Category: thoughts

Been a hell of a last seven days.  Spent most of last Sunday helping a friend clean up a large tree that had fallen over.  Monday started with a voicemail that left me needing a few moments to recover and things have stayed chaotic from there.  I also had to do one of the most unpleasant things I’ve ever done this week.  No shoots either because of my schedule was just too crowded with other things.  Looking forward to a more enjoyable couple weeks coming up.

My plan for the rest of the summer is to do more experimentation and try some new things.  I worked with some amazing models last month including Melissa, Keira, Moon, and Katy among others and all did great work and we got amazing photos in every shoot.  Toward the end of the month I felt that I’d gotten a little too comfortable and not pushed to get a little more from the shoot.

So for the rest of the summer I’m going to try some new things.  I’m looking to start playing around with video a little.  I’m going to try out a few ideas that I’d dismissed as too hard or crazy before.  I don’t know if the results will always be great, but I think the good will outnumber the bad.

I am excited that I get to work with Katlyn Lacoste again in a few days. I Found a great location that I’ve not shot before so look for new photos later in the week. Also things look to be coming together great for a shoot at the end of this month I’ve had in mind for a few months where I am going to work with a three model shoot that I’m very excited for.  I’ve always had a bit of a mixed track record with multi-model shoots. A few have went flawlessly, but many have seen various problems or weirdness arise.  I’m bringing in three models I have worked with in the past, that I think will work well together, and believe the results will be awesome.

Photo above from shoot with Melissa Troutt last month.

After shooting at a hectic pace for much of May, I’ve taken the weekend off from shooting and anything photo related to the point of even putting off finishing up some images from recent shoots to enjoy a relaxed weekend.  Therefore no images from the recent shoots yet.  Coming soon though will be some images from the shoots with Melissa and Keira that I’ve already mentioned along with some thoughts and images from shoots with Xlcr Moon and Katy T.

Anyone who know me also knows that I can’t ever completely relax and do nothing.  When I try to picture myself doing so the scene always ends with an image of my head exploding.  So I’ve been able to almost finish up another web based project that will go live tomorrow similar to Rural Nudes.  Look for a post announcing it tomorrow morning, but as a sneak preview the site will be called Uncovered Visions and will be a place to feature all of my photography and not just the handful of images that I share here.

Having gotten these two projects off my plate has given me the chance to start working on something new.  It will be a little while before it’s ready to reveal, but I’m making good progress and hope it will be ready to show this summer.  I’m very excited about this one and how it appears to be shaping up.

Also some exciting things coming up in June including a chance to work with Katlyn Lacoste again and pairing two great models in some outdoor work toward the end of the month.

Again going back into the archives to pull up the above image of Brandy from a shoot a few years ago.  She was one of the first shoots I did after really decided to start focusing more on model and nude photography and stop trying to shoot a little bit of everything.  I just had the one chance to work with her before she stopped modeling, but she did some very good work.

Also for those in the United States enjoying the holiday off today, don’t forget the reason behind the holiday.

Few things put the world into perspective more than a natural disaster, more so when the natural disaster hits close to home.  On Wednesday you likely saw news reports of the storms and tornados that hit the southeastern United States, but to me they were a bit more than a news report.  I spent Wednesday night like many of my fellow residents of this part of the country watching the weather on TV and keeping an eye on the sky hoping to avoid the worst.  I saw rain blowing sideways from the wind and hail in my yard the size of a closed fist.  That was actually small hail compared to what fell around here.  I was fortunate as I had no worse damage than broken tree limbs, a damaged gutter, and a destroyed bird feeder.

Not all were as fortunate.  I know several who suffered damaged cars and homes.  A tornado hit my hometown and damaged the high school I graduated from and destroyed an adult high school across the street.  Just to my northeast six people were killed by a different tornado.  If you shot with me in my outdoor nude work in the last year, we likely drove through that area on the way to our shooting location.

Seeing a disaster on TV is one thing.  Hearing from people you know or work with who suffered damage and in one case lost family is another.  Seeing places that you have walked and driven through now damaged or destroyed is too.  Still we were fortunate compared to other places like Alabama that suffered much worse damage and more widespread loss of life.  If you can help them and others effected by this storm, please do so.

Warning! Mostly philosophy and musings ahead, but some outdoor images included at no extra charge.

I spent a few days at Fall Creek Falls in Middle Tennessee earlier this week.  The falls is a stunning site, the highest waterfall in the eastern United States, and I’ve visited before, but there was more rain of late than the other visit and it was almost like a different scene.  I traveled light this trip and only took my camera and one lens, but still found time to take a few photos.  Not the normal contents of this site, no models present, but some interesting images in any case.

After getting in Sunday around noon, I had a nice long stretch of free time.  The recent few months have been both busy and a bit turbulent and I’ve only been able to get out into the woods while shooting.  Taking a leisurely walk with no agenda other than enjoying a beautiful, warm spring day felt great.  I had commitment for later in the evening, but for a few hours I only had time.  I started with a nice paved trail snaking along the lake and saw a few flowers peeking out, the nicest being the flower to the left.  From there I continued on past the dam and to the main falls.

I saw almost no one until I neared the Fall Creek Falls itself.  I spent a few moments at the crowded overlook at the falls.  I took a few photos, but the brightness of the day and angle of the sun did not cooperate with me and I couldn’t get the shots that I wanted.  So I hiked down a side trail that went behind the falls.  Here is a photo taken using the base of the small wooden bridge that crosses this as a tripod.  I believe this is Fall Creek, the stream that just downstream from this spot tumbles 256 feet into a gorge creating Fall Creek Falls.

Being in the woods with just you, your thoughts, and a camera makes an amazing way to decompress and ponder life.  Things become clearer when you only have the sound of birds, frogs, and the wind around you with nothing else to distract from the dialogue in your mind.  The occasional other hiker may pass and exchange a greeting, but you mostly have the chance to visit with yourself.  Sitting and watching ducks swimming on the lake a dozen feet away makes it easier to look inward and reflect upon life.  It gave me a chance to weigh some paths that I’ve been pondering and I came back to my room more than four miles after starting a little tired, a lot sweaty, and feeling more clear of purpose and plan than I had in months.  Questions that had me in turmoil now seem in context and a path has emerged from the cluttered brush.

My commitments kept me inside Sunday evening and then much of the day Monday.  Late I made it back out and visited Piney Creek Falls in the same park.  A much smaller falls, but also much less crowded and a bit more unfinished.  There is no paved path here, just a short and steep trail of rock and dirt that ends at an overlook with at with no rails or fencing between you and the canyon.  I didn’t take my camera on this trip, only my iPhone, but that provided the means to take a few photos.  The photo to the left I think is the best of the falls.  Another longer trail leads back behind the falls and to a suspension bridge over the creek just around the bend atop the falls.  The wind made taking a photo there difficult, but I did get one image

As I got back to the room around dark a storm began to blow in.  I sat on the patio and watched the weather blow in taking a few photos along the way.  Without a tripod, I had to function as my own holding still for each photo.  I did manage one very nice view of the lighting over the lake below.  Not long after taking this photo the wind picked up, the rain began to fall harder, and the combination pushed me inside.

 

The stormy skies in this image reflected my mind as I’d arrived Sunday, turmoil and questions.  As I went to bed Monday night I felt more the tranquility of Fall Creek above.  But that spot still lies just above the chaos of a roaring falls.  My mind is calmer and my direction clearer, but the questions are still there.  I have a path and a plan now.  It’s not perfect of course, nothing in the real world is, but it fits where I am and where I need to go.  Time alone will tell where it leads me, but I feel more confident than I had before.

 

I left late morning on Tuesday reminded about the outdoor beauty that had brought me into the outdoor nude work I’ve done much of the past year and increased desire to do more now that weather has reached a warmer level.  I also feel ready to move forward and a calmness I’ve not had for months.