Jean

I've been away from my photography for a short time -- life is happening!  But I find whenever I have my camera in hand, everything starts to fall into place.  It's what I use to focus on the here-and-now, and it helps to put perspective back into my life.

Jean is a wonderful woman I have known for almost three decades.  I live next door to her; and ever since her husband, Mel, passed away many years ago, Joe and I have watched out for her and made sure she is safe.  We've gone through so much good and bad together, we're this side of family. 

Jean's younger sister just passed away after a long illness, and on this day Jean was getting ready to go to her sister's memorial service, but she knew I've been wanting to shoot her for a long time and invited me over for a short photo session.  I could tell she was somewhat distracted, but she insisted we give it a try.  Now that we've gotten that initial shoot over with and she knows now that she doesn't have to be nervous, we're going to have many more sessions.  I want to give something to her -- and her family.

Vanara



I've wanted to shoot this young woman, Vanara, since I met her earlier this year, and we've talked about it a number of times.  The other night she and I ran into each other when I just happened to have my camera with me, so I asked if we could take a minute to do a couple shots.  These two shots were all I could get in during our chance meeting with a hurried search for a spot to shoot in, but I loved the way her face takes the light.  I can't wait until we actually get a chance to do a real shoot.

Portrait of a Dance - 3

This is the third week I went to watch the rehearsal of this performance-art piece being choreographed by a new friend, Rudy Perez.  This week I wanted to concentrate mainly on motion, and capturing what, to me, was the essence of the piece.  I didn't want to use fast shutter speeds to get sharp, crisp images that caught a movement cleanly, but rather using slower shutter speeds to capture longer moments of the dance in a single frame.  The piece itself is very abstract, and I wanted to experiment and play with getting more abstract images.

This week the artists went through the entire piece with the "music,"  which was more of long, drawn-out sounds and noises, at least to my untrained ear.  Watching them going through their movements was so interesting I had to keep reminding myself to shoot.  There isn't a theme or story to this piece that I've been able to discern, but one long piece where one motion flows into the next seamlessly. 

Of course, at the same time I also watched for "moments" to happen during and between the different sequences.  I'm intrigued by this particular series, though it may not speak to anyone else.  But I'm learning that is going to make my photography speak -- because of my own personal view of the world that no one else has.

While I was watching for movement, there were times I also saw other moments that I wanted to try to capture.  I'm enjoying this whole process because I find that I am totally immersed in the moment with the only thing in my mind is the dance.  After the first of the year I'm going to go back and continue to see what happens next.



 



Portrait of a Dance - 2

Post 2 of "Portrait of a Dance." 

I wanted to post this image from the series "Portrait of a Dance" that I've started.  What dancers have to endure in order to create movement amazes me.  When I look at a piece being performed, it all looks so effortless that I forget about the blood, sweat and tears that took place to make it look so easy.  There is such a tremendous strain on the dancer's body, and during this week's shoot I took time to examine the feet of these artists. 

The last image is one that I just couldn't justify converting into black and white.  I feel the colors and feel is just perfect this way.  Thanks, Mindy, for giving me an inspired moment.





Portrait of a Dance - 1

One of the series I'm working on is a portrait series of senior men and women.  Since I'm getting older myself, I've been interested in the aging process, and I have fallen in love with the mature face and the stories that form them.

I met Rudy recently, and he's a very interesting man.  He has spent his life in dance and performance art, and he invited me to come to a dance studio in Santa Monica where he is choreographing and rehearsing a performance piece along with a small company of dancers.  I first went to photograph him, but I was drawn to watching the rehearsal going on, and the movement was hypnotizing.  I started to shoot the rehearsal, and I'm going to go back over the next couple months to document more of the process of bringing this piece to performance.

Donald, 82.  An LGBT senior who doesn't look anywhere near his age.

Jack, 67, part of my LGBT senior subjects.

John, 75.

Rudolfo.

Beverley, 50+.

Alternative tintype.

Lea. 



I've been working through the issues of creating tintype images here at home without the benefit of working in a regular darkroom.  I think I'm getting closer to making this technique work.  At the same time I'm working on putting the tintype technique with the right photographic project.

The process I'm currently using is not the original wet-plate method of creating tintypes.  I'm using an alternative emulsion, AG-Plus and creating contact prints from digital images.  However, I'm working out a way to be able to shoot the tins in-camera and create one-of-a-kind photographs.  And ultimately my goal is to learn the wet-plate technique.

My tintype process is a very time-consuming process getting the tins ready to hold the special emulsion, coating the tins with the emulsion,  letting them dry sufficiently to be usable, and then going through the printing process.  Because of that, final images will be slower in coming than being able to turn photographs out in the current digital age.  But I love this medium so much, I don't mind working slowly and methodically to achieve the results I'm looking for.

Lee, 74.

I have to talk a little about this man as Lee is one of the most interesting gay people I've ever come across. 

I met Lee over 30 years ago; he was a friend of my partner, Joe.  Joe had met him in the late '60s at The Patch, one of the first gay bars in the South Bay area.  This was at a time when men could be arrested just for dancing with each other, and the local cops made frequent stops in the bar looking for any and all violations. 

Lee is one of those bigger-than-life characters who's been afraid of nothing during his lifetime.  He was, and is, a painter, a muralist, an interior designer, an actor/performer, an activist among others.    Joe and I had lost contact with Lee over a decade ago; and when I managed to re-locate him again just recently, he'd lost little of his bravado and charm even though he's been confined to a wheelchair for many years.

Back in the '60s Lee was very active in the civil rights movement, and spent much time in the South helping in any way he could.  During one of his visits to Selma, Alabama, the small group of people he was traveling with was jumped by the locals for being fags, and Lee was beaten severely; one of his friends was murdered right there on the street.  Lee was also at the forefront of the early Gay Liberation movement in the '60s and 70's, and we wouldn't be where we are without people like him.  A documentary about his life is in the works.

I'm going to be working with Lee more in order to try to capture his huge personality, as I feel there is so much I can do with Lee, but I'm so excited to have found him once more and get him back in our lives.

My partner, Joe, is such an inspiration to me!  Having retired from years of practicing as an attorney, he decided that sitting around does not do much for him at all.  When he was thinking about the next chapter in his life, he thought back to his earlier years before he went to law school, and he remembered his dream was to become part of the entertainment industry.  However, life (and his mother) had different plans for him, and law school was the road he was to travel. 

Now at a time when he has the option of doing whatever he wants, he has been training to become a voice actor.  He comes to life behind the microphone, and it's amazing to see what a range he's developing.  His passion is infecting, and I can feed off his enthusiasm. 



I was recently asked by a couple who are expecting their first child to shoot their maternity photos.  My first thought was, "No way, I've never done anything like this before."  However, the words that came out of my mouth were, "I'd love to.  I think it would be great!"

I met with them a few days before the day we set to do the shoot, and we went over images on the net in order to find out what kind of style they liked.  Gina was adamant -- no outside photos (they just didn't do anything for her,) and everything they'd pulled up were done black and white with a black background.  I talked to them about the fact that with the black background especially, it'd be best to wear anything but black.  However, when they showed up at the shoot, they were both dressed all in black.  So one of my challenges was to make sure that their clothing didn't just disappear completely into the background (Photoshop helped me out there).

As always, whenever I allow myself to open up to new experiences, they turn out to be wonderful learning experiences, and I end up making closer connectons with people with interesting stories and life experiences.  And if, in some tiny way, I can do something for them that makes them feel good, that's what photography is all about to me.