These photographs shot on large format film are unabashedly male fantasies I feel some women would like to be part of.
I draw my inspiration from popular culture, formed by film, TV, magazines and the internet. These desires and resulting mental images are often unrealistic and unattainable, yet persuasive and universal. Some aspects are sacred to me – such as the physical proportions of a model –, while others – such as colors of clothes – are wide-open to change and experimentation. The goal is to create an inviting fantasy which just might be real if you believe in it enough.
I shoot modern pinups with a classic large format film camera employing a similarly hybrid approach: I develop the film by hand myself, and edit the super high resolution scanned photos digitally.
My camera of choice is a Gowlandflex, a rare 4x5" Large Format Twin Lens Reflex (TLR) camera the size of a large toaster. She's a big girl and quite temperamental, but if I treat her right the results make it all worth it. The lens I use is a legendary Heliar lens from 1929, an f/4.5 lens at 180mm focal length.
