Ewwtica
September 1, 2010
Err… that be Utica, New York.
Meagan (larger)
Last Round
August 24, 2010
Taking a short break, working on the written part of the book — as you might imagine, it’s a good story.
Shannon (Buffalo bars close at 4am) (larger)
No shoots scheduled, I think I’ve exhausted everybody. I’m not against shooting more at all, especially if I’ve asked you previously, but new people need to pay or be amazing.
820 blog posts to date, I think I can skip a few days ;-)
Friend of a Friend
August 22, 2010
On Thursday’s road trip I met a few new people, friends of friends. How could I refuse shooting a bit?
Jas (larger)
More on the way.
Take Another Step Back
August 21, 2010
Cristina and Jason at Niagara Falls (larger)
This is an outtake from one of the many shoots I did for Shannon’s Kramp Kouture line. (Imagine Jason Wood of It Dies Today wearing a tutu.)
Photo Prop
August 19, 2010
I built this in the backyard — it comes in handy for portraits.
Ryann (larger)
(larger)
Actually we drove up to this just as the sun was setting and shot a few for future reference. I would be a great device for a fashion shoot. Do you know who the sculptor is?
Y?
August 18, 2010
Back from the shoot… I sure do appreciate Ryann as a friend and model — she has a great attitude and natural poise, is intelligent, creative… and she does what she says she wants to do instead of making excuses for why she didn’t even try.
(larger)
As Woody Allen said, “Eighty percent of success is showing up.” He’s brilliant too.
My New Old 5x7 Toyo Metal Field Camera
August 16, 2010
As we all know, it is the camera that makes the photograph — the photographer is an idiot who simply clicks the shutter. So if you buy a better camera, you’ll get better photos ;-)
(larger)
This is my new ~50-year old 5x7 Toyo Field camera. I bought it from a guy in the UK for $750. Probably overpaid….
(larger)
The seller neglected to tell me that he substituted a DeVere 5x7 back for the missing OEM back. It works fine but is heavier and bulkier than the original back. These cameras are fairly rare so I decided to keep it once I negotiated a modest price adjustment.
(larger)
I really like the early 1960s Schneider Technika lenses in Compur shutters. These were the last shutters made with rounded apertures, so the out-of-focus areas of the picture are rendered smoother than they would be if they were made with modern lenses. A 180mm lens on 5x7 film is about like a 35-40mm lens on your full-frame/35mm camera. I use only this one lens, for which I paid $180 on German eBay.de. It’s got some cleaning marks and perhaps a faint touch of haze, but I think it renders beautifully so I dare not muck around with “fixing” it.
(larger)
The camera is stripped down and basic, of lightweight folded metal construction and Japanese-style engineering. It feels like an old Datsun pick-up truck. It folds up to about 11 x 9 x 3.5 inches. If the seller had given me the real back it would be 0.5 inch smaller and lighter. I don’t know how much it weighs because I don’t have a good scale, but it is at least half the weight of a 5x7 Linhof.
(larger)
It only has 14-inches of extension, which is plenty for my needs but short for cameras of this type. It balances nicely on my vintage $80 Leitz Tiltall tripod.
The camera locks down and is stable — not quite as solid as my prior German-Swiss cameras but more than adequate. All the controls except front focusing are friction-based. It has rear tilt and front tilt, swing, and rise.
(larger)
On the back it says it is 4-3/4 by 6-1/2 format - good luck finding film for that! While I have a 4x5 OEM back that I can use when I want to shoot 4x5 color negative film (Kodak Portra 400NC), I intend to shoot mostly 5x7 Kodak Tri-X.
This is my main camera and lens. When I am not using it, I’ll shoot with a Nikon digital SLR using a single, normal, prime lens. Or my Droid. Or my Olympus Stylus. The total cost of all my photo gear is less than that of a semi-pro digital camera body like a Canon 5Dmk2.
Your Lucky Day
August 13, 2010
It’s Friday the 13th and, with any luck, your uptight supervisor will walk by your cubicle just as you scroll down to see today’s photo of Kait’s new tattoo. You’ll be fired on the spot, freeing you to spend even more time lurking around my website. Win!
It could be worse, she chose Everytime I Die lyrics. She could have quoted Glassjaw.
Kait (larger)
Practice Safe Witch Removal Technique
August 12, 2010
You want a slow, controlled burn. Be sure to stand way back when their hearts burst.
Andy, Sarah, and Meagan (larger)
Keep Going! See more blog entries in the Archive
Editorial, Fashion, & Portrait Photography of Women
THE FLASH PORTFOLIO SITE
Lots of pictures scrolling sideways!
Available for assignments, photographer Frank Petronio specializes in black-and-white, film-based portraiture.
Hire Frank to make editorial and advertising photographs, as well as exhibit, consult, lecture, and teach.
See My Portfolio
44 large-format photographs click
Your website gave me pause. It’s candid, refreshing, a bit crass & ballsy....
PDF Portfolio
Download my extended portfolio in the Adobe PDF format (6.5 mb) (get the free Adobe Acrobat Reader).
iPhone/Cell Phone Website
See hundreds of photos on your cell.
Blurb Book
160 pages, 151 images, "as nice as a Blurb book could ever be."
RSS Syndication
Add my site to your news reader.
Stock Photography
Most of my work is model released and available for rights-managed purchases at competitive rates.
Travel
I travel fast and light.
FLEX and open
Morning Affirmations
I met up with Frank Petronio and shot some amazingness. It’s fun shooting with him because it’s super relaxed and chill.
You produce photography orgasms. Every picture is just like eye lust candy. aha!
OK, I have just spent, I don’t know — maybe an hour of time I really don’t have reading your website. I just thought, hey, this is interesting, and funny, and honest and human — and then I was in the archive reading everything — and having a fantastic little time... and then it was 11:00....
Hey man, just took a little trip through your site and I detected an evil sense of humor, something that is revealed in your work.
I ended up looking at your new work and I gotta say man, you made a leap in a good direction. There’s a lot I like about what your doing in 4x5, but it’s late and I’ll heap praise another day. Up until today I thought you were an OK pro photographer and now my opinion has changed for the better.... Superlatives to other photographers don’t exactly roll off of my tongue when even I’m rested, truth be told ;-)
I really enjoy how you tell stories with your camera. I love how you incorporate irony and the fact that you still shoot film. Beautiful work.
I’ll keep it simple. I love what you do and the way in which you do it. You make me have hope for the future of art because what you do obviously comes not from greed or lust or anything negative, but from your heart. At least that’s the way it seems.
Looking at your photos and listening to Brian Eno's “Baby’s on Fire” is probably the best....
I came across your site by chance and have been absolutely enchanted by your large format photographies, absolutely impressive and very original, by the way gaining very well the confidence of very pretty and exotic girls from whom you draw all of their photographic potential, because in my opinion you choose very well the most suitable girls for your type of photographs.
The world definitely sucks, but some of the young women you’ve photographed help make it more bearable.
It strikes me that he really lets the narcissism of his subjects show... it’s kind of fun and campy.
Three hours with Frank passes like 20 minutes with some other guy.
Critic Shirley Dawson of Rochester’s City Newspaper
And they are boring compared to Frank Petronio’s “Cristina, 2006,” the show’s stand-out work. more
Fleshbot
Fine art and editorial portrait photographer Frank Petronio does many things very well, including taking some of the most tender, intimate, playful, and sexy shots of amateur and professional models we’ve seen in a while. more (NSFW)
The Koreans Have Good Taste
And I’ll take it: An article about my work in Korea’s Monthly Photo magazine.
The Artery Magazine
Frank Petronio couldn’t be anything other than a photographer, and he has tried — role of husband, father, teacher, web designer. Almost as if he can’t escape the lure of an irreverent beauty. He’s abrupt, with a dark sense of humor and raw honesty that develops in uninhibited photographs. more
Thanks. I get all warm and tingling after reading these each and every morning. It gets me so pumped up that I go for a run up the Courthouse steps and punch frozen sides of beef.
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- DéModé
- Derk
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- English Russia
- Family Photos
- Fecal Face
- frankpetronio.NET (my Flash site)
- Gluefingers
- graflex.org
- Hollis Bennett
- I Believe In Advertising
- Insect Skateboards
- Jak and Jill
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- Jason Kottke
- Kramp Kouture
- Kramp Kouture on Etsy
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- Modelography
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self
Send Some Love
- f@frankpetronio.com
- AIM fspetronio
- cellular/text (585) 259-0189
Print Sale
Someday, if I am lucky, a good gallery will pick me up and sell dozens of my images for thousands of dollars apiece. Until that time, you can purchase almost any image on this site as a fine-art display print for only $75 plus shipping ($9 domestic or $27 international). Please pardon the following geeky description of my process — rest assured these are good looking black-and-white and color gallery-quality prints. They are most often 11x14- or 9x13.5-inch images printed from a Harrington RIP on to 13x19 Harman FB Gloss inkjet paper. Their color is a warm neutral without any metamerism but with a slight bronzing when the print is viewed from an low oblique angle. I use an older 7-color Epson 2200 printer but I figure it is fine for greyscale prints compared to the newer printers with more heads (which produce finer color prints). Of course I can make smaller prints but I won’t charge any less as the material costs are minimal and the cost of the print is really based on the content itself. I sign the verso in pencil and ship prints between two sheets of sturdy foamcore. At these prices you should buy several... PayPal is the easiest way to pay me but USPS Money Orders work too.
Model For Me
Unless I ask you first, you pay me.
