Can you give the fiddler a dram, please?

My wife Loretta made a pastel portrait of me from a photograph made between takes on a movie set earlier this year in the production of "Jonah Hex." This is one of her finest, even though it's of me.

Loretta is going through a tough time right now from the effects of chemotherapy, but hopefully she will be back at the easel soon.

In the movie scene, Cookie, a banjo player and me are serenading a Union officer just before Jonah (Josh Brolin) surrenders. Whether we're in the final cut remains to be seen, but if I am you will hear me in the theater. The movie is supposed to be out in June 2010. The heavy metal group "Mastodon" is doing the musical score.

Dream of the Marionettes

I recently photographed a theater group that will be performing a musical at Cites des Arts in Lafayette. It was a wonderful afternoon and what really made it enjoyable was the collaboration and ideas that originated from the group.

Christy Leichy and Johanna Divine (in the 2nd image below) wrote "Dream of the Marionettes" and it promises to be a real romp of the burlesque genre. Go to this site to see more about the production: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Dream-of-the-Marionettes/155555594663

Here are the tintypes I made of them.

Latest work

I'm back on the circuit. Here's a 5x7 tintype I made at the Rural Life Museum on Sept. 26 during Harvest Days and the reenactment. The building is an old jail from North Louisiana. The scalawags in the picture were resting on the steps during a foraging expedition.

Last Sunday, I was at the Sugar Fest in Port Allen but I only got to make 2 images before the rain shut things down.

Saturday, I photographed the beautiful cast members of "Dream of the Marionettes," a musical being produced in Lafayette. I've never had so many attractive women cavorting in their skivvies in my backyard. I'll post those images soon. The production has a facebook site: http://www.facebook.com/home.php?#/pages/Dream-of-the-Marionettes/155555594663?ref=share

Another wet plate blog

Indra, a northern European photographer, has started a blog on her wet plate adventure. It's interesting to see a perspective from across the pond.
Here's the site: http://contrastique.wordpress.com/

I'll post the link permanently too.

Respite and recuperation

I have developed sensitivity to ether, one of the main components of the wet-plate process. It causes me to have a condition similar to bronchitis. Because I've always had asthma, I suppose I should have been more cautious with the chemicals, but they didn't cause any problems until this spring.
I've developed some safeguards to deal with the problem, but right now I need to stay away from the chemicals and get back to life without making images. That means I've had to back out of an event in Ohio this weekend.
I don't know if I will be able to resume this method of photography, although there are other processes I could learn.

Visitors from Florida

We had visitors recently from Florida, my wife's father, Rudy, and his companion, Linda.
While they were here, I got them to sit still for a few seconds to make their portraits. Rudy was determined to prove he could maintain a smile for the 6-second exposure under the UV lights. He did a good job, and Linda made one of the best portraits I've done with artificial lighting.
I used the lights again the night of July 10 at the Baton Rouge Art Melt. Unfortunately, I didn't get any copies of the pictures before they were placed in the hands of the subjects.

Fleur des Tease, finally

I finally got caught up on P-shop work, so here are my efforts from the shoot with Fleur des Tease from New Orleans. These charming young ladies were a true joy to work with.

The image above is my take on the Japanese woodblock print "Man's Fantasy."

Bicycle getaway.