Recent Professional Works

[Tim Jones]

bcooter,

The bottom one shot with red 1 , was this with a lite panel?
Pretty moody, very nice.
Thanks,
Tim

[Abdulrahman Aljabri]

Nice Abdul. I especially like the details. FWIW, on the first image, I think I would have removed the pillow on the foreground couch-it blocks the coffee table.

Thanks Kirk, its always nice to get your comment.

Chris, Nice as always-a very Mondrianish composition on the commercial interior. I have always found that a familiarity with the work of Mondrian is helpful with composing interior spaces-especially when a frontal view is in the offing.

Do you mean Piet Mondrian the painter, how do you apply his approach to photography?

[bcooter]

bcooter,

The bottom one shot with red 1 , was this with a lite panel?
Pretty moody, very nice.
Thanks,
Tim

Yes, one small light panel gaffer taped to a pic stand during a casting.

Also, thanks Andre.

The cool thing is this model in the portrait



Is this model



and this model.

[Kirk Gittings]

Thanks Kirk, its always nice to get your comment.

Do you mean Piet Mondrian the painter, how do you apply his approach to photography?

Yes, Piet Mondrian. I hope this makes sense. I have never tried to explain this to anyone before. Its not that I apply his approach so much as by studying various great artists, preferably directly in museums where you can really feel the work, you come to understand and absorb their way of seeing and organizing form. Then it becomes part of your own compositional arsenal. Most photographers, if they have studied art history at all, do this unconsciously. I personally became aware of this back when I was in graduate school and have made a bit of a conscious exercise of it ever since. I am more interested in painters in this respect than photographers as painters are not bound by actual optical relationships. Sheeler, Rothko, O'Keefe, Mondrian, Picasso and Braque, Gorky, de Kooning, Rauschenberg (to name a few) are all artists that I feel I have learned allot from.

[Tim Jones]

Bcooter,
Ah, atmosphere .
Tim

[bcooter]

One Hour Later

[Rob C]

One Hour Later

This one I don't like. Nothing to do with the great photography, just the fashion: is she carrying a spare sheet around her butt to pull over her head at the appropriate moment? What do some of these people think of!

Rob C

[bcooter]

.....snip.......... What do some of these people think of!

I love Haute Couture.   Not that I think it has any functionality of purpose, but it is the pinnacle of fashion and elements of what you see today that look so far out and shocking you'll will probably see in the GAP and H+M in 7 years.

Just like you see elements of Frank Gehry's design in apartments and office buildings  in Nashville and New Jersey, you've seen Gaultier's work in the streets of your hometown.   You've just seen it 12 years after it was introduced and mass produced to sell at a profit.

I love to walk through the Soho's and La Brea's  in any city and see people comment on a carpet in a designer store saying "ooh, who would put something that green in their living room?"  Then 4 years later they have green shag all over the house they bought from cb2 at the Mall. 

In a world that "markets" the same old thing, (photography, design, fashion, products) in the same setting to the same people and works hard not to stand out and offend anyone, I applaud the designers or for that matter any artist or inventor that attempts to break the mold.  

It takes a brave soul to sit in a loft and start cutting patterns that hasn't been focus tested, committeeized (is that a word?) or homogenized (no pun intended) down to the lowest common denominator.

I also applaud the patrons of these designs and are willing to stand out from the crowd, not giving s**t what anyone thinks.

They keep life very interesting.

But , in regards to this dress, I love this modern take on a milk maid's dress and probably didn't do it justice.  Had there been the time to go to the location I had in my head I would have shot her in a 17th century French farm setting, or better yet a modern stainless steel milk farm,  except those locations  were 2 hours away and it was the wrong time of the year, so I used the most traditional location I had at my disposal.

IMO

BC

[PdF]

An image of a (very beautiful) hanging chandelier of Josef Hoffmann was selected for the poster of the big antiques fair of Maastricht. The photo was taken last year...

[Rob C]

I love Haute Couture.   Not that I think it has any functionality of purpose, but it is the pinnacle of fashion and elements of what you see today that look so far out and shocking you'll will probably see in the GAP and H+M in 7 years.

It takes a brave soul to sit in a loft and start cutting patterns that hasn't been focus tested, committeeized (is that a word?) or homogenized (no pun intended) down to the lowest common denominator.

But , in regards to this dress, I love this modern take on a milk maid's dress and probably didn't do it justice.  Had there been the time to go to the location I had in my head I would have shot her in a 17th century French farm setting, or better yet a modern stainless steel milk farm,  except those locations  were 2 hours away and it was the wrong time of the year, so I used the most traditional location I had at my disposal.

IMO

BC

Well, I lived off the fashion trade for many years too, and I agree that many of the people that design are talented and interesting and make a huge visual (and economic) contribution to the world we inhabit.

But I still don’t like the dress. Nothing to do with the photography, as I stated, and everything to do with that spare bunch of cloth at the rear. On the other hand, had you had her milking a cow or even a goat, she might well have been sitting on a low stool and thus disguised the clump at the rear… had the designer taken a closer look at the source for the influence, he/she would have discovered a different rear dynamic/weight distribution that worked, in its period. Sometimes a passing reference to a motif isn’t the way to go.

Either way, don’t loose any sleep over it – the important thing is the photography and that’s great.

;-)

Rob C

[JohnBrew]

One Hour Later

Darn shame about that picture on the left leaning into the composition. I find it very distractive.

[AndreNapier]

It works for me. It is very painterly and represent the same composition era as the oil painting on the left. Dress is current high end fashion. I would prefer for the dress to be more creamy/beige in tonality to blend a bit softer with the background but I am sure that James did not have too many choices on that.
The only think that I would change about this image in post is the removal of blue cast in the white in the lower half of the dress. Otherwise really nice. 
Andre Napier
http://AndreNapierStudio.com

[MichaelEzra]

a couple more

[wolfnowl]

Great to see your form work here again, Michael.

Mike.

[Dick Roadnight]

– the important thing is the photography and that’s great.

;-)

Rob C

I disagree - the important thing is the picture... I think we should think beyond photography and think about creating pictures.

[Eric Myrvaagnes]

Great to see your form work here again, Michael.

Mike.

+1.

Eric

[Rob C]

I disagree - the important thing is the picture... I think we should think beyond photography and think about creating pictures.

Ah... the Ideal World!

In the microcosm of my exchange of views with Coot, the standard of photography is taken as a given; the picture - any picture - consists of multiple bits, of which the technique, equilibrium and principal subject matter have to coalesce in that holistic unity that makes it work or otherwise.

I don't know why the shot was created; it might have been on behalf of any number of clients, the model, the 'book', or just for the hell of it. If for the designer, then there is little alternative but to shoot what that soul thinks is the genius part of his/her creation, the telling bit that casts the mood or tells the mythical 'story' that fashionistas like to believe exists in their world. I'm far more cynical: I read something new or recycled to flog. It's business, baby, keeping the mills churning and the racks moving to and fro. Sometimes, it's also art. Coot's been very blessed that way: he's created a lot of both. I think he can weather a less than ecstatic opinion of one element of one shot!

;-)

Rob C

[MichaelEzra]

Thank you, guys

[bcooter]

Ah... the Ideal World!

If you work as a professional artist after say, oh about an hour and a half you either develop a thick skin, or you lay down on the highway.

So . . . rarely does any critique bother me.  I post images solely for the pleasure of doing so.  The real judge is who writes the check, at least with commercial work.

And though all artists want to please their audience in some way, this image is not my favorite only because I've done it before.  

My biggest fear is to become Jimmy Buffet and continue to  play Margaritaville.  

That is one of the reasons I work in so many genre's, I think I get bored easily.   My partner and I  have a rule that if we're comfortable, rested, content and safe, then something must be wrong.  

Actually of all the images I've recently posted, the portrait of the model with the RED and the same model walking down the hallway are my favorites because I haven't really done those before.  (at least not often).

That is one of the reasons we are moving our business more towards digital cinema, (whatever that means). I've shot video, I've shot a billion stills but never have I attempted a movie even on a small scale and I find it intriguing, fascinating and exciting.  

In fact this image is part of the movie which is also part of a real fashion editorial spread that will run on real paper.  I will go into more detail later on.

As I mentioned had I not been double teaming production and co-opting the project I would have shot this dress in a whole different setting, but critique doesn't bother me.

It actually helps me to grow.

Thanks.


BC

[Dick Roadnight]

That is one of the reasons I work in so many genre's, I think I get bored easily.   My partner and I  have a rule that if we're comfortable, rested, content and safe, then something must be wrong.
BC

That is like one of my theories - when you are happy with your work, you have stopped improving.