Pretzelle.

What do you think about the vulgarity?

I was on a work trip recently, and one of my teammates, our social video shooter was reading a book by the pool after a long day of work. The cover looked familiar so I asked her what it was. Jitterbug Perfume by Tom Robbins. I had brought the same book on the same trip and we were both about a hundred pages in. We briefly talked about the various storylines and plots and the absurdity of it all. “What do you think about the vulgarity?” She asked. There are indeed various scenes and circumstances that are quite vulgar. Prurient. In an almost satirical way that Tom Robbins captures beautifully. I enjoy the vulgarity I replied. I think its my favorite part.

I enjoy the vulgarity. I like holding up and exposing aspects of human desire that maybe we’re ashamed to admit to. That we keep in the shadows. I love that truth. I love all truth. It excites me. Gets the juices flowing. I think part of the reason that we find ourselves in this mess we’re in, is the tendency to suppress and push down our desires. To judge them instead of acknowledging them, allowing them to exist. To breathe. What we decide to do about them is a different animal. But if we can step aside and look at them, diffuse them or embrace them, pack them up and put them aside or hold them up to the light. That’s all individual choice.  As long as everyone is consenting, as long as it doesn’t hurt anyone else. Embrace your vulgarity. Because it doesn’t ever go away. Its in you. Unless you shine a light into the shadows, darkness remains. Done bun can’t be undone.

Pretzelle

Just up late, working on shit. I liked this. Didn’t want to censor it.

Charlotte in Argyle and Denim

A new post after an extended hiatus. When it rains, it pours. When work becomes non stop there’s little energy for much else. Been thinking a lot about live work balance. When you love what you do, it’s easy to pour yourself into what you’re tasked with. Fortunately it was a temporary situation and now I get some breathing room. Time to do nothing is just as important as working your ass off. Anywho, enjoy these images of Charlotte. Post tintype session. 100+ photos after the Jump.

Mia, Tintype Commission

Mia reached out to me a few months ago via Instagram wanting to set up a tintype shoot. These days, I avoid the types of sittings where the subject hires me to shoot one or two plates. Its a much more fulfilling experience if we spend some time together, work through a number of shots, change wardrobe, feel things out, get to know one another. It becomes more of a collaborative dance as opposed to one and done. It meshes with the slow creation that is wet plate collodion photography.

If you’re in the San Francisco Bay Area and would like to book a shoot, reach out. I only accept one sitting per week. studio@lacuna.one

This is my current working collodion recipe. This is some kind of bastard child between Old Reliable and Old Dead Bride.
In a 100ml beaker add a couple drops of distilled water.
To that, add .75g of Cadmium Bromide
and 1g Potassium Iodide
mix with a glass stir rod to dissolve.
add to that 60ml of Ethanol.
Stir and set aside.
Measure 60ml of USP Collodion using a graduated cylinder.
Pout it into the vessel in which you will keep your final salted collodion.
To the same graduate, measure 32ml of Ether.
Add the Ether to the Collodion and swirl to mix.
Always add your ether to your collodion and not the other way around.
Add the salted alcohol mixture from the beaker into the vessel and mix.
Add either one drop of iodine or a good splash of old working collodion.
Let sit for 24 hours and it will clear. Best to ripen for a week, but its usable right away.

In Memoriam. Sharon Marie Quinn.

I can’t remember how Sharon and I connected. Some modeling website perhaps. We grew up in the same town. Went to the same high school. She and I decided to start shooting together. Sets for the now, long defunct Zivity.com. She had a classic, vintage Playboy, girl next door, bombshell aesthetic that is rarely found. She, her husband and I would spend summer afternoons shooting various setups around the property I was living on. He was pretty easy on the eyes too...

We shot together on and off for maybe, twelve years. I can see my technique grow as she and I grew more comfortable together. Became better friends. I’m flattered and honored that I was the first photographer she felt comfortable enough with to pose nude. And one of the only ones. We had a lot of fun. It was helpful that her husband was super supportive and frequently present on our shoots.

Its a funny thing. The relationships you form with people you create with. I can’t say she and I were tremendous friends apart from making pictures together, but we kept tabs on one another. Exchanged random texts. There’s an intimacy that you step into with someone you’re shooting with. Especially if its nude or sensual or erotic. Its a construct you form to make the work you both desire, yet there is a residual closeness because you shared something together. . . It’s a really beautiful container. Someone once said that you fall a little bit in love with everyone you ever photograph. Yeah. . .

Anyway. Below are a few of my favorite images of her over the years. I’ll miss you Sharon. I hope they have bourbon in heaven. I’ll never forget you.

naked is not illegal

From time to time, I’ll post images that don’t meet the “community standards” of gate kept platforms. A simple figure study is somehow highly offensive. Think of the children.
This is a tintype of Julia I shot last weekend Something very classic about it. Oh, and yesterday was Edward Weston’s birthday. 136 I believe. . .

Nude tintype, figure study image.

Heather On White

Heather posted an image from this shoot today on her Instagram and I had almost forgot about it. There’s actually enough materiel from this day for at least two or three more sets. This is super stripped down, shot in the natural light studio on white, with a white plexiglass surface, ending with some yoga poses. There are hardly any safe for work images to use as previews so make sure you click through to see the whole thing.

Taylor. She Bends.

It feels a little weird and frivolous to be updating a nudie website while the world is on watch for the tipping point into world war three. Some say we’re already there. People, just like us, half a world away that just want to live their lives. Fall in love, do something meaningful, make dinner for their children, life a life free of fear. Yet munitions are raining from the sky and thousands of peaceful citizens have picked up arms to defend that sacred freedom. I don’t mean that lightly. The people of Ukraine have had a number of free years after having lived under the oppression of the Soviet Union. They’re not going back to that without a viscous fight. They’re being under estimated. It makes you take a step back and look around at our own situation. In one of the most “free” countries on the planet. What do we take for granted? I can sit here and write whatever I want and no one can do a goddamn thing about it. No brown shirt thugs will show up in the middle of the night and drag me from my bed. Its not like that everywhere. Count your goddamn blessings. Here’s a set of photos of Taylor. 80 or so more when you click through. She recently had her account shit canned at 25,000 followers. Go give her a follow: instagram.com/bendy_taylor/ And no, that’s not censorship. As much as it sucks, that’s just capitalism.

Kalima

Another quick set in between tintypes. During a tintype session, there’s three or so minutes between shots when the plate is in the silver bath sensitizing. Or, “cooking” as I often call it. sometimes we’ll use that time to refine the next pose. Sometimes we’ll use it to make tea, eat honey and fuck around with the digital camera. There is a pause in the shoot between plates. This is that pause.

On another note. Yet again today I’m confronted with the disconnect that many photographers experience. The idea that photography is easy, or is just taking a picture, or just pushing a button. Whether it be in a casual way or in a very professional, commercial sense. What we do, if we’re doing it professionally, at a certain level, is the culmination of YEARS, DECADES, of experience and knowledge. Its not just the ability to make an image the fulfills the requirements, but file management, lighting, set building, production, execution, delivery on and on and on. The elements that go into this industry are as vast and complex as any industry. Yet we’re frequently seen as someone that just takes pictures. Its very frustrating to deal with. The need to educate our clients is very real and its a blind spot they have that we need to fill in. They don’t know what they don’t know. The lesson is how to take that resistance, that head wind and use it to an advantage. I’ll let you know when I figure out how to do that.

Enough seriousness, back to the honey eater. Thanks for reading. Click the images to get to the whole gallery.
Cheers!

Lenore Volume One

One of my favorite shoots from the Me in My Place days. I can’t recall how I found her, but I’m sure glad I did. We shot together in her then home in Oakland on a warm morning on the Vernal Equinox. The first day of spring. I love these old Oakland houses and she had it decorated in a perfect, bohemian, slightly macabre style. This one is a little naughtier than normal. Sorry, not sorry. Lenore is on a hiatus from social media, but you can still follow her Instagram here. She moved to New York shortly after this. I’d love to shoot with her again some day.

Lucy in Red

A few years back I was on the East Coast for some work. I decided to extend my trip by a few days in order to check out Philadelphia. I’d been there once as a kid, did the whole history thing. Liberty bell, birth place of our Nation, etc, etc. For some reason, there have always been a number of independent models of note to come out of Philadelphia. I booked with three of them over two or three days. We shot together in between cheesesteaks and historic wanderings. I booked an Air BnB in Fishtown. It felt a lot like my place in Oakland. Old, brick, former factory of some sort. Plus, bonus, it was like, three doors down from a really good brewery and restaurant. Super dangerous to be walking distance to fresh beer. That town has got a lot of grit. I feel like the area I was in was just or still going through gentrification. A lot of art, coffee shops, beer, etc. I’m pretty down to go back. If only for the cheesesteaks.
This set with Lucy Magdalene was the first batch in the space. Actually had pretty great light and atmosphere. Lucy has a knack for finding amazing abandoned spaces. It seems like those are all over the East Coast. Schools, mental institutions, factories. It feels so much older than the West Coast. She’ll take you to one if you book a shoot with her. Highly recommended. She’s got a lot of beautiful work on her Instagram. Give her a follow.

More Heather Monique

Heather became a mother last week! Mom and baby Felicity are healthy and home from the hospital. In honor of this amazing woman who I’ve gotten to know over the years, I present our second shoot together. It centered primarily around the tintypes, but as is my custom, I tossed in some digital shots around and in between, as well as some Polaroids. Heather is the embodiment of working hard and constructing the life you desire. It’s been inspiring to watch. Instagram here, and from there you can find all her other content.
Love to you dear Heather!