California Dreamin' (v1.5)

Just sent from a photographer at the workshop last year: Joel Brown. The only one sporting a large format camera. Gets huge kudos from me.




Have I mentioned that I love my job? And that I love the artists I work with?

Palm Springs Photo Festival

Um, WOW!

Can I do this every year? Pleeeease?


In complete seriousness, I don't think I've ever had as much enrichment and just plain fun in those four days than in any consecutive 4 days in my life.

Jock Sturges is a master photographer for a reason. Not just because of the quality of his photographs, although if that was the only thing he had going for him as a photographer it would be enough, obviously. He utterly respects and treats his models exquisitely. He is a remarkable instructor, and goes way above and beyond the call of duty. He is extremely approachable, has a razorsharp wit, and is pretty much a genius. You'd be hard pressed to find any photographer who fits that description.

The workshop was wonderful. All the students were very respectful, and most of them had serious talent and potential. The locations that we shot were pretty interesting as well. I can't wait to see some of the results!

And the models, oh my word. Nettie, Zinn, Meghan, and Gavyn were off the charts! Seriously. All of them, and I mean, all of them were utterly wonderful, talented, gorgeous, and just plain fun people to be around. Jock said that this was the best group of workshop models he has ever worked with. And from the reports we got from the assistants and students, Jock had been raving about us even when we weren't around, so I don't think he was just saying that to boost our egos.

I also met a lot of other wonderful people, one of the highlights being Zoe Wiseman. What a fiesty bundle of awesome, that woman is! We didn't get to shoot, but we will one of these days, dammit! But I have her to thank for this incredible opportunity. Without her, I would have been spending the week back in Minnesota! So thank you, thank you, a million thank you's, Zoe!



So, to sum up: It was fucking amazing.


Any questions?





___________


Matt Blum.

size DOES matter

Look at these HUGE prints!

Sylvie is hanging 4 new prints in the Fahey Klein Gallery in Los Angeles. Seems that two of them are from our two sessions together.

The prints are larger than I am! I'm larger than life!


;)

All images Archival Pigment Prints,

43x56 inches

Editions of 10

www.faheykleingallery.com

___


Seeing these made me really happy today.

That, and I used another reel of 120 (Ilford HP5 400) in the Brownie on my Papa and my two cousins (8 and 5) today.

The frame I'm most excited for was an accident.

We had the pull out bed for my gorgeous and sassy 5 yr old cousin and I had her lay on it. I stood over her in order to try a different perspective and just stood for a while waiting for her to relax. She's been trained by her mother to have the "picture smile" and I hate that!

It looks exactly how it is: FORCED.

So I just started talking to her, and then started combining words that I thought she (or kids in general) would start reacting favorably to... like 'fuzzy-booger-pizza,' for example. To my happiness, she started cracking up, and I flipped the shutter, as I was continuing to egg her on. And then she had a beautiful, spontaneous, head-thrash-laugh off to the left side, and I flipped the shutter again. Immediately afterwards, of course, I thought to myself: "Aw shit. I didn't advance the film. Well..... Hopefully that double exposure turns out well!!"




Oh, and I bought a pink Holga 120GN for reeeal cheap on ebay. I might have bought a Holga GTRL (also pink!) instead, but I had not known of them or seen them before I bought the GN. Plus they were more expensive. Does the GTRL have an advantage over the GN in any way?




Oh my. A pink camera.
A cheap, plastic, bulky, toy film camera. A real eyesore.
No one is ever going to take me seriously with this in front of my head.
Why in the world did I get this thing?




Because this is going to fucking rock my socks, thats why!



Can you tell I'm excited?!


It's going to be fun!!!


I've already been researching so many "hacks" for the Holgas. It's going to be fun!!!
Have I mentioned that already?


But soon I need to learn how to develop my own film. And I need to get some hardware and chemicals. And then next I need decent scanner - I'm looking at an Epson 4490. I'm sure it all would pay for itself after a few dozen rolls at NatCam's processing price ($9 developing fee, $5.25 for CD, and $1 per frame) at about $22 for an 8 exposure roll, which really isn't that unreasonable.

Then, the next big thing after that is making prints. How much are those?
Whoa boy. I tend to get too ahead of myself.
I'll cross that bridge when I get there.



But until then, I have my holga oasis:

http://www.squarefrog.co.uk/

...sometimes web surfing pays off.

Positive.

I love this pose.
___________

Sylvie Blum. Second Shoot.

Another Bout

of the beast this week.

Its my own damn fault though. I have been careless, reckless and forgetful.

Its hard when you're stuck in your own box and cannot get out.


My education is very important, this I know... but I wish I could suspend it so I could just create art for a few years.


It's all good though. My life is a rollercoaster and I'm getting used to the ups and downs.


Bring it on.


_________________

Ed Freeman.

Summer Adventures - Sylvie Blum

One of my greatest ambitions in my fine art modeling is to work with artists that share my passion for creating classic, tasteful, figurative and/or abstract and/or structural fine art nudes. Although I greatly respect and admire other forms of fine art nudes, including but not limited to, conceptual, emotive, experimental, erotica, fashion-esque...etc., it's not what lights my fire and passion deep within.

I think the most beautiful thing in the whole world is the human body. Not only for aesthetic reasons, but also for intrinsic reasons.

I've only worked with a few photographers that share my passion for figurative/abstract nude art. But every time I work with said photographers, I always come away from the shoot feeling that rush of adrenaline and the superb satisfaction of collaborating and creating impeccable art with extremely talented artists, not to mention I receive a few masterpieces for my portfolio.

Sylvie Blum is, no doubt, one of those few photographers I've had the utmost pleasure of working with. She has a true, passionate artist's heart, an exceptional eye and talent, and a generous, kind, and beautiful personality.







I'm extremely giddy to say that I will be working with her again soon.
Very soon, in fact.

We will be shooting together over the course of three days... next week! I'm flying out to LAX next Monday and staying in Hollywood September 7-10. I expect these sessions will be as wonderful and productive, if not more so, as our first session was.

I feel extraordinarily humbled and privileged to have such favorable regard of such a prolific and internationally renown fine art nude photographer. It makes my heart swell with joy!

_______________

Sylvie Blum !!!

A lot to do

before the fall semester starts August 24th
and nearly no motivation to do any of it.

Hopefully I'll get over this small beast attack by the end of the weekend and get on task on Monday. Which includes posting many of my accounts of my trip this past month.

And lots of cleaning, organizing and planning. Which means I need to find new music. I'm kind of burned out on my Metric addiction.



Here's some Sylvie Blum. She makes me look very good. She's a fantastic person with an incredibly marvelous talent. I can't wait to work with her again.






______________

Sylvie Blum.