Dave Levingston

Long time friend of this blog, and figure photography stalwart, Dave Levingston wrote in to let us know he's relocated his blog to a new domain.

He's also got his annual calendar sale on right now, this year he's got no less that three different ones. The link to his online store is right at the top of his blog. Check it out!

Dave Levingston

Dave Rudin

Long time friend of this blog, Dave Rudin recently migrated his blog "Figures of Grace" over to the Wordpress platform. So for those of you looking to follow his ongoing adventures, update your bookmarks!

Figures of Grace | The weblog of fine art photographer Dave Rudin

Bill Ballard

Figure photographer and long time Art Nudes reader Bill Ballard has abandoned his old blog and started up a new one at Wordpress.

Check it out and update your book marks.

Bill Ballard Photography | A Weblog of Fine Art Photography

New Look

Regular readers will notice a slight design change. To report any glitches please contact me. If you'd like to critique the design, please go here.

Cheers,

Michael B

THE RAW FILES

Photo by Mac Swift

I recently had the chance to chat with Mac Swift & Rob of the RAW Files while they were visiting my neck of the woods and looking for locations. It's not often I get to actually speak with Art Nudes readers, so this seemed like to perfect occasion to post a link to their excellent and informative blog.

THE RAW FILES

Guerrilla Glamour

I'm excited to announce that one of the photography bloggers I admire most, Jimmy D. of Pretty Girl Shooter has published his first e-book, entitled Guerrilla Glamour

For those of you that don't know him, Jimmy's a long time professional glamour photographer who's forgotten more about photography than most of us will ever know.

In his book he shares 101 pages of lighting set ups, information of finding and interacting with models, post production, and gear selection, all described in his own inimitable style. Specifically it is focused on making great pictures without overly complicating your shoots or bankrupting yourself with expensive gear.

For $9.95, it's a terrific deal, and whether you're a glamour or fine art shooter, you will certainly pick up some valuable information from this book.

By way of full disclosure, if you buy his book using the links I've provided, Art Nudes gets a little piece of the profit. However, I swear to you, I would have posted the same enthusiastic review even if Jimmy hadn't gracefully offered to share the proceeds. So, buy his book, increase your knowledge and support two fine photographic blogs!

Guerrilla Glamour

Camera Obscura

Camera Obscura is an excellent and informative blog of photographic criticism, discussion and exposition. What makes this one different is that blog owner, Italian photographer Fabiano Busdraghi invites other photographers to contribute their own essays on any photographic subject accompanying by representative work. Well worth a look for the photographic intelligentsia amongst you.

Camera Obscura - A blog dedicated to photography and contemporary art

Carrie Leigh's NUDE Magazine

OK, the truth can now be told...

Not only am I a fan of Carrie Leigh's Nude magazine for the good work they do promoting fine art nude photographers in the print world, I'm also proud to announce that they recently interviewed me for their Winter 2010 issue. The article is entitled "The Power Bloggers" and features interviews with myself and three others. I'm also very pleased that they will be including one or two of my photographs with the article.

The issue hits the news stands February 15th, but you can pre-order from their website now and save a good percentage off the shelf price.

Carrie Leigh's NUDE Magazine

Spain Special

Last week I mentioned my recent trip to Barcelona and asked for your suggestions for Spanish (and/or Catalan) photographers. Readers, Phillipe at photofloue.net and Chris Triance-Martin answered the call with some great links, so today we have our first nation specific "theme" day of posting here at Art Nudes.

Welcome to our Special Spain Saturday!

Bill Ballard

Photographer and long time friend of this blog, Bill Ballard wrote in this week to let me know about his own blog where he posts not only his new images, but his thoughts on photography and art making in general. So if you like a bit more substance than the terse one or two line descriptions I normally dole out, be sure and check out Bill's blog.

Bill Ballard Fine Art Photography Blog

Blog Note:

Hi Folks: I'm sorry to report that I had to remove the "Follow This Blog" widget due to abuse by one very sick person. To date, I've blocked 43 different blogger identities this person was using to flood my Followers box. All of these profile contained the same links of a highly unsavory and creepy nature. So, after more than a month of battling this I've decided I simply need to take the opportunity away from him. I apologize to the hundreds of legitimate users of that widget. I did what I could, but I can not tolerate being even remotely associated with the type of content this person was posting.

Interview With an Artist

In addition to being a talented photographer (see post below), Timothy Morehead has a website entitled Interview With an Artist which features interviews (obviously) with some real luminaries in the photography world. For instance, his most recent post is a lengthy interview with Jock Sturges.

The interviews are substantive and in depth, well worth the read.

Interview With an Artist

Forum Back up?

Hi all

The Art Nudes Forum appears to be back up. It was working for me this morning at least. Your mileage may vary. Please give it a try.

I've now learned the main forum host PHPBB fell victim to a hacker and was experiencing system wide problems.

Read the articles below for additional info:

Area51 @ phpBB.com • View topic - Downtime and Server Compromise

PHPBB Hacked

Introducing the Art Nudes Forum

Forum is up, running and starting to get some activity happening thanks to a few early adapters. Head on over there and sign up, or you'll miss out on the fun.

Please report any other difficulties to me via email, or in the comments below.

Thanks! MB


Hey, big news today. As part of my ongoing effort to improve this blog (and keep myself entertained) I'm pleased to introduce the official Art Nudes Forum. The link is at the top of the blog in the left hand column.

It's my hope that this new feature will make this blog less a soapbox and more a community. I invite all of you to join up. Signing up is free and easy to do. You'll be able to submit your work for critique, critique others, post your favourite images, ask questions, share knowledge and generally have fun.

Right now the forum is in it's infancy, but I'm wide open to suggestions for new topics and features. I'm also looking for forum moderators, so if anyone's interested, please let me know.

artnudes.mybb3.org

Fluffytek Art Blog: The Golden Fluffies 2008

Lin and Richard of the Fluffytek Art Blog have once again announced their annual Golden Fluffies Award to the best sites in the fine art nude blogosphere.

I'm extremely pleased to announce that they have awarded Art Nudes the Photographic Blog Special Achievement Award Thank you! Although I think they maybe being overly generous with their praise, I am nonetheless very flattered.

I'm in some very fine company, as Lin and Richard have scanned the web relentlessly and really keep their fingers on the pulse of the photo blog community.

I encourage you all to visit their site to see the full post with all winners.

Fluffytek Art Blog: The Golden Fluffies 2008

Changes for 2009

Regular readers will notice several changes to the look and functionality of Art Nudes. After more that 5 years in the "classic" blogger mode, which required lots of ponderous html coding to modify the look of the site, I've upgraded to the new blogger template system.

While I'm still playing around a bit, and more changes are likely, some of the most important changes are as follows:

1) Click on the post title to go to that post's individual URL, complete with linking, commenting and emailing capability.

2) RSS feeds seem to be more popular with folks than I thought, so I've put the site feed subscription button right at the top.

3) Condensed site archive with post titles for easier browsing into the distant past.

4) Labels directory so you can see all posts sorted by type, for instance "male nudes" or "reader profile"

5) Also added "Followers" gadget so fellow Bloggers can subscribe and automatically have a link to their blogger profile and blog added.

Feel free to let me know what you think, and report any bugs via the comments.

Added a new FeedBurner RSS feed. If you're one of the people that likes this sort of this, here's your chance!

 Subscribe in a reader

Art Nudes 2009 Calendar - Lulu.com

IMPORTANT UPDATE: When you go to purchase a calendar and you get to the last screen, it's important to select the correct "shipping option". The default "Standard" shipping price is ridiculously high, but if you select Ground shipping, the price goes way down.

Update #2: Apparently shipment beyond North America is unreasonably expensive due to a recent change at Lulu. They are looking into other options, but in the meantime if any readers outside of North America really want a calendar, please contact me directly at the email link to the left and I'll make arrangements.


Dear readers, I am very happy to announce the very first real world publication from the Art Nudes blog. The Art Nudes 2009 Calendar!

Check out the Preview Gallery to see what you'll get with the black background version.

If you appreciate the strictly non-commercial, no advertising, no porn policy of this blog, and you've enjoyed the work I've been doing here for the past 6 years, please show your support by buying a calendar.

The calendar is available in 2 different formats. The premium 13.5 x 19 inch "poster" version on high quality glossy paper, or the wire bound 11 x 17 inch (when opened) version. Each format is also available with either white or black backgrounds behind the images.

Featuring 19 fine art nude photographs by an international collection of some of the top artists featured on this blog, this calendar would make a great gift to yourself or to any art lover in your life.

The artwork of the following artists are featured:

Dave Aharonian
Jean Jacques Andre
Michael Barnes (that would be me)
John Casado
Stephen Haynes
Eric Kellerman
Steve Richard
Ron Skei
Mitsuo Suzuki
Chris triance-martin
Janez Vlachy

Huge thanks to all of these artists for donating their images to this project. It is deeply appreciated.

How To Photograph Naked Women

Former Penthouse staff photographer Jay Allan wrote in to tell me that he's launched a brand new site where he'll be sharing some techniques, hosting galleries and running a forum. It's pretty thin on content just now, but if this takes off it could turn into an interesting site.

He's also looking for guest artists, so this could be a good opportunity for some of you.

How To Photograph Naked Women

Exposed For The Shadows

Dave Levingston, a long time reader of this blog has just completed a road trip around the western US with figure model Brooke Lynne. (Nice summer vacation Dave!) He's documented their adventures in words and pictures on his own blog for the rest of us to enjoy vicariously.

Exposed For The Shadows