Robert Mitchum

Robert Mitchum: "

 

Robert Mitchum gets to grips with the publicity seeking British actress, Simone Silva, at the Cannes Film Festival.

From Modern Man, unsure of month, 1959.

The Sophisticate's Diary

Mixing Martinis & Molotovs Since 2007

"

Gruau

Gruau: "
Difficile de résister à un Gruau de cette facture.

"

Artists in Action #566

Artists in Action #566: "
James Dean dabbles in photography

"

(via fuckyeahlouisebrooks)

(via fuckyeahlouisebrooks): "

(via fuckyeahlouisebrooks)

"

color

color: "

©Red~

can you look at a picture and create the story?
  what does it say?
can you read between the lines to see what's really there?
  are you sure?
can you skip the good parts just to get to the ending?
  would you?
can you dream in black in white or only in color?
  what was the question again?

"

Liz.

Liz.: "

Liz Taylor… en kvinna som långt upp i åldern hade ”det”.

"

Bath Time

Bath Time: "These images, from a little trip to Bath on the way back from a shoot in the Forest of Dean, are long overdue an appearance here.

Photography: Stefano Brunesci
Make up and poseur: Moi



I think there will be more shoots in the future... Apparently Stefano would shoot with me 'every day of the week' if I wanted (he'll wish he'd never said that now...). Seriously though, I love shooting with Stefano. We have very different strengths/styles (which makes for a good swap), and I always feel like I've learnt something by the end. Although I couldn't be a 'proper' fashion model in such a competitive industry (and to be honest I probably wouldn't want to be, since the shallow superficiality of that world would terrify me, even though it would be tres glamourous I'm sure...), I love posing in more fashion-y styles now and then.

We also did some natural light stuff outdoors.



Seems appropriate to include a couple from our first shoot, last March (I may as well make this the longest post ever..!):


Thanks Stefano! :-)

"

Infrared Beginnings

Infrared Beginnings: " I like using Kodak’s 35mm HIE infrared film, especially when I’m photographing outdoors in bright, sunny conditions. It’s pretty much the only 35mm film that I use now, everything else being in medium format.

What I like about infrared is the glow that it gives. It’s almost an otherworldly look, sensitive as it is to a different spectrum of light than what our human eyes see. It needs to be handled in complete darkness, but the one thing I most dislike about it is the way the negatives retain their curl (from having been wound in the 35mm cartridge) for such a long time. A perfectly flat 35mm HIE negative seems to be an impossibility (at least whenI develop them!).

Still, it is worth the extra effort in handling. I’ve mostly used the film while photographing in Nevada, Arizona and California, but I began using it back in 1998 in New Mexico. I was attending a weeklong workshop at the Santa Fe Workshops with an instructor, Elizabeth Opalenik, who likes to use HIE film. Therefore, she saw to it that everyone in the class got a couple of rolls of the film to play with.

Two of the photos I made with mine that week are shown here. The photo at the top is one of my favorites from the week with any film. It shows a pregnant young woman in a tub at spa near Santa Fe and displays how much water absorbs infrared light.

With the second photo, of a different model lying on her back, I was just trying to show an interesting shape. (A woman from England in the class, though, said that she thought it looked like a blancmange!)

For those interested in using HIE film, I set it at ISO 320 and use a #25 red filter. Kodak supplies no ISO rating for the film, but Elizabeth suggested 320 and, after doing a bracketing test, I would agree.

I’ve got a few more good infrared photos from ’98, I think. They’re just waiting to be scanned – and posted here."

A Shoot With Dario Infini

A Shoot With Dario Infini: "

' I think Dario Infini spoiled me. Now my expectations are much higher for other photographers. '

~ Art Model Miss Liv

Art Model Miss Liv

' The female figure has been worshipped as a living art form for all recorded history. Women are the driving motivation for all male pursuits - better jobs, more power, wealth, fame. All of this is for naught without the promise of feminine charms. '

~ Photographer Dario Infini

Written by Unbearable Lightness
UdA Editor In Chief

Unbearable Lightness by Dario Infini

Dario Infini can be found on Model Mayhem, and at his websites Infini Boudoir Photography, Dario Impini Photography/Boudoir, and Dario Impini Photography.
His studio is in the Indianapolis suburb of Westfield, Indiana, USA.

The Artist at Work :

' Dario is a complete delight to work with. He is funny, down to earth, and a little scatter-brained running around the studio, but a pure GENIUS at what he does! '

~ Miss Liv

Miss Liv

These quotes from Art Model Miss Liv were sent to me as her recommendation of Dario Infini when I asked her how it was to shoot with him.

We had that shoot on Nov. 19. Everything she said proved true. He was indeed professional and charming, albeit intensely focused on lighting, framing, and other aspects of his work.

In our first series he got what he wanted with the first test shot; later, he never was satisfied with another series. His determination to achieve perfection means he shoots for hours. A model may expect to be stuck in a bath tub with no water (can you imagine how cold the porcelain of an old-fashioned tub can be?), to have portable lights stuck under her torso and legs, and to be smoked by a smoke machine.

'Smokin''
Art Model Unbearable Lightness







Miss Liv's recommendation proved to be accurate. He eventually dropped equipment and ran into things, but the finished images are stunning.

For 16 years, Dario worked as an electronics engineer, designing circuit boards and chips for various companies. He says :

' The career change was part of the classic midlife crisis. Of those 16 years, I could only count three that I actually enjoyed. I came to a point where the constant threat of being outsourced, and the corporate constraints on my creativity conspired against my effectiveness on the job.

'Divine Wind'

My company and I came to a mutual understanding that we would no longer have a working relationship, and I moved on. It sounds more clinical than it actually was.

There was a lot of terror and uncertainty involved, and the uncertainty lingers still. '

'Southern Belle'

Art Model Nephesh

A year later, he was working for Glamour Shots, where he learned all he could about the business of photography before striking out on his own.

' That was five years ago or so. I find the first three years to be about learning the basic technical skills of good photography. And the following years to be subtle refinements that make great photography compelling. '

Now he shoots both boudoir photography and fine arts nude. About the differences between these, he says :

' There is some overlap. I frequently will extract both types out of a single session.

For me, the difference is that boudoir work is meant to be personal and intimate. It is meant to entice, entertain, enrapture, on a personal level.

Eye contact is important as are provocative expressions and poses. The images are meant to encourage a personal reaction in a specific person... '

'Born Again'






'Conga Line'

On the other hand, he sees fine art nude as more objective :

' Anyone can enjoy the work from a detached perspective - you don't have to know or want to know the subject. It's more about the human body as a work of art. It's about lines and shadows. There may be elements of a story in the shot, enough that someone could put together their own story from what they see, which also gives them a reason to see, to linger, and to study the work. There may be more emphasis on details than the whole person.

Boudoir is for the bedroom. Fine art is for the living room. '

' I think we've reached a point in society where both men and women can honestly say the feminine form is objectively beautiful. There are aspects of the male figure that can be appealing in ways, but to borrow from a nobler passage, sifting through the most powerful of human emotions, these three remain - fear, greed, and lust.

But the strongest of these is lust. '

Models who have had ' A Shoot With Dario Infini ' will likely agree with Miss Liv :

' He makes models feel their time is valuable and makes sure his images are nothing but flattering. I had only done one nude shoot before shooting with him and felt totally comfortable. He always has the model's best interest in mind.'

Miss Liv






Thank you, Dario, for the interview and for making all of us models feel our time is valuable, making us comfortable with your respect, and happy with the finished images you send us !

Miss Liv and I speak for all the women you flatter with your artistry.

And thank you, incredible Art Model Miss Liv !







Dario Infini ©

"