Rich Burroughs

I laugh when I see the comments about Yahoo buying Tumblr, saying Yahoo will be forced to get rid of...

Sat, 25 May 2013 17:02:40 -0700

I laugh when I see the comments about Yahoo buying Tumblr, saying Yahoo will be forced to get rid of the porn here. There is a ton of porn on Flickr and there has been for ages. It’s something that the average user may never encounter, but anyone who posts work like art nudes is bound to run into it. There are many porn groups there, some public and some private, and lots of people sharing their own amateur porn. I’ve had model friends tell me about having even very innocent images of theirs invited to fetish groups. Did you know there are people with a fetish for rain boots? I didn’t until Flickr enlightened me.

I think the one thing Yahoo may have to do is enforce filtering more, people labeling their images as 18+ like they do with Flickr. I think that’s the right thing to do anyway. As much as I love good artistic nude work, I think people should have the option of seeing it or not.

My iPhone just tried to autocorrect my name to Rich Burrito. Happiest moment of my life.

Sat, 25 May 2013 10:16:01 -0700

My iPhone just tried to autocorrect my name to Rich Burrito.

Happiest moment of my life.

Rich Loves You

Sat, 25 May 2013 09:40:39 -0700

Rich Loves You:

I try to keep this Tumblr limited mainly to my own images and thoughts. My main Tumblr is the one where I post/reblog other things. If you like my work you may very well like the things I post there too.

Taylor Stillwell / Rich...

Fri, 24 May 2013 18:39:44 -0700

Taylor Stillwell / Rich Burroughs

http://richburroughs.tumblr.com

Justine Marie / Rich Burroughs

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:10:23 -0700

Justine Marie / Rich Burroughs

As a photographer, any tips for modelling? I used to shoots with friends when I was around 16 or so and even as a child it was something I wanted to do. I'm 17 (almost 18) now and pretty sure it's something I would definitely love to do.

Tue, 21 May 2013 17:43:39 -0700

I think in terms of shooting the biggest thing is to be relaxed and comfortable, to have fun. Awkward tends to read really clearly on camera. Practice posing, even by yourself with a mirror or Photobooth, and try to get started shooting. The more you do it the more confident you’ll hopefully get.

Paying a good photographer can be helpful for someone starting out. Make sure they really do good work and that you can afford it though. There are plenty of bad photographers that will gladly take someone’s money. But a good photographer will know how to help you feel relaxed and they’ll make you look good.

There’s a site called newmodels.com that has a lot of good info, although I think it’s more about fashion modeling. I tend to work more with art models than fashion models. Some models do both.

"His work is the work of an artist who is always on the move, searching, he is continually inquiring..."

Tue, 21 May 2013 13:10:59 -0700

“His work is the work of an artist who is always on the move, searching, he is continually inquiring into reality and calling it into question. In Richter’s work the disquiet and insincerity that marks an Alexandrine, late culture, as well as skepticism and doubt, and the artist’s ironically tinged melancholy and moment of subdued happiness, have been turned to creative ends.”

- Section on Gerhard Richter in Taschen’s Art of the 20th Century

In the last few years I’ve photographed over 100 women, and met at least another 200 models and...

Mon, 20 May 2013 19:12:00 -0700

In the last few years I’ve photographed over 100 women, and met at least another 200 models and photographers. You can never please everyone, and even if I got along with 90 percent of those people I met that would still leave another 30 that I didn’t like.

One thing that puzzles me is when people I really like are friends with people I really dislike. It sometimes makes me scratch my head. But every interaction between two people is individual. There are lots of reasons you might not click with someone: styles, values, senses of humor. I know that my experience with someone is my experience with them, and that other people may not share it at all.

That’s one of the main reasons I don’t usually talk shit about the people that I dislike or have bad experiences with. I know that my interactions with them are just one data point, and I wouldn’t want other people to draw conclusions from that.

I’ve had people tell me that I’m arrogant, greedy, and other less nice things. I think the vast majority of people who know me would disagree, but that doesn’t mean the people with negative views are entirely wrong either. People are complex. I have low self esteem but I will also stand up for myself if I feel I’ve been slighted. I don’t normally think much about how to make money off of my work, but it’s become a concern for me in the last year because my photography drove me deep into debt. People can look at things I do or say and interpret them in many ways I wouldn’t agree with. That’s inevitable I suppose.

I told myself that You Can’t Please Everyone is going to be my mantra for this year. It does help me to remember that.

Justine Marie / Rich Burroughs Impossible Project PZ 680 Color...

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:20:00 -0700

Justine Marie / Rich Burroughs

Impossible Project PZ 680 Color Protection film

"What beauty means can never be said. Beauty is an experience and can only be justified by the heart."

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:17:03 -0700

“What beauty means can never be said. Beauty is an experience and can only be justified by the heart.”

- Karl Lagerfeld, foreward to Mario Testino Private View

You spark so much creativity for me Rich, your work is breath taking, simple at times, but sweet and thoughtful in all sorts of ways. Being an aspiring model where I'm located is proving to be difficult, not only to find photographers open enough to play with nudity, but finding folks who simply want to make all sorts of art. So I hope one day i have the gift of working with not only you, but the many talented people around the world.

Mon, 20 May 2013 12:01:16 -0700

Hey thank you :)

If you have any interest in photography, consider doing self portraits. Some of my favorite models do them, even ones that also work with photographers. It can give someone the chance to build up some images that show them off well, and sometimes self shot images feel a lot more intimate than the ones done with a photographer.

Not everyone who wants to model wants to be a photographer of course. I wouldn’t suggest it if you’re not really into the idea. But if photography does interest you it could be fun. Also models that are good photographers end up having access to other models to shoot a bit easier than the average newbie photographer. They end up meeting other models and the fact that they’re women (assuming you are) is less threatening for some models.

A few months ago I participated in a project called 600 On A...

Sun, 19 May 2013 11:32:07 -0700

A few months ago I participated in a project called 600 On A 600. The idea was that people passed around Polaroids 600 cameras in the mail and each person shot one pack of film with the camera. Everyone sent in all of the images from that pack.

I was hoping to shoot with a model but the person I had lined up had to cancel. It was going to be a week before I could line up another shoot and I didn’t want to hold onto the camera that long when other people were waiting for it, so I decided to take some pictures in my neighborhood instead. I actually used to walk around in NE Portland and shoot Polaroids pretty often, back before I started working with models.

The results weren’t ideal. The light was pretty crap the day I could shoot, and I’m not used to showing people all of the images I shoot. There are some of them that wouldn’t have seen the light of day if that wasn’t the nature of the project. But I liked a few of the shots and it was fun to do.

If you’d like to see all 8 shots I took, head over to the Snap It See It blog. I shot the images on The Impossible Project’s PX 680 Color Protection film.

Radeo / Rich Burroughs This girl is so crazy photogenic, I got...

Sun, 19 May 2013 08:43:11 -0700

Radeo / Rich Burroughs

This girl is so crazy photogenic, I got so many images I love in this shoot. She wore this outfit on the way over and wasn’t planning to use it as wardrobe, but I thought she looked adorable and wanted to shoot it.

I LOVE ALL YOUR POLAROID SHOTS! :) I got inspired to use my instax camera to shoot :) I have a polaroid camera but I have to convince myself to buy the films since they are very expensive. You are an inspiration! More power :)

Sat, 18 May 2013 18:17:12 -0700

Oh awesome :) I’m always glad to hear that my work inspires people. I get a lot of inspiration from the work of other photographers and artists.

The Impossible film is spendy, there’s no denying it. It’s almost $3 an exposure which is very expensive. I love the look of it though. The Instax film is actually really nice, I’ve shot some things I really like with it. But I hate their cameras. I don’t like shooting with flash and that’s really what they’re made to do.

Another option that’s cheaper film wise is the Fuji pack film, the peel apart kind. It’s the equivalent to the Polaroid Type 100 films, and the folding Land Cameras use it. I do sometimes shoot the color film, the FP100-C. It’s closer to $1 an exposure.

If you like the look of direct flash, though, the Instax stuff isn’t a bad way to go. I just really prefer softer light for my work.

I just bought over $500 of Impossible Project film through their web site. It was thirty packs,...

Fri, 17 May 2013 11:56:45 -0700

I just bought over $500 of Impossible Project film through their web site. It was thirty packs, which seems like a lot, but I go through 4-6 packs a shoot. It’s not cheap but I think it’s very worth it.

Anyone who’s seen my recent work will probably agree that the new Impossible color films are lovely. The newest versions have the words Color Protection in the name, because they have an improved UV layer that protects the film while it develops. If you’ve tried older generations of their color films and had bad results I think it would be worth giving it another shot. It really is a huge breakthrough for them, the new films are much more reliable.

I find I get the best results with their films when I don’t shoot them in glaring bright light. I haven’t tested this scientifically, but I’ve shot a lot of their film in various conditions and it seems to me that the stronger color tones tend to happen when there’s less light. The film tends to look more “real” when things are more brightly lit. When I shoot it indoors I often use a tripod, because I can’t control the shutter speed with the cameras I use or even know what speed the camera has picked. I get some blurry images sometimes when I handhold the camera, so I will often just use the tripod indoors whether I’m sure I need it or not.

In the interest of full disclosure I should mention that while I’m not officially “sponsored” by Impossible they do give me occasional freebies, like a pack of film if they use one of my images in their newsletter, things like that. But it’s a small amount of film I’ve received from them (maybe ten packs total), while I’ve spent thousands of dollars on their films. I really do love them and recommend them strongly.

People ask me sometime why I’m not sponsored by Impossible and there are a couple of reasons I haven’t pursued it. The first is that I think the Impossible folks are doing important work and I want to support it financially. Just as I’d want to pay for a band’s record if I really liked their music, I want to pay for this film that I love. It’s in my best interest that they stay in business since their film is so important to my work, so in addition to paying for it I tell other people about it a lot. And second, I prefer to not feel like I owe people too much when it comes to my art. I like to have the freedom to do what I want with my work.

I may actually work with Impossible on some specific project down the road but at this point I’m good with being a happy customer, and hopefully an example of some of the cool stuff that can be done with their films.

Roarie / Rich Burroughs

Wed, 15 May 2013 20:22:12 -0700

Roarie / Rich Burroughs

One of the challenges of working with models is that the best ones are in demand and you have to...

Wed, 15 May 2013 18:47:37 -0700

One of the challenges of working with models is that the best ones are in demand and you have to give them some reason to want to shoot with you. That may be money, or they might like your work enough to want to make some art together. Or it may be that you can get the images published, or you have some cool wardrobe they can keep, or you can give them a place to stay for a few days while they’re in town. But there has to be something in it for them to justify spending their time on a shoot. And sometimes even money’s not enough, someone who’s in a lot of demand may have more offers for paid shoots than they have time.

The quality of the images depends greatly on the talent and experience of the model. You get better images by working with better models, and that requires giving them that reason to shoot with you. It’s kind of like working yourself up the food chain, or like an upward spiral. As you produce stronger work you have more opportunities to work with strong models.

I was pretty fortunate that I’d already been doing photography for years before I ever worked with models. Even early on I had some great models trade with me, because they liked my other work like my landscapes and they had enough vision to imagine the kind of images we might make together. I’m more fortunate now that I have a few years experience working with models. I think my work has improved, and I’ve gotten my name out there some. I’m able to shoot with a lot of the women that I could realistically expect to, aside from people like Lara Stone that I can still only dream of photographing.

So if you know Lara Stone, please show her my work and tell her how awesome I am. That’s where I’ve been going with this post.

Roarie Yum / Rich Burroughs Impossible Project PZ 680 CP film

Tue, 14 May 2013 21:11:01 -0700

Roarie Yum / Rich Burroughs

Impossible Project PZ 680 CP film

Radeo / Rich Burroughs One of my most productive shoots....

Fri, 10 May 2013 14:29:00 -0700

Radeo / Rich Burroughs

One of my most productive shoots. She’s stunning. Impossible Project PZ 680 Color Protection film.

life: Happy birthday, Edwin Land. Here, an appreciation of his...

Wed, 08 May 2013 20:06:34 -0700

life:

Happy birthday, Edwin Land.

Here, an appreciation of his genius and of his crowning achievement: the beautiful, compact universe embodied in the Polaroid SX-70 instant camera.

(Photo: Co Rentmeester—Time & Life Pictures/Getty Images)

I often talk to people about Dr. Land who have never heard of him. I think he was one of the real genius inventors in American history, and he doesn’t really get his due. I use an SX-70 sometimes, and the sonar auto focusing system from the 1970s still blows me away.