Patrick en Half

Honestly been wanting my own airbrush system for over a year, yet not for the typical reasons, like making pottery, but for some other nefarious purposes.

I love body paint work and have done some myself in the past but I was restricted to paints, a brush and some tape. Now I’m rocking a powerful instrument of art that involves electricity. The Tim Allen inside me every time the compressor turns on. Buhahaha!

The purchase of this beast was pushed forward because I had a shoot planned for some time with Patrick Stoner. We planned to shoot today, but sadly the weather blew chunks and I didn’t have any luck finding an awesome location so we settled on the studio. It didn’t take long for me to get completely bored of the idea of just photographing Patrick and first time model Brittany in the studio with just some lights. We had to spice this thing up so a quick run to Michaels for a compressor and two stage airbrush gun then next door to Office Max for masking tape. I jogged back to the studio via my Toyota Camry and arrived with a smile and a new toy to play with.

Setup is always a breeze when it’s mechanical and a few tests showed a well working purchase. Sadly in the paints department I didn’t have a standard set of body paint, but I did have nontoxic acrylics so I made a mix of paint and water so it would be thin enough to run through the gun. A quick test proved the mix was spot on so I had Brittany step in front of the painting station and began to outline one half of her and applied paint as if I had some idea of what I was doing. I had used an airbrush in the past, but my skills are definitely not there yet so I hope to practice on more humans. Hint, if you’re looking for some awesome pictures I’ll trade my skills if you’re willing to get painted for them.

It didn’t take long to apply a thin coat of white paint on Brittany, but I knew in the back of my head that black wouldn’t be so easy so I took a little extra time until I couldn’t procrastinate any longer. After doing the necessary cleaning process I whipped up a set of black paint, lined up Patrick then applied a thicker coating of black on half of his body. More cleaning then even more cleaning I double checked that all the equipment was properly stored for later use I noticed it was time to light this mess!

Let’s talk a little about the concept here. I had no idea of what I was trying to express to the viewers, but I did know what I was creating may cause some rifts. Actually, pretty much everything I photograph causes some suffering to certain viewers, but that is a long discussion and we will stay somewhat on track here. My idea was to create something that different people would have a different direction with their brain as to what the meaning is behind the image. Complexity in it’s simplicity. Yum!

Two in Black & White

It didn’t take long to get the images flowing and a quick background change then re-change we were done and ready to clean up and head out. Major props to Brittany for putting up with me and for being a willing subject for this shoot and of course to Patrick for putting up with my ideas and making this happen. BTW, Kyle was drunk on the Boone’s Farm again but still managed to stumble over and help with background changes and spill cleanup so I appreciate his non-sober assistance.

It feels good knowing that there is a new weapon in my arsenal and can’t wait to practice a bit more and start rocking even more imagery. More to come so be back soon!