which was true. But I still wanted to come up with a better answer to her question. It was one I had thought about for decades, actually. Why so many images?

I even sat down with Zoe a day later to talk more about it. Zoe likes to work the model’s pose for a while until it’s just what she has in mind before clicking her camera shutter. And Zoe has something else that I don’t have, which is that Zoe used to model herself. So she has a perspective on posing that I’ll very likely never have.

Myself, when I’m photographing a model of the caliber that Anne is, I first like to leave a little room for discovery. Because I trust her to be thinking as much about what the photograph is going to look like as much as I am. And she knows what she’s doing. All of the models at Zoefest do. They know light. They know angles. They know composition. They are equal collaborators during any shoot, and I’ve come to believe that if I’ve chosen to work with them, I’d be silly to over-direct them. Let them do their thing.

Which explains why my direction during a shoot is fairly basic. Give them a place  to start, tell them what my angle of view is, so they can picture where they are in the frame or how much of them I’m photographing, and just begin exploring what happens. I do like to tell them what I’m seeing or if I really like something that’s happening so they are getting feedback throughout the shoot. They always appreciate that and it helps to build the connection and collaborative nature of the shoot. I may have them adjust an arm or a leg if I see a line that needs just a little tweaking, but like I said, when working with models like Anne, she doesn’t need much direction from me to make a beautiful image.

But that’s still not really an answer to Anne’s original question. It wasn’t until I returned to California, that I had an epiphany and finally the answer to my question.

Why do I shoot so many images during a shoot?

For example, on the shoot with Anne pictured above, I made over 1,500 photographs of her up in, below and around that tree. I’m just looking for maybe five or ten really. The few that really stand out. And if any of them look too much like another I’ve picked as a final, then I usually send them into a sort of photographic cage match. Two photos enter. One photo leaves. Gotta pick one of the two.

But the reason, I’ve come to conclude, of why I make so many photographs in a shoot, is because not only am I a photographer and director, but I’m also a film editor. I’ve spent over 25 years in dark little editing suites, pouring over raw footage from too many directors to remember. Looking for moments. The one take that really hits home. The performance that works best in serving the story. The best of the best. Making order from chaos.

A large part of my editing skill set happens after the shooting is done. After the production is completed. And then away from the mayhem and distractions that are part of any healthy shoot, I can take the time in a more chill environment to really look at what we have. Hopefully the director, if it’s not me, has given me lots of coverage. Lots of options to choose from. And then I can look at what we really have. I can forget how difficult it was to get a certain shot. Put away that the client really didn’t like the female actor. All of that on-set noise. Just look at what we have captured with fresh eyes.

Editor eyes.

What’s on the screen. Is it working. If not, why not. Let’s find something else.

And in combining these roles that I might have in any given project, I’ve learned to take the advantages of them all and sort of cross-pollinate them into my own Billy method of workflow.

And that means taking advantage of whatever role I happen to have. If I’m shooting or directing, it’s making sure I have lots of choices for the editor, whether it’s me or someone else. I’m not a spray-and-pray photographer, but there are times when nature is being random with wind-blown hair, waves and what not. And then yes, I’ll shoot rapid fire, hoping to catch the right combination of everything being in place. But mostly the reason that I shoot as many images as I do is because the editor in me craves coverage. Give me as much to work with as possible.

And when everything aligns in the most wonderful, inspiring, breathtaking way, such as with Anne, overlooking the edge of the world here, it’s a truly wonderful moment to realize.

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fine art nudes story telling travel

Tara Tree Subterrane

Tara Tree Subterrane, ©2016
Tara Tree Subterrane, ©2016

“Is it too dark to shoot in here?”, asked Tara Tree, as we were exploring one of the Kauai caves during a location scout one afternoon.

“No, I think there’s enough light. If I bring a tripod and do longer exposures,” I said, as my eyes began to slowly adjust to the darkness.

I was looking to create something a little unusual. Actually that was my internal theme during the entire 10 days of shooting at Zoefest XIII this year. Come back with things not expected.

I had scheduled Tara for my first shoot on the island. Which was wonderful, because we’d be talking about wanting to make art together since the first time we collaborated nearly five years before. And finally, we were in the same place at the same time. In the middle of the Pacific Ocean, on an island created by volcanic eruptions about a thousand years ago. And here we were, inside one of those volcanic creations.

The entrance to the cave was a very wide shallow opening, probably 25 meters across and maybe 3 meters tall. There was a line of trees across the road from the entrance that limited the daylight coming into the cave for three-quarters of the entrance, leaving a slightly harder light source coming in from one end of the opening. This odd happenstance of light was really quite spectacular in that it was both hard and soft at the same time. It created fairly strong shadows, but there was a soft diffusion about it at the same time.

The only challenge was, that you couldn’t really see the shadows very well with only your eyes. It was just too dark. So occasionally, as long as I didn’t turn around and look at the brighter light coming in from the entrance, or look at the display on the back of my camera, my eyes would stay dilated enough that I could see my own shadow falling on Tara, or on some other unwanted place. Whoops. Stay off to the side, Billy. The light was better on Tara if I photographed her from a three-quarters angle anyway.

It was a fairly deep cave, the back wall of it maybe 100 meters from the entrance. And even though we were shooting shortly after first light, we still had to keep an eye out for the odd tourist out for a ridiculously early walk. The good thing was, we were far enough into the cave that we’d see them long before they would see us, and certainly it would take a minute or so for their would-be surprised eyes to adjust to the darkness anyway. It’s an occupational hazard we always face when creating fine art nude photography out in public. We’re all used to it.

Tara was brilliant. She immediately dialed into the vibe of this environment. Wonderful poses that were all at once feminine, animalistic, defiant, and the suddenly peaceful. We’d shoot a bit and then take a minute to review what we were getting on the back of my camera, since it truly was a challenge to actually see what we were doing with our eyes while shooting. We’d scroll through the images, see what was working and what needed a little adjustment, and then make those for the next series of images.

We even shot some motion footage once we felt we had what we needed as far as still images went. I knew we were pushing our luck a bit as far as being tourist free as the morning progressed, but it was too good of an opportunity not to roll the dice. I’m anxious to begin editing that footage together. It’s going to be strangely beautiful.

And as we packed up our gear and began to walk out of the cave after about an hour and a half shooting, we passed a couple of tourists wandering in through the cave entrance. Couldn’t have timed it better. Nothing like making photographs under the cover of darkness.

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fine art nudes story telling travel

Jessamyne Morning Shoreline Surprise

Jessamyne Morning Shoreline ©2016
Jessamyne Morning Shoreline ©2016

Sometimes you get surprises. Jessamyne and I were up early, shooting along one of the shorelines on the north end of Kauai. I had picked the location because of the beautiful exposed tree roots due to sand erosion over the years. Quite striking. And we did two setups along the shore there. Both beautiful.

We paused for a moment and were in the middle of deciding what to do next. Head to another location or try something else with those trees. The morning sun was coming in low, almost behind us now from around a bend in the beach. It wasn’t direct light, but it was casting some interesting beams on the sand near a large piece of lava rock on the shoreline.

Jessa and I thought it might be interesting to try something there. I told her to get near one of the beams that was now quickly moving away from us. My original idea was to put her in one of them, but we were a few minutes too late for that. But still. There was something good about this light. Very soft.

And as soon as Jessa got down on the rock and I got down to sand level with my camera, I could see her lovely skin reflecting a very compelling glow. Admittedly, while photographing her, I didn’t know if these photographs would end up being great images, or just good images. Jessa was posing brilliantly, but I wasn’t sure if the light was enough to make her stand out from the background or not.

However, later when she and I reviewed all of the setups from this day of shooting, we both gravitated to this one. And we were both surprised because this had definitely been one of those, well we have great stuff here already, let’s just try this one more thing since we’re here, kinds of setups. It was an extra. A bonus.

Yet, sometimes you get surprises.

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fine art nudes story telling travel

Hello Los Angeles! … But first … Meluxine in Kauai

Meluxine Knowing, ©2016
Meluxine Knowing, ©2016

Nothing like running out on stage, yelling, “Hello Los Angeles!”, dropping the mic and jumping on a plane to Hawaii. But that was pretty much the beginning of June for me. Setting up shop in LA before heading to the stunningly gorgeous island of Kauai, consisted mostly of me unboxing the barest of essentials, putting together my location camera kit, and back-burner-ing everything else before I returned to California in mid-June. But if there was ever a happy reason to put off getting settled in, ten days of photographing lovely models in Hawaii, certainly was it.

It was my return to Zoefest XIII after far too long of an interlude. For my Gentle Readers who may not recall, it’s an invite-only artist retreat of sorts. Zoe Wiseman, a wonderful Los Angeles photographer, organizes the very nearly annual fest, bringing together about a dozen photographers and an equal number of models from all over the world to create art in a ridiculously beautiful location.

As much as I’ve traveled, I had never set foot on any of the Hawaiian Islands before this adventure. Nearly a few times, but never quite made it. The closest I’d gotten to Kauai was watching Jurassic Park and Lost, both of which used the island for filming locations in the past. But as is usually the case, being there is beyond what you might imagine. Even the hour drive from the tiny airport to our oceanfront suites on the other side of the island at the Hanalei Colony Resort, or a run in to one of the small towns to pick up supplies was always a magnificent visual inspiration.

And my return also meant reuniting with good photographer friends and models, many of whom I hadn’t seen in a few years. Along with new faces as well. Lovely faces. Which brings me to Meluxine.

It’s pronounced, Mel-uh-zeen, for those of you frozen in your tracks at the end of that last sentence there.

Meluxine continues the trend of every Australian I’ve met in the last few years, being off-the-charts brilliant. I do love the Aussies. Always a higher than average fun quotient, intelligent and well-read, engaging, and quite often stunningly gorgeous. Meluxine ticks all of those boxes with indelible ink.

And if that weren’t enough to make you take notice, she writes her own science blog called, smashingly appropriately, Another Bloody Science Blog. No, that head of hers is not just a pretty place to put a hat. And she’s hysterically funny. I could go on.

The photograph above we made only minutes into our first collaboration together. One of those planet-aligning photoshoots when both of us were working at the top of our game. I often use the phrase, an embarrassment of riches, to describe an experience beyond expectation, and working with Meluxine yielded just that. Four shoots over as many days, and we now have our work cut out for us to try to narrow down what we will end up putting out into the world. That riches thing I just mentioned.

You’ll be seeing much more of our art together going forward.

Oh, and more about this LA thing as well!

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fine art nudes story telling

Beauty has no age limit

@billysheahan and I were talking and he made the observation that not one model at our retreat was under the age of 30. I’ve never really thought about that before other than to make sure everyone I work with is over 18 because age was never an important factor in my work. Though after it sinking in that every single woman there was over 30 years old it really made me happy. When I tell someone I’m 45 years old they always say, you don’t look 45. Well what is a 45 year old supposed to look like? What is a 30 year old supposed to look like and what is someone 18-25 supposed to look like? Are we supposed to stop being youthful? Does not looking your age give you more power or does it take it away? It’s something interesting to think about. Sometimes I wonder if I looked my age if people would take me more seriously or offer more respect by not treating me like a kid. Is looking timeless a blessing or a curse? And is it really all about looks or is it life experience shining through that exentuates a timelessness? And it isn’t specifically directed towards the female models amongst us since our one lonely male model is also over 30 and doesn’t look it. I’m sure the ravages of time will come for us all, eventually, though will that make any of us less beautiful or less youthful? The only thing we can really do is love ourselves and be patient with ourselves and try not to allow outside influences dictate when we are too old to be beautiful.

Enjoy an image @vassanta and I created

© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Vassanta
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Vassanta
Categories
fine art nudes story telling

Fairy Jess

© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyn
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyn

I’ve always wanted to shoot in a location like this. Normally locations like this are full of snakes and alligators, and that is what is so beautiful about Hawaii. No kill you things. Thanks @jessamyne for getting muddy feet. 🙂

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fine art nudes story telling

Jessamyn Paradise

I have a lot to share and I’m in editing mode… share or edit? share or edit? I must edit. Though I will share ONE to get started.

Day one:

Shoot with @jessamyne . @vassanta came along. We searched and searched for Rock Quarry Road but totally couldn’t find it. Thankfully the very grumpy botanist at the Botanical Gardens told us to turn here. It provided quite a bit of opportunities for wonderful images throughout the week. Rain or shine. Here’s one I made with Jess. Some more to follow.

© 2016 Zoe Wiseman - model: Jessamyne
© 2016 Zoe Wiseman – model: Jessamyne