McKenna (Again-a)

Some pictures from a shoot with my young friend McKenna from back in December. Thanks McK, you are a “super” model! : )

These were partly to build a little infant portfolio of images for her (and for me, natch), and partly to test my shaky skills with the backdrop and strobe, which I’ve recently picked up after too many years. Always loved the available-light-world more. Fun inside on a snowy winter day in Nashville. Kind of a surprise snow, one that I wondered if I was going to make it home through afterward.

I know the following will probably embarrass her, but...it’s MY blog:

I love shooting with her, because she’s at that funny/frightening place roundabout halfway between being a girl and being a woman. A little unsure into which camp to fall. Still retaining that funny, fearless, edgy thing that girls have before they start predictably asking if what they’re wearing makes their ass look fat, or if you can Photoshop the wrinkles under their eyes, etc. A small movement of the hip, a flip of the hair, an application of a tiny bit of make-up, and all of a sudden you see the woman emerging and the girl vanishing.

I try not to direct. She has good instincts. The last time we shot, nearly a year prior, she was running around Dragon Park in a leather jacket, a pink tutu, and no shoes in sub-freezing weather.

My Pops. 1940–2011. R.I.P.

We all lost one of my oldest buddies and biggest-ever supporters on Tuesday night, after he spent most of the 21st Century fighting a cancer called Multiple Myeloma (If you feel so moved, please find out more and/or donate to research here).

My sweet old Pops, Allen Ephraim Norman. It was a terrible, hard day that finally took Allen after eleven years of up and down, but he had lots of loving family around him as he passed, and I’m glad he’s finally at peace. God bless my sweet cousin Joanne, a hospice nurse, who came in on her day off to take charge for us and take amazing care of Allen. The other nurses were great, but I was so grateful to have that watched over by someone who was not only not a stranger, but somebody who loved Allen so much.

Shot some nice pictures of him on a good day a while back. He sat patiently, even though he was tired. He was a handsome devil, even with his chemo hair-style.

I miss you, old buddy.

Alan LeQuire, Nashville, September 30, 2010

Went to Fisk University back in September to document a show of Alan’s colossal heads, which resulted in one nice 360º stitched together panorama of the gallery, and not much else. But afterwards we went over to his studio and I shot some nice stuff, some of which is below.

Have been enjoying shooting people’s personal happenstance (or not) tableaux for some years now, usually in their homes. I love the things with which people surround themselves. Alan has quite a delightful cornucopia of things in his studio space. Also, if you haven’t visited, the LeQuire Gallery is chock full of work by a nice variety of artists, including Alan, Greg Decker, Somers Randolph, and others.

Lady Friends, New Harmony, October 10, 2010

Some of my favorite New Harmony lady friends, Alison, Molly and Lora. Got a portable seamless backdrop rig a while back and this was its maiden voyage one day, which I just realised was nearly 2 months ago...I’m a little behind on the editing and the posting. Only ever shot a little with a seamless in grad school, but that was...well, I’m not going to remember how long ago that was.

Nice little space and natural light on my front porch, which is about half glass (and I do mean little, no Avedon model and elephant shoots allowed!). Sadly it is a very seasonally limited...very cold right now unless I drag portable heating out there.

Shot first with Alison on her lunch break, and in less than an hour shot over 700 frames. It was one of the most amazingly fruitful shoots ever. Kind of helped me regain my mojo, which had gone A.W.O.L. Not amazing that there were so many frames—that could be done by accidentally keeping the shutter down while drunk—but that so many of them were good. I love when that happens.

Was so amped-up after Alison, that I called Molly and Lora too. Very last-minute. Fading light. No time for worry about makeup and costumery. It was a lovely picturing day. Hate to post so few images, there were so many nice ones.

Thank you, ladies.

Gillian St. Clair, Nashville, October 1, 2010

In Nashville a while back and was going to meet Gillie for lunch and maybe some pictures. Almost didn’t shoot anything, because she was totally worn down from a yoga dance performance the night before. Just sat and chatted before lunch and shot a bit. Glad we did. There’s some sweet stuff here...love this girl.

You can’t see much of it here, but these were shot in her new studio Steadfast and True Yoga, Music Row, near Edgehill in Villa Place.

Lex Price, Nashville, Sept. 29, 2010

Shot some nice pictures with my buddy Lex Price recently in Nashville. In his backyard studio (and, obviously, in his backyard itself).

In addition to possessing one of the finest beards around, Lex is a fabulously talented, multi-instrumentalist/producer character. He’s currently about to embark on a road gig playing bass with k.d. lang. He’s also married to a very fine girl. In spite of all this he remains a sweet, humble fella.