hey momaw, i gotta go run some errands abut ill load up mirc when i get back im on efnet #knivesRfun my nick is "immi" bbiaf


battle rat is coming and im seriously stoked <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />

Ya got that one right Which !! Hi Guys

Anyway, I've become aware that most professional portraiture employs a method of depicting beauty that consists primarily of hiding/obscuring/removing "flaws". I would like to move toward a different method of depicting beauty, through showing them at their best, revealing the normally unseen loveliness.

It's a harder method to pull off consistently, and I think many clients would be unhappy with a choice not to hide "flaws", but to, instead incorporate them into a vision of unique beauty. I also think many clients would be uncomfortable with being rather nakedly (metaphorically naked, not necessarily physically naked) revealed.

Thank you, MC. That's nice to hear.

I used to read Outdoor Photographer. I've actually considered contacting them, trying to convince them to take me on to write and illustrate monthly articles.

Ah, interesting. I see more of where you're coming from now. That sounds like a very interesting approach, taking a normal person "warts and all" and making them seem beautiful. A big obstacle you're facing there of course is the mass media: television stars, movie stars, consumer product placement models, they are all groomed to be physically perfect. Trains people to have a strange view of what beauty really is. I agree with you that people, in their pure, candid, unguarded, state are wonderfully interesting. Emotional vulnerability makes you (or at least me) empathize with the person; helps understand them as a human being; inspires a desire to reward their trust and to drop one's own protections in pursuit of a certain purity of expression...

I don't think I actually had a point. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> Don't mind me!

Hm, is it supposed to be empty? I'm hooked up to irc.blessed.net and #knivesRfun is empty. It's definitely a proper efnet gateway, there's 1.8 gazillion users.

Yes, it sounds like you do grasp where I'm coming from.

I've had a lot of revelations about depicting human beauty this way, over the last week, and it's making me reconsider my approach to human photography, and reconsider the people photography aspects of my business.

Hey, MC,

Congrats on the Battle Rat. I used to use a Battle Rat regularly as my main outdoor knife. A fine choice.

Evolute, have you ever seen the works of William Bougueareau? An incredible painter who has fallen off a lot of people's radar because he was a master of realism when impressionism was all the rage. He painted a lot of "normal people in beautiful circumstances".

Here's a very relevant example. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:W...ster_(1869).png

He painted a lot of children and a lot of nudes, so viewer discretion may be advised if you go looking at the index page.

Somehow, either he's escaped my attention or I've forgotten.

Very nice. I'll take a more careful look at his stuff, later.

My own stylistic intention not similar, but there is perhaps some conceptual similarity.

Now that I look more carefully, I've looked at a lot of his paintings, before.

Good stuff.

I'll be right back. I need more to eat.