Alexey Brodovitch, then the Art Director of Harper’s Bazaar said to the young photographer in front of him; “Astonish Me!” Richard Avedon went on to become one of the most celebrated photographers in the world.

“Astonish Me!” Probably some of the best advice ever given…

Have you been ‘Astonished’ recently? Me neither. I watch some damn fine photographers and all I see is more of the same. Beautifully lit? Check! Cute pose? Check! Wonderful post-processing? Check! All the right boxes ticked? Sure.

Astonished? Er, no quite frankly.

Since I’ve been posting here again I’ve been watching also. I’ve been knocked sideways by the crochet skill of *ip2much. Astonished? Yep. I’ve seen some wonderful traditional media work. Astonished? Nearly. I watch some great photographers. Astonished? No.

Have I been astonishing? Definitely not… I am hoping that I have an excuse for a while though with all my ‘test shoots’. Bear with me please.

I used to get hung on about page views… Remember? A 100, 500, a thousand, ten thousand, a hundred thousand. Journal every landmark number to tell you how good I am. Actually, I don’t care anymore. During my hiatus I learnt not to care… It really doesn’t matter. (Thank you Hollie!) Most of my watchers are male and most of them are watching the models. Few could care less how I lit or composed the images, hence I removed the recent photo of Floz, legs akimbo.

To be completely honest, the best compliment I had on that photo was the comment that called it disgusting. At least I provoked a genuine emotion by posing her the way I did, dressed as she was.

I am holding ‘test’ shoots rather than proper artistic shoots for a reason; I have ‘glamour’ plans and I have ‘neolestat’ plans and I need to find the right models for each; while both plans are commercial they are as different as chalk and cheese. I am using the time to practice with the models and practice with the lighting.

If you have to ‘dodge’ every background and throw a wealth of PS filters at an image to make it work are you a photographer or a graphic artist? I am a photographer, I want to hold true to my oft spoken values of ‘remove spots, hairy moles and skin blemishes but leave the image in the main untouched. A little sprinkle of curves to give the image punch and a little sharpening because RAW images tend to be soft pre post-processing.’ Job done.

Rather than spend hours in front of a screen post-processing I want to be shooting. Rather than getting hung up on page views telling you how good I am I want you to tell me how good I am without provocation. While I am being frankly ‘un-astonishing’ I am happy for the models I work with to take center stage and bask in the limelight. I hope my honesty prevails here.

I ‘am’ going to astonish you though… I am polishing my ego and honing my skills at the moment to do just that. No more fucking about. I’m going to get ‘Robbie Williams’ on yo’ asses. He is who he is because he had the balls to tell the world he was great and then proved it. dA, MySpace, Flickr are not the places to prove it though. I am not another ‘internet’ photographer with no ambition I am a professional photographer with ambition. When the fridge door opens and the light comes on I want to bask in it’s light, I like looking at good photography and I want to get to a stage where I can’t stop looking through my own albums. Let me entertain you!

But I can’t do it through dA and I can’t do it through MySpace. I need to take center stage and do so without censorship or control. I need a platform of my own to perform on and you, my pretties, will have to follow me there.

So; I have no idea apart from my regulars who reads this shizzle. Stand up and be counted… Rather than the lacklustre response I usually get to my requests stand up and be counted… Let me know if you’d follow me to a site where a difference can be made, let me know if you want to be astonished or whether the one or two photos here are enough for you. Would you take the time to move a few tabs to the right and come see a site where only I am the entertainer? Do you follow a band from the beginning or jump on the wagon when they chart? Are you Turkish, only here for the porn and don't understand a fucking word I’ve said? Tell me you love me!

If you are a photographer or a model these are relevant to YOU. I would like to think as many people have seen these as possible. Please go to the news article if you haven’t already and add them to your page as a news fave using the heart icon below my avatar, top left of the page.

It will take less than a minute of your time to fave these yet could save models and togs a whole bunch of heartache and help weed out the sharks from the ethical. What’s to lose? I am only helping to promote safe, best practise photography to all.

London or South East based web designer fluent in PHP, CSS and Flash for a couple of new projects. You must be able to show live websites as examples and be willing to experiment. Experience in shopping carts would be advantageous as would experience in designing photo galleries. If you follow my work you can imagine that my vision for these sites is a bit off kilter so a flair for design would be great, commercial experience is not as important as enthusiasm and expertise. Payment is offered and negotiable. If interested please do not note me here on dA but send an email through the direct link at the bottom of this page or through my current website. As this could well be a fantastic commercial venture for us both please treat this as a professional application.

Neolestat.com News

Major update on the way but I need a Web Designer. See advert above…

Adult Content, Be Warned!

If you want to see the deleted Wakamezake shots they are now all on my website in their own gallery: Wakamezake

A few more photo’s of My New Puppy: Shakira

Prints

Have you looked at my print account recently? Without obligation I urge you to please and to buy those prints that take your fancy. Without an income I am beginning to struggle to keep buying props and financing the shoots that keep you all amused. Like the busker handing round a cap I need your pennies to keep going. Are you going to walk away sheepishly having enjoyed the show but not enough to pay or are you going to dip into your pockets and make an entertainer happy?

More Me

neolestat.com
One Model Place
IMDb Resume
direct email

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The grey bar above is for monitor calibration of brightness and contrast. If set right you should see a slight shade difference between every letter A-Z… If you can’t. try and adjust so you can, you’ll be amazed at the difference it makes to the work on dA