Hidden Lives

A whole village of little creatures lifting to Spring and speaking quietly together in the middle of Downtown Boise.

Augury 2

A Ghazal for the Curtain Call

Yes, upon the invention of priceless porcelain, I broke my own china doll seeing she was

the Fairest of them all

The silent shards of her painted eyes were too bright by half, assuming she was to be

the Fairest of them all

Higgeldee, cried onion obituaries in the dwarf kitchen and roasted root vegetables,

For he could not break Chanticleer’s luminous ruby neck, a happy cockerel and by far

the Fairest of them all

Why do Innocents have such a weakness for apples? Waive it! Pitch a smooth-skinned

Ruby-painted fruit to them and see the whitest soul fall covetous, wondering: is that one

the Fairest of them all?

Pale skin works with Midnight Starlight Revlon Permanent Hair Color (shade 29),

With Marilyn’s Cherries in the Snow lipstick, if you like that sort of thing,

the Fairest of them all

Perfect toxicity uses pre-existing symptoms to induce death: 1 mm despair, 1 gram Grimm,

tincture of Doubt, Dread, Dry-eyed insomnia, Red Dye No. 2, whisk in UnBelief: as a potion

the Fairest of them all 

Why do none but I dance for the snow-white storm? My Quonset moon, my waiting wood,

The Au Claire de Lune dew and growl of thunder, moss between my toes, surely these are                          

The Fairest of them all

The Seventh Dwarf, wart-skin Rumpel, retired to villainy in the manner of Judas, so terribly

Scarred by merely standing in the crowd to watch the sacerdotal Prince come kissing

the Fairest of them all

That hooked nose and hairy Seborrheic mole itched, so often the problem with theatrical make-up.

I leaned in, measuring my aged, dirt pore, hard-life guise (minus fillers and Botox) against the other,

the Fairest of them all 

Even under heavy sedation I found my cut crystal sarcophagus absurd. Like the mercury behind her Mirror,

it refracts only sterile light. Listen now, I say me, “If a thing cannot rot, it will never be                 

the Fairest of them all.”

Contrary to Urban Legends, I didn’t enjoy kissing her scarlet and comatose lips.  A kiss should be urgent,

regress, ingress, egress. A pure and mutual exchange of chemical intention is rare, but there

 the Fairest of them all 

Ingesting ill will, un-wish, and nauseating projections of the Other Mother's cinematic Shadow,

One sinks under the Ides, sliding rip tides, slowed at the inky edge of time until nothingness seems

 the Fairest of them all

 A kiss is a call. Mouth to mouth and I remember all, the bonfires on Avas Hill, lace curtain breezes,

The scent of apricots, why water is like silk, flower fire, Palinka. I wonder now if tomorrow will be

 the Fairest of them all.

Graduation Photos -- trends and challenges in a cold wind

Most Graduation photo shoots take place in the summer or fall, and the season dictates a great deal of the look and the feel of the resulting photos. I just finished a shoot in very wintry environment in Northwest Arkansas and I found it much more interesting than anticipated. The bare trees, the ice in the background, the textures of shaggy horse fur and (vintage family mink - no animals in the last 50 years killed in the making of these photos!) the hats, jackets and fur coat worn by my client made the season become a little bit Dr. Zhivago, a little bit Old School Movie Star, and a little grungy funky.

Some new trends in graduation photography involve a kind of "dream photo shoot" expressing the personality and the ideas of the subject. Young women especially, but also young men, are not so excited about a formal photograph that their parents can put on the mantle, and they have begun to want the dollars spent on this rite of passage to reflect more of their burgeoning self image and creative spirit. 

Young people today are very sophisticated in their visual tastes, weaned on HDR, 3D films, a vast arean of special effects and digital manipulation as well fashion images from Vogue and Next Top Model. More and more graduation photographers are having to get creative to keep their clients and studio portraiture is increasingly rare. Their is a rising market for Fantasy shoots with costumes, in unusual locations, colorful and painterly developing treatments, and a variety of looks.

Parents are paying, however, and they still want to capture the innocence and personality in a classic portrait that shows that light behind the eyes of the child they love, now close to independence. It is also a chance to get those photos taken that people have put off for years, and know that at least you will have one great photo of the child you cherish.  

So, it is an interesting conundrum for the photographer -- how to please both clients, parent and child. How do we manage to make the girl next door look like a model? How do we come up with with new and interesting locations? How do we make a profit when one is traveling to one or two locations, doing more than simple processing, helping with ideas and costumes, and how to show off and showcase the resulting shots? In a kind of wild version of a debutante ball, seniors hope that these graduation photo shoots will make a big splash on Facebook.

Recently I had the opportunity to take photos of an unusually beautiful and talented High School Senior and try some of these ideas with a girl next door who photographs like a model and who was very clear about what she wanted.

In some ways it was easy, because she is a natural model. In some ways it was hard, not only because of the freezing temps, but also in attempting to capture the spirit and reality of a person in the tradition of classic portraiture, and get thethe fantasy element my client hoped for.

It was 20 degrees with on a hillside dotted with curious horses, snow, ice and a swept by freezing wind. No that's not a fan getting her hair to blow glamorously -- its icy northern gust of hail!

Thanks to the beautiful Chloe for her talent and warmth and endurance!  She was such a pleasure to work with and her styling work made the day memorable. Also, I got to shoot with my son, photographer Vance Green, something we seldom get to do, and the difference in our styles made it fun for both of us. I have to say I totally envy his Canon 5d and great glass -- my 50d just isn't as sharp!

A painterly look -- a little "Lady of Shallott" on dry land

Here are some of the shots I took and some of initial experiments with different treatments, that I'm working on. 

 

Vance gave me a home-made tilt shift lens for Xmas -- tricky but a blast to use.

 

  

 

Falling into Decay

some times the end is more beautiful than the beginning

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