Creating your own photo reference

Originally published on 06/14/2008

PHOTOGRAPHYWe all know how boring it can get to see the same few poses, faces, or roses tattooed again and again. It’s a strange ethical question in some ways- is a still from a film, a figure model on the internet, or a flower you find on google, stolen property if you trace/redraw slightly, and tattoo it?

You can start fixing this by beginning to create your own photo reference library. If you have a relatively decent camera, whether or not it’s digital (although digital is easier, and what I’ll be discussing here) you can acquire a lot of reference that nobody else has access to.

Photograph everything. Get a big memory card- it’s a write-off- and start taking pictures of the flowers in your garden, ask your friends to pose for you. Have them stand and sit in different positions and make different faces, different emotions and moods. Just be sure to organize your pictures by sunject, not by date! That way you can always find “red rose bud” in the mass of pictures you will end up with.

This brings originality to your work, while allowing you to stay fairly true to life. If you plan to specialize in photorealistic or “color zombie portrait head” style work, you’d better start shooting now, because if I see another devil’s rejects stillframe #13892 again I will scream.

on becoming outgoing

the ghost writerI used to be really, really shy.

I went through years of just never talking to anyone, just going home after work. Reading. Spending time alone or with one or two friends. Then I went through a long, angry phase of hating people who were social. That lasted a while.

At some point, BAM! I was no longer so shy.

As soon as I didn’t care what anyone thought, things got a lot easier. If someone doesn’t like me, it doesn’t really matter. I mean of course there are people that I’d like to have like me- I still don’t feel all the way happy in a crowd- but now, it’s discomfort, a bit of anxiety, whereas before it was crippling and it kept me alone most of the time.

Of course some people don’t like me much, now that I am a loudmouth. But then again…some people wouldn’t have liked me no matter what I did.

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I spent a day at Neptune, south of Yachats on the coast.

DSC_1151 DSC_1146 DSC_1145 DSC_1132

natural history photographs from today.

still life photographynatural history for herSome still-life pictures I made today.

All are over at my print shop, if you want one. Some of them I will be printing on paper I’m tinting myself, just for that old-timey feeling.

I like the one with the pince-nez best of all, but I took about three or four I think are worthy of printing.

photography

bell flowersI’ve been taking pictures for a very long time. I finally am putting together a shop to sell prints- after all this time.

I guess photography has always been something I do for myself, and I’ve always been amazed when someone wants a print of something I’ve taken. So I figure it’s probably time to list them somewhere.

I’ll be posting new things for the next few days here at the photography shop, if you’ve been after one of my photographs, that’s where they’ll be.

banned on etsy: her roses

human arm bone articulation. banned on etsy!

Apparently, despite many other listings of legal human bones, THIS one is unwelcome on etsy.

Their explanation? “Despite the fact that it is legal in your locale, etsy considers it to fall under the “illegal animal parts” clause of the TOS.”

In other words, the law is what etsy says it is.

Moving on.

 

Update: etsy has now included human parts as forbidden items, along with any thing  that has “health claims”.

Jim Thorpe, and the march of time

This used to be the most awesome crawlupon ruin in the county- just beautiful and so interesting. Well, now they’ve fenced it off. No trespassing-so they can renovate it…for the tourists.

I am currently a tourist.

I would NOT pay to see this rebuilt. It’s just not interesting at all renovated. The beauty of these ruins is in the freedom to roam them, to go where you want and see the decay of the stone…a tour guide? Pfft. Why bother?

I mean- I may be out of line but, I prefer to lay my hands on history, gently. Not see it from ten feet away…also, rebuilding a site which is famous and amazing because it is ruined and abandoned? that’s just stupid.

I am probably wrong in my feelings about this subject but restoration of abandoned places irks me. I like the decay and abandonment. I like it. I don’t want them to rebuild it and repaint it and put some lady in a period costume in there for minimum wage to explain crap to me. That’s just me.

There are still abandoned places here and everywhere- let’s hope they are allowed to rest in peace instead of being dolled up and paraded around for money.

JUCIFER/KEMOSABE/PARADEOFSTORMS/OAKSTSPEAKEASY

Just some images from the show. So fucking good.

funny

http://ugliesttattoos.com/2010/05/16/funny-tattoos-scissoring/#comment-28576

Marylin was kinda upset but only I think because she didn’t realize that they post not only ugly or “bad” work, but also joke tattoos and silly ones, that are well done. I understand that not knowing what the site was like she would be pretty upset. But I love that site so…

Any rate here’s the tattoo that caused the flak.

At any rate, this is my own photo of the tattoo. It came out great and makes me really happy. Marylin is an awesome person, and the tattoo made us both giggle a ton. So it didn’t bother me to see it posted there. Go check out their site, too. Except for the fact that they don’t even TRY to find the source for the better-quality tattoos and credit the artists (COME ON GUYS) it’s a great site. And the truly ugly tattoos that do get posted are hilarious too.

http://resonanteye.com/2008/09/18/pair-of-pairs-of-scissors-scissoring/

frog hunt

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catch

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.and release

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