WirtzWorld Loc: SE WI

I shot a lot of photos with Amoreena at this cemetery that I am in love with, even though my eternity will be spent as ashes. This is an old catholic cemetery in Milwaukee that I've been photographing for 35 years or maybe longer. It is simply a living (??) work of art. Please do not inform me of my desecration or how I'm on my own personal path to hell. I don't want to hear it. At the risk of redundancy, we destroyed nothing, used nothing up and left everything as we found it. If I believed in the afterlife or the spirit world or ghosts, I might tell you that the dead were greatly thrilled and amused to see a still living angel walking among them.

Now to the photo:

This location is a sort of a catacomb at the base of a large hill that supports a 140 year old chapel (that I've photographed inside, but not nudes. If you are interested in seeing those, maybe I'll post some on a different section of UHH, if there is enough interest). For some reason, this gate has never been locked, so I guess it's okay to go inside. Above this space and on the slope of the hill is a skylight, to make seeing inside the space possible. It was once paned with leaded glass but now sports plexiglass (thanks to drunken middle-school vandals, I suppose). Anyway, I put one of my remote speedlights on the skylight with a small cell grid so it would cast a beam downward. This is the ray of light illuminating Amoreena. I shot several versions, but this one with her upward gaze is my personal favorite. Sort of a reverie, if you will.

If you have any comments or questions about how I made this photo or any technical aspects of it, please ask me. Any other conversation is also welcome, but no preaching, please.

MontanaTrace

No shirt, no shoes, no service?

PAR4DCR Loc: A Sunny Place

Your light technique worked great John.

Don

mjc925 Loc: SF Bay Area

Very cool shot. Love the model and the pose of her looking up and the light on her face and the reflection in the polished stone. The steel gate is a great addition. Few nitpicks on some minor things I would try, which means nothing as your vision and mine are two separate things and the vision/vibe of this photo is already very good. I played around with the image (won't repost it as it isn't my image). I cropped the right to cut off the column, it is so bright it just pulls my eye away from where it should be (just the column, not the white wall). I did a little perspective control to make the gate slats straight. I did a slight vignette centered around her torso and face to give more an illusion she is gazing into a light and then further lightened just a touch her face and torso. Is there any more image at the top, I wish that tiny piece of cross beam on the top left wasn't cut off a tiny bit. Finally I cloned out just the bright deadbolt and screws part of the doorknob as it was a bright point that again pulled my eyes away from her face. Wish she had been wearing white bottoms, she is gazing up after all, and the black is so dark it reminds me of a "censor" bar across her "privates" but not much can be done about that at this point. I know that sounds like a lot of minor criticism, but I only did it cause I liked the overall image so much I wanted to play around with it and I don't claim my adjustments are any sort of "enhancement".

dpullum Loc: Tampa Florida

Good setting i have often thought about shooting at an auto graveyard [junk yard] dead cars are part of our society that have shapes color and rout to death... theirs and the drivers.

With my hands I cropped my vision of the photo at the edge of the left gate and include the right gate, but no masonary. I would also bring up the bottom some. She and the gate to me are the message components.

Appears that mjc925 and I are Croppaholics... WirtzWorld, You have given us a good canvas to continue painting in our own way.

sb Loc: Florida's East Coast

I really like the lighting in this photo. What desecration? You are very vividly showing the contrast of life in its fullest form (so to speak) - God's greatest creation if you wish - and whatever eternity awaits us! Well done.

jaymatt Loc: Alexandria, Indiana

That’s a nice one, John!

Toby

Excellent

Fotoartist Loc: Detroit, Michigan

The lighting is special.

Rab-Eye Loc: Indiana

Especially good!

KindaSpikey Loc: English living in San Diego

Love it!

AndyBob Loc: St. Louis

It would be nice to see what your vision of the scene is. Any chance of posting?

azted Loc: Las Vegas, NV.

We all have ways that we may crop this, and in our minds we would improve it, but we did not set this up, and stimulate the model to such a pose. This is a special image, and Wirtz deserves extra kudos for his creation.

Jwshelton Loc: Denver,CO

Love the shot - location, pose, lighting,.
Yes to sharing the other shots!

smf85 Loc: Freeport, IL

Beautiful image, excellent lighting and exposure.