Frank Petronio photographer

Taking a Break

December 12, 2007

Status Report and housekeeping….

These are photos from the end of Summer, when I spent a few days with Lauren and her harem. I should go back this winter, there is a lot there.

I had a lot of “thinking time” during my overnight trip to NYC and realized that I have arrived at another crossroads moment. I now have a real “body of work” — enough for a show and a book (well, a print-on-demand book at least). The NY’ers have told me that it’s interesting enough to get good editorial assignments and decent gallery shows — and I believe them — so now it is a matter of solicitation rather than production. So I shut down my Model Mayhem profile and cancelled a few of the remaining shoots that were lined up… No more petty online distractions. I’ll be hunkering down for the Holidaze. I need to morph into an axe-murdering self-marketeer over the next three weeks.

Don’t worry, I’ll still be shooting — and posting new images — for the joy of photography and as self-promotion. Of course I still love photographing young women — and now I can count on several as my long-term models. But I’d like to diverge, move away from the simplistic and sexy and instead work with models that bring a bit more to the process. And I’d like to shoot with some guys for a change. And older people. And my family. And maybe just photograph my life and the landscape and whatever comes around the corner….

And… save a few bucks on the damn hotels I’ve been shooting in…. Goodness gracious, once you shine 1000 watts of tungsten into a hotel room you see things that will make you queeve. Even at the expensive ones. But I also feel like the hotels are kind of played out — I’ve heard people talk about my stuff in terms of being “hotel room shots” and that was never my intent. I simply used hotels out of convenience, and one thing led to another so that I started to use them as props and backgrounds. They’re still preferable to shooting in a studio, but I’d like to find some alternatives.

Actually I shut down a lot of things — I obliterated myspace, logged out of the photo forums, and deleted hundreds of bookmarks. I’ve been internet-addicted and I need to ween myself. The social networking has been invaluable — especially when I was lost and needed contact — but I really don’t need to be checking my various pages every hour, on my cell phone, or when I’m around “real” people.

Once I started texting like a teenage girl I knew I was too far gone….

I just got proofs of my book from Shared Ink. I am pleasantly surprised with the quality. The only downside is that these one-off on demand books are coming in at over $200 a pop, so you won’t be getting one for Christmas. I ordered a linen cover version to start, although the leather versions are awfully nice looking….

Air travel with a large portfolio has proven to be quite a challenge, at least with trying to manage a large format camera, a laptop, and a 30-lb. 12x15 inch portfolio. It’s enough to make me think about switching over to shooting Tri-X in a Leica — a silly notion that keep percolating — something a little more deliberate than rapid-fire digital shots but not as anal as trying to shoot 4x5 under less than ideal conditions (often handheld, inebriated, and horizontal… lol) But I’m not about to jump quite yet — so in order to make the Linhof a little more compact and Leica-like, I’ve stripped it of its beautiful yet bulky ergonomic grip and multi-focus finder. I’ve swapped the larger Symmar-S lens with a vintage 150/4.5 Xenar (with rounded aperture blades for better bokeh) (and I also have a $50 ca. 1949 150/3.5 Xenar “speed” lens being serviced). And now the camera fits into a smaller carry-on backpack (a Think Tank Airport Antidote — it even fits on a puddle jumper) along with the laptop, the Nikon, and a lot of film. So I can carry the beastly portfolio in my other hand.

Of course if I end up liking either of the new vintage lenses then I will have to send the Linhof off to Martin (the Linhof service guru) to be cammed, which is another $300 and a month’s absence. Ouch…. But it is winter and I am happy shooting with other formats during the “break” — if I even shoot at all.

I finally purchased a 1tb hard drive (a Western Digital MyBook) and am in the process of making redundant back-ups. Of course now I need to get a second 1tb ASAP. And plan for a 2tb next year.

I look at the shots I did of Meagan’s face in bed, one post down, and I realize that those are some of my most satisfying photos. Of course it is all her, she is one of those rare models who really adds so much more to a shoot. She is one of, if not the, best models — err… persons — I’ve shot with. And she should get the fuck out of Utica, New York and go live an exciting life before something happens to trap her there….

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