Maternity Session
by gman on May.26, 2011, under Comissions
I had a great session with the Wright family last Sunday. They are expecting their third child soon. Looking at he pictures, real soon. Lol. Spoiler alert! It’s a girl. Three girls, or as Andy puts it ” I’m having three little princes and I see a lot of trip to Disney in my future.” lol
Exposure vers Fair Usage.
by gman on May.24, 2011, under Commercial Work, Uncategorized
Here is a post I submitted about an article about Artist suing Google for copyright infringement.
So far from what I have read, very few people really understands the value of artwork and the implications that it has on the public at large.
I’m a photographer. Yes I have a website to promote my skills and abilities to interpret a concept and then capture that concept so as to communicate that to others. I’ll use a “box’o corn flakes” example. If I create an image of a famous athlete that connects with a large portion of the public, it get pasted on millions of boxes of tasty breakfast food, and the sells of that box’o corn flakes increases greatly(and yes this not conjecture, it’s reality) then I, as the artist, have had a direct correlation to the increased sales and profitability of that company. The creator of that artwork should be paid fairly for their ability as in any other profession, creative or otherwise.
Conversely, if I take an images of the a fore mentioned athlete, as a commission, let say for his/her personnel promotion and part of the agreement is that I can use the image on my website for “exposure” and promotion of my business. Then along comes company X searching Google images for pictures of this athlete. Finds my image of him/her, pastes it on those boxes’o corn flakes and claims orphan rights “…because we did our due diligence and could not find the copyright holder…”(this has happened much more then people think. Just search Google on this issue) then the artist is left out in the cold because they don’t have the financial resources to pursue a multi year lawsuit against a large corporate entity.
Creatives are slowly coming into the light about the “exposure myth”. Yes, exposure is crucial to the success of anyone in business large or small. But, what trumps exposure is value.
“Nowadays people know the price of everything and the value of nothing.” – Oscar Wilde 1891
Large corporate entities understand the value of artist works. If not, they would not spend billions of dollars on it otherwise. They have also come to realize, very early in the game, that if you can get the milk for free, why pay for it. Hence, the subsequent devaluation of artist in our society. Even worst, if you give your art away for the quaint and novel idea that you can brag to everyone that your “picture” is on that “box’o corn flakes”, well that’s just plain ignorance on your part.
I personally know a graphic artist that can take you to any hardware store and point to his designs that he created over 20 years ago. They are still in use today. Yes, he was paid for it, but the point here is, his original artwork has served that company for over 20 years now. It’s value is apparent.
What is not apparent was the 5 years he spent homeless on the street. What I’m saying is that if he was treated right and had a fair usage agreement concerning his artwork, maybe, just maybe, he would not had to endure a homeless status.
Nude Nite 2011
by gman on Mar.06, 2011, under Nude Art, Personel Projects
Well it’s that time of year again where unfettered nakedness runs ramped. No it’s not college students returning to school and throwing pre semester house parties. It’s not the wood stock reunion. That was a bust. And it’s not quite summer so it’s not skinny dipping season.
It’s Nude Nite! Every year around the second week of February, Nude Nite Orlando holds it’s annual art show with the emphasis on nude art. Then three weeks later a whole new batch of art work show up in Tampa and it’s “Hey kids! Let’s put on a show”.
Nude Nite been a yearly event starting in 1997. I personally became aware of the event back in 2004. Ironically, that was the same year i moved away from Orlando and didn’t start attending until my return in 2006. I submitted my first pieces in 2008 and I have been fortunate to have my art work accepted for the past three years running.
Namaste
by gman on Jan.02, 2011, under Personel Projects, Uncategorized
I set three intentions in my life a while back:
1st. Every morning when I wake up I have two choices. I choose to be in a good mood. It may not last the whole day however, it makes my day a whole lot easier.
2nd. Tolerance is bullshit. To tolerate someone is, to me, an insult. To tolerate someones religion, or race, or culture is sheer crap. I practice acceptance. I accept people for who they are. For what they believe. We as people don’t always have to agree, but acceptance and respect moves us all a little closer to understanding one another.
3rd. I treat people the way I want to be treated. They may not reciprocate, but that is no reason for me not to treat people with basic human respect, dignity, and love. I’m not perfect and yes sometimes it’s a struggle (depending on who you are dealing with) but, it is my intention none the less and everyday it gets easier and easier.
At the end of my correspondences I always end off with the Sanskrit salutation “Namaste”. It has many means depending on how and where it is used. One of the most common meanings is:
“I honor the place in you in which the entire Universe dwells, I honor the place in you which is of Love, of Integrity, of Wisdom and of Peace. When you are in that place in you, and I am in that place in me, we are One.”
I really do adhere to this. It is my way of reafirming that their is a connection between people and reminding them that our perceived differences, are just that.
Namaste My Friends.
Dulce Far Niente
by gman on Nov.06, 2010, under Uncategorized
Dulce Far Niente…In Italian it means “the sweetness of doing nothing” or as I like to think about it “the simple pleasure of doing nothing”.
I write this as I’m setting at my health spa…Starbucks. Hey! It the perfect health spa for me. Yeah, the membership price is a little steep ($4.00 for a cup of joe) but, I enjoy the quality of coffee and the overall atmosphere creates an experience the I’ve come to expect no matter where in the country I end up. It’s one less thing to think about. Which leaves more time to think about the other things bouncing around in my head. And it’s busy in there.
Now there are many metaphors in and for life, and Starbucks is a doosie. I submit, for your consideration, a few observations. Sitting with an unobstructed view of the restaurant, or “cafe”, one can simply observe people looking to scoring their next fix of Sudomo, Ethiopian or Guatemalan. People are standing in line, fueling off their last fix looking to “get well” again for a few more hours before they start tweak’n with uncontrollable ticks and whistles that might be mistaken for turrets. With feet tapping and the rapid eye movement of a narcoleptic who just fell into a bad nightmare, time it seems, for these individuals, is moving at a snails pace. After all, they’ve been here the amount of time it took to get from the car to the counter and they are wondering where the hell is the NASCAR coffee pit crew with their drink. As soon as they have obtained their choice of hyper caffeinated, high quality, black liquid, they are off faster than a prom dress after the dance.
All this beg the question. Do any of these people ever really slow down and enjoy doing nothing? Can they? I have a feeling that if they ever found themselves in this situation, that their head would implode from the perceived vacuum due to the lack of activity in their skull. After all, we have all been programed that their is not enough time in the day to get everything done. No time to make dinner or spend time with the family. We’ve been told by every means possible, by every advertisement on multiple fronts that this is the case. If you do take a single minute for yourself, your being selfish, wasteful and dare I say…lazy. Gasp!
Look, turn off the cell phone and go for a walk in the park. Leave all the electronics home and take the family out to dinner. My personal favorite. Go to a wine bar, try some different wines and leisurely enjoy some appetizers. Have a friend join you. Take some time to “do nothing” and those around you will notice a difference.
Road Trips – Tampa
by gman on Sep.30, 2010, under Personel Projects, Road Trips, Uncategorized
Tampa, city by the bay. That is how this city is presented. But then again, isn’t that true about any city by the bay? It’s more a matter of fact then any visceral reality. I mean the bay is right there….or over there perhaps. The point is, I’m in the middle of downtown and unless I’m in my hotel room up high, I know the bay and the gulf of Mexico, is close by. I just can’t see it.
Ok back to breakfast. I’m setting in Moxie’ cafe having a good, albeit a basic breakfast. Croissant, cheese, ham and tomato. Lovingly brought together and severed by a not so smiling, but pleasant face. I’m thinking she need the latte more then I do. Nonetheless, all is as expected. The growling has subsided and I can move forward to my day. Whatever that my in tail.
Settled in 1823. Incorporated three times…three. From village to town and finally a city. Tampa started as an army outpost and grew into major seaboard city whose past is reflected in the red brick buildings intermingled into the city center.
I have been at this photography thing for quite sometime now. Which leads one to a few in escapable truths. One of which is that every town, city or location has that one or two obligatory shots that everyone must take. Like it or not. You will, sooner or later, find yourself photographing these location. The why is simple. They are just frickning cool. It’s like all the planets aligned to conspire against every photographer from that point forward in history, to taunt and mock anyone trying not fall into a conventional “gemme” shot. After much personal debate toiling over the pros and cons of conventional wisdom (which by the way lasted all of a couple sips of coffee), I figured “what the hell!”. Shoot it and do your best to find something new or different that throws a new light on it. Like I said it’s fricken cool. Shoot it!
Lazy Sunday…
by gman on Aug.30, 2010, under Uncategorized
Peyton, Michelle, Barbara. I had the good fortune to work with three incredibly lovely ladies on Sunday. Visit there profiles and show them some love. These are three exceptional people and fantastic models to work with.
Peyton (MM#1064585 ) is my rock. When it comes to modeling, no one does it better. The only problem with her is it hard to choose which of her photos to use. There’s always so many quality images to choose from.
Michelle (MM#1662999) is new to modeling. She just recently started and she impressed me from the start. Engaging, energetic, and a willingness to get involved.
Barbara Donadello (MM#1373774) has a look that is breath taking.
Finally meeting the man
by gman on Aug.03, 2010, under Boudoir, Nude Art, Uncategorized
“Live with a man 40 years.
Share his house, his meals.
Speak on every subject.
Then tie him up and hold him over the volcano’s edge.
And on that day, you will finally meet the man.” –Shan Yu (Fiction character in Firefly)
This dialog really stuck me when I first heard it. So simple, profound and prophetic. As is with most philosophy, it embedded its self in my mind and I churned on it for a while. Forgot about it (so we think), and then, it reared it’s it head again. So true to life, is this statement.
I will relate this to photography and nudes, my preferred area of art, even tho the implications are far greater. As we meet and engage people in our daily adventures, interacting with them day-to-day, do we ever really know them? Do we ever really expose ourselves, our true selves, to others. I believe, that we think we do. But until we have been to the edge, we will never really know for sure.
The nude is one of those figurative ( no pun intended) edges that I speak of. There, we are not hidden behind any barriers. No clothing to define use. No jewelry to adorn us and blind others. No implied social standings. All that remains is “…finally meet the man.” or woman, as the case may be.
This is not limited to the person who is nude before us. It holds just as true, if not more so, to the observer as well. From them we “…finally meet the man.” though there reactions. Whether it be total reverence to beauty and the natural “us”. To, total denial to fit within the social paradigms that we subjugate ourselves to.
In the end, it our choice.
OMG – Orlando Meet and Greet – June 7 2010
by gman on Jul.12, 2010, under Uncategorized
We are a networking group. There is no official “membership” or organization. We invite anyone and everyone in the local (or not so local, but happens to be in town) community to come and enjoy the day, network, and maybe shoot.The events are NOT shoot-outs.
The difference between what we do and a shoot-out is simple. A shoot-out is designed around getting people together and getting a whole bunch of pictures taken of whoever shows up. The people who attend a shoot-out KNOW that they are there to shoot.
With the Meet and Greet, shooting is completely optional. We will always provide a venue in which shooting is possible, but we want everyone to know that they are not REQUIRED to shoot. Come out, mingle, talk and get to know the photographers, models and stylists in the area.
It’s a NO-PRESSURE environment meant to encourage everyone to have fun while getting their work seen by more of the local community. As such, it would be a very good idea to bring portfolios with you, particularly if you are a photographer or MUA so that people can familarize themselves with your work. It’s also a good idea to come prepared to shoot, even if you don’t expect to do so.
It just a lot of fun and a good time was had by all. Now for the pictures.
I can never say enough about this fantastic woman. She gives freely of herself and it always shows. Peyton Lazarus (MM#1064585).
Mi MANO Jamie Rivers (MM#782316) Mad Respect and Peyton Lazarus (MM#1064585) Mad Respect, and MAD LOVE.
Jamie Rivers (MM#782316) Props Bro and Barbara Donadello (MM#1373774)
Barbara Donadello (MM#1373774)
Jamie Rivers (MM#782316) and Melissa Valdez (MM#1348483).
