RovingEyePhoto

NOTICE ~ (9/17/09) Still warm weather, so shooting a lot.  Finding only limited time for Flickr uploads, partially done for Monica, Heather, Kimberly, Sophie, Sarah and Erin; not yet begun for Amber, Danielle, Morgan, Darlene, Mel, Ina, Mychelle, Karishma and Heather.  My typical procedure is to upload a basic 15-20 shots, then add a few every few days, keeps things spread-out, gets mods more noticed.  I hopefully will get back to that sequence as shooting season wears down.  Flickr link is immediately to right of MM avatar.

NOTICE ~ (11/2/09) Standing casting calls presently are up for both modeled-street and flat/apartment/home shoots here in Chicago, applying all the way through the spring.  Schedule generally fills a week or two in advance, but always looking for that special body line and look that make my style sing.  Will renew calls now and then to keep them fresh.  A grand shooting season to us all!

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My life for several decades had been 80% career/20% photography.  I’m now at that happy place where day-job retirement is at hand, so have adopted the RovingEye moniker, and am working my way toward a big shift in those percentages.  I'm also in the midst of relocating, presently in Chicago, but could end up anywhere.  Wherever I land, photography will remain a major ongoing interest.   

As if retirement and relocating weren't enough, I’ve also transitioned shooting style, abandoning the past in favor of “modeled-street”, placing an ever-so-subtle (and often not so subtle) cute/slender/alluring/sexy/girlie-girlie mod as the standout subject contextually frozen tack-sharp amidst the blur and movement of everyday big city life.  We're talking public-arena here, not in-studio, so the look is real, alive, invigorating, and anything but static.  I employ exaggerated expressiveness and body language, along with everyday street make-up , to achieve a magnified version of everyday street "look", images the viewer has seen but hasn't seen, an expanded world of mod individuality.  No nude or even implied, just sassy/cute/flirt/tease/girlie-girlie.  The mod is "purposefully" positioned and posed to project showbiz come-on, fully in context with surrounding city life, but also fully in contrast with it, the combination creating a kind of "startle", the mod clearly conveying "I'm a head-turning sexy gal and I know that you know that I know you know it".

Modeled-street requires patience, an imaginative ability to pre-vision creative opportunity in most every kind of city scene, and a talent for projecting beauty and catchy/humorous sexuality in the public arena.  And of course doing this without causing a riot!  No worries on that count, I stage manage and socialize the scene, the mod becomes part of the crowd interaction and small talk, she associates with the surrounding crowd.  Random chance is what we're after, a sharp eye and quick pose and quick catch, a girlie-girlie sneak attack, a come-on sensual jar to what otherwise are a viewer's work-a-day buttoned-up sensibilities.

The genre's loaded with uncontrollables.  Results are no where as predictable as in more static shoots, and there are mod intimidation and boldness factors not present in-studio.  You'll learn on-the-fly, it comes quickly.  The challenge is not so much getting past intimidation factors as it is having fun with them.  I'm with you all the way, never more than a few feet away, joking and playacting with the crowd, coaching and coaxing, you'll see, you'll open to the possibilities, the genre falls into place.

We'll evaluate shots as we go along, and do everything within YOUR BOUNDS and MY CAPABILITIES to resolve shortcomings.  You'll find the partnership aspects of modeled-street similar to in-studio, just more intense, more intuitive.  We'll pre-vision and conjure together on what each scene offers, then quietly move in, quickly pose and catch, and quietly fade out.  Poses generally will be shot wide-angle from close-up, catching you prominent, pin-sharp and personal, catching the surround to the extent it's interesting and humorous and otherwise complimentary to the feel of what your throwing.  You'll be the obvious soul of each scene.  This is far different from being shot by long-tele from 20' away, the lens often will be in easy reaching distance, you'll feel at one with it, your creativity peaked by it.  The goal is for you to look/feel immersed, not just be the central subject of a static scene.  We'll get it right sometimes, sometimes not, success will come in fits and starts.  We'll get used to each other as we go along, I'll catch-on to your strengths and weaknesses, you'll test your individuality and boldness.  The public-arena canvas is ever-changing, we'll change right along with it.  We'll shoulder occasional rebuffs (I'm good at handling those), elicit comic reaction (everyone loves showbiz), mourn over the misses, and rejoice at the winners.  If we're on the same page and working our "A" games, we'll finish the shoot with a brimming bag of hits, and most important, a respectable number of dead-on bull's-eyes.

A typical modeled-street shoot goes through several clothing changes (every clean, safe washroom is a dressing room).  Typically no heels, you'd never keep up, although sometimes employ them for leggy/low perspectives along Michigan Ave and more sophisticated early evening work amidst the high-end social triangle of Mariano Park at Rush and State.  Mostly we'll shoot in cute/catchy sandals, funky sneakers, even barefoot, anything that strengthens the cute/girlie look we're after.

We'll shoot literally hundreds of poses, haggle some, laugh a lot, finish worn, but finish happy.  At the end of the day, it's modeled-street's qualities of random opportunity and challenge in the public arena, the genre's spur-of-the-moment creativity and on-the-go uncertainty, that make each keeper greater than the sum of its parts, that provide the “startle” to advance images from "good" to "great".

Because crowds aren't always available, we'll also shoot solo sets, anything you want for personal or port use or otherwise that tickles our fancy.  Settings are everywhere, park benches, shaggy/classy storefronts, gallery windows, flower beds, iron gates/fences, tree-lined walkways, brownstone stoops, L structures, less frequented alleyways, the lakefront, quiet parks, all these and endless more are there as solo backup.  We'll go for the same brand of beauty, interest and pop inherent in modeled-street, just lacking the living surround.  You'll find examples of solo sets throughout my Flickr sets.  They convey their own uniqueness and girlie-girlie when shot with modeled-street imagination and pre-vision, so that's how we'll go after them. 

I shoot mostly on a strict TF* basis.  More-experienced and Barbie-look mods, of course deserve some recompense.  In the same vein, I bring to the table over thirty years of photographic know-how, many thousands of dollars in high-end gear, and what many consider a particular knack for this stuff (let my Flickr sets be the judge), so also deserve recompense.  For a particular Barbie look I especially admire, we'll negotiate something, but saying in advance it'll be "token" in amount, aimed at rewarding but also filtering out mods just in it for the fee, not really into the possibilities and challenges of modeled-street and how I shoot it.  I'll of course cover out-of-pockets, transport, snacks/meals/drinks on the run, etc.  How much is "token"?  Well, that's for you and your ego to wrestle with, over $50-75/day would be unusual, but then some of you stand above the rest, have more slender figures, more showy busts, more bold/sexy attitudes, so who knows?  As for me charging a mod for a shoot, I gave that up with retirement, don't need the money, and certainly not the ego boost.  Don't take this to mean I don't treat shoots as absolutely serious business, I know my stuff and work it hard.  Check with mods I've worked with, sure they'll confirm.  All are here at MM, although Mei's page has gone inactive, and Lindsey has gone silent to the extent of never requesting her pics, so those two may be unreachable.

I don't actively market from stock, although at times license when approached.  Mods of course can use images for any purpose they see fit, so long as I'm attributed.  In the final analysis, you contribute, I contribute, we both invest something of ourselves, we both reach for success and risk failure.  Assuming the weather gods smile down and uncontrollables don't overwhelm (typically somewhere in between is where we'll be working), results will be exciting, decidedly eye-catching, and uniquely creative.

I'm generally somewhat behind in refreshing my MM port, so check out my Flickr page for latest shoots, link is next to my avatar.  I shoot everything in RAW, and typically spend 10-15 hours photoshopping each set in post.  I deliver to mods a disk of all keepers (typically 50-150 images), all JPEG format optimized for the web up to 600k (heavily cropped/straightened shots lose pixels so may come in somewhat smaller).  Be aware that Flickr's basic display is only about 100k, so understand the files you see there have nowhere near the full-screen punch you'll receive on disk from me.  I don't load every keeper onto Flickr, but do include them on mod disks, so plenty to choose from.   One thing I refuse to do is associate my name with schlock, so you'll find that every keeper has value, some you'll like better than others, but all in some way have value.   

Models out there with the face, figure, cutes, sass, imagination, energy, patience, and purposeful boldness to pull off the public arena work I'm after, get in touch.  I travel many parts of the U.S., so never can tell when or where I'll show.  watch for casting calls, I find that an excellent way to keep mods informed.

Recent years' mods' sets are displayed on my Flickr page (linked near top of this profile page).  Way behind in uploading, should catch up this fall.