I have been shooting less in the last year than I have ever shot before - a combination of ongoing health issues, an endless Winter and almost total unsuitability of models.
(There have been a couple of notable exceptions).

My health has all but stabilized, but the models sure haven't!

I get a heady barrage of models that demand to be able to work with me, and then often don't turn up, sometimes without a phone call, or when they do arrive, expect that they will be turned into a Playboy bunny overnight.

I don't do Playboy or any of the glamor magazines, and I refuse to even try to work with 'models' that have so much art on them that I can't find their skin.

Whether a good or bad one, I'm an artist that needs a blank canvas, not a set of statements engraved onto someone that is permanent and takes over from the image that I was trying to visualize.

Others may enjoy the thought of recording someone else's artwork, but I prefer to create my own patterns of light and shade on the skin, my own statements that reflect my moods and concepts.

This latest fad of Ink and Iron on models, has left me cold.
Not that it bothers me in itself, it just bothers me that they think that they are able to be an Art Model, when they are seared, scored and colored-in already.

Then the expectations of models that they can have a photographer with 35 years experience, but still be a totally hot 28 year old hunk - baffles me. Do they want to show off for a tease, or do they want to be a part of art?

What happened to those wonderful muses that reveled in the thought of being a part of eternal art, a caught moment in the onslaught of time?

Then of course, there are the 'models' that have never had a professional photo-shoot, but have decided that they will charge professional rates to learn.

What a cheek! If they are going to run themselves as a business, get some training!

If I wanted to work with professional models that know their craft, I would go to a reputable agency to get the best of the best and gladly pay the fees.

So I accept the bookings of those that demand to be recognized - only to find that they want someone to hang with, get high with, or test their latest idea of a booty call - what is going on here?

After a very full apprenticeship, years of study, 35 years of professional employment, an investment of tens of thousand of dollars in equipment, exhibitions around the world, published in books and magazines - Miss Hottie thinks that she needs to be paid a fortune to learn a craft, or to take down her pants! Sorry sweetheart - I've seen it all - I would rather go back to landscapes.

I will be leaving this country in less than 3 weeks, and I am so disappointed in the general lack of art in models, the almost total lack of art in the community and the acceptance that Glamor equals Beauty and that Nudity equals Sexuality, that I clearly do not fit in.

I have been told I am the devil incarnate, the anti-christ and a pornographer.

I will be traveling to Europe where art is ahead of sexuality - where models want to be a part of art, where art in all its forms is accepted maturely.

I hope that one day, there will be an acceptance of Natural Beauty, the thought that not every one's mind has to be a cess-pool and an understanding that the Sistine Chapel has hundred of nudes where the bishops of the world vie to praise God.

OK, rant done...
Hit me with your best shots!



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