Once again I'm pleased that I'm able to "recover" some of these shots due to some bad lighting in the beginning of the shoot, but the ultimate goal is fewer mistakes of course. I like that I was able to bring half of this shot out of darkness, but I'm still not completely pleased with the tones. Maybe it looks better in black & white?
But I have no such problems with these other two:
I have just finished reading "Just Kids" by Patti Smith, which is about her life with Robert Mapplethorpe, and it's heartbreaking because you know how it ends, with his early death ( like Patrick Nagel, who I've talked about before, in his early 40s. ), but also very touching in how their lives stayed entwined through so many changes, and it's also very much about living life as an artist. I found it equally inspiring and frustrating, because while they certainly had their struggles, it also appeared that they were often in the right place at the right time, people seemed to just give them things or opportunities, and this sort of thing still eludes me. Or just to find people who "understand" what I'm doing with my art, even if I'm still trying to figure it out myself.
A lot of it has to do with personality of course; it was clear from her story that Mapplethorpe charmed more than he frightened, despite his often controversial subject matter, and it didn't hurt that his main patron was also his longtime companion. Do patrons even exist anymore? Can I get one please? Or I just have to get a personality transplant. I feel that I have improved somewhat, but I think some people still make wrong assumptions about me without ever really knowing me, and I've made forays out into the art "world," but a lot of it seems more like a performance than real life. Some people's lives are their art, and that's okay I guess, but I can't compete with that.
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