'My work celebrates a minimalist aesthetic.'
Michal, msbimages
Although many people put up their holiday decorations right after Thanksgiving, most people, according to the stats, wait until the first or second weekend of December. I used to drive my mother crazy about putting up the decorations, bugging her with my holiday excitement until she finally relented. She gave in however, on the lights and decorations for the house, the tree never went up until closer to the big day.
That means, this was the weekend that many families headed up to their attics, down to their basements, and into their closest to drag out their shiny ornaments and trimmings. We used to drag out cardboard boxes, but today, it's mostly plastic storage bins that hold our holiday treasures.
It's funny how every year we pull out something that we used to love to display, that we now find hideously ugly. Every year I struggle with the choice of what to reuse, and what to repack. It all depends on my mood, do I want gaudy and ornate, or minimalistic and clean. As I get older, I find myself leaning toward the clean.
Minimalistic doesn't have to necessarily apply to quantity, it can mean more than just a bare silver tree. You can still have plenty of decorations and use more than one color. Minimalistic to me, applies to the impact of the visual. For me, this means using one or two coordinated colors, clean lines and a unified aesthetic when it comes to size, shapes and themes.
Photography is in many ways like decorating for the holidays. You want a visual that brings you joy, not once, but each time you enter the room and see it. Sometimes overly decorated rooms can be too busy, visually overwhelming, and even annoying if you spend too much time with them. I know that as much as I love celebrating holidays on FH, I'm always a little relieved to get back tot he basics after the holidays are over. A simple focus of great lighting with the focus on skin, and the beauty of the male for.
So... before Christmas gets into full swing on the site, I thought revisiting the work of Michal Booth from msbimages was in order. A Palate Cleanser before Santa hats, tinsel and gold garland take over. I've been enjoying featuring models and shoots from the Dallas based photographer's extensive archive and today he's sharing his work with the enchantedly adorable Graham.
Michal shares that Graham was a geology student at a local university when they shot. Given his area of study, Graham's weekends were often filled with geology themed field trips. This meant scheduling took awhile. Michal was patient however, determined to shoot the geology student with the stunning blue eyes and seductive smile. Graham also admitted to being a 'bit of an exhibitionist', so nudity was not an issue. Michal would have loved to have worked with Graham again, but he moved out-of-state after granulation.
I loved the disciplined decor Michal chose for his shoot with Graham. The lighting, with just the white walls and white bed sheets were all that was needed. There was no need for distraction, Michal's focus was on the beauty in front of his lens. Graham's skin, his blue eyes, his dark hair and brilliant smile are all spotlighted and magnified by Michal's artistic skills and choices.
No comments:
Post a Comment