I just recently completed an interview with ArtHash, an online art oriented blog.
My interview can be viewed at:
http://arthash.blogspot.com/2010/05/artist-interview-david-m-nienow.html
Friday, May 28, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
From The Archive: Diana Dennis
Here a couple of new images of fitness competitor Diana Dennis. I shot Diane in Las Vegas several years ago during one of my Vegas trips. I just re-scanned these images over this past weekend. So check these images out.
Monday, May 24, 2010
From The Archive: Sherry Gideons
I just completed another round of new scans from some old photo shoot material. So here are some selected pics from a shoot with Sherry Gideons that took place at a dry lake bed outside of Las Vegas and in the studio during the same visit to Vegas. I hope you enjoy these images.
Saturday, May 22, 2010
A Suggestion for Canon
In professional photography photographers tend to associate themselves with the camera brand that they choose to work with. You're either a Canon Shooter, a Nikon Shooter, an Olympus Shooter, etc. For myself, I happen to be a Canon Shooter and have been since I took up photography as part of my web design business.
And during all the time that I have been shooting, it's always been a common thing to see your camera bodies in Black, Silver, or a combination of those 2 colors. But in the last couple of years as digital cameras have become much more common for the consumer, additional colors have become to make their appearance at least in digital compacts and digital consumer camcorders.
And in fact, Canon and Panasonic are 2 camera brands that I am familiar with where at least in the category of digital compacts camera body colors have increased in selection. With the Canon Powershot series of cameras it is possible to purchase camera models in Blue, Red, Brown, Green, Pink, Orange, Gold, and Purple. In addition to the traditional Black and Silver.
Canon also offers digital consumer camcorders in at least Blue & Red colors that I am aware of.
In the Panasonic line of cameras, you can find camera models in Blue, Red, Green, Pink, Orange, Yellow, and Violet. In addition to Black and Silver. Also, it happens that Panasonic also offers the G1 series DSLR bodies in Blue, Red & White.
As a Canon shooter, I am here to register my only true complaint to Canon that I have. And that is to ask them why they cannot add color bodies to their professional line of EOS cameras? Personally, what I would like to see in the Canon EOS body line is the addition of White/Black Trim, White/Silver Trim, White/Gold trim bodies to complement the White "L" series lenses offered by Canon. And in addition also offer EOS bodies in Blue & Red at least.
Adding a bit of color spice to the Canon EOS body line would just help to make things a bit more fun in handling the equipment. At least for me it would. OK, that completes my 1 and only complaint that I have with Canon.
And during all the time that I have been shooting, it's always been a common thing to see your camera bodies in Black, Silver, or a combination of those 2 colors. But in the last couple of years as digital cameras have become much more common for the consumer, additional colors have become to make their appearance at least in digital compacts and digital consumer camcorders.
And in fact, Canon and Panasonic are 2 camera brands that I am familiar with where at least in the category of digital compacts camera body colors have increased in selection. With the Canon Powershot series of cameras it is possible to purchase camera models in Blue, Red, Brown, Green, Pink, Orange, Gold, and Purple. In addition to the traditional Black and Silver.
Canon also offers digital consumer camcorders in at least Blue & Red colors that I am aware of.
In the Panasonic line of cameras, you can find camera models in Blue, Red, Green, Pink, Orange, Yellow, and Violet. In addition to Black and Silver. Also, it happens that Panasonic also offers the G1 series DSLR bodies in Blue, Red & White.
As a Canon shooter, I am here to register my only true complaint to Canon that I have. And that is to ask them why they cannot add color bodies to their professional line of EOS cameras? Personally, what I would like to see in the Canon EOS body line is the addition of White/Black Trim, White/Silver Trim, White/Gold trim bodies to complement the White "L" series lenses offered by Canon. And in addition also offer EOS bodies in Blue & Red at least.
Adding a bit of color spice to the Canon EOS body line would just help to make things a bit more fun in handling the equipment. At least for me it would. OK, that completes my 1 and only complaint that I have with Canon.
Tuesday, May 18, 2010
From The Archive: Jamie
I have completed some more re-scans of old photo shoot material. Today I am posting up a couple of images from a shoot with a local girl who at the time of this shoot was actually working as a fashion designer. Jamie enjoyed designing and making dresses for renaissance fairs. So we did a fantasy oriented shoot and a fashion shoot. Enjoy these images.
Saturday, May 15, 2010
The Passing of Frank Frazetta
It came to my attention that fantasy artist Frank Frazetta died on the 10th resulting from complications of a stroke. He was 82.
Frank Frazetta has been one of my favorite fantasy artists since I was teenager. When I first began reading science fiction, Frank's artwork was the first fantasy art that came to my attention. Through my learning of Frank's art I then also learned of other fantasy artists such as Boris Vallejo and the Hildebrandt Brothers.
For those not familiar with fantasy art or Frank Frazetta, Frank was responsible for defining the modern image of heroes from literature like Conan, Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars. The image of a musclebound warrior defending against some horiffic creature while also protecting a scantily clad beautiful woman is the hallmark of a Frank Frazetta painting.
And if your a fan of rock band Molly Hatchet, then you have definitely seen the work of Frank Frazetta. As his paintings "The Death Dealer", "Dark Kingdom" and "Berserker" were used as covers for the first 3 Molly Hatchet albums.
A great artistic talent has been lost. By like all great artists, his name & legacy lives on by the great art that they leave behind. And Frank Frazetta left behind a great legacy of images of fantasy & heroes & damsels in distress.
And he will always serve as one of the original sources of inspiration that I rely upon when it comes to the production of my own fantasy oriented photo shoots.
Thanks for the inspiration Frank.
Frank Frazetta has been one of my favorite fantasy artists since I was teenager. When I first began reading science fiction, Frank's artwork was the first fantasy art that came to my attention. Through my learning of Frank's art I then also learned of other fantasy artists such as Boris Vallejo and the Hildebrandt Brothers.
For those not familiar with fantasy art or Frank Frazetta, Frank was responsible for defining the modern image of heroes from literature like Conan, Tarzan, and John Carter of Mars. The image of a musclebound warrior defending against some horiffic creature while also protecting a scantily clad beautiful woman is the hallmark of a Frank Frazetta painting.
And if your a fan of rock band Molly Hatchet, then you have definitely seen the work of Frank Frazetta. As his paintings "The Death Dealer", "Dark Kingdom" and "Berserker" were used as covers for the first 3 Molly Hatchet albums.
A great artistic talent has been lost. By like all great artists, his name & legacy lives on by the great art that they leave behind. And Frank Frazetta left behind a great legacy of images of fantasy & heroes & damsels in distress.
And he will always serve as one of the original sources of inspiration that I rely upon when it comes to the production of my own fantasy oriented photo shoots.
Thanks for the inspiration Frank.
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
From The Archive: Brandy Maddron
I have been going through my archive of shoot images, and found some material that needed to be re-scanned. Among that material was some images of former web client & fitness model Brandy Maddron. So for your viewing pleasure I present one of my favorites from that time.
This image is available as a limited edition 16x20 print for only $95.00.
All 16x20 prints are limited to 25 editions, and are signed & numbered & include a certificate of authenticity label.
This image is available as a limited edition 16x20 print for only $95.00.
All 16x20 prints are limited to 25 editions, and are signed & numbered & include a certificate of authenticity label.
Book Review: Va Va Voom
I am always on the look out for new books & magazines to add to my "Library of Inspiration". The kind of material that I can look at to generate new ideas for photo shoots that I produce. So I tend to look for source material that relates to pin ups, fashion, & fantasy art.
Recently I came across a book on the history of the Hollywood pinup. A casual look over told me it was an immediate addition to my personal library. That book is "Va Va Voom". The book is nearly 300 pages long with I am quite sure at least the same amount of pinup images of Hollywood beaties & actresses. It covers the 1940's to the 1970's. Each chapter is introduced with a shot text intro, but the main emphasis is quality images of beautiful pin up images. There is certainly plenty of material here for anyone that wants to adopt some old Hollywood pinup ideas for their own shoots.
This is a book I would recommend for addition to your own library. And it can be gotten through Amazon.com at a good price. Check it out.
Recently I came across a book on the history of the Hollywood pinup. A casual look over told me it was an immediate addition to my personal library. That book is "Va Va Voom". The book is nearly 300 pages long with I am quite sure at least the same amount of pinup images of Hollywood beaties & actresses. It covers the 1940's to the 1970's. Each chapter is introduced with a shot text intro, but the main emphasis is quality images of beautiful pin up images. There is certainly plenty of material here for anyone that wants to adopt some old Hollywood pinup ideas for their own shoots.
This is a book I would recommend for addition to your own library. And it can be gotten through Amazon.com at a good price. Check it out.
Monday, May 10, 2010
Self Promotion & Licensing Control
As a photographer among the things that we concern ourselves with is self-promotion and trying to maximize our control over the licensed use of our produced works. Our abilities to earn a quality income for our talents as photographers is effected in part by our established reputation and the level of recognition we receive as an artist. And our ability to maximize income from the various licensed uses of our produced images is another factor in our ability to generate income.
For some photographers, the focus on trying to maximize control over all licensed usages of their work can be become a hindrance when it comes to trying to generate a high level of publicity through self-promotion efforts.
In my own career I come from the perspective of also working as a contracted web designer/webmaster for my various model clients. And in that vein, the regular use & distribution of "free" images for promotion of a model client's website was essential to generating a "buzz" on the net through placement in newsgroups, model directory sites, and any other web site that could make use of sexy pinup pics. That would in turn promote traffic back to a client's official website. The generated referral traffic back to the client website would convert into online memberships where fans could gain access to more custom created image content.
So the process of making "free" content regularly available helped in the promotion efforts, and in the long term it led to generating income. Back in my webmastering days my clients & I did not concern ourselves too much about worrying that some selected image was going to wind up being used illegally when we were producing & making available only low-res versions of the availble image sets. A regular graphic copyright stamp on each image was sufficient to protect the mutual photographic work that I and my model clients worked to create.
Since then the number of places for people to post their photos online has dramatically skyrocketed right along with the increase adoption of digital cameras by the general consumer. That increase in the availability of digital images online by both amateur and professional photographers makes for more opportunities to see images being used illegally without proper licensed use & compensation.
For the professional photographer, dealing with these issues of self-promotion, protecting their license rights to their work, trying to figure out how much of their work should be made available online, how to control image distribution, and ensuring that their rights are protected while still allowing for future compensation to be earned, has gotten a bit easier with an organization and online tools that have come to my attention. That organization is a non-profit corporation called Creative Commons.
Creative Commons allows for photographers and artists to define the level of creative rights and control that they wish to specify for a given work. You can use the online tools offered by Creative Commons to define what can and cannot be done commercially with a given piece of registered art or of a collection of art. Essentially six different license types can be defined. The generated license type can then be placed on an artist website, and the specific license terms are noted for everyone to learn and know.
As a photographer, if you wish to allow your images for free distribution for promotion purposes, and not allow any commercial usage or modification you can do so by selecting their most restrictive license. The licensing tools offered by Creative Commons are free to use.
Among the online tools and services offered for professional photographers, I feel that the Creative Commons organization has to be included in the
"Must Have-Must Need to Know" category.
You can visit their site at: http://www.creativecommons.org/ to learn more about their service. I encourage you to check it out.
And I encourage all photographers to feel more confident about using and distributing their work online for purposes of shameless self-promotion. You can only gain more from it in the long term than you would worrying about some sense of loss of control in licensed use of your images. No matter what, your still in control of your work. Creative Commons just gives you a means to publicly define that control for yourelf, your fans, and your customers.
For some photographers, the focus on trying to maximize control over all licensed usages of their work can be become a hindrance when it comes to trying to generate a high level of publicity through self-promotion efforts.
In my own career I come from the perspective of also working as a contracted web designer/webmaster for my various model clients. And in that vein, the regular use & distribution of "free" images for promotion of a model client's website was essential to generating a "buzz" on the net through placement in newsgroups, model directory sites, and any other web site that could make use of sexy pinup pics. That would in turn promote traffic back to a client's official website. The generated referral traffic back to the client website would convert into online memberships where fans could gain access to more custom created image content.
So the process of making "free" content regularly available helped in the promotion efforts, and in the long term it led to generating income. Back in my webmastering days my clients & I did not concern ourselves too much about worrying that some selected image was going to wind up being used illegally when we were producing & making available only low-res versions of the availble image sets. A regular graphic copyright stamp on each image was sufficient to protect the mutual photographic work that I and my model clients worked to create.
Since then the number of places for people to post their photos online has dramatically skyrocketed right along with the increase adoption of digital cameras by the general consumer. That increase in the availability of digital images online by both amateur and professional photographers makes for more opportunities to see images being used illegally without proper licensed use & compensation.
For the professional photographer, dealing with these issues of self-promotion, protecting their license rights to their work, trying to figure out how much of their work should be made available online, how to control image distribution, and ensuring that their rights are protected while still allowing for future compensation to be earned, has gotten a bit easier with an organization and online tools that have come to my attention. That organization is a non-profit corporation called Creative Commons.
Creative Commons allows for photographers and artists to define the level of creative rights and control that they wish to specify for a given work. You can use the online tools offered by Creative Commons to define what can and cannot be done commercially with a given piece of registered art or of a collection of art. Essentially six different license types can be defined. The generated license type can then be placed on an artist website, and the specific license terms are noted for everyone to learn and know.
As a photographer, if you wish to allow your images for free distribution for promotion purposes, and not allow any commercial usage or modification you can do so by selecting their most restrictive license. The licensing tools offered by Creative Commons are free to use.
Among the online tools and services offered for professional photographers, I feel that the Creative Commons organization has to be included in the
"Must Have-Must Need to Know" category.
You can visit their site at: http://www.creativecommons.org/ to learn more about their service. I encourage you to check it out.
And I encourage all photographers to feel more confident about using and distributing their work online for purposes of shameless self-promotion. You can only gain more from it in the long term than you would worrying about some sense of loss of control in licensed use of your images. No matter what, your still in control of your work. Creative Commons just gives you a means to publicly define that control for yourelf, your fans, and your customers.
Thursday, May 6, 2010
Certifying Your Prints
It has come to my attention that a service is available for photographers & artists to allow them to essentially certify the limited availability of prints & artwork that are produced and sold.
The service is provided by a company called ARTrust. If you are a photographer producing limited edition prints, then this service can give you the means to actually certifiy the true limited edition value of the produced prints. That is done by the use of non-reproduceable Bubble Tags that are paired with each individual produced print.
A visit of the company website provides more details on the service. My visit of the site's gallery shows that no less than esteemed photographer Douglas Kirkland has joined in using this service for his prints of Marilyn Monroe. That's enough to impress me to look at using this service for future production of my own limited edition prints.
There is a cost to join, and a cost to the purchasing of Bubble Tag sets. But for the long term, any photographer or artist that is effectively selling their work in any decent quantity, should give serious thought to making use of this service. For it would further add extra value to what is produced and sold for both the immediate future and the long term collectibility of each produced & sold piece of art.
Visit http://www.arttrustonline.com/
The service is provided by a company called ARTrust. If you are a photographer producing limited edition prints, then this service can give you the means to actually certifiy the true limited edition value of the produced prints. That is done by the use of non-reproduceable Bubble Tags that are paired with each individual produced print.
A visit of the company website provides more details on the service. My visit of the site's gallery shows that no less than esteemed photographer Douglas Kirkland has joined in using this service for his prints of Marilyn Monroe. That's enough to impress me to look at using this service for future production of my own limited edition prints.
There is a cost to join, and a cost to the purchasing of Bubble Tag sets. But for the long term, any photographer or artist that is effectively selling their work in any decent quantity, should give serious thought to making use of this service. For it would further add extra value to what is produced and sold for both the immediate future and the long term collectibility of each produced & sold piece of art.
Visit http://www.arttrustonline.com/
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