Last week I taught a fine art nude workshop near Joshua Tree, California. A wonderful group of talented photographers came in from across the country, Europe and Canada to attend. It was a great time!

Since I never shoot for myself during a workshop and only focus on the participants, I always arrive a day early to shoot for myself. And I offer participants the opportunity to observe how I approach my photography. I call it “Watch Me Work,” and this time a photographer from Luxembourg shadowed me for the day.

This is just one of many images I was pleased to produce with a wonderfully talented dancer. To see more images, and read a bit about my process, head over to the blog at NudePhotoWorkshops.com.

I’ll be posting more in the days to come.

It’s been a great few days here in Joshua Tree country at the fine art nude photography workshop. Warm temperatures that are perfect for keeping the models comfortable, and light breezes for the time that the photographers are working with fabric.

It’s fun to see how quickly people’s work can evolve in photography classes, incorporating the figure into the amazing landscapes. Most are shooting for fine art black and white fine photography output, a couple taking advantage of the desert color to make beautiful saturated images.

Since I never shoot for myself during the fine art nude photo workshops I run, I always take a day beforehand for that. Often it is done as a Watch Me Work, and this year that was the case. Here’s an image I shot against a dead tree that had been burned during the forest fires of 2005. Made for a wonderful background for the smooth skin and dark hair of the model.

It’s really helpful for the participants that I do this because once the workshop starts, I can lead them to great locations very quickly. So there’s more time for them to shoot.

Another fun day, lots of great images and great bonding among the attendees.

I like to do this because it helps me understand what aspects of their anatomy might be good material for me to focus on.  And in this case, what I was drawn to where the strong features of this woman’s face.  Looking at it head on, there was an interesting shape to the jawline.  More exciting to me, though, was her nose which I thought added great personality.

I decided to do a portrait of her that would show the beauty of her profile, and came up with this pose.

We worked here for a little while , changing the space between her nose and her forearm, changing the space between her thigh and breast.  Mostly, I focused on having her round her back so there would be all soft lines leading to the hard edges of her  nose and forearm.
 
That done, I decided I wanted to make an image that made her look more vulnerable and soft.  From the survey, I knew shooting her more head-on would help the angularity of her nose.  But in addition, I asked her to hold her hair in a very loose bun to reduce the oval quality of her face.  The final touch was to have her move her right thigh closer to her torso so the shape of the breast was no longer silhouetted.  For me, that insured that the viewer’s eye would be drawn to her face.

To see what we ended up with, head over to the blog at NudePhotoWorkshops.com. In addition to seeing more work, you can also sign up for a free newsletter with photography tips for photographing fine art nudes.

And while you are there, check out the fine art nude photography workshops. Our next one is the Joshua Tree Fine Art Nude Workshop, April 23rd-27th. Just one spot still open!

I shot this image near Joshua Tree, California with a wonderfully talented dancer after one of my fine art nude photography workshops.  Since I only focus on the participants during a course, I generally go to the location before the workshop starts to shoot for myself, get a feel for the land, and get a sense of the abilities of the model.

I’m excited to get back to this location with a number of gifted dancers for another workshop April 23rd-27th.  Just one spot available, so if you are interested, go to NudePhotoWorkshops.com.

I shot this image near Joshua Tree, California with a wonderfully talented dancer after one of my fine art nude photography workshops.  Marissa is an amazing model not only because of her dance background but also because she is an actor.  A great collaborator.

I’m excited to get back to this location with Marissa and three other gifted dancers for another workshop April 23rd-27th.  Just one spot available, so if you are interested, go to NudePhotoWorkshops.com.

I’ve just completed a new series of black and white fine art nude photographs in the studio with a bodybuilder.  To see more, go to Birnbachfigureworks.com.

In this case, what I was attracted to was the almost iridescent quality of the the model’s skin color, and the wonderful sense of design and movement we could illicit through gesture.  What a fun afternoon!