Where have all the gentlemen gone?

Robert E. Bryan at home, NYC, April 2011

The exquisite gentlemen of The Dandy Portraits have a new home at dandyportraits.blogspot.  At the end of last year I gave them this dedicated venue.  I also started a tumblr at dandyportraits.tumblr as a way to share images and refer back to the main blog.  So now you can get lost in the rabbit hole that is tumblr!  Oh, and you can also "like" the project on Facebook.  Phew!

I feel the world has gotten ultra complicated - do you agree?  I kind of like all these different ways to connect, but if one is seeking simplicity...well, it's frustrating.  It helps to see all these venues as having slightly different uses,  and benefits...here is my list:

Blogspot - Pros: better for longer form stories with images and writing - Cons: harder to share and customize, generally wonky.

Facebook: Pros: everyone uses it - Cons: Big Brother is watching, or Stalker's Delight?  Getting personal with strangers is uncomfortable. 

Twitter:  Pros: tune in to what info streams you want, do not have to be "friends", very easy, best for breaking news - Cons: your tweets or ideas have the life span of about 2 seconds, not good for images.

Tumblr:  Pros: images spread like wildfire, tune into feeds, and don't have to be "friends", very easy, good for driving traffic,  - Cons: addictive (rabbit hole), images can lose their source/credit too easily, attention span of 3 sec.

Flickr:  I just use right now as image hosting for the main blog.  I did it because it has a great search engine.  Nicely features and design.

Well those are the ones I use, but there are many more.  Since I started twitter, I kind of like the idea of tuning into feeds, instead of the "friend" thing which devalues the idea of friendship.   If anyone has another venue that they think is brilliant, please do tell!  

A Necessary, Ordinary Miracle

K & J, together 20yrs, at Cafe Colette during the blizzard, Dec 2010

I don't think you can love "too much", can you?  Sometimes it can feel like love could run out, because all around us we can see scarcity and need, but it doesn't.  I promise.

Nina

Nina Yokelson visiting from San Francisco, Brooklyn, 2009

Nina was my nursery school teacher. She is also now my friend, surrogate "grandmother" (appointed by me), and role model.

Whenever I tell people that I hang out with my nursery school teacher they say, "You still know her?" Then I say, "Well, she is a pretty special person, and the school was a pretty special place."

It was Noe Valley Nursery School in San Francisco, which is still there going strong. Nina was the matriarch for about 35 years. My time was the mid 1970s - a time of rainbow socks and play dough and roller skates and an infamous gorilla costume (!) Really good childhood memories that seem like hallucinations or dreams.

I get to hang with Nina when she is in town visiting her cousin in Park Slope (the other Noe Valley). She tells all the good stories and a couple of new one. I just sit and listen to her faded NY accent, and study her face.

I have wondered sometimes, "How can she remember all the kids? How can she have this much love to go around?" I'm sure she does not LIKE every one of the kids, but she has love for them. Nina has taught me by example that love is not a limited commodity. That is a very interesting realization to have - that you don't have a finite amount of love that gets divided by those you love, in competition with each other. Sometimes life feels like this, but it is not true.

Classic Jack Terricloth

I recently got a request for photos of my good friend and sometimes muse Jack Terricloth, author and musical mastermind behind World Inferno Friendship Society. I was happy to revisit this portrait shoot I did a few years ago, as it has never been published outside of the author portrait used on Jack's book cover.

These were some of the last portraits I shot on film, alas. We were in my small makeshift studio with hotlights, a smoke machine, and some wine. That is all secondary trivia; the real reason I am posting this is because this reminds me of why I love photographing Jack Terricloth so much - he is a great subject. Which brings me to my next point...

The Subject

Recently I have come to realize the following: The Subject is EVERYTHING. It is not to diminish my craft, but who I am photoing is more important than how I photo them. I mean, as a portrait photographer I really believe this. I have come to understand that it is far more of a collaboration and a relationship - however brief - than I ever realized before. This is the true artistic experience for me.

The Artist's Muse

Today my good friend and amazing Showgirl Of The Universe, Ami Goodheart, called me about using some of my images to promote an upcoming event that her unique event production company SOTU is working on. This gave me a chance to revisit these images I made of two of Ami's dancers - delicate blonde Stine and pouty-lipped Merry. They are modeling Ami's stunning handcrafted costumes - works of art to be put on a pedestal.

A little history...

I first saw Ami performing on stage at Galapagos in Williamsburg circa 2000. She was dressed ala Carmen Miranda and did a funny sexy dance surrounded by goofy sailors. I was in awe and fell in love with her right then and there. I met her that night, and the rest is a long history of friendship and professional collaboration. She is a natural muse, and I have of course photoed her many times thru the years - always trying to make the "perfect" portrait.

The muses that come along - both people and places - always seem to bring out these same feelings; I strive to capture their gestalt, and with each photo I reach closer, but rarely am satisfied.  But I try and have fun doing it.  Now I have grown to recognize this "divine dissatisfaction", as Martha Graham puts it, as a sign that I am truly inspired.

Proenza Schouler

Recently I had the pleasure of photoing fashion darlings Proenza Schouler on assignment for The Wall Street Journal.  They were just too adorable!  Very poised, yet informal and welcoming.

We started out with the idea to show them working in their studio on their upcoming collection, which of course turned out to be totally top secret and off limits.  Luckily my subjects were very accommodating, and willing to give my ideas a try.

Cause for philosophizing...

One of the best and worst things about photo shoots is that there are ALWAYS limitations.  The worst part is all the frustration and stress that comes when your initial "fabulous" idea is left for dead.  But the best part is that limitations can greatly inspire creativity.   So how life is!

Why Coney Island Will Never Die

So it looks like Astroland is closing for good.  Sniffle.  I was there yesterday for THE last day and the usual crowd was there - EVERYONE.  I had an overwhelming sense when I was walking through the crowd that this will not destroy Coney Island.  Just a feeling. Hope I'm right.   Could be wrong but  I don't think so.  We are tougher than that.

The photo above is a happy moment for me and for the couple making out.  I was happy because I saw the photo and was able to take it without disturbing them.  My friend Natalie said, "That is a got-to-get-home-before-curfew-kiss".  I say it's a goodbye to summer kiss. Hopefully not a goodbye to Coney kiss.

Please indulge me for a moment...

Coney Island is just about the most American place I have ever experienced.  When I am there I have that lovely feeling of falling in love - with humanity, with chaos, with colors, with light, with photographs waiting to be taken.  The wonderful, brilliant thing about Coney is that there is more than enough of all of this to go around - flesh for lovers, freaks for photographers, ice cream for the screaming kids, trash piles for the sea gulls.  And this is the America I love.

This Gal Friday

These portraits of the lovely burlesque performer Gal Friday were photographed at the Slipper Room as part of an ongoing series on the Luscious Ladies of Bump and Grind (totally unofficial title folks).  They like to dance around, and I like to take the pretty pictures. 

My artistic challenge with making portraits of performers is to try to bring out more than the standard poses.  Those have a place - pinups poses can be lovely and stylized - but my favorite are the "in between" moments.   I find myself wanting to try to bring out that feeling of backstage after the show, circa 1933.  A little rough around the edges is fine with me.  I have always loved reportage and formal portraiture equally, and The Urge that flows back and forth between them never seems to get resolved.  Thank god.

Frances!

I called my good friend Ami Goodheart of SOTU Productions looking for some of her talented dancers to photograph - and she sent me a bunch of super talented folks to choose from!! I chose Frances Nieves. I had her jump and jump and jump again, and she obliged cheerfully. She is super fabulous. Watch out LA she is on her way!

Techy:

This was shot outside with a black velvet background courtesy of my photo buddy Naomi White.  We used two lights in the fashion I am used to nowadays.  Bare bones.  More and more I am feeling that not much (lights, money) is needed to make sophisticated images.  And the most important thing is really the subject.  This is such a relief!