Not necessarily nude

Rose is Rose

Nearly 13 years ago I participated in a workshop on photographing the nude. The two-day workshop was led by my colleague Tim Anderson who is now the publisher and editor of Shadow and Light Magazine to which I am a regular contributor. It was called Dreamscapes. It is the only time I’ve photographed the undraped female form, a nervous making adventure at the time but quite demure in hindsight. Tim gave me a B for my efforts. That was about right because my results were “competent” in the words of Howard Green, a member of long dormant photography salon that once met quarterly. I blazed no new trails.

Then this week I found myself posting two moody portraits that came from Tim's workshop. They were the best thing that came out of that weekend at an adobe hacienda in Bernalillo, NM. The figure stuff was adequate. But Rose's portraits were intensely intimate. As you can see I favor photographs that get beneath the veneer.

Sun dappled Rose

Here are two portraits of the comely Rose who called herself the “Slutty Unicorn.” Don’t ask. She carried the heavy burden of melancholia. She seemed world weary. Her eyes said, “I’ve seen things.”

She was “Very filled with soul” according to Taos photographer Elida Hanson-Finelli. She was, indeed.