Hollywood test shot

I like shooting Spa subjects, and no, it's not because of semi-naked women - I have kids older than this and I already went through my mid-life crisis without getting a Porsche and a young girlfriend.

I've always liked Hollywood "Glam" from the 1930's and this is from an attempt to re-create that look and feel. The original shot is quite straightforward and I spent a lot of time in Photoshop trying to create the mood and texture of those bygone days, but without looking too dated.

Now that I've worked out the technique, I just need a client who'll let me use it on their shoot. Might be a while, I think.

PS - Okay, I had a look at this after I posted it and you can't see the subtlety of that "airbrush glow". Needs more work, but in the meantime, call this a work in progress.

Photoshelter Collection is dead

I was shooting in the Badlands in South Dakota (seen here) when a message on my Blackberry told me that Photoshelter was quitting the Stock business. I was dissapointed but not surprised.

They were/are good folks, who treated photographers fairly, but their business plan was more of a social movement than a real business. While we all want to change the world, we also have to eat in the meantime and that means compromise.

Henry Luce (the founder of Time Inc) was asked what the most important thing was for a magazine, and he replied, "To stay in business". Too true and too bad for the good folks at Photoshelter.

Now it's going to take me about a week to retreive my work and reorganize my files and life. Ah well.