We have all been at one time or another become the “subject” or the “interest” of certain people or groups and have had our name dragged if you will thru the mud… ergo apparently I am more exciting than I am led to believe – otherwise why talk about me and my “antics” endlessly.

I am of the opinion that I am a successful photographer; perhaps not in terms of wealth and popularity but in terms of that when I set out to accomplish what is in my mind’s eye I am able to translate that “thought” into photography – that which is my art!

My photography as of late has been of scantily clad women or of figure study and as such attracts not only the oohs and ahhs of admirers but also attracts those who wish to disparage my name and my art!  I think it is obvious that I do take racy, risque, nudes, fine art nudes, erotic, sexy, or every other adjective you’d like to place here!  I don’t ever deny that it’s not what I do.  I think from my photos you will see that!  However, these photos are done with women who are comfortable with the idea and the subject matter and are comfortable with their own bodies!  This project is all about that, that’s not to say that’s all I do because I do still sell stock photography, take on commercial and advertisement projects as well as portraits and editorial work.

That being said, I have photographed women since I can remember, the first time I photographed a woman I was 17 it as in Sacramento and it was called Photo Day.  I fell in love with the idea of photographing women then… I mean duh!  what’s not to like… but since then I have shot and shot and shot…. to date I have photographed over a thousand women maybe more, I’m not keeping count!

I hope that I have as time has gone on improved and that being said, in my humble opinion I have evolved with respect to my style and my sense of continuity.  I also feel that I have also become more technically proficient and have become better with rapport.

Well enjoy and i’ll be back with more figure study and body art… =)… H

So, my book project is still ongoing by the way if anyone is interested.  It’s being self-published, work continues on if not sometimes down to a crawl but moving forward nonetheless.  The content remains the same a lot of the female form.  A number of it is still boudoir material but it’s gotten to where it’s a documentary as before.

But this is the plan still the documentary… it’s to get the subject involvement in the project.  I’ll publish this for now stay tuned for more “stuff.”

While wandering the Philippines and I have always known this but it always strikes me as odd that it is a third world country and it has an amazing number of malls and luxuries; an interesting irony, that though all of this is within reach a majority of its people cannot enjoy these “things”.  It makes me wonder about how wasteful I am at times and though it makes me want to do things and get things done I am afraid that at times those “feelings” are short-lived… so perhaps I can instill in my children the same “feelings” of wanting to change… we’ll see how that goes… =)

I was able to wander Baguio for a bit this was my first trip and it was beautiful and also a break from the heat in Manila.  It wasn’t as “cold” as I was led to believe but I guess if you’re used to cooler climes then it wouldn’t be as cold.  There was a festival going on at the time we visited the Panagbenga Festival.  Needless to say because we never made reservations it was a bit difficult to find lodging.  We finally found a place City Lights I think was what it was called.  It was neat and inexpensive, the only drawback was the common shower and toilet facilities and we found ourselves hawking the bathrooms the following morning and competing with 2 other rooms for the facilities.

While in Cebu I had the chance to shoot a few models, there are a HUGE number of available models here obviously because of a larger population.  I was able to shoot this shot on the right of Nemfa is her name but her “anga” which is nickname in Bisaya is “Pie”… I’m not sure what that means and I didn’t ask…  I intend on returning in April to do a larger shoot.

I had made contacts previously but other than my friend Ossie you can check out his flickr photostream here.  He was one of my first contacts in Cebu that introduced me to the incredible amount of women wanting to post for photos.  So if you stay tuned I will have more photos from my trip to the Philippines and especially to Cebu.

I was supposed to hook up with a model named Sophie in Manila but because of one thing or another we were unable to, but I will try to again the next trip to the Philippines.

So I spent the other day photographing Raena, she is someone I consider photogenic [3 : suitable for being photographed especially because of visual appeal <a photogenic smile>].  As time goes on i’m realizing that the posed or unposed photos of the subjects are wonderful and the photos work for the subject matter at hand, but I am also wanting to include photos of the unposed a more natural occurence and passage of time type of photos.  There is a better sense of interaction with the subject and I think it conveys more what I want to portray.

So in order to achieve a little of that I had Raena just hang out and we started to converse and I joked that perhaps next time a picnic was in order and some alcoholic beverages so that she could relax a bit more.  Anyway, I believe that these photos turned out as predicted also I may add this was her first time back being photographed since a year ago when I first photographed her for the Miss Guam pageant.

Stay tuned and we’ll go through some more stuff of Raena… here’s a last photo just for good measure… =)

After the call she just sat to relax; that’s when I shot this…  Now this is still also in keeping with and very much a part of the ongoing premise of my book project Private Moments – a very big part actually is that it isn’t staged.

I want it to be as candid as possible.  I was recently speaking to a friend, Leslie, about her photos she does an incredible job taking from a situation without bothering it; more commonly referred to as candids.

It is still in keeping with the theme of what a woman does behind closed doors.  For those that are not familiar and who haven’t read; the basic premise is The candids only add to the idea of being watched, another voyeuristic journey.

The photo of Sherry was actually not posed at all she saw me bring the camera to my face and she looked over and I snapped.  I decided to finish the photo this way because her whole look just “looked” very 70′s.

The feathered hair the flowered dress with the very low cut screams 70′s!

Though the finished product will probably not be colorized as the idea is to have everything in black and white.

We’ll see what happens in the meantime you can go to my Flickr for more photos from that day of shooting… click <a href=”http://www.flickr.com/photos/oftanamedia”>here</a>

I consider that as a photographer; I am a voyeur because I am always just watching from the outside in and recording those events, though I am not doing it for sexual gratification, usually it’s because I am interested in creating an image or chances are somebody has paid me to photograph an event!

The photo of the woman above is in keeping with my Private Moments project.  I have been going since 19forgotten and continue to work in earnest leaving the project and always coming back to it because I have found another aspect of the project that I want to include.  It will however always have the same element.  Taking away from a scene an image created to evoke and emotion whether it be positive or negative – but that it satisfies the same emotion – thought.

I enjoy the cafe lifestyle, but I also happen to enjoy a good cup’a joe, well actually I prefer an espresso… That being said cafe’s are a great place for taking my camera.  There are all sorts of activities and beautiful people; and also interesting people… to say the least…

I will obviously continue with the photos that i’ve been taking similar to the previous entries.  However, I will also include photos from my “trips” to the different cafe’s on Guam… and other places wherever my travels take me.

This photo is of Shirley we were trying to figure out what to drink.  Taking a break from a shoot we decide to have coffee at a nearby cafe, this one is at the Sheraton Guam Laguna Resort – or something like that.

For photogs this isn’t HDR, it’s my imitation of HDR.  This photo has no strobe it’s completely existing light and I am shooting at iso400.  I shoot the photo usually overexposed by 2 stops and then go to Lightroom and use the recovery and fill light options I get to a point where there is extreme contrast then I open in photoshop and use blurs and glows to get it to this point.  Email me if you want to know more.

I have been rather busy because of the holidays and everything.  With the bakery which is foremost on my mind, making sure the kids get thru their exams, and then helping them prepare for their school Christmas plays, as well as obviously the photography assignments – it does become somewhat hectic!

That being said, I am pleased with the results of these photos.  I am still experimenting with light and the resulting photo though I am pleased with still isn’t quite where I want to be.  So it’s back to the proverbial drawing board.

I have two shoots scheduled this weekend it’s of the same nature and similar type of scenery.  We will also still obviously be in lingerie or something similar.

Because i shot this and a couple other things I will include that pic from the shoot I did a week ago of Becca.  If it isn’t obvious already there is a continuity of themes… the lingerie in an urban setting… kind of the sense of beauty in a forgotten place…

I know I will also make sense of all of these and come out with something that I can put together for a book project and if at the very least I will come up with an idea of how light falls together in a certain situation… Experience… the best education anyone can get…

In the meantime because I have way too much work.  I will not be posting another entry for a few weeks… but eh we’ll see how well that goes…

I started off with the idea that I really loved the black and white ads for Calvin Klein that Richard Avedon shot.  If you’re not familiar with Richard Avedon – too bad!!!

He’s incredible for those that need a reference; remember that photo of Nastassia Kinski she’s laying down on and it’s a black and white and a really long slithering snake is on her covering all her good parts?  That’s Richard Avedon!  Or how about the shot of Stephanie Seymour also in black and white she’s wearing a black see thru dress and she’s pulled up her dress revealing her – well her privates…  That’s classic Avedon!

The shock I suppose of the photo is what makes it memorable… but that’s only part of it – the art is also memorable you can’t just take a snapshot of something similiar and hope to have the same affect that Avedon’s photo of Stephanie Seymour did when it was first published!

I have several shoots scheduled in the next several weeks.  Hopefully I can follow these ideas and themes and keep up with the style.  Stay tuned for the next several weeks and let’s see if i can keep it going!