Look! I found u some crazy!!!

A reader sent me a note saying that an image from my Panda Lady essay has appeared on pictureisunrelated.com. And sho nuff, I've got my first official publication on the Cheezburger network! First the Asheville Disclaimer, now this! Early retirement, here I come.

Rex Squared

The Razor's Edge has been one of the most popular posts in recent weeks. Clearly, the increased traffic proves that people are finally starting to appreciate my mad Photoshop skillz and my innovative use of push processing.

You'll find plenty of both here on DarkTopo. And in totally unrelated news--not at all intended to capitalize on the recent "interest"--here are some photos of the same model, taken with a Voigtlander Perkeo II. Or III. I never can remember. Anyway, it's this camera, made back in the days when precise focus and proper exposure was an either-or scenario.





Other matters:

--Where the hell can I find a Flektogon 50/f4 for the Pentacon Six? My normal supplier of commie goods is out of them, and I am NOT paying $350 USD for a Soviet lens. Any ideas?

--The new online photo mag Worth A Thousand Blurbs has picked up my old splash page photo. It's second from last.

--It hasn't stopped snowing for four days. Not serious precip, just enough to remind you that life is terrible and the sun will never shine again.

DarkTopo Appears in iMAG!

"Il buio come protagonista assoluto dell'arte. L'americano Max Cooper ci propone una serie di scatti in bianco e nero realizzati durante le ore notturne, dove le luci d'ambiente trasformano costruzioni e paesaggi."

I have no idea what that says, but I know it's awesome. The Italian photo magazine iMAG is currently showcasing the DarkTopo series. Check it out here: http://imag.altervista.org/

ps: Google Translate says this: "The dark as the absolute protagonist of the art. The American Max Cooper is proposing a series of shots in black and white made during the night, where the light environment transformed buildings and landscapes."

Snow.

A rough winter. These were taken at the end of the longest time we've gone between storms (about three weeks). And that was two storms ago.

Razor's Edge

New photo at JPGmag.com, submitted to the "Inside Your Medicine Cabinet" photo challenge. I've been waiting for years for an excuse to use this photo, but when I scanned the negatives this morning, I was torn between it and this one:



The first one is better compositionally, more flattering to the model, and much leaner. It's like a press photo. Which is why I was torn: I don't much like press photos, especially when it comes to portraits, and the second photo tells a much better story. The pose is more vulnerable and the scene is more expansive. Note the black toenail polish.

These are the kinds of things that keep my productivity down. Which of two very similar photos is the perfect one for a submission to a theme that won't be published and has zero monetary reward? I spent about 15 minutes deciding before I chose the first one just because I'd always wanted to use it.

These photos are from the same session I wrote about in my notes on To See A Darkness:

I was in college, and literally two thirds of my colleagues were photographing women in some stage of undress. I had little interest in studio nudes, but plenty of interest in making good photographs, and I wondered what I was missing by not following in the footsteps of Weston, or Adams, or the other godfathers who shot nudes when they weren't doing "serious" work.

One day I found myself eating lunch with Rex. It was a Monday. I remember that, because I had Ceramics classes on Monday, and I had already missed two classes. But Rex had just moved into a new house, and it was mostly empty.

I photographed her with a 28mm lens and HP5 pushed to 800 . . . meaning I basically opened the textbook to "nude portraiture" and broke every rule.



And I'm glad I did, because these photos are saved from the tried-and-true glamour look by the focal length, and by the freaking railroad ballast that passes for film grain. I don't think I even took my 50mm, and at the time, I didn't own a flash.

Sometimes I regret the grain: The label on the slot behind her says "Razor Blades." You can't see it even at 100% resolution. But I don't regret the focal length. I wouldn't shoot these photos the same way today, but I'm glad they are how they are. Long lenses make people look pretty. Short lenses make people look like they're actually there.

Horus

Some Rare Vertical Portraits (rebel without a portrait mode)

I shoot a lot of vertical landscapes and horizontal portraits. This is mostly because I'm a bad-boy rebel photographer with a black leather camera bag, chrome developing tanks, and flames on my camera. Drives the girls crazy.

More and more, I prefer square format, because it makes this point moot. But I've always taught my students to ignore the "orientation" rules of portraiture and landscape. Respond to what's in front of you, not to what you read in your photo textbook.

Still, I constantly get crit on my portraits that goes like this: "Why did you shoot it in landscape mode?"

First, landscape isn't a mode. Second, because we see the world horizontally unless we're looking through a window, and my goal is honesty, not a reinforcement of standards. Third, [james dean]YOU'RE TEARING ME APART![/james dean]