(I can imagine if you read this, some of you might get mad. If you do, I’m sorry. I’m a bit of an odd case and doing things the ‘normal’ way have never really suited me, so I appreciate the weird, odd, and the different. But if you get mad at how I write my dribble, I’m also sorry there, I’m not a good writer. 
)
The more, and more, I peruse Supercult.com (thank you Chase, but I actually have enough left over to actually sign up.), and look at Chase Lisbon’s photography. I find myself more engrossed with his style. His rather secretive style that works beyond normal comprehension. I guess in normal realms most would view these as the less desirable pictures, since they hide detail, and don’t follow normal photography convention.
But, what fun is it following normal convention?
I keep telling myself that I wanna make my photography fun, challenging but fun. I mean, I have a slew of photos of all different styles saved on my computer, that once I feel I’m ready to try. I’ll try them out and put my own twist on it. For example, this shot from a few days ago:
I mean, look at it. The only light I used was from my iPhone, I toyed around for a good twenty or so minutes with my shutter speed and f-stop to get the desired effect. Although, I had more fun trying to create a little rig for my iPhone to aim the light how I wanted it without having to squish my hand up too much.
So you can imagine me, sitting at my desk, rigging my iPhone, placing my hand, and holding my D90 with my only free hand trying to keep it still enough so what detail I have doesn’t go to hell. It was a bit of an endeavor to say the least, but I was having fun with it. And when I get to the point where I will have my first photo shoot with someone, I’m gonna take what I learned from this and try to apply it.
Hand 3 was the third one in a quick series as I moved my camera and focused on different parts on my hand, and really my favorite one of the three I posted on Flickr. I can see the scars on my hand from work, the calluses that have formed, and the little bit shadow from rest of the lines on my palm. I mean, how often have we really looked at our hands seen all the intricate detail there? This is just on a hand too, imagine where else on the body that could have some good detail and under the right light you will be able to see it.
As I go back to Supercult and look at all the different sets, you can see a steady progression of Chase’s technique. And with it, I see more of an soul forming with them, some parts get flushed out some parts get too dark. But it just goes with the overall tone, and it works. For me, it just goes beyond the usual alt.porn, it literally is museum style art. With each stage of the progression of light experimentation, it just works. I mean, I could go to God’s Girls or Suicide Girls (ew) if I wanted just straight up alt.porn or sex or whatever. I mean, tits are just tits in normal light. Pus is just pus in normal light.
Like any other porn photo set, the one’s I saw on SG or GG sites, are like cars without souls (ie, the Geo Metro’s of the world). To me, it just seems they are there to stir up primal urges and nothing else. I don’t mean to degrade the photographers that took those photos (or even the models), but it’s just like something you can get anywhere else, there’s no rhyme or reason for me to go there, there’s nothing really to appreciate. And I’m sure those photographers could outshoot me with one eye closed and both hands behind their back, but to me it just never really shows in those photos. I hate to say it, but it’s a cookie cutter aspect. Where’s the fun at? Is it fun because you’re taking the pictures, capturing a certain sense of style; or is it fun because more often than not you got some woman in front of you, posing, naked.
Okay. You’re working with a model who I’m guessing you’re directing to give off certain vibes that compliment her style. Okay. Got that. But, isn’t a part of you driven to go against the grain every once in a while? Use less light, more light, change your exposure settings and toy with your f-stop. Find the settings for that model that best compliment her to really show off her details?
Am I saying that *every* site should be like what I see on Supercult? No. And I say this because I’m a bit of photography and porn snob. What works on one site may not work for another, what one photographer is comfortable with might just not work with another. But I hope that a lot of photographers out there at least try and experiment more, and then post it all.
If I wanted to (and I kinda do), I could have a print made of any random image from Supercult, and hang it on my wall, get away with calling it art have and someone not get too terribly offended with it.
But how?
The style of light.
[...] software, and following (what I view as) the best photographers on Twitter, one of which I already highlighted in a blog entry. I’m reading about techniques, and I’m finding my way and where I want [...]