answers

Last night I did a total re-write on the last chapter of my latest e-book, the one about my experiences photographing alternative and other models these past five years. Although the exercise raised as many questions as answers, some clarity did rise to the surface.

In the process of writing, I thought back over all the phases of my photography, over a lot of years. The commercial years, when I photographed only for money. The punk journalist years. The various series from 1998 through 2003, shown in galleries, usually one to two years around each conceptual core before moving on to the next concept. The post-2003 years of photographing internet models.

It struck me that it's been only in that most recent phase that I've worked mostly with people who define themselves as "models." As much fun as that's been, I'm beginning to find that it's a limiting factor. I need a more diverse set of subjects.

I'm actually starting by scanning some of that earlier work, portraits and nudes of non-models, people who are simply... interesting people. It's more work to find those people, to set up those shoots. But it's what needs to happen more often.