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This is a fascinating collection of images for me all taken from the same shoot. I try to explore new ideas with my photography and allow myself to be led to places I may not usually go. I wanted these photos to fall into one of the areas I usually work, nudes, portraiture, fashion, beauty; and they conveniently don’t fall into any of those categories. This series of images pointed out an overriding limitation of trying to categorize the work I do.

These images defy labels

they are not nudes, although there is nudity,

they are not portraits although we know who it is,

They are not fashion although there are clothes and accessories;

They seem like archetypes but I am not sure of which ones.

They embody a character of a vague story or myth.

For this session I limited myself to using a lensbaby®, a low tech apparatus that combines a lens and a slinky® that takes your expensive digital camera and turns it into a toy (a la Holga® / Dianatm plastic cameras). It is entirely tactile, you have to wiggle and wrangle the lens until the "sweet spot" (in focus area) is where you want it to be and the blurriness is in a desirable area. The lensbaby has a definite look, and while it is appealing, I prefer not to get seduced by an effect and try to work beyond the gimmick and get an interesting image.

Focus is overrated

Some of the images have nothing in focus, perhaps just various degrees of obfuscation, which is quite liberating for a photographer in todays world of highly detailed photos that do not leave room for your imagination. (don't get me wrong, I also love in focus images too, it is nice to take a break from them every now and then). Having less obvious areas of the image let the viewer use their imagination as to what is going on in the picture. This brings people into the image and they have more interaction with what is going on in the frame. The impressionist painters were aware of this, going beyond just factual, articulate, technical paintings to inspiring a feeling or emotion, hence the name.

Enjoy the images.

Rick