meet Joe Bacon

One could say that Joe Bacon is all about wool but that would be an oversimplification.  He is an extremely creative weaver, working in the styles and colors of Central and South American traditional native weaving, but above all, he is an artist.  Of life and the world.  He is another person who has agreed to be part of my environmental portraiture project, and our photo shoot last week was lively and wonderful.

Here are just a few of the many images from the afternoon.  The first is a shot of Joe at his loom, working on a new weaving utilizing only unprocessed fleece as the weft.  It was absolutely full of lanolin.

Just for grins, we used the wool in a few more photographs

The image below was shot with a 70-200mm AF-S Nikkor lens.  I absolutely love it because, in addition to providing great mid-range telephoto options, it offers superb "bokeh" for portrait shots.  Ken Rockwell has an excellent online piece explaining bokeh - the way lens elements render out-of-focus points of light.

No doubt you will read more about Joe Bacon in future posts, but I wanted to give you an initial look at the artist and the man.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

It is the season

The weather has become appreciably warmer this week, and it being the 13th, two days short of the "official" last frost, it is definitely the season of environmental portraiture, especially outside.  I am ready to go, despite any wind that might happen.  At a 2010 wedding I photographed in southern Colorado, the wind was howling to such an extent that many of the wedding party had to hold on to one another to keep from being blown over.  Although this is just a quick shot rather than a true portrait, it communicates volumes.

Here is an image from another spring time photo shoot, this one with weaver Joe Bacon.  Fortunately, the wind was cooperating.

The day Steve Immel and I shot portraits of one another, most were made in his garage, utilizing two soft boxes and different backdrops.  The photograph below was shot using isolated light outside.

Here is a quick shot of artist Paule Marx in her studio, following a photo shoot of her work.  She has one of the most radiant and beaming faces I have ever seen.  It reminds me that I need to do a shoot with her during the warm season that is now upon us.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image

One more time

What inspired me to say that fiber class was over after my last blog?  With the Tierra Wools Spring Festival on Saturday, I have yet a few more photographs of the fiber ilk to share with you.

It is sometimes difficult to judge when winter has ended and spring has begun, and we shed our winter garb with wild abandon.  Imagine how it feels to a sheep which carries a huge coat around until shearing season arrives.  Below are "before" shots of churro sheep awaiting the shears.

And what I would term a "way after" photograph.  Pillow by Joe Bacon against a noble adobe wall at Tierra Wools in Los Ojos.

until next Monday,

DB

a passion for the image