Without Prejudice 2

[Rob C]

~

A very tactile experience, Patricia!

Lovely image.

Rob

[GrahamBy]

Taschen has done some very expens¡ve books by/for her, one using the friend/fiancée/wife of some plutocrat; if the blurb was true, what a way to show your 'assets' to the world at large. A whole new meaning to the word trophy: don't just have it hanging onto your arm, put it out there on paper!

No, things were a bit hectic here at the time. Looking a bit in Google, it seems she hit her high point, relative to my judgement, in 1986-1994. By the time of INRI, she'd come over all metaphysical-religious. I'd have thought Sarah Lucas had killed the "woman holding large fish" meme in 1997, but Bettina had a crack at it 2 years later... as a religious reference. One could wonder about the influence of her partner Serge Balmy, who is a writer... of sorts... but not my sorts. And Chirac seemed to like her, gave her a Légion d'Honneur...

Anyway, she's on special at 39,95€. I think the next slice of the book budget will go to a mini Sumo... 100€ on ebay, but the Taschen shop had Sale signs up last night, and I could see they had a stack of Sumo boxes. Need to go look on the weekend

[Rob C]

No, things were a bit hectic here at the time. Looking a bit in Google, it seems she hit her high point, relative to my judgement, in 1986-1994. By the time of INRI, she'd come over all metaphysical-religious. I'd have thought Sarah Lucas had killed the "woman holding large fish" meme in 1997, but Bettina had a crack at it 2 years later... as a religious reference. One could wonder about the influence of her partner Serge Balmy, who is a writer... of sorts... but not my sorts. And Chirac seemed to like her, gave her a Légion d'Honneur...

Anyway, she's on special at 39,95€. I think the next slice of the book budget will go to a mini Sumo... 100€ on ebay, but the Taschen shop had Sale signs up last night, and I could see they had a stack of Sumo boxes. Need to go look on the weekend

Bettina comes from relative wealth: buy the mini-Sumo and help Alice pay her bills instead! ;-)

Actually, anything I know about Bettina comes straight for French PHOTO which, as you know, used to be pretty damned good. I'm not really sure why I stopped buying it - maybe it was the inevitable frustration between what's possible in the photographic world and what's available to me on the rock. Funny thing: she reputedly stopped women on the street and talked them into going to hotels with her and taking off their clothes as she did her bedroom images. Some did look like they came straight off the street; makes me wonder if there's a bit of an Arbus complex at work there.

Regarding Sumo: I bought it from a local shop run by a French chap with a Mallorquin wife; I used to get the magazine from him too, and my wife the Sunday Times. Maybe that's why I got a discount; I think I still shelled out about €100 for the thing (new). He supplied what he could that I found listed in the book reviews in PHOTO; trouble was, it largely depended on whether the publishers has Spanish agents or distributors. I also remember finding many great websites through them. For a whle I bought both the French mag and then the American version that they started; from having both I ended up with nothing, beyond a dozen or so culled from a several-feet-thick pile. Space...

Rob

[graeme]

Bettina comes from relative wealth: buy the mini-Sumo and help Alice pay her bills instead! ;-)

Funny thing: she reputedly stopped women on the street and talked them into going to hotels with her and taking off their clothes as she did her bedroom images.

Rob

I'm going to try that: I'll let you know how I get on.

[GrahamBy]

Funny, I thought the days of that were long over. I asked Maeva how she had met the other photographer:
"He stopped me in the street."

So there you are.

[Rob C]

I have tried it - only suggesting portraits - a couple of times, but never in the street - only in cafés.

In the end, I have to conclude that it's easier for another woman to do it. Maybe a good lookin' thirty-year-old guy would have success. I fail on all three counts. I also hate embarrassing moments, so...

Rob

[Riaan van Wyk]

Funny, I thought the days of that were long over. I asked Maeva how she had met the other photographer:
"He stopped me in the street."

So there you are.

Graham, I am going to pretend I didn't read this. The last three years I have been trying to get someone, apart from the blonde I live with, in front of the camera and truth be told, it's been "hell"

The anticipation, hope, joy and all those feelgood emotions that turned to despair and let down I experienced too often with my attempts at model work. Models booked who cancelled, friends of friends who show interest in some pics and then never get to the shooting part. Ladies who interrupt me on the beach while I'm shooting waves to ask if I could do a shoot for them, but then never contact me again. And so it goes on. I eventually gave up as I got tired of the roller coaster and said fuckit, I will carry on shooting my rocks and trees and water and leave the models for someone else. Anyway, I have Sam Haskins and Clergue in the bookcase to cheer me up on those days when I start thinking about models, I can't do "Born of the waves" any better in any case, so what would the point be.

[GrahamBy]

Riaan, here's my secret advice: step to the other side. Volunteer to be a model, either for photography or life-drawing.

First, it puts you in contact with other "models".

Second, it establishes that you are not asking people to do what you wouldn't do yourself.

Third, it creates a certain empathy... you have some idea what the model is experiencing.

It also gives you a means of choosing to work with photographers whose work you respect, who are likely to work with other models who are interested in that sort of work. In contrast, if you go onto a Facebook model-photographer group, the majority of participants will be naive and ambitious people trying to make very stereotypical images in the belief that they will help them earn a living in the field. It is (almost) all about fashion and make-up and lies, so far as I can see.

Also, I put "models" in quotes because I don't work with women who see themselves as models: they are musicians, artists, actors, dancers. They may also be teachers or whatever... but they don't see themselves as having a career in modelling.

[GrahamBy]

Those may be related. If he's selling the prints at good prices, he can and should be paying his models...

[Rob C]

Some beautiful landscapes; they look very crisp, too, and very well 'printed', so to speak. I wonder what he uses? Apart from a tripod, that is.

I don't at all like his 'noods' because they seem so self-conscious, and parodies of the old guys with their 8x10s. There seems no reason why there would be a figure in the shots - I suppose a harking back to classical days long gone.

Good luck to him - seems he's got it organized well enough!

Rob

[Rob C]

Hi Rob, he used Canon DSLRs for years but I believe he's now switched to Fuji mirrorless. Not sure what printers he uses now but last I heard was Hewlett Packard. Glyn is very talented, determined and the complete opposite of a gearhead.

Which is probably why his pictures look so well thought out and executed.

I was thinking it might have been larger formats than Canikon;  I never get anything as crisp, but then I almost never use a tripod anymore. Looks like he often uses movements to get depth on those coastal shots, which are brilliant; I was very taken with the Lanzarote set, too. I've worked there, and never saw it looking quite as nice: apart from some man-made places, all I saw was black!

It was a worthy link; thanks!

Whilst I was sitting in a bank office yesterday fighting the system, I noticed the chap had two very good photographic images mounted on perspex, maybe a yard wide or just a bit larger. One was a shot similar to your Venetian reflections, but much tighter, showing just ripples and perhaps two colours, and the other a shot of some people on a jetty, blurred with sideways shake. Both took my fancy and made me wish I had a big printer... nope, no way, but a pleasant passing thought for all that!

Rob

[GrahamBy]

Something else from Barcelona

[Rob C]

Something else from Barcelona

That pony could give me a hissy fit! So unfair of Mama Nature.

On French etiquette: at what age, more or less, does one stop addressing a female as Mademoiselle and turn to Madame when unaware of her marital status? In fact, should a known older spinster still be addressed as Mlle or is it more polite automatically to use Madame for anyone who appears to be more than in her early twenties?

Rob

[GrahamBy]

I think beyond the early 20's, Mlle is used only for flirting, typically by rather sleazy waiters. In fact I don't think I've heard it used other than by waiters... 

Bought my copy of Sumo... and another almost as big "History of Erotic Photography" which didn't look very erotic, but interesting, for 20€. And the book-shop owner threw in a guide to Parisian architecture, because she liked my accent. Had nearly 10kg of books, with the box and stand, to lug back to the car...

Here's the lift-well in the carpark

[Chairman Bill]

... should a known older spinster still be addressed as Mlle ...

They say that a Miss is as good as a Mlle

[graeme]

I really like that lift well image Graham. Could have posted it in the 'Abstracts' thread.

[Jeremy Roussak]

They say that a Miss is as good as a Mlle

Ugh! 

Jeremy

[Rob C]

I think beyond the early 20's, Mlle is used only for flirting, typically by rather sleazy waiters. In fact I don't think I've heard it used other than by waiters... 

Bought my copy of Sumo... and another almost as big "History of Erotic Photography" which didn't look very erotic, but interesting, for 20€. And the book-shop owner threw in a guide to Parisian architecture, because she liked my accent. Had nearly 10kg of books, with the box and stand, to lug back to the car...

Here's the lift-well in the carpark

Thanks, Graham, makes sense to err on the side of diplomatic sexual caution. But can still hear a voice in the blue complain: "hey, why did you think I was so old?"

Enjoy Sumo; put a small, thick face cloth onto the plastic stand to protect the book!

Great abstract, by the way.

Rob

[BobDavid]

The Chiweenie is shunning the spotlight.

[Riaan van Wyk]

Riaan, here's my secret advice: step to the other side. Volunteer to be a model, either for photography or life-drawing.

First, it puts you in contact with other "models".

Second, it establishes that you are not asking people to do what you wouldn't do yourself.

Third, it creates a certain empathy... you have some idea what the model is experiencing.

It also gives you a means of choosing to work with photographers whose work you respect, who are likely to work with other models who are interested in that sort of work. In contrast, if you go onto a Facebook model-photographer group, the majority of participants will be naive and ambitious people trying to make very stereotypical images in the belief that they will help them earn a living in the field. It is (almost) all about fashion and make-up and lies, so far as I can see.

Also, I put "models" in quotes because I don't work with women who see themselves as models: they are musicians, artists, actors, dancers. They may also be teachers or whatever... but they don't see themselves as having a career in modelling.

Graham, I suspect we live in vastly different worlds..there are no "art communities" here.