PhotoBrian

My first partner was an artist who worked in a photo lab to pay the bills. For five years, he tried to teach me how to draw with no success. When I was moving to New York City (we were no longer together), he suggested I buy a good camera. In 1986, I bought a state-of-the-art Minolta SLR; you could set it for portrait, nature, etc. Over the years, I upgraded my camera bodies and continued to purchase lenses, all by Minolta.

By the late 1990s, I felt good enough about my photography that I began to study at the International Center of Photography. For years I studied under the photographer David Armstrong; I feel that my work still reflects his influence on my today. I almost exclusively shot Scala, an Agfa black and white slide film. (I did add color film when shooting gay pride events.) One year, Agfa stopped making Scala and Minolta sold its camera line of business to Sony. I move to Sony digital.

Today, I continue to shoot with my Minolta (and now Sony) lenses and my Sony 35mm DSLR. DSLRs are made to capture color, not black and white, which I still prefer. I shoot RAW and process in Lightroom. I then use Exposure X7 to convert my images to duplicate Scala.  I have thousands of slides in my film archives. I am adding them to my DaviantArt work by scanning them and importing them into Lightroom.

Over the years, I have worked with dozens of models. Some signed full releases; others were more limited. For example, Rick Never Shows His Face began with me early in his modeling career. Because of his life outside of modeling, his releases restrict me from showing his face. For other models, the restriction may be no face when nude. I have found over the years, that the best photographs are when the model directs himself. Throughout, I have sought to show the diversity, in every way, of the gay community.

I have two fine art series posted here as well as my pride and model portfolios. Bodyscapes: Exploring the Male Body as Landscape grew out of an internal revolt. One model showed up one day. He said, "I know what you shoot but that isn't what I want; I want people to just worship my body." His body was the gay gym boy body. I began to explore how I might show the male body so that people would stop and look at it and see the beauty in each element. At a FotoFest in Houston several years ago, the Photo Curator for the Albert and Victoria Museum called the Bodyscape series "transcendental landscapes." "Intimacy" came out of my work with Rick. how could I continue to be creative over several years of shooting without ever revealing his face? In most cases, including both Rick with Pedro and Rick with Toby, the models in Intimacy had never met before the shoot. There were two exceptions. Marco (gay) and Steve (straight) were best friends. Stefan and Michael were boyfriends.

I set aside the camera during Covid. I am picking it back up. Stand by. More to come!