great Great War books and Nancy

For those of you who may not know, I have a morbid fascination w/ the first World War. Its so tragic in the Greek sense.

Barbara Tuchman's "Guns of August" is far & away the best book on the topic, to say nothing about discussing the Great War. It covers the July 1914 crisis to the First Battle of the Marne. I read it at least once a year since picking it up in 2002, partly because I like her prose but also in how she's managed to make a suspense thriller out of documented historical events. This is easily like 5 out of 5 stars.

I recently completed John Keegan's "the First World War". Its a fairly respectable read if one were interested in the topic. It cannot compare to Tuchman's (nor am I trying to) but if you're looking for a good overview of what the Great Powers were thinking, the problems that arose, brief glimpses at the "sideshows" away from the main fighting, this may be for you. I particularly like his discussions regarding the fighting on the Eastern Front. Its the region that was least talked about probably because of the widespread illiteracy amongst both the Russians & the Austrians. The story of oppurtunistic Romania's joining the Allies, reads like a farce as well. However if you're looking for in-depth analysis, you'll probably be disappointed. This is more closer to a 3.5 stars out of 5.

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The picture below is of Nancy. Her boyfriend Nick pointed her in my direction sometime last year.

I really have to temper my enthusiasm for some people because I'm one of those single minded idiots where if one of my "Farenell Girls" called me up at 1a, bored, & wanting to do a shoot, I'd tell them to expect me in 20 minutes. Translation: unlike myself, I TRY (though admittedly, periodically fail) & remember that other people actually have a thing called "a life".

This picture was from our fourth shoot & the makeup done by J.

Comedy of Errors

Recently had an entertaining conversation w/ a prospective model.

She initiates contact w/ me about working together. We discuss ideas & schedule a shoot date. Get into side conversations ranging from how old I am (apparently this matters to some people) to favorite movies to she eventually inviting to make me dinner after our shoot.

It suddenly turns on the question of me asking gas money & suddenly cancels. Apparently, the reasons for canceling were, "if you're going to ask for that, I have to wonder what else you'll want." Uh yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa. I guess she has a point, w/ that , speeding is a gateway crime to Murder 1.

Talk about a 180. LOL

Nevermind neglecting to ask for references. Nevermind she never asking to meet in a public place to see if I'm actually real. Nevermind actually knowing someone before you invite to make dinner for them. Nevermind that her husband was already going to be in attendance (he was going to be participating in the shoot).

I guess the bright spot in all this is that, no shoot means I do not have to muddle through the drudgery of editing.

In fairness, though I may complain about the headaches, I find it cathartic & entertaining to talk about them. In reality for every 1 headache, there are probably 6-7 prospective models that either go through w/ a shoot or decline in a civil manner. Either way, my life will go on.

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In brighter note, this is Lindsay. She is kinda like the complete opposite of the aforementioned bipolar weirdo.

This particular shoot occurred in two parts. The first part was like a comedy of errors constant interruptions, a swarm of insects, wacky weather, a bleeding wound that wouldn't stop bleeding (she said she cut leg shaving & when the band-aid came off, the bleeding recommenced). We got what we could.

The second part (we both randomly found time in our schedules) & got together lickety-split at her place. That one went off w/o a hitch.

Lindsay describes herself as a "shoe fiend." The shot below was created by her picking the outfit, having her sit in the general area where she is, & I randomly tossed the shoes up in the air. Where & how they landed is what you currently see in the below photo.




Enjoy.

Beavertail State Park

My stay in Boston was unusual in the sense that out of like the 60 some odd days I was there, it rained for a ridiculous 50 of them. No really, it was that blah.

I'm still surprised at the amazing amount of outdoorsy content I WAS able to produce.

Above is a picture from the Beavertail State Park in RI . Its like the 3rd oldest continually operated lighthouse in the country.

I got invited to take a trip out there by a model of mine. The original intent was after she was done w/ her shoot, we'd do ours. The photographer claimed it'd "only take an hour" but from my own experiences, I would have been shocked if it went that quickly. Plus this was supposed to be in mid-day. I seriously questioned what the hell they were going for clear blue skys & mid-day doesn't make for great light. However, I kept my questions to myself. If someone's methodology works for them & they get the results THEY were looking for, who am I to tell them they're wrong.

In the meantime, I started poking around taking pictures. 2 hours rolls by & the model in question still isn't done. I don't hold it against either of them because I took all that into account. Continued wandering around & taking pictures. In the midst of all this, I have no problem admitting I was hyper-bracketing, an idea I got from a Bourke-White biography.

I always seem to have a hard time judging what's a keeper picture & what isn't, when people are not the main focus. This one speaks to me though.

Let's Try This Again.

I'm going to try & do this photoblogging thing again.

Those of you who are familiar w/ me, I had an ongoing blog at my Farenell Photography MySpace account . I kinda let it go by the wayside. Though I may be an attention whore, I really felt the process of fishing for comments was to much of a hassle. & it really felt that's ALL I was doing.

My work was never about what other people think. Its always been about me 1. trying out my ideas, 2. in some respects playing w/ ideas from the people I work w/, 3. simply presenting my visual journey that emotionally or creatively mean something to me.

So instead of simply modifying how, when, & why I blogged, I simply went into a self-imposed exile & quit doing it altogether.

I'm still trying to get a feel for the Blogger setup. But in the coming weeks, I'm going to try & give it a go again. Though feedback is always nice, I'm gonna try not & be such a needy dork about them.

Stay tuned.

What I did on my Summer Vacation

So I think I'm "over" the MySpace photoblogging thing. I just felt to much like a comment whore. Getting useful constructive comments were becoming fewer & far between. I'm not knocking it but I'm thinking that it was probably time to move on.

W/ this blogging site, I'm HOPING to narrow the focus on whatever I'm blathering about whereas I used to do to have it being a laundry list of the sets I'd shoot.

I'm not sure how well its going to work about but I'm going to give it a try.

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This here is my super-smart former classmate & good friend Kate. She's currently going to Binghamton & getting her Masters in Art History w/ (I believe, so don't quote me) a concentration on Early Christian art.

This past summer, she graciously invited me to her place in Western NY. I used her place as a base of operations while there squeezing in a few other shoots.

We had a grand ol' time...well, grand ol' by my low-key standards. It was definately refreshing to get out of Glens Falls for awhile. I just feel sometimes that its very confining. Its like, I'm perfectly fine w/ doing nothing but at the same time it makes me go completely stir crazy. I need to be doing SOMETHING whether its taking a walk daily or playing w/ my camera or reading a book outside. I love the area but I'm convinced I'm at that point where I kinda need to leave it again. I'm just trying to figure out how.

Anyways, back to the aforementioned Western NY trip. She & her family are based out in Sodus. The town itself is extremely rural but not quite 1-street & you'll miss it kinda towns...but close to it.

Lots of farm country, specifically lots & lots of apple orchards. I remember seeing a lot of cornfields as well. Course it could have been wheat fields & I would not have known the difference.

Got to see again her sweet, black lab Lilly. It was nice being able to play w/ a big dog again. Callie, the family's own Skiperkie (I probably butchered that spelling), is loveable but you kinda have to watch how rough you play w/ her.

Got to spend some time around Lake Ontario, being hypnotized by the crashing of the waves. That sentientment seems to reoccur in my life for some reasons.

I got a number of images of Kate but this one is in my opinion the keeper.



I missed it the first time during my look-through but Kate liked it during hers. Its kinda grown on me quite a bit.

We also shot in her Dad's church. She, or was it someone else, wanted to do it during a previous session but it never materialized, mainly because I balked. Its one thing to play games & suffer the ramifications involving the State but you do not mess w/ God. Maybe its the Catholic guilt thing but that's just how I am.

Anyway, Kate & I spent a couple hours in the church & presto! Went on our merry way.