Hello plp..

Would you consider me, Tim, the founder and admin of this group, selfish if I admit..

I would love to know that this group.. and this interview.. resulted in sending at least a few models to this awesome photographer / artist who.. for years.. have shown us here on dA stellar images such as..





*Studio4496



Hello Studio4496, please introduce yourself to our group.

Hello H-Y-C group. Thanks for the interview. Living on a tiny island Key West that's closer to Cuba than mainland Florida, it's amazing to think there are "fans" of my photography at all. Yet dA opens the doors of the world in so many ways.

I've had a pretty wonderful and rich life. I grew up in the Appalachian mountains and was the only person in my high school graduating class to go to college, which I got through on a work study scholarship.

Since then I've been the director of planning for a major university hospital, started and owned one of the top three catering companies in Chicago, had several tours of duty as a nationally recognized diversity and management consultant (including helping out the Black Management Forum in South Africa just after Mandela was elected president) and more recently was editor of a community  newspaper in Key West.

After hurricane Wilma I -- like a lot of people here -- was broke, the paper folded and I took a job selling tile and stone to pay the bills. That's all my long way of saying that I'm re-creating myself yet again.

In addition to the day job, I'm putting myself through school to become a Registered Piano Technician and have started an ambitious concert series on the island which had its final concert of its second season Friday, May 11th.

And through all those careers, the photography has always been a passion, if you will my "guilty pleasure".



Your gallery here on dA contains 696 awesome deviations. However, only one of those were posted during the year 2011. And we have yet to see anything from you this year. Do you plan to post any new deviations this year?

Creating the concert series and learning a new trade have been the main focus for the past two years. And, having said that, I terribly miss doing shoots. I'd set up a couple for earlier this year; but had to cancel one because of pneumonia, and the other because the model decided he'd rather work with someone a bit more famous the week we'd agreed to meet. Though I'm not shooting lots, I'll definitely make the time to work with someone who's traveling through the Keys and wishes to add some diversity to their portfolio.



You have worked with popular and phenomenal models, Zeb Atlas to name one..

Zeb at Fort Zach 3645

..What was it like to work w/ these guy?

The answer to this question could go on for pages. I'm not as prolific as commercial photographers and artists who have the option to make this a career; but I have shot scores of folks -- mostly men, obviously.  And not surprisingly there are scores of great stories and memorably moments. But perhaps I'm not as prolific and am not just churning out photos for a buck, but more for the enjoyment of the process, I spend more time getting to know the guys who come to work with me. As a result the work tends to be very collaborative. With maybe one or two exceptions I've always had fun, creative sessions. And to this day, several dozen of the people who started out as models have become close and lasting friends with whom I stay in touch.

Most of the guys with whom I've worked have approached me. They found my work on one of my old Web sites, Studio4496.com, modelmayhem.com, or here on dA -- liked it. We'd start a conversation about possibilities -- sometimes lasting months -- then do a shoot based on our mutual ideas. In three individual cases, I "discovered" them before anyone else and those three have moved on to major modeling careers. Many are just having a lark and experimenting. The Pan images here were done by a military officer who during the week controlled the airspace for the southeastern part of the US and on weekends would create nude fantasies with photographers for a self-published coffee table book. And that's just one of literally scores of stories.



Many of your deviations show us outdoor images. Which do you prefer, working in the studio or working in nature?

Some of my best work is studio work. I also do a fair amount of photography for interior decorators and landscape architects here in the Keys, so I have extensive studio equipment. However, because of the landscape, and the access I have to some incredible estates here in the Keys, the work almost goes outside simply because the models can add images to their portfolios that they can't get anywhere else.

Technically, nothing special is needed other than a flash fill if I'm working by myself , or a reflector if I've hired an assistant for the shoot.



How do you prepare for a typical photo shoot?

As I mentioned above, lots and lots of conversations with the model. Then based on resources and time available, I'll write several scenarios for them to play out. I keep the storyboards relatively broad because, while there needs to be some mutually agreed upon process and output. I've found the best work comes when the model takes the idea and starts playing with it. Imagination, a sense of adventure and creativity are frequently more important for good work than perfect pecs.



Do you spend as much time in the darkroom, working on your images, as you spend during the actual photo shoot?

I switched exclusively to digital in 2001 and have gone through a succession of digital cameras. So Photoshop is my darkroom these days. And, yes, even though my images tend more toward a traditional, natural look, I spend hours and hours editing each shoot. For every hour I spend during a shoot, there are probably 20-30 hours spend in post production.



Which are your favorite cameras and photographic equipment?

I've worked with Canon cameras for years. They've always been on the cutting edge of technology and once you get that collection of interchangeable lens, it's hard to break away.



How did you become interested in photography?

Even in college I always had a camera in my hand. Whether documenting a trip or doing all the photography for the newspaper, photography has been a staple in my life. My love of male figurative photography, however, really took off in earnest in 1994. I opened a gallery here in Key West called Bodyscapes, which had male work as its principal, which I closed after a couple years even though it was relatively successful. At the time it was the choice between having a successful gallery or a successful consulting career. The consulting was significantly more lucrative. But because of the gallery, I met and represented some of the best know male photographers of that time -- Tom Bianchi, Greg Gorman, David Morgan, Dean Keefer, Kal Yee, Jeff Palmer among many others. Seeing their work and interacting with them inspired me and made me think "I'd like to do this kind of work as well."



Have you had any special classes or training?

I've done numerous group workshops where there would be one or two master photographers leading the group and we'd critique each other's work. I also worked for six months as the photographer's assistant for a well-known fashion and advertising photographer who took off a year to spend in in Key West.



To date.. What has been your photographic artwork's greatest success?

The greatest success is for me is working through the proofs after a shoot with the model and seeing him smile and say "wow." "That exceeds anything I thought we could do."

I haven't pursued publications at all. But I have done a number of group shows and have had two solo gallery shows here in Key West as well as Ft. Lauderdale.



May I ask a few personal questions.. Such as.. What was your most happiest moment?

There was the Palm Sunday I spent at the basilica of St. Francis in Assissi. No one showed up for the tour of the edifice except my partner and myself. The friar looked discouraged because there were only the two of us. But then he asked "Why are you here?" My answer was "Because I think the heart of the church beats here, not Rome." His response was "For that, my friend, you've earned the tour no one else will ever have." He took out a ten pound ring of keys, we ducked through a four foot door and spent the next six hours of our lives experiencing the monastery's innermost secrets.



What was your most scariest moment?

When I catered the 40th birthday party for the head of the Chicago Mafia on a boat three miles out on Lake Michigan and discovered that most members of the mob only like their meat well done. There was no galley on board and I had pre-cooked the prime rib to medium rare!!  Everyone had guns.  When I saw them holding hunks of meat up in the air with their cigarette lighters for extra grilling, I started having visions of concrete boots.



What was your most embarrassing moment?

Believe it or not, I don't embarrass easily. I think it comes from just doing this work this long. I know I haven't "seen it all" and probably never will; but I've sure seen and experienced a lot more than most people have ever imagined.



What makes you angry?

Another tough one. I'm one of the calmest people you'll ever meet in your life. I don't hold grudges and rarely blame anyone else. If I do get angry, it's because I haven't met my own expectations.



What do you love most?

Seeing other people blossom because I've helped to bring something alive for them. In the photography, it's about helping someone experience a part of themselves they didn't even know they had.

Recently, I finished four weeks of work re-stringing a grand piano that had been badly damaged in hurricane Wilma. The owner hadn't played it for four years. When she heard it sing again, she cried for joy.

When I was a caterer, one of the best compliments I ever received was from Mary Francis Veeck after completing a wedding for her niece "This was everything I could have expected, if I could have imagined it!"



Who are a few of your most favorite photographers or artists?

Again, the list is long and favorites are always there for different reasons. From my gallery experience I loved the classic B&W work of Greg Gorman [link]

Jeff Palmer [link]

and (at the time) Tom Bianchi [link]

..for masterful use of lighting techniques and how they engaged their models as people, not just bodies....something I've attempted to learn from and use in my own work. Today, I'm enamored of the over the top conceptual and erotic work of Justin Monroe. [link]

The two people I admire most for their stylized shoots and Photoshop skills are Mark Henderson [link]

and Michael Stokes. [link]



Do any of these people influence your photographic artwork?

Every time I look at anyone's work I can't help but think... "what can I learn here?"



What do you hope to do to the world, or accomplish, w/ your photographic art?

When I talked about helping someone blossom, to experience part of themselves that perhaps they never even knew was there...that's key for me. I've helped a number of people that way and my major hope in this respect that I can once again start doing more shooting. I miss the interaction and creation of new friendships.



One of my most favorite deviations in your gallery is..

Kiss

In the artist comment on this one you say.. "I've never worked with two people who were more in love".. Would you tell us the story behind this deviation?

This shot wasn't even part of the planned shoot. It isn't perfect technically (cropping is only so-so). The shot was actually an out take originally... Just a snap of them kissing while they were waiting for the shoot to begin. There was just something so genuine between these two guys that I decided to put it on dA even though I didn't consider it particularly good work from a technical standpoint. It created a bit of firestorm when published... And is among the most loved or reviled images in my gallery here depending on your point of view. It's definitely one of the most visited.



Which are your most favorite deviations in your gallery here on dA?

Again, I have many favorites. But I chose the image of the young man interposed in the Manet painting because of the fun we had creating it.

Afternoon in the Park 752

The setting is actually a Seward Johnson sculpture of Manet's work which was on display at Key West's Custom House. I got permission from the museum's curator to do a nude photoshoot using Johnson's sculpures; but the only time the model could make it was during regular museum hours. So we did the shoot anyway. What was remarkable was that most of the museum patrons just thought he was part of the exhibit and kept moving on. It was only when he'd move to change poses that folks caught on. Great fun.



*Studio4496