At least twice now I have done photo shoots with some Native American influence to them and each time it has been at the request of the client or a collaboration with the model for their portfolio.

Yesterday, I did my first photoshoot of the spring with the lovely model: Sammie Jay

She did a great job and is always easy to work with. When I got to my studio I decided to upload the pictures and work on a few to surprise. When I had them done, I posted them on my various social networking profiles and portfolios. Almost immediately I started receiving emails about how I was exploiting Native American women. This happened a few years ago too as someone else I knew felt that way about one of my images.

Now I am not out to offend anyone, but at some point you have to draw the line and keep your artistic integrity. The images I did today were beauty and swimwear portraits. Pretty simple and straight forward with  little editing for flair.

I don’t really see how people would be offended by these images, but I would love to hear some feedback from some of my fans and followers. It might help me come up with more interesting images in the future and I will know just what kind of stirring my images are causing.

I am not complaining. I am more curious and looking to learn from this situation. I want to create images that are thought provoking and engaging. I was not expecting the shots I did today to have any effect like that. In anycase, I hope you enjoy and I look forward to your feedback.

You see, New York is a big town, as many of you know. I was there to visit friends and do several photoshoots. So a lot of travel was involved. Driving a car around the big city just did not seem like a good idea. So I got my metro pass for the two weeks I was there and after getting my new boots I set out of my journey. I got to see the Empire State Building, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and many of the arts districts.

I also have an injured knee, so I need something that is not going to complicate things. These boots give a great grip and firm hold.

Here it is just over a year later and my boots have finally given out. They literally broke in two after their faithful service. They have served me well in my travels, projects and adventures.I even escaped having my brains and boots stolen from a Zombie that had gotten loose from the Walking Dead promotion in town and when you are running from Zombies, you need a good pair of boots. If I had to do it again the one difference I may have done was purchase a pair of the steel toe boots, so I would have had a better defense against said zombies.

Since being in Oklahoma again, I have not been able to find the same boots. So for now I have a sub standard replacement in my boot collection along with some other decent shoes but perhaps I will talk about them in a different post as this one is dedicated to the memory of my faithful companions. Thank you N.Y. Lug Co for providing an excellent product.

If you are looking for a good brand check them out.

http://www.lugz.com/

Are you someone that is interested in attending or being a part of such a workshop? I need models for these as well as students. So let me know your interest and as things start coming together I can let you all know so we can start making things happen.

The first workshops will be NON-NUDE, but I will be teaching some concepts regarding painting for photography,events and other concerns that may be 18+. Any workshops that I do that are 18+ models will be wearing bottoms and pasties.

Looking at April 14th or 15th around 3pm. Talking with Venue now to see which day is best.

• The cost for the workshop will be $50. (Part of which will go to secure the venue and other costs)
• If you are a student, you will be asked to tip the models you are working with.
• If you have your own model, you may bring them with prior advance notice.
• All models give consent to students to take photos for their portfolio for shared use. Model Release may be provided.

As always, I appreciate everyone’s support and I hope the years to come will be fruitful, creative and wonderfully productive to the arts in Oklahoma. Body Painting is a great way to get your work out their whether you are an artist, a photographer or a model.

Now I ask you, what is the next step and who is interested?

Here are instructions on supplies you will need to get for the class, order now because it may take a week to get them, unless you choose priority:

1. Go to Sillyfarm.com
2. Go to bodypainting section, then Bodypainting
3. Then Click Paradise Makeup
4. Then Palettes or you can just click this link

Now you will order the Basic Palette or the Build your own Palette.
( You will need the primary colors plus Black and White )

You can also order brushes and other supplies if you do not already have them.

Let them know you were refered by Bryan Crump either on your order form or via phone order. I always like to place or confirm my orders via phone so I talk to a real person.

They also have a live chat should you have any questions.

So far i have things going back as far as 2006 or so I believe, maybe longer and I will be uploading old journal entries, notes and sketches as I find them as well. So when you visit my website, don’t just look at now and the future. There is a world of the past to discover as well. Enjoy and have fun.

From now until the end of November, Early December, I will be doing a series of projects turning people into birds with my makeup and bodypainting. I need volunteers from the Oklahoma City and surrounding areas.

If you would like to be considered and are available and interested please let me know. I am looking to work with hair stylists and costumers as well on this project. So please let me know if you would like to participate.

*** I need people both young and old. I will be working with wardrobe and costumes, so the more conservative people can work with me on this project.

• All models must be willing to sign model releases and have at least two forms of ID.
• If you are younger than 18 you must be accompanied by parent or gaurdian and have them sign your model release

I have a few of my favorite hair salons around town, so I want to leave this open to working with several people so I don’t brew any bad blood.

Anyone that helps will receive credit and for any of the good but unused images, I am contemplating donating them as stock art on a few sites so others can turn them into art and collages. The beauty of stock is that I can require if used that they give everyone involved credit as well.

So hair, wardrobe and jewelry would be nice as well. I have some big ideas for this project. Know any jewelers or jewelry makers that would let us use their product?

If you could identify with any kind of bird what would it be? or to put it another way, if you were a bird, what kind of bird do you think you would be?

Please email me bryan (at) bryancrump.com with the Subject being: “Oklahoma Call for Models : Bird Series”

with your most recent pictures. A good headshot and profile would be ideal. Any experience with modeling is a plus. Once you have done that, please respond here so I know to look for your email. I get several emails a day, so this helps me to locate specific emails.

I look forward to your interests and responses.

Sincerely,

Bryan Crump

Photos taken by myself and various photographers throughout the years.

One of the main things I am doing is working on my website development and coming up with topics of value to talk about that my friends, fans, clients and loyal supporters might appreciate. Some of the topics will be about art and photography while other might go into philosophy, business and success principles. For the past few years I have been mentoring students and my friends children on art, modeling, what little I know about fashion and more recently what I am learning in business. I do not want to be  hypocritical, because I do not know everything. There is plenty of stuff that I have learned to only realize that I have just begun to touch the true surface of the realization and potential of my studies.

They say that only a small percentage of people truly apply themselves in life and if that is true then what can myself and you really be capable of? What dreams have we pushed to the wayside while settling for things that only give us temporary relief from the stresses and demands of life? Is there really a different pattern of thinking that the truly successful people have and that of the average population? I think there most definitely is. The average american is between $10,000 and $20,000 in debt and not the good kind. No wonder we have problems with the national debt. If the average american is in debt, maybe there is a problem with financial literacy and education in this country and others. I get tired of hearing about people complaining about the rich. Many of them get tax breaks because they provide jobs for people and a large percentage of their money goes to charitable donations as well. I could go further into my thought process on this but we will leave that for another day.

Anyways, as I said, I am working on updating and retrofitting my webpages. I am working on better educating myself in business as well so I can be more financially stable to be able to do some of the bigger and more creative projects that I want to do. I am one of those people that you might hear me talk about that complained about others achieving things while they supposedly struggle. More than a year ago now, I came to a revelation that I needed to do something different and I have been reading and studying every since. I am putting my acquired knowledge into practice so I might gain more experience as well.

Now while I have been successful in many areas in the past, I was not as successful as I could have been. I think be the whims of artistic inspiration and wonder I was the fly by the seat of my pants kind of person. The problem is that there is little to no foundation being built in that kind of mentality. When things began to tumble and fall, I could have blamed others for pushing on the walls of my endeavors but the truth is that if I had build a proper foundation first things would not so easily fall.

I have done so much photography and art for others for free or nearly free that I put myself in a horrible place financially. So much so that when my car quit working or my camera broke I was not able to fix either. So many people in the various industries want artists and photographers to just give away their work and they give very little in return. I have worked for so many people that have broken promises and also I have taken on so much that I was not able to fulfill my promises because I was trying to do too much and just simply got overwhelmed. While all this was happening I lost a dear friend and more recently my grandmother passed away. But, recent challenges have shown me just how far I have progressed in my work and philosophy, but there is still a long way to go to where I want to be.

While I appreciate my fans and the compliments on my work, I want to achieve so much more. I have ideas and abilities that I have not as of yet been able to express or manifest. Some of them take capitol, some take time, while others  a proper team and others I am still working on the details. I had to get away from toxic relationships and find myself again. I have spent so long trying to please other people or fulfill what I thought was expected of me that I perhaps became delusional and distracted from what I can truly do.

You see I want to help others so that they can grow and in return I can grow as well. If I find various resources and learn enough from them, I can share them from others that can use them and start to produce results as well. If I teach, students will ask questions that I may not have thought to ask myself. There is a joy in helping one another, we must learn to be both teacher and student. Far too often, I think we all get stuck trying to play one specific role in life, when in reality we have so many that surround us. The possibilities are endless if we just learn to apply ourselves properly and that is what I am endeavoring to do.

By T-Shirts Mug and Much much more..

Check out my Zazzle Store for some fun products featuring my work…

If you don’t see a favorite that you like, request in an email to: bryan [at] bryancrump.com

make custom gifts at Zazzle

The Kiso Observatory observation dome (Photographed with an ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor amid illumination of 0.1-0.3 lux)

The ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor (left) alongside a 35 mm full-frame CMOS sensor

Here is an excerpt:

TOKYO, September 15, 2011—Canon Inc. today announced that an ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor developed by the company has enabled the video recording across a wide 3.3° x 3.3° field of view of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10.^*1 The sensor, with a chip size measuring 202 x 205 mm, the world’s largest^*2 surface area for a CMOS sensor, was installed in the Schmidt telescope at the University of Tokyo’s Kiso Observatory, Institute of Astronomy, School of Science (Kiso-gun, Nagano prefecture).

With a chip size of 202 x 205 mm, the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, developed by Canon last year, is among the largest that can be produced from an approximately 300-mm (12 inch) wafer.^*2 The device is approximately 40 times the size of Canon’s largest commercial CMOS sensor^*3 and makes possible video recording in dark conditions with as little as 0.3 lux^*4 of illumination. In January this year, the CMOS sensor was installed on the focal plane of the Kiso Observatory’s 105 cm Schmidt telescope and used to record video at approximately 60 frames per second, resulting in the successful video recording of faint meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 across a wide 3.3° x 3.3° field of view.

Detecting faint meteors with apparent magnitudes greater than 7 has proven difficult using conventional observation technologies, with sightings of meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 limited to only 10 per year. However, video recorded using the ultra-large-scale, ultra-high-sensitivity CMOS sensor, combined with the Schmidt telescope, which enables observation across a wide field of view, yielded a one-minute segment during which more meteors with an equivalent apparent magnitude of 10 could be detected than could previously be identified during the span of a year.

Check out the full article here…