Mélodie In An Instant

These days, when shooting with a model in my studio, I start with Tintypes. They're labor intensive, slow, deliberate and allow us to settle in to a mode of creating. The chemistry and lighting is fickle. Every once in a while, nothing great comes out of it. Sometimes, like this, every shot is a keeper. One of the things that really hooked me about shooting wet plate, is the instant gratification. You see an image, a unique one of a kind image, appear in front of you in the dark room, immediately after shooting it. You make adjustments, go back for more, try again, or try something different. It reminds me of shooting large format Polaroid. I really miss that film. Type 55 was the shit.
So, in the spirit of that, this post is comprised of all the instant mediums Mélodie and I shot together on this day. Tintype, Polaroid 600 Reclaimed Purple, Instax square in a Hasselblad back and Instax Wide. . . I think that covers it. Something special about this stuff.

As a reminder, there are two tiers available on Patreon that get you one of these rare pieces to keep. A Polaroid, or the highest tier, an original Tintype. Mailed to you once a month. It's nice to hold something in your hands.

Click here and subscribe to see the whole set.

Vaunt. In the Old Place.

I spend a lot of time thinking about light and I have a growing level of distain for LEDs. When I was growing up, red LEDs were pretty much all that there were. Light emitting diodes. A small and simple circuit that was a revolutionary break through. Very energy efficient, low voltage, emitting one specific wavelength of light. Used frequently as indicator lights and in hand held electronic games. The breakthrough was the blue LED. It took years, and early on, they were very expensive. Thing is, you need blue to make white. RGB. Once that happened, it became really easy to make replacement bulbs for household sockets. Three LED sites in the three primary colors could be blended to make anything from red to green to blue to daylight, to "warm white" simulating the familiar glow of incandescent, tungsten bulbs. But lacking in the unseen. The infrared, the warmest of the colors. Bulbs that hadn't changed much since Edison invented them back in 1879. A very simple device. A tube holding a vacuum, a void of atmosphere, allowing a thin filament of tungsten metal to glow at white hot temperatures without burning up and emitting light at a color temperature of 3500º Kelvin. This held fire, this warm glow, feels like lamp light, oil light, candle light, and the fires before that that we gathered around for warmth and community for millennia before that.

The LED is severing that thread of continuity. The screen you're looking at right now is an LED, the television in the room is an LED, the bulbs lit around you are likely LEDs, the lights in your office are nearly guaranteed to be LEDs. I understand the energy savings afforded by the super efficient, cool and long lasting LED bulb, but at what cost? I figure that since my home is nearly 100% solar run, I'm within my right to smuggle tungsten bulbs from other states where they're still legal. My hope is that in the near future with breakthroughs in renewable energy and nuclear fusion, we'll be able to abandon these technological abominations in favor of the warm familiar glow of the tungsten light. Until then, go outside. Enjoy the full spectrum that we evolved under for millions of years. Bathe under the radiation of our mother star.

These images of Vaunt were captured with nothing other than the light from above, through the windows. As simple as can be. See it all on Patreon by clicking one of the images or this here hypertext link.

Melodie, The Third.

This shoot came to mind today when Melodie reached out to let me know she'd be back in town at the end of the month. We scheduled another day of photography, so look forward to more of her in the future. I have no idea what these next shoots in the new/old place will look like. With so much change of life and circumstances. She's one of my favorite people to work with, so I guess there's some comfort and confidence in that. Time to work on something new I suppose.
Check out the entire set, 70+ images here.

Pretzelle and Her Banana Panties

I dunno. . . not a lot else to be said about this set. Second one with Elle, after a number of tintypes and a black and white digital set that has appeared here previously. Dig down.

We're living in interesting times, gird yer loins. Be prepared for the unexpected.

See the whole set here.

Miss Amber Flowers

I'm pretty fresh back from a trip to Europe. The Jetlag is finally easing its sleepy grips. A good friend and colleague was getting hitched in the South of France and I thought, what better excuse to get to somewhere I've always wanted to go? For some reason, a trip abroad; a vacation, feels better if I stitch some kind of reason on to it. I mean, beyond seeing and experiencing some place new. I think, maybe as an American, we have a bit of internalized guilt when it calls for stepping away from work, from the daily routines, the business of making a sustainable life in the U S of A. We need to put a purpose to things. Maybe not the healthiest way of being.

Maybe it's far healthier to wander downstairs whenever you happen to wake up, with your lover's limbs intwined with yours, throw some clothes on, head to the street and pick up a couple croissants or a baguette, a couple coffees. Head back up in the tiniest elevator you've ever seen, and have a little breakfast overlooking the 11th from your Paris balcony? Listening to the sounds of a city that's been awake for a fair bit longer than you have been.
Yeah, that sounds like a better deal. Yeah, the French have got some things figured out.

But none of that has to do with this set with Amber Flowers. She was touring through the Bay and we booked some time together. A few sets from this day were shot in a dear friend's loft in my building. Gorgeous side long, late afternoon light filtering through a tree that's too big for the space allotted to it and a wall of 11 foot windows, plus one of the biggest mirrors I've ever seen. Magical place to play. We got a few good tintypes too that day. Click here to see the whole set, 70+ images on Patreon.
You can follow Amber on Insta here. More to come.

Sakura and San Francisco

I was nostalgia tripping a bit tonight.
I was thinking recently about how some of these Ai companies going public is about to mint thousands of fresh new millionaires in San Francisco and its surrounding, affluent, environs. I never thought I’d have a third row seat to the death of a city’s pulse. This feels like a nail in the coffin. Coincidentally, in a search for a set to post this week, that didn’t require hours of culling and editing, I ran across some of the first, intentional, sexy photos that I ever created. The story of the Dead Electric Jellyfish. Is a story for another time.
But I was reminded of this shoot with some similar themes. And I’m such a better photographer here than I was back in 2003. A different person in a different City.
Shooting Sakura in her super sweet bottom floor Victorian apartment. This was in 2016 and we didn’t think we were on the precipice of tremendous change. We thought we were about to see the first woman elected to President of the United States. Not that the person sitting in that office has much of anything to do with the “progress” and change afflicting SF. That can be attributed to unfettered capitalism of which both parties are guilty.

This is the second set of Sakura to go up. I don’t think it’s ever been published before. The shoot was originally for Me In My Place. There’s at least one, maybe two more sets from this batch left to go. You can see the entire set on Patreon here.

The last gasps of the coolest fucking city I’ve ever known. Los Angeles has always felt like a stone octopus, sprawling and unknowable. Indifferent. New York was just too big to wrap your arms around. And the winters wanted to kill you. San Francisco was home. I’d grown up with it always twinkling on the horizon just across a sparkling bay. It’s only 7x7 miles. 49 square miles. Less than a million people. It was knowable in a grand sense, in an intimate sense. I had the gist of it from growing up here. Bay Bridge is that way, Golden Gate Park was this way, the Zoo was over there. If the Bay was to your right, you were facing north. You could walk to the Golden Gate Bridge if you really wanted to. I got to know it deeply when I set up shop there in the early 2000’s.

Little nooks of discovery. Neighborhoods with their own pace, culture, climate. Navigating with paper maps. We took it for granted. That this beautiful, freak show had always been and always would be. Most of the freaks have been priced out. The warehouses, work spaces, music venues have been bulldozed to build multi million dollar condos we can’t afford. Long gone are the underground raves and artist’s communities. It feels like we’re replacing our hearts with machines and I don’t like it one bit.

I miss you San Francisco.

Kimberly Jane

A number of years ago, I was down in Long Beach shooting a job for Cadillac. For some reason, Long Beach had a number of very large car photography studios. No idea if they still exist. For some other fucking reason, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar had an office in the studio we were renting. Hand to god, his office door was about nine feet tall. We'd see him randomly come and go. Just by himself, taking care of business. I think we were on this shoot for ten days, two weeks or so. Living out of a hotel down by the water about fifteen minutes away.

About a week into shooting interiors of STS's and Escalades, living out of a suitcase, eating restaurant food or catering for every meal, I get a little stir crazy. I decide to see who's in the area and down to shoot some naked stuff in my hotel room. I find Kimberly Jane, based in LB, experienced, didn't bat an eye at my odd, last minute, evening shoot request.

This set is a little more raunchy than most of my work. As may seem appropriate in a mid tier Hilton hotel room. She was fun, if a little rough around the edges. I wonder what ever happened to her. Can't seem to find a trace online. There's at least one more good set that came out of this shoot to be released in the future.

On the last two days of that car shoot, The Black Eyed Peas were shooting a music video on a neighboring set. The one with an enormous turn table that could rotate a car 360º. I kept trying to peek in to get a glimpse of Fergie, to no avail.
I love working in L.A.
See the rest as a paying member on Patreon here.

Welcome to the Machine.

https://open.spotify.com/track/5VWC7v2dC2K0SIIjT9WTLN?si=acefc8cb5c984556

Just back from a trip in Texas. For the day gig. Some virus took me out for the second half of the shoot, but I got the shots I needed on day one. Anything else was gravy. (I’m still coughing up a lung over a week later.) So I holed up in my  basic traveler’s hotel room and pushed the button on the remote until it landed on MSNBC. Or I guess whatever they’re called now. News outlets being traded like the corporate assets they are. I don't recall what dumpster fire du jour they were covering. The news tends to blend into one smeared shit stain these days.
I’m in an interesting conundrum, friends. I’m working for a mid sized corporation with big corporation aspirations. I’m not built for this shit!

Shifting power dynamics, politics, people in power without a single creative bone in their bodies. That may sound cruel but it’s a choice. Are you living to work or working to live?
The golden handcuffs are real. Hard to walk away from a solid thing, especially in this economy and cultural landscape. I’ve probably got a few years at best until Ai replaces me or nullifies what all of us do anyway. Fuck it, may as well ride it into the ground.
This shoot is something a little different. Not the sugar and spice and everything nice. More like sticks and snails and puppy dog tails.
Katlyn is a creative whirlwind. I’m still feeling things out, trying to get back into regular shooting, finding my footing. She was great to collaborate and drink whisky with. This is the results of our afternoon together. Tintypes, digitals and a few polaroids. Curious to see how y’all react.

See the whole thing on Patreon here.

Liv, First Shoot.

Liv is a prolific art nude model out of the northwest. I'd had photos of her on my wall from photographer Kim Weston for years before she and I actually met. Our first time shooting was brief, a handful of tintypes and some digital shots. Liv can be found on Insta @asmallwoman and at https://www.livsage.net/

The whole set can be seen on www.patreon.com/lacunha

HeatherMoni in Lucky Jeans

For a minute at least.
Back in the early 2000's I rediscovered Lucky Brand Denim. It was a whole damn thing at the time. Popular but not everywhere. Premium denim was all the rage. 7 For All Mankind, True Religion, Diesel. The elders thought it was absurd that we'd pay $150 for a pair of jeans that we then had to have tailored. A woman I was dating dragged me into a Lucky store and it was a pretty damn cool store. Had a vibe. They were made in the U.S. A very slick bohemian feel, both women's and men's. Good tunes on the stereo and a classic rock and roll aesthetic. I believe the jeans Heather is wearing are my Hendrix Jeans. Back then, low rise, boot cut and a little stretch was the ticket. This was the time of American Apparel, Urban Outfitters, Free People. The photography of Abercrombie and Fitch was blowing people's minds. American Apparel was putting porn stars on billboards on Hollywood Boulevard. Really the last definitive moment in consumer fashion I can recall. Lucky is now run by some vulture capital corporate shill and is a shadow of its former self. I've pretty much gone back to Levi's but even these aren't the same as they used to be. I fucking love a button fly.
It feels like in the span of my adult life, toxic capitalist corporatism has infested and rotted everything beloved from the inside out. I had to pay $35 on Southwest Airlines JUST to choose the seat I sit in on a flight to Burbank for a week long model casting in L.A. tomorrow. They really want to squeeze every last goddamn cent they can out of us. As employees, as users, as patents, as consumers, as humans just trying to survive. Everything has to maximize profit. . . We're frogs in a pot my friend.

Anyway, here are some pretty good images of a pretty beautiful woman.
Who says we can't have nice things??
See the whole set over on Patreon.

Nora. Stranger Danger.

One of my absolute favorite things is meeting someone for the first time and making beautiful, intimate, sexy, sometimes dirty images with them. It's a really unique collaboration. It doesn't happen as much as it used to. Maybe that's part of the rut that I feel I'm in. There was a good period of time when this happened regularly. For Zivity or Me in My Place. Finding a subject that wasn't necessarily a model or someone pursuing modeling, but just a real person that had an itch to be seen and make something beautiful. I think I came across Nora on Craigslist. You've got to be careful these days on CL, they're pretty serious against seeking subjects that will take their clothes off. There's been a serious war against sexuality the last ten years if you haven't noticed.

Anywho, we shot these as the sun was setting in the apartment downstairs from mine. Palo Santo in the air, tiger stripe stockings and matching orange panties. .. It's sure a vibe. Seems like we live more on our devices than in the real world these days. We must rage against the dying of the light. . . See this whole post on Patreon here. 80+ Images.

EvaLuna on Film. One Roll.

For a moment in time, I had a studio with a dark room that I resurrected with bits and pieces, bone and sinew from the past. Artifacts of my father, friends that acquired the odd bit or end from their friends and deposited it in my hands. I put this thing tougher with sweat and a little blood and ingenuity and it wasn't perfect but it was perfect. When the lights go out and you're left to feel your way with muscle memory and one less sense. Rolling strips of delicate memories onto stainless steel reels. Flooding the film with chemistry that's just the right dilution and just the right temperature for just the right amount of time. Shooting film is such a fucking process. I fell in love with it when I was just fifteen years old. The expense and time involved are a ridiculous luxury when measured against today's tools of progress and efficiency. But goddamn if the results aren't good. And real. And tangible. The grains of silver suspended in a film of gelatin magnified under optics are unlike anything else.

I had a session with EvaLuna in this studio. We shot a good number of tintypes. a bunch of digital frames and this one roll of film. This is the whole thing. 34 frames. Un retouched, un cropped. Some of them are out of focus. Most of them are somehow properly exposed. Shot on Ilford FP5 with my Nikon FM2 and I think a 50mm lens. I was able to print a few of these frames in the dark room, with the enlarger on silver gelatin paper. I may put them up for sale on here at some point. If I do, you guys will be the first to know.
I have a shoot in a couple days with a model I've been aware of for years. (keep your eyes out for MikaLovely) It's my first shoot in quite some time. I have mixed feelings about it. I'm examining my relationship with image making these days. Trying to figure out what exactly the point is. It feels a little silly to hold up a figment of beauty when the whole damn world is burning. . .
Eva is a beautiful human, inside and out. She and her work can be found here: instagram.com/earthy.eva.model

I am forever grateful and indebted to women like this that choose to share a piece of themselves with a stranger holding a camera.

This whole set can be viewed on Patreon here: EvaLuna on Film. One Roll.

Lenore Black, Extended Set

I shot Lenore a bit back also for Me In My Place. She was living in a cute little cottage in Oakland just up the street from a good friend of mine. She only had a few weeks left to shoot before moving out of state. Damn shame, I'd have loved to shoot with her again. Some women just exude sexuality, a quiet, powerful, simmering heat. You might pass her on the street and barely take notice, but if you happened to lock eyes with her, she'd walk you right into a lamp post. This is a re edited, extended set. 100 images. Some on the more risqué side from what MIMP was interested in publishing. See it all now on Patreon.

AnnaLisa Part 2

Tonight is the first notably cold night of the season here in the Bay Area. I'm sitting, composing this post, toasty and warm inside. Venturing outdoors periodically to check on my first firing of a gas kiln I've adopted, tuned up and put into service. I've returned to the art and craft of ceramics after about a 25 year break. Doing a cone 04 bisque firing and waiting for the thing to get up to about 1945ºF. I fell in love with creating high fire stoneware right about the same time I decided to pursue photography professionally. I mean, who could make a living in pottery? Photography was surely way more practical. . . lolz. . . But god damn, its actually worked out alright!

Now I have the time and space and desire to return to the mud. I think I've grown weary of this modern life we're livin. There are a thousand reasons why this feels so right, right now. I'll undoubtedly write more on this in the future. But for now, enjoy this second set of Anna Lisa Wagner from the second studio, the soon to be vacant second studio, as progress keeps progressing. If you happen to know anyone in the Bay who's looking for a super dope spot to live and work, have them drop me a line. It can be seen here for now: silver.oakland

It just occurred to me that there's not a single damned photo from this set I can post on Instagram. . . oh well, fuck Meta.
See the whole thing on Patreon.

The Latest With Heather

Heather and I first shot years ago in her rented home on the Peninsula in the SF Bay Area. Shooting a few sets for the Tumblr phenomenon, Me in My Place. My first set here is the first set with her. So much has changed since then. But something that never changes, I always get beautiful images when shooting with Heather. This set is the latest in our portfolio together. I believe she intends on winding down her modeling in the not too distant future. It'll be a sad day. So, maybe, there're are less fucks to give. Relatable, relatable. . .

This set is somewhat like our series of shoots over the years. It starts out kinda light and etherial, and ends more dark and explicit. . .

See it all on Patreon here. 100 image set. As naked as you’ve ever seen her.

ElleVoss Part one

I'm currently in the process of moving out of this studio space and back into my initial live/work loft. Life circumstances and economic factors no longer support the luxury of a dedicated shoot studio. I'm at peace with this. It feels a little exciting to return to a smaller, more concentrated, space of photo creation. Even though it means I will no longer have access to a wet darkroom. I'll be slowly rolling out the last of the work made in Silver, Studio 416 in the coming months as I transition back to studio one.
This first set of Elle, is a little more explicit than usual. Lots more in the can, in addition to a good handful of tintypes and polaroids.

Links will now take you to my new-ish Patreon page. I hope that you will choose to support my work there. The proceeds go directly to paying the models I work with. The images are free.
patreon.com/lacunha

Melodie, Part Une

I reached out to Melodie when I saw that she was doing a quick tour of the Bay Area. Made the proper negotiations and agreements to shoot together, including full nude. She was a delight to work with. Super personable, open, friendly, comfortable in her body. Moved very well. Beautiful, beautiful woman. We shot this in the hallway of Studio 2, her only in my gray linen shirt. I love this look. Hope you do too. 52 images in this set on Patreon.

I think I have some film from this shoot I need to process. There are definitely polaroids and Tintypes. Those will be forthcoming. Patreon is going to be the best way to keep up with any work of a sensitive erotic nature going forward. I will continue to update here, and inform my most loyal of audiences. I am grateful for you all. This is one of the only places where you’ll get to see uncensored previews. The bulk will be in the high castle behind a five dollar paywall. That money and more goes to the models I work with. I believe that this level of openness and vulnerability needs to be compensated. Especially if a model is traveling. It’s a grind and I respect the grind.

Cha, Cha, Cha, Cha Changes. . .

It’s felt like ages since I’ve sat down to write. And I suppose it has been ages. Lifetimes. This year has been unusually plagued by a series of deaths of men in my life. Six or seven at last count. A statistical anomaly. One of which was my father. I’m hoping now, that things have calmed down.
I am shaken. I’m a fairly even keeled, pragmatic, stoic person. But viewing all this from sixty thousand feet, it’s hard to make sense of. Not just the semi regular ticking of the clock marked by the passing of fellows in my orbit but of everything thats going on on this pale blue dot. None of it is making much sense right now. We may be poised on the brink of a third world war. Or another American Civil War. Time will tell. Not much time I fear. And yet the daily chores must be done. The garbage needs to go out to the curb. Work still expects me to show up on time.

Theres still some drive within me to carry on as things had been even though nothing is the same. I sit here, partly minded towards fulfilling my responsibilities as a creator and a maker and a writer, maybe. I’m feeling compelled to do something with the last few photoshoots I’ve completed. Get them in front of some viewers. That they’re ghosts in a box waiting patiently to be set free. Latent images that demand to be seen.
So many ghosts in boxes. So many boxes.

Theres a stack of tintypes and Polaroids to my right that need to be scanned. I don’t know how to live without the constant push of creativity driving me on. Some project, some scheme, some, job, something to keep my hands and my mind busy. I’ve never once just had a 9-5 job. My free time has always been full of more self imposed work. Something to push things forward. This moment in time, this rift, this pause has forced me to step back. To slow down. I have some fear that if I slow down that I may never get going again. That my old life will become lost.

I’ve taken up residence in my mother’s home. It’s a nice home in the suburbs. We moved here when I was 12. It’s comfortable. We get along well. Theres room for me to build a pottery studio. An office for my work. A garage for my car. Places that were my father’s domain. And she likes having me here. This new reality is taking some gettin used to. I miss my apartment and my studio and the chaos of city life. I’m very used to being alone. I prefer it that way.

I am moving away from posting whole photo sets to this here site. The payment processors and their crusade against sexuality have made it near impossible to monetize creative work that contains the bare human form. Slow fascism. Death by capitalism. So, for now, Patreon seems to be a bit of a safe harbor with so called NSFW artwork. We’ll see how long that lasts.
I’d love it if you joined me there. A small monthly contribution makes creating this work a little easier. www.patreon.com/lacunha The first Patreon exclusive shoot is of the lovely Anna Lisa Wagner. A strikingly beautiful woman and gentle soul. It will be online momentarily.
Thank you for welcoming a small part of my reality into your consciousness.

Eva's Hands and the New Paradigm

I haven’t felt much like writing lately. Not since the election. Really not since the inauguration. I think we’re in a pretty dark place right now. A dangerous place. It’s hard to keep up with things, move forward with business as usual. Especially with things that may seem frivolous, trivial, or non necessary. Things like art. Things like beauty. Things like spending a few hours in the darkroom with film and chemistry. Watching an image slowly emerge in the developer. Things like magic.

Ilford HP5 thru a Hasselblad 501c with an 80mm lens, printed on Ilford fiber based, glossy paper.

Most people I know don’t really know what to do right now. In years past, in the early days of Orange Julius Caesar’s reign, we were ripe with outrage and protest. Millions of people took to the streets. There was a feeling of united solidarity against what was happening. This time, not so much. I have a theory, that previously, it felt like we were trying to keep the country from going over a cliff. Now we’re over the edge. We’re in free fall. And really, what can you do when you’re just falling? What control do you have? You can twist and contort your body. You can close your eyes and tell yourself its not happening. You can scream til your voice is raw. Does any of it really matter? Will any of it stop the falling? No.

We can check in on each other. We can keep our actions small and close. We can hold hands with the person or loved one thats plummeting alongside us. We can make each other feel a little better. A little safer. With understanding or commiseration, or love, or art, or beauty. Or darkroom magic. Until it’s time to shut it all the fuck down. Prepare yourselves.

This image is the last of the “Print of The Month” subscription series. It went a year. I enjoyed it, having an assignment. I’ll still be printing images and making them available to collectors, but there will no longer be a subscription based model. They’ll be in the Store, periodically updated. I think this is one of my very favorite images I’ve ever created with traditional materials. Eva Luna, in studio, hand study. Going out to subscribers in a 5x5” format, available soon to purchase in the store, printed on 8x10” in a limited edition.

Thank you for the continued support. Thank you for believing that beauty matters.

A Reckoning

It’s been a week. A long week. A week since the heart break. Things did not go the way I thought they would. Our better angels did not prevail. We’re now sitting in this in between, liminal place, between the old world and the new. I can recognize that enough people are fed up with the way things have been that they’re willing or eager to burn it all down in the hopes for something better. I think its shortsighted. I think its based in an inability to take in the available information and make an informed choice about the path ahead. For whatever reason, here we are. This is Trump’s America. And a huge number of our countrymen have shown us exactly who they are.

I have been pretty deeply engaged in politics since I was able to vote. I voted for Bill Clinton and medicinal marijuana. I have voted for every Democrat running for President since 1993. I believe in compassion, in liberalism, I believe that people should be allowed to be who they are, I believe in art and science and love and openness and honesty and taking care of one another and moving, ever so slowly towards a better tomorrow. I believed that my voice mattered and my opinion was shifting society towards a brighter future. I now believe that I am in the minority.

I believe that society is a very delicate balance, angels dancing on the head of a pin, that the facade of sanity is thin. It won’t take much to push us into fiery chaos.

Fortunately I’m pretty well resourced, here in my California bubble. I have a level of economic means, I’m white, I’m a man. I’ll be fine. I’ll be sipping bourbon and watching it burn from my artist’s loft in a converted cotton mill, built in 1917.

Good luck. I love you.

Please enjoy these photos of Emma Nicole Vaunt. I like them quite a bit.