Muses of the West New Mexico Landscape Adventure (Some Nudity)

I just returned from the Muses of the West New Mexico Adventure, organized by model Jessa Ray Muse. It has been some time since I attended an event where I could photograph a group of art models in outdoor locations. The entire event was well structured for maximum photography opportunities covering much of New Mexico from North to South. Modeling along with Jessa were Gazelle Powers and Velveteen Serpent Queen.

The first evening and the next mid-day was at Bisti/De Na Zin Wilderness. This location was full of large boulders, some flat landscape, and moderate rocky hills. The light at both times was beautiful with the rocks bouncing it around for some useful fill.

Prior to going back to Bisti/De Na Zin we were able to photograph a little at the Inn in which we stayed the previous night. This was not originally on the tour and showed the flexibility in scheduling that became a highlight of Jessa’s organization skills.

The third day began at sunrise in Diablo Canyon. Although the high cliffs often prevented us from getting direct sun, the light colored upper cliffs again bounced enough light to make the location very interesting.

After breakfast, expertly made as were all meals by Jessa’s partner Greg, we had a chance to visit the Villa which will be the location of another of her events in October. Another lovely surprise, we were able to briefly photograph there. We then paid a visit to Valley of Fires.

After originally feeling that we wouldn’t be able to photograph there, we returned for sunrise. This became one of the highlights of the trip leading to some incredible creativity.

The final location was sunset at White Sands National Park. There couldn’t have been a better finale as the location is breathtaking and the models were quite inspired. I have been wanting to photograph body abstracts in an area with dunes, which I was thrilled to do there.

I recommend this tour highly. Jessa and Greg chose amazing locations for the photography, and where we all stayed adding to the opportunity for interaction. Greg cooked fabulous meals. The three models worked very hard and were open to very interesting ideas, recommending some along the way.

An Exciting New Project

In late 2022 I began a new, exciting project of Dance Movement, not with long exposure blur, but with multiple flash exposures. This is ongoing so I will be adding more photographs along the way.

The End of One Year, and the Start of Another

In 2022 there were some down moments, and some that made this quite a good year, especially for my photography.

In July we lost our Mom to vascular dementia at 90. It was a long, slow decline, and I miss her.

I continued my relationship with Papillon and Company in Metuchen where I have a number of prints in my body abstract series on display for sale

I was chosen for a summer residency with Arts by the People which resulted in the book, Royal Beauty. In this 11 writers each provided text based on one of 11 photographs I supplied.

I attended a fabulous portrait workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops led by Joe McNally. It was a terrific experience.

Three of my photographs were picked to be published in Trilogies, a book of three-image collections published by LensWork.

One of my body abstracts was selected by the juror for the Members exhibit at the Southeast Center for Photography.

To start off 2023 I had three photographs selected for the Touch/Hold exhibit at the Atlantic Highlands Arts Council. These will be on display for a month beginning mid-January.

Having started a new series of Dance Movement studies I am in the process of preparing to do more of those session, and will be adding them to this site soon.

I'm Being Published, For Real!

The fabulous magazine, LensWork, has been publishing annual books for the last several years, with interesting themes. This year, they decided to use “Trilogies”, sets of three images. As I have done most years, I submitted, and was selected for inclusion!

Above, is the gallery of the accepted photographs. If you are interested in ordering a copy of the book head to their web site at this link.

An Interesting Summer Residency

I was recently referred to a New Jersey based organization called ARTS by the People. They describe themselves as follows:

“ARTS by the People is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Our mission is to establish, operate, promote, and conduct educational programs, opportunities, classes, and sessions in the creative arts for the public, especially older adults and youth.” Their Executive Director is writer and photographer Paul Rabinowitz.

They provide classes and workshops in a variety of disciplines. One of these is The Writing Lab, which is funded by a grant from the Santiago Abut Foundation. This summer, 2022, they are offering, to a selected group of 12 writers, an ekphrastic writing session. In this the writers will each base work on a photograph of mine sent to them in advance. After the session a book will be created with the photographs and the writing. The process is being led by Tamar Jacobs, a writer, teacher, editor, and coach.

After I was selected to provide the images, Paul, Tamar, and I went through a process of selecting the photographs, see the carousel above, to use and then Tamar sent one to each writer.

I look forward to seeing the result and meeting the writers in November when the book is unveiled at a reception at The Madison Center, Madison, NJ..

The fabulous book, Royal Beauty, is now available for purchase.

Art Fair 14C Juried Show 2021

Art Fair 14C ended about a week ago. It was an incredible experience as well as an honor. I met so many amazing artists and enjoyed discussing my work with many of them as well as the attendees. I look forward to applying for the Juried Show in 2022 and hope to be able to participate again.

The photograph above is my display in the Juried Show Booth J11. Below are the seven photographs I displayed.

One week to go...

My seven photographs are framed, marked, and wrapped ready for delivery on Tuesday for Art Fair 14C, which opens in one week. I will be part of the Juried Show in booth J11. See https://artfair14c.com for details and tickets. This is very exciting and I hope many of you can come and visit me there.

On-Line Publication

Some work from my session with Perrin Marie, in April, has been published in IoN (Images of Nudes) Magazine in their October, 2021 issue. This is my second time there having also been in the May, 2021 issue with photographs of Vox Model at Gunnison Beach.

To view and download this free magazine use one of these links:

DPS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/lumosq4cpshu6s6/ION%20Magazine%20Issue%2038%20DPS.pdf?dl=0

ePUB

https://www.dropbox.com/s/sdbtflb324nca3l/ION%20Magazine%20Issue%2038%20ePUB.epub?dl=0

Print

https://www.dropbox.com/s/17wznadlrlq5v7z/ION%20Magazine%20Issue%2038%20Print.pdf?dl=0

SPS

https://www.dropbox.com/s/p18fzpbuifreezo/ION%20Magazine%20Issue%2038%20SPS.pdf?dl=0

A Major Art Fair!

I received word this morning that I have been accepted into The Juried Show at Art Fair 14C, which takes place this year in The Glass Gallery at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, NJ. The Fair will be open Friday, November 12 through Sunday, November 14. I will be one of 40 artists from New Jersey, each with two 6 foot wide walls!

I look forward to meeting the other artists, the gallery personnel, and the general public, and talking about my photographs.

A Great Vacation

After no serious travel during the COVID-19 pandemic, my wife, Deb Kmetz and I needed to travel to help a friend move. We decided to take some time and extend the trip to do some bird photography somewhere with birds we don’t normally see. We chose the Tucson, AZ area and some in Boulder, CO around the move. I have added a new page on this site with a sample of the photographs I made.

A place to see my photographs

For a couple of month I’ve had a space in Papillon & Company, 418 Main St., Metuchen, NJ 08840, to display and sell my photographs. When you are in the area, shopping or eating at our many terrific restaurants, stop by and take a look. The shop, owned by Edna Epelu, is a fabulous resource with many interesting and unique products.

Back to what?

As we head back to what ever follows a global pandemic, I have been continuing my photography of birds along with my wife Deb Kmetz. In fact, we are planning a trip that will, for much of the time, be about photographing some species we don’t see in New Jersey.

I have also continued my work, in the studio or on location, with models. Some have been touring art models and others, people who want to participate in my work. There are additional images from these sessions throughout this site.
Anyone who is interested, any gender or body type, feel free to reach out to me using the contact form on my about page.

Back in the Studio

Since I received my second COVID vaccine dose, I’ve been back in the studio, creating with models. I’ve included here one photograph from each of the three sessions so far. I have more coming and will continue to post images on the appropriate pages on this site.

One Year of COVID

This week marks the anniversary of the COVID-19 pandemic. I have received both doses of the Moderma vaccine and reach maximum immunity next week!

During this time I have still been making work, including some photographs for the Mignolo Dance company here in Metuchen. Under their overall umbrella, Mignolo Arts, they have an amazing studio space which I hope to use for photography soon.

I have also been continuing my exploration of nature, especially birds. A year ago I had done little of that, and now feel I’ve improved quite a bit.

I have several of my photographs for sale in Papillon and Company in Metuchen, NJ. Stop by there when you visit the Borough and take a look.

The Print Swap Exhibit

In February I posted about an exhibit opportunity I got at the Foley Gallery in New York City. Due to the COVID-19 Pandemic this was postponed and finally happened on August 12! The photograph, above, has also been in a number of places, including this weekend’s Trenton Art All Night.

Feature Shoot, which coordinated the event sent installation photographs, so even though I couldn’t attend, I got to see the work on a NY gallery wall.

An At-Home Project

During the 2020 COVID-19 pandemic I saw and photographed much, inside and outside of my home. As this continued, I began to see how the shape of the covers on our bed, and the light in the room, changed each day. After discussing the concept with my wife, also a photographer, I decided to capture this over 10 contiguous days and see if it had any visual interest. I also decided to cap that sequence with one of the made bed, the way people would normally expect it to be seen. We found it fascinating how different the shapes are.

The set of photographs can be found here. I’d be interested in reactions.

Creating During the COVID-19 Pandemic

As of the time of this writing, April 12, 2020, we are still sheltering at home during this terrible pandemic.

We have been asked to stay at home and leave only for necessities as well as exercise, staying safe with proper social distancing, staying at least 6 ft. apart. We have done that, taking advantage of the many local parks, until they were closed last week. While taking those walks, I bring along my camera and experiment with some techniques I don’t use often. Included in the photographs above (click on them to scroll through the group) are long lens nature photographs, anonymous people, and the use of a full frame fisheye lens.

I hope to get back to working with models soon having done my last session, including the image above, just before we began the need for isolation.

Two Exciting Exhibits

I have continued to follow opportunities to exhibit my work, and had photographs accepted into two shows recently. One is at a new space in Metuchen, NJ, where I live. The Galerie Westerhoff is located in the Westerhoff School of Music and Art and is managed by Earth Studios and sponsored by the Metuchen Arts Council. The exhibit is titled “Return to Love 2020”. My photograph was one from my recent honeymoon to Yellowknife, NT to see the Aurora Borealis. I titled it “Intetwined” and felt ist looked like two lovers together. I was honored to receive an honorable mention from the jurors.

The other is a Print Swap sponsored by Feature Shoot. I had one photograph accepted which permitted me to choose a print from another photographer. I allowed unlimited people to choose mine and was thrilled that at least 4 people were interested in my submission. The accepted entries will be displayed at the Foley Gallery in New York over two nights, half of the photographs each night. Mine will be there on Wednesday, March 18.

(Edit 4-12-20) Unfortunately, this exhibit was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. I hope it will happen sometime soon.

Deb's and My Wedding and Honeymoon

On September 28, 2019, Deb Kmetz and I got married! The next day we left for Yellowknife, NT in Canada for a unique and amazing honeymoon. The above photographs were made by Kyo Morishima Photography, Metuchen, NJ. My daughter, Melissa Aaron, supplied the cake topper, bought from an Etsy shop. The cake came from AwesomeYo’s Kitchen, also in Metuchen. In all of the photo gallery, click on the right photograph to advance to the next image.

One of the reasons for going to Yellowknife was to see the Aurora Borealis. We were lucky to see active displays four of the six nights we were there.

We also took a drive on the Frontier Trail, Highway 3, about half way from Yellowknife to Fort Providence to see the wild Wood Bison found there. Again, we lucked out and saw many in the grasses next to the road.

There was much else in the area, including some eagles and interesting scenery. For the two photographers we are, we were thrilled with this experience and hope to return in the future.

A New Experience

For almost 11 years, I’ve been doing a great deal of my work with art models. The above image was made at the first session, and was exhibited several times. Much of this involves me hiring these people, mostly women, to make images I want, in my own vision. Although the majority of these sessions are my concepts, as you see in the pages on this site, I am always willing to try things they suggest, especially since many of them are more experienced posing than I am photographing. Through this I developed my style of running a studio or location, generally easy going and fun. I also have cultivated a reputation as someone who is reliable and professional.

I was recently contacted by a model who I had photographed twice. She had posed for a drawing session during which a non-model woman, an artist and dancer, spoke to her about having some nude photographs made and if she could recommend a photographer. The model recommended me! I felt honored, but a bit nervous about being hired to photograph someone the way she wanted, using my skills. We found a date of mutual availability, deciding to use the studio where I am a member.

As I suggested she brought some variety of wardrobe for images in addition to the posing nude. As often with someone new, it took a few minutes to get into a rhythm. We made quite a variety of photographs, silhouettes, clothed, lingerie, as well as some nude. As a dancer and yoga instructor, she was able to move into poses which we fine tuned by looking at the camera LCD screen. In the end she commented that I made the process, and being photographed in this way, comfortable, which to me was a humbling compliment. She even commented that she might send some friends my way. It was also interesting for me to not be fully in control of the photographs we made. I enjoyed the process and result as much as she did.

Maybe I need to do more sessions like this.