Jessica, Rural Illinois 1995

Jessica was a good friend of mine back in Chicago in the mid '90s. She wasn't part of the fetish scene but was always happy to model for me. Someone let us have access to their farm for a shoot so I brought Jessica along. I remember one of the first ideas I had was to capture Jessica mid-air on a country road. I tried it one time but didn't feel confident that I got what I was looking for. When someone jumps in the air like that, it lasts for only a half second at most, and capturing that split second with my camera seemed impossible, especially using natural light. So I gave up and moved onto other shots. It wasn't until I got the proofsheet back that I realized that I had actually gotten what I had hoped for. And the truly amazing thing is how relaxed and natural Jessica looks floating in mid-air in that 1/1000th of a second that the camera exposed the film. It was a truly random moment that worked on a technical and aesthetic level.

Detail of Jessica

Monte Hellman, Los Angeles 1998

A portrait I did of cult film director Monte Hellman taken at his home in the Hollywood hills in 1998. George Hickenlooper, my childhood friend and ace film director, introduced us while he was making Monte Hellman: American Auteur, a short documentary on the director. Hellman's cult classic Two-Lane Blacktop (Criterion) remains one of my favorite films of all time.

Limited Offer - Little Editions

[Subscribers to my mailing list had first opportunity to purchase these unique prints this past weekend. The sets are about 3/5 gone now. If you feel left out and would like to join my mailing list to receive exclusive offers and information, go to www.stevedietgoedde.com and enter your email towards the bottom of the front page.]

Now available:
Steve Diet Goedde Little Editions
Compact 4x4-inch limited edition prints. Perfect as gifts or additions to your personal art collection. Limited to 30 prints each. Each print is signed and numbered on the back. Only $30 each. Price includes standard shipping to US addresses. Non-US destinations may have to pay slightly more depending on location.

The prints:
Archival Ultrachromium ink prints. 260 gsm weight for durability. Acid free base. 100% cotton rag for archivability. Highest D-Max of all cotton papers.

Purchasing:
Like my previous limited edition print sales, email me your interest at stevedg@gmail.com. Once I have payment, print(s) will be reserved and shipped to you. These editions are selling well so order soon. First come, first served.
More information at www.stevedietgoedde.com/littleeditions.htm (WARNING: contains nudity)

ERIC KROLL: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S LIFE DVD

There's a new documentary about my good friend and mentor Eric Kroll. This film has a fly-on-the-wall perspective from which we see how Eric creates his imagery both psychologically and artistically . It's interesting to view the interaction with him and his models and how he gets 'those moments', something I wish I had the gift of doing in my own photography. At first the viewer may be put-off by the amateur quality of the videography but it's quite effective and you forget about it once you get sucked into his creative mindspace. Definitely a must-see for anyone appreciative of erotic photography and how one artist captures his vision without any compromise.

Available HERE

Also, see life through Eric's eyes as he documents his life on his OFFICIAL BLOG.

"ERIC KROLL: A PHOTOGRAPHER'S LIFE
A Documentary Feature Film by Elia Katz
This DVD features photo shoots and intellectual insight in to the mind of Eric, including many beautiful women in various stages of dress/undress and unusual/absurd situations. Elia Katz films this DVD in a very RAW way. The way that this DVD is filmed fits Eric to a T!!"

Tres, Los Angeles 2008

Tres and I found a cool previously unknown area around my neighborhood and took a couple nice photos. The light was ideal for my black and white style so I took full advantage of it.

Shot on 120mm film with my good ol' Mamiya 645

Wiki Trouble

Are there any Wikipedia contributors/editors out there? I used to have an entry but it was deleted back in June. Several other colleagues had their profiles removed as well, namely Charles Gatewood and Christophe Mourthé among others.

The page for my entry is still there at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Steve_Diet_Goedde

The deletion log says:
06:02, 10 June 2008 ESkog (Talk | contribs) deleted "Steve Diet Goedde" ‎
(G12: Blatant copyright infringement: no revisions had anything that wasn't ripped from the linked page)

I'm not sure what kind of copyright infringement was involved. I don't even understand that last sentence in the above quote. I had approved two of my images for use in the article and followed all their usage rules. That had been done a few years prior to the removal. So I have no idea what happened. So if anyone is interested in restoring my page, please let me know and I'll be happy to provide any biographical information.

Aradia, Tucson 2008 (Holga)

In my quest to bring my photography back to its most basic form and avoiding as much modern digital technology as possible, I decided to start experimenting with a Holga camera. Film, simplistic camera, random composition and exposure. Of course I still have to use digital technology to scan the negs and then save the image via Photoshop™. No manipulation was used here. Even the toning was the result of the RGB scanning in automatic mode.

I had shot Aradia at Eric Kroll's house in Tucson over the summer, and this was my first chance to experiment with my new Holga. When we left, I accidentally left the camera (with the film in it) outside in the sun, and it wasn't rescued until Eric came back to the location about a month later. I thought for sure the film had been baked since the average temperature in Tucson during the summer is around 110 degrees! So I finally had the film processed to see if there was anything remotely salvageable. To my surprise, all the exposures were fine, and there were absolutely no light leaks which is odd since Holgas are known for that.