Amaya had this crazy notion of working with something like 1,642,334,563,434,278 photographers in 48 hours during her roadtrip. I was the absolute last on the list. She was dead tired by the time she got to me, but I’m still pretty pleased with how the pics turned out.
Day 286 of 365 days. I haven’t felt the slightest bit creative all day. This was the first day in 286 that I really just couldn’t care less about photography or 365 or anything. I was just completely burnt out. I’ve been working pretty hard on the Tarot Project lately. I’ve finished several new cards.…
It’s been a while since I had someone sit for me to shoot who had never modeled for anyone ever before, so in a lot of ways I looked forward to shooting Stu more than anyone else. I was amazed at how comfortable she was with the whole concept.
I named it 3 after two other pictures that I gave the same name before (despite it being a different model)
I’ve been getting a lot of sword cards done lately, and so here’s another. Liz came over to pose for me again yesterday and we shot the Page of Swords. This is cool because Liz posing for me last time was what gave me the idea of shooting this deck in the first place, and I was pretty sure where I wanted to use her. So hopefully this one came out ok.
Let me know what you think.
Liz came over to do her shoot for the Maverick Tarot set, where she is my Page of Swords. Never wanting to waste the opportunity at a good photoshoot with someone so babeliscious, we took a bunch of other shots as well.
This was a close second pick for the page card. Ultimately, I decided that the one I picked was much more rebellious and and bold and therefore used it for the Page, but I liked this shot so much that I wanted to do something with it. So I processed it with what I am calling my "300 effect." I like how it turned out a lot.
The problem with some of the tarot cards is they require very specific casting. Judgement, for instance requires a newborn baby and a mother. And since the major arcana cards are all nude, it required a naked newborn and mother. So, when a friend of mine had one I certainly wasn’t going to pass up the opportunity.
Connie was nice enough to bring over her four week old son, Thomas Jefferson so they could pose for my tarot deck. I am quite grateful, and I’m sure this will traumatize him 13 years from now.
Pinky came over and posed for me the other day. The result, yet another Tarot card. The first one in the Staffs suit. I’m still not totally sure I like the effect of this one. I keep floating between loving it and thinking its not quite right. I like that its vibrant and distinct. I was initially going for kind of an airbrush effect, but then started going with a tinge of "300"-style postprocessing. I really need it to have a distinct contrast with the swords cards, but I want to make sure its obvious that its processed.
So I’d definitely like feedback here. What do you think?
Another tarot card complete. This time my friend Jameel was nice enough to pose for it. You know, when I started this, I really expected the nude major arcana cards to be the hardest to fill, but I have more of them done than anything.
I swear, there are clothed cards coming… really there are.
Schwei was a friend of Brae’s (the model I picked to be the Death card in my Tarot deck) and was accompanying her on her shoot with me. He didn’t have any modeling experience but he had a good look for my concept of the Devil card. I especially love the beard and the tattoo on his hand.
Initially I had envisioned the devil having traditional horns, and I probably could have created some pretty realistic ones in photoshop or maybe with theater makeup, but in retrospect, I’m kind of glad I didn’t. I really like the look of the single model bathed in red light except for the flaming hand. I think more would have been distracting.
This also shows that there are indeed men in the Tarot deck. It’s only the second male card I’ve done. Its actually a little harder to find male models for this kind of thing than I thought it would be. I also need to get some more of the less gothic cards done. Just so that there’s a little more variety. The cards with Steph and Theresa show a little more playfulness, but its still on the dark side right now.
When I first saw Brae’s modeling page I knew that she had to be my death card. She had the perfect look for what I had envisioned for it. Exotic, sexy. Reminiscent of Neil Gaiman’s Death, but a little more dangerous. I had the base idea for what i wanted to do in mind when I first wrote her, and I’m pretty happy with how it turned out.
I went back and forth as to how ghostly I wanted to make her. I considered putting tombstones directly behind her so that you could really see right through her, but the ultimately decided that that would ruin a rule I had set for the deck when I first started. Don’t let the background overwhelm the model. It’s something that I really feel about photography in general, actually, which is why I am so fond of the solid black background look.
In any case. 8 Tarot cards done. Only 70 to go. That’s better than 10% I’m on a roll!
I met Brae through Model Mayhem which I joined when I decided to do the whole Tarot Card project thing. When she first wrote me I knew she had the pefect look to be my Death card.
I met Brae through Model Mayhem which I joined when I decided to do the whole Tarot Card project thing. When she first wrote me I knew she had the pefect look to be my Death card.
I met Brae through Model Mayhem which I joined when I decided to do the whole Tarot Card project thing. When she first wrote me I knew she had the pefect look to be my Death card.
I met Brae through Model Mayhem which I joined when I decided to do the whole Tarot Card project thing. When she first wrote me I knew she had the pefect look to be my Death card.
Day 269 of 365 days. The worse my "professional" life gets, the better my photography life gets. I could totally get used to this if I could just turn a profit. I’ve got 5 photoshoots scheduled in the next 2 weeks for the Tarot project, plus I’ve talked to 5 other models today or yesterday…