Florence

This sweet woman is my wife's aunt and my favorite Aunt-in-law. She is a soft spoken, gentle person and is instantly easy to like. When I first began her session, I looked at her and I felt immediately at ease and comfortable. She has that pleasant and confident demeanor that one would expect from the most admired of teachers. I wanted to learn Spanish or Literature or anything from her.

For someone who had dreaded the deadly photo session, she seemed very much at ease with herself. I did let myself drift into this sepia mode because it just seemed to fit. The portrait itself is so simple and without any nonsense. Some might think it lacks the drama of some of my previous entries but I really love it because of what it really is, appropriate.

Watizit #3

This weekend's play shot. Know what it is? It's not that tough.

Admiration joins Marketing

Several years back, I decided I wanted to create an award called the "Greenie." Green as in jealous. For, I think, there is no greater compliment than one photographer being covetous of another's work. "I wish I had shot that". Over the years there have been hundreds of times I caught myself saying that very thing. So, the "Greenie" was to be an award that I would send to the shooter whose shot I envied. Now, it wasn't as one sided a thought as you might first think. I would truly award photographers the "Greenie" but at the same time I would be garnering precious free publicity. It's the reason many people or companies sponsor charity events. How many times in how many venues would the Jerry Tovo "Greenie" award be mentioned. Blah blah blah. Having gone a rambling, I now get to the point. A week or two ago the New York Times ran a feature about Lillian Bassman. I have attached that link for your convenience. Here is a woman whose work I truly admire. I wish I would have shot any one of the images included in the piece. http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2009/07/17/arts/20090717-BASS_index.html

Please do not stop at this link. Take some time and explore Lillian Bassman. (see link: Femininity Salvaged within the Gallery page) What a terrific story.

Finally

I shouldn't let myself stray so far from my work of choice. I know it, yet it gets away from me from time to time. Stick with what you're good at. I love doing all the light hearted stuff on my blog but it's not as fulfilling as my Black and White work. Thanks to Lonnie Smith, I'm proud to post new portrait images.
Lonnie is a chef at one of my two restaurants here in the studio. Well, one of the two restaurants in the building which I call mine. A formidable man who has a work ethic that most people would wish to have. He has two other thriving businesses in addition to his culinary career. There are several more keeper shots from this session and I may choose to share them at a later date. I'm just glad he gave me his time to jump start my negligence to a craft I love.

8 Buck Rogers

Some months back I ran an image of young boy adrift in a sea of globes. That was from the City Museum of Saint Louis, the same facility let's you wander through the bowels of the building in what might best be described as from the era of Buck Rogers or Flash Gordan. This was shot with hardly any light. The weird thing is, when you are actually down there, you lose your orientation and they have done all they can to exacerbate that lost feeling, with hallways that just end and stairs to nowhere. Very freaky and frankly I found myself a bit panicked after a while.