Men Take the Light

Sean Connery

Photographer unknown

"You've heard the saying, 'Men take the light'?" my portrait photography instructor asked.

We all looked confused. He then smiled and showed a few glamor photos of male and female models and celebrities.

Danny Glover
Photographer unknown

The first were of Paul Newman both older and younger. Then he showed us Robert Redford, Sean Connery and Brad Pitt. He asked us about the lighting for each.

Paul Newman
Photographer unknown

Paul Newman
Photographer unknown

There was usually one strong light source that was angular, and maybe a fill light or reflector. We also noticed darker shadows emphasizing the contours of their faces.

Robert Redford
Photographer unknown

We then looked at photos of Marilyn Monroe by Richard Avedon followed by the iconic Farrah Fawcett bikini photo. We ended with photos of Angelina Jolie. He repeated his question about the lighting.

Marilyn Monroe
Photo by Richard Avedon

The lighting was subdued and diffused, less angular and more fill lighting from multiple sides. This was true for almost all of the glamor photos for women.

Marilyn Monroe
Photo by Richard Avedon

Six years ago I took a photo of my friend Melinda. She is a very sexy beautiful forty something with long red hair. I photographed her in her living room by the big window with my new Hasselblad. When I got the photos back, she looked beautiful because they showed the life in her eyes. She looked at them and was disappointed. "I guess I look that old."

Men can take the light.

Men are allowed to age and show wisdom and sexiness through their aged faces. When you looked into Paul Newman's eye, you saw a handsome man, no matter how old or how wrinkled he was. The shadows just accentuated his manliness. The same goes for Robert Redford, George Clooney, Denzel Washington, and many other handsome men.

Brad Pitt
Photographer unknown

Women are not allowed to show their age. Glamor photographers use softening techniques like light diffusers, softening lenses, editing changes, and other tricks to make the women look younger. I have never erased wrinkles, although I have hidden pimples and razor burn a few times. Through all this trickery, we get a silly ideal that all beautiful women look 22 and have absolutely perfect skin. Sadly then, so many women go under the knife and then inject botulism into their faces to keep their youth.

Robert Redford
Photographer unknown

I think Robert Redford is still handsome. Yes, he has wrinkles and sun spots, yet when you look in his eyes, you still see that boy spirit brimming with life. I am saddened that I can only think of a few beautiful older female celebrities that are proud of their age and are sexy as hell, Helen Mirren, Sophia Loren and maybe Madonna. Mirren, 64, still performs nude in some of her movies where she is amazingly sexual and sexy. Sadly though, most female models and celebrities are not allowed to age, so they are forgotten.

Helen Mirren
Photographer Unknown

UL and Mrs. break this trend by celebrating their age, wisdom, beauty, and sexual attractiveness. When I look at them, I know I am not looking at a twenty year old starlet, I am looking at sexy women that have twinkles in their eyes from erotic histories that makes them even sexier.

Angelina Jolie
Photographer unknown

Maybe I should be comforted that I know many beautiful older women who are not shunned by celebrity and live among us common folk. They look beautiful whether in soft or harsh light. Sadly popular culture does not see it.

Monica Bellucci
Photographer unknown

Monica Bellucci
Photographer unknown

I understand we all want to look good for our portraits. I don't like photos of myself because I've found few people take good ones. Maybe this is the reason I don't like doing formal portrait photography. I love creating honest beauty from the person. Unfortunately, it all goes back to what a female photography instructor said to us, "It is easy to get a pleasing picture of a cute young woman."

So, in this age of celebrity and youth obsession, remember this... "men take the light."

Angelina Jolie
Photographer unknown

Photo note: I found this sexy photo of Angelina Jolie where she is in harsh light. Good for her and the photographer.

Please also take a moment and look at the quality of lighting for all these photos.

Halle Berry
Photographer unknown

Helen Mirren
Photographer unknown and probably is paparazzi, but Helen looks stunning.

What is Your Intent?

Candace 082609-1A
Photo by SB

I am taking a portrait photography course this semester. I am not into photographing formal portraits, but the concepts of staging, lighting, preparation, and other aspects of them are very important to me.

On Monday we covered the basic questions I need to answer at the beginning of a project. Here they are:

1. Intent/Concept - What is the intent or concept of the project? What is the message I am striving for? What is the purpose of the shoot?

2. Execution/Technique - How am I going to do this? Is it formal, informal or candid? Do I need special lighting or props? Am I experienced with these techniques and equipment or do I need practice? What materials do I need to prepare before this shoot? Logistics? Budget?

3. Application/Impact - How am I going to use these photos? Are they for commercial, artistic, developmental, personal use? How will I exhibit, promote, and/or distribute my work?

4. Critique/Feedback - Am I going to seek feedback on this project? How will I get it and who from? What information do I seek?

After going through these in class, I thought about my own process. I often plan these aspects before the photoshoot, but in a haphazard and sometimes improvised way. I hope by planning things better, my work will be tighter and more defined when I am on a project.

Now, I also believe that sometimes it is better to throw out the plans and to go with instinct and the moment. I like doing that with all parts of my life.

Tomorrow - "Men take the light."

Candace 082609-1
Photo by SB

Big Changes

Photo by Patrick Barta

I just read a story that Samoa is going to change the direction of traffic on its roads to match the UK system of driving on the left. Many Samoans are protesting and fear the accidents once the change comes about.

I've driven in England, Northern Ireland, and Ireland. It took me awhile to get somewhat comfortable with driving on the left side of the road from the right side of the car, shifting with my left hand. Every morning I had to remember to keep left as I started out. Thankfully, there was a sticker on the dashboard that reflected an arrow pointing left onto the windshield in front of the driver. I enjoyed the change, except when I was lost in Dublin and frustration grew and driving skills diminished.

This was a huge change to a core instinct. I knew I had to adapt because I was visiting a country where this was the norm, the tradition, and part of the culture. I now wonder how it would be if we had to make a similar change to Samoa.

Imagine if you had to make a change to something so basic and instinctual in your daily life. How would you feel about the change? How would you feel about those that pushed the change upon you?

I think some of us would transition with ease while others would struggle for many reasons. Maybe acceptance and transitions come through flexibility.

In a recent comment on a blog, the writer mentioned showing his old Sony Walkman from 1980 to his 13 year old son and his son could not believe that "it was credible piece of technology." Compared to an iPod, the Walkman is pretty crude.

I am in the process of going digital. Before 2008, all my serious photography was captured on film in my Nikon SLR or my Hasselbad. I mainly shot black and white, developed and printed it myself. Now I use my Nikon DSLR and have not touched film since 2007. I am learning how to use Adobe Lightroom and hope to learn Photoshop as well.

This change from film to digital is a core change for me. I miss the smells, sights and sounds of my darkroom. I love the detail my Hasselblad captures and the prints I made from it. Those things are part of my core photographic soul.

Now, I am enjoying the speed and efficiencies gained through digital work. Once I get a photo edited to my liking, I can make one print as easily as a thousand prints. That was not easily done with film. There are many other gains as well.

I am not sure if I will go back to film. I think I will use it again though because it is the most sensual form of photography since it is analog and tactile. As for driving on the left side of the road, I would rather not.

How the Mighty...

Arnold Schwarzenegger Smoking Manly Cigar
Photograph by Annie Leibovitz

I just read that Annie Leibovitz is $24,000,000 in debt and may lose her photos if she can't pay her creditors. Ouch. I really like her work.

Annie Bio

Story about Annie's financial woes.

The photo above is one of my favorites of hers. For better and for worse, he is my governor. I think she captured his essence in this photo.

Dark Desires

Lines to Her Heart
Photo by SB

Satisfying dark desires is sin & yet frees me; denying them infects my soul. - JP Sartre

Some Christian sects thrive on sin. If they did not have it to battle, they would have nothing to feel superior about and would have to take up new passions. Other Christian sects will accept anybody and love them unconditionally, except they despise the holy rollers I mentioned first. Many Christian sects are in between.

I am personally struggling with my own faith. I feel the same as Sartre. "Denying them (dark desires) infects my soul." I also don't know what to believe in anymore as something to have faith in.

Even though I use the term, "struggling", I am not torn apart by it. According to many Christians' definitions of sin, I've sinned by my actions, my art, my desires, and my needs. I am trying to take a new look at them. I feel I have sinned with my art and my actions, but with sin being defined in a different way.

To me, a sin is when I hurt someone or something for my own pleasure, hedonistic need or vengeance. I am not going to add God and sin into this at all.

I kept much of my nude photography secret from people very close to me. I felt they would judge me as a deviant. I was wrong to do this. When it came out, these people were hurt that I did not trust them enough to be able to handle my work. They were upset that I didn't want them to celebrate my art with them. I felt guilt over not trusting their love for me and who I am.

Satisfying dark desires is sin & yet frees me; denying them infects my soul. - JP Sartre

I think true sin comes when we try to suppress dark desires and not confront them. My dark desires are not the sexual ones. They are the ones for seeking vengeance, hatred, despondency, and other truly dark things. Denying them by not recognizing I have them and determining why I feel them, truly infects my soul.

It is easy to sweep dark desires under the rug. That is part of my family's methods of dealing with dark desires, we suppressed them. I am learning now that I can't do that anymore. I need to recognize them and find ways to move on. This may mean seeking justice instead of vengeance, seeking and giving forgiveness if it is needed, and to examine my true motives for feeling dark desires.

These introspective looks usually find one root cause, envy. Sometimes envy is a useful tool for survival, but many times it is a destructive weapon. One thing I am working on is to change envy into desire, and then decide if what I desire is really something I need. Most of the time the answer is "no," but sometimes the answer is "yes."

One of the advantages of being forty is my ability to look back and see what I have learned during my time in existence. As I hit the fast times, that age where 1990 seemed like yesterday, but it is now 2009, I accumulated life experiences. Some of these were: happy ones, successful ones, failures, heartbreak, death, new love, craziness, desperation, erotic, elation, exclusion, inclusion, salvation, and depravity.

Through all of those experiences, I find it harder to judge people. While my personal faith in a higher power is at best a dim bulb in the sky, I appreciate what Jesus said when he spoke to a crowd that wanted to stone a woman to death for adultery.

So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, "He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her. ^"8 And again he stooped down, and wrote on the ground. ⁹ And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst. ¹⁰ When Jesus had lifted up himself, and saw none but the woman, he said unto her, Woman, where are those thine accusers? hath no man condemned thee? ¹¹ She said, No man, Lord. And Jesus said unto her, Neither do I condemn thee: go, and sin no more.

John 8:7-11 (King James Version)

It is interesting that Jesus made every person evaluate their own sinfulness before casting judgment on the woman. If Jesus was without sin, why didn't he condemn her? That right there makes me believe Jesus was more human than divine.

I am not sure if I can classify what I have done as sins, but I know I have done wrong and also suffered from others who have wronged me. I have hurt people intentionally and accidentally. I have done things that I am proud of and other things that I feel sorry and shame for. I can not easily judge absolutely upon others because I know why they did it from my own experiences.

Maybe age taught me of the beauty of subtlety. I see shades of gray between the polar opposites I lived in during my idealistic youth. Some things are still absolutely wrong and others are purely right. While it is easy to differentiate those, we all spend most of our days in the gray existence of subtlety.

Bizarre Searches

I haven't checked my blog's performance on Google Analytics in a while. After seeing a few stats, I decided to see what are some search terms that lead readers to this blog. There were 203 unique searches leading to my blog. Many make sense. Here are some of the funny ones, the awkward ones, and even a scary one or two and my comments on them.

• Sensual Experiment Help ( I like that one... count me in for that experiment!)
• Model Mayhem See Through (See through what??? Ohh that "See through!")
• The avatar sexiness model mayhem (no comment)
• Sensual (pretty happy that one worked for someone to find my blog!)
• "how people look at art" ( I ask that question all the time)
• Private music of wicked words ( I want to hear that song)
• Anne Geddes (arghh.. my photographic nemesis!)
• Asian Massage (oh yeah... I forgot about that post)
• awesome short film paris car speeding (great movie!)
• becoming a masochist (that one hurt!)
• body painting men think 7 seconds (umm.. no clue on that one)
• crotch shot in hamlet 2 (so absurd it is funny)
• how to trigger sensual feelings from a memory (I want to write a post about that!)
• masturbate 2257 (2257 is not sexy to masturbate to)
• obsessed with sex (yes)
• pubic hair resurgence (DR.L WE ARE MAKING A DIFFERENCE!!)
• sensual gay black and white photos (I would take them and post them here!)
• sensual intercourse pictures (I would take them too!)
• sensual poems he fucks me (not too sensual)
• sensual scraps (very intriguing idea!)
• sensual zen in washington dc (it was a good trip)
• slow sensuous sex movies (interesting idea... maybe not porn.. would be great to see!)
  
• threesomesmmf (heh... none of that here)
• when a partner says, "I ache" (never thought to do a search on that)
• "8th grade" "d cups" (that one creeps me out and is pretty fucked up.)
  

Anyway... interesting searches.

I need to get this type of divorce too!

The Break Up
Uploaded by geertdesager. -

.

A New Type of Censorship - Personal Intimidation

My friend UL over at What We Saw Today shared a traumatic story about being stalked and threatened on the Deviant Art website. Please read her post to get the full back story.

Many of us have shared our fears and concerns about legal and corporate censorship of our art. We've mentioned the slippery slope (sorry for the cliche) of censorship and where it can lead to. During those writings, I never thought of a new type of censorship that became apparent in UL's post - personal threats and intimidation.

After reading about the stalker that threatened UL physically, I have now seen the most personally damaging form of censorship. This is not a government, corporation, or conservative sect going after her, it is a fucked-up individual. This individual could not argue or debate the point logically so she had to resort to violent threats and insults. She made it personal.

As a result of that and the refusal of dA to support its positive members by following its own rules, UL is taking her art down from dA. I don't blame her. I am going to cancel my four-day old membership today ( I have not posted a single photo yet) .

This violent story shows the deep divide that is tearing our culture and country apart. We can no longer civilly debate issues anymore. We have to shout at each other until one submits. You may have seen this during the recent health care town hall meetings where the opposition yells so loud, no debate can come from it. They don't want us to speak. They censor us.

I am proud of my home state of Montana. When the President visited it last week to hold a health care town hall meeting, opposing views were expressed, debate and dialogue were encouraged. Outside, the protesters, both pro and con, were civil. No gun nuts came armed to show their stupidity. My hope out of this is that the extreme fringes will be shown as dangerous ideologues over time as our "not-perfect, but a damn big improvement" President shows what true compromise and respect, though not agreeing, tactics can accomplish.

Sadly though, that is on the national level. So many of the freedoms of art, expression, and thought are being torn apart by individuals who can not tolerate opposing views. I am a progressive libertarian. I believe gun owner's have a right to own firearms, yet we need gun regulations. I am pro-choice, but I respect pro-life advocates who believe in the sanctity of life and are opposed to the death penalty as well. I have some issues that are absolutes for me and will not budge on them, but I will not go and shout someone down or violentlythreaten those opposing me over these issues.

Dr. L. I have two messages for you. First, both you and your art are important, timely, beautiful, erotic, relevant,sexy and needed in these dark times. Second, keep doing it and screw the narrow-minded fuck-ups that have shown their lack of honor and credibility. You are above them.