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.

Back from storm country

We finally got home after a stormy week and a half on the road. No matter where we were (Missouri, Texas and Mississippi) we got hit by bad weather. Below is a pic from the storm Sunday morning at Brice's Crossroads in Mississippi. The roof on one sutler's tent was knocked down. Tornado warnings were constant.

Shortly after this, we packed up and headed home. I made some nice pictures at Brice's but it was too late in the day to make digital copies.

While in Missouri, where we also had tornado warnings in the Kansas City area, I made some good images that are posted below. I have more, but I haven't had time to finish working on them. I also have images from my session with the girls from Fleur de Tease but again, I've not had time to get to them. Stay tuned.

My next gig

OK, so I'm over the movie thing now. It was fun, and I'd like to do it again but now I gotta get back to work. I tentatively have a shoot next weekend with some young ladies who will be in Lafayette for a performance Saturday downtown at Sadie's nightclub as a part of the Geronimo Festival. Here's their website:

http://www.fleurdetease.com/Fleur_de_Tease/Home.html

My cinematic debut

I got a part in a movie being filmed in New Orleans. It's based on the Civil War comic book character "Jonah Hex" and it stars John Malkovich and Josh Brolin. In the scene, I played fiddle and Cookie Reaux played banjo and our tune was "Rosin the Bow." We provided music while a Union officer is eating supper and his meal is interrupted by Jonah.

The makeup artist told me she wouldn't remove the silver nitrate stains on my hands because they added to my down and dirty look, but I quickly told her the stains are the result of my wet-plate photography and takes several days to wear off.

Above are a couple of fotos of Cookie and me between takes outside the tent where the scene was filmed.

I've been on movie sets before but never at a soundstage. The amount of personnel and equipment was amazing, and the investment being made in this Warner Bros. picture will be in the tens of millions, most spent in New Orleans.

POST SCRIPT FROM LIBERTY EVENT

Whilst driving through Zachary, La., on my way home I got stopped by 2 police cruisers. I had no tail lights on my camper and utility trailer because a fuse had burned out. Many thanks to them for stopping me to alert me about this, AND for just giving me a warning. I bought a new fuse at a truck stop and proceeded home, arriving at 10:30, the end of a long day.

Liberty, Miss., Bicentennial Soiree

Folks in Liberty, Miss., know how to throw a bicentennial birthday bash. Saturday was my first visit to this charming little town, and it won't be my last. Many thanks to the Amite County Historical Society for being so hospitable.
Many of the people were decked out for the 200th birthday, and they stopped by to have their images struck. Here are some of them: