color toned

I have found that shooting nudes is much harder than it looks. At first blush it seems, how could you go wrong? How can you go right is more like it. It helps to have a beautiful female form to start with…one that is willing to experiment. This image was not very tightly preconceived. I just had access to a studio prop and a willing beautiful woman as I previously mentioned. The resulting image is a co-creation, and it seems as though it refers to creation.

Ideas represented through images are my passion in photography. After 40 years in the art form, a pretty picture holds little interest for me, they can be found by the millions on the web. My approach inclines toward commentary and concept, even in the face of a populace seemingly indifferent to such notions. This image dabbles with the number two, two figures back to back with no common point of view. Two identical shadows cast from nearly identical creatures. Diving further into the image, the light pole and its shadow acts as a symmetrical divider, further separating the two figures. Ironically, it is that light that illuminates the men, creating their darker shadowed-selves… they cannot see the commonality of its source. So while in the midst of their opposition, this singular light shines equally on both, a potential metaphor to lead them toward unity. One happy accident, I find it interesting that a trashcan happens to be between them, perhaps indicating the true nature of their polar opinions. I liken the image to our two party system and the seemingly insurmountable differences that appear to divide our society, politics and country. These differences will again be put to the test through our democratic system in the upcoming presidential election, though I hope we are not heading into more unbridled polarity, bombastic politicians and a populace at odds.

What caught my eye in Robert’s “Tattoo Lady”, was the weird extra eye to the left of the woman’s face, its almost as though there is another entity surrounding the illustration of the girl. I then flashed on an illustrative photograph I made of a dancer who was revealing only one eye to camera. As I viewed the two images together, the more I liked the pairing, the flowing shapes around the figures, the singularity of form and subject, and in particular, the haunting eye.