Interview w/ Blackflute

Hello Everyone,

Its time for another BeautifullyNude member interview. The honor this week goes to blackflute. He's a photographer based out in North-Central Ohio.

He first appeared on my radar over on ModelMayhem where helps run theList www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thr… www.modelmayhem.com/po.php?thr… . They are site threads that help aspiring new models & pair them up w/ volunteer photographers to help get their ports in the right direction.

Only later did I find out he has a port here on . I was impressed by how at ease his models came across in front of his camera. Because of that rapport I nominated his wonderful piece "Olga Changing" blackflute.deviantart.com/art/… & was selected for the coveted DD. From there we kinda periodically communicated back & forth.


BeautifullyNude Question #1: Let's start off by telling something that you'd like us to know about yourself?

answer: I'm intrigued by conundrums. Currently working on: A community in my area believes that Satan will carry them off if they own an automobile, a telephone or a backhoe. Apparently Satan will not carry them off when they borrow their neighbor's automobile, telephone or backhoe. Why is this?


Q2: What attracted you to the photographic medium?

Answer: My hungry eyes. As a child my Mother had a darkroom (OK a bathroom that became a darkroom) and let us play with various photographic devices. It was magical for me then and has continued to be.


There is something magically about developing your first darkroom print. How this blank piece of paper suddenly has this image when mixed w/ the chemicals. Definately brings me back to my undergrad days. LOL. Moving on... Q3, what do you like to do in the rare moments you have free time?

Answer: Finishing tasks. An example would be doing post work on something that jumped out at me from a shoot I thought I was done with. Or setting frets in a neck on which I finished the inlay work months ago. Answering interview questions.


Q4: Do you partake in any other creative endeavors whether they specifically be in visual arts or literature or something?

Answer: Yes I attempt to play music and build fretted instruments.


Q5:I'm unfamiliar w/ them. Can you please tell us a little more about the fretted instruments that you build & play?

Answer: I play banjo, flute and guitar and dabble with others (mandolin, fiddle, tuba ... anything that makes a sound.

Woodworking lead me to building some hammer dulcimers back in the early 1970's which lead to guitar building. Lately I have been enjoying building banjos I think because that is the instrument it is acceptable to adorn with gaudy MOP inlays There are some photos of banjos I built (and restorations) in my dA portfolio.

As an aside that is one of the things I like about dA: The modeling and photography sites have no "woodworking" category. Yay deviantART!


Q6: For the sake of this question, we'll take for granted that "respecting the model as a human being" is the unspoken first piece of advice. What other advice would you give another photographer, perhaps working w/ their first nude model?

Answer: Follow your instincts; look at how the light falls; then watch for those perfect expressions.


Q7: If given a choice between listening to Beatles music OR Elvis, which would you choose?

Answer: the Beatles


Q8: Any preference on which Beatles album?

Answer: While I prefer their later work, the variety and depth of their music is what appeals to me.

I have been known to bemoan the state of the music business these days. Bands like Deep Purple and the Beatles really point the paucity of imagination in today's commercial music through the depth they wanted to explore. (steps down from soapbox)


Q9:Any nuggets of wisdom you'd like to share w/ models working w/ you?

Answer: Already shared (mostly about the work and the biz). Some loved; some ignored. meh, maybe I am not as wise as I think I am.


Q10: What are the most common set of difficulties you've experienced as a photographer? How are you working to overcome them or how DID you overcome those trials?

Answer: Since I am a congenital gearhead, probably the perceived need for equipment. I see what I do as portraiture so communication and intimacy are important. Over the years I have realized that less equipment means fewer distractions/intrusions and therefore better communication. Most of my work now is done with unaugmented (no flash fill, reflectors, whatever) available light. This leaves my subject, me and a camera. If I could do without the camera I would.


Q11: What is the proudest moment you've experienced as a photographer?

Answer: That will have to be plural moments - seeing my work featured in the portfolios of awesome models with whom I have worked; surrounded by the very strong work of others.


Q12: Leaving out specifically who or any other identifying characteristics, ever have any shoot ideas pitched where you were like "uhm, no chance in hell is that going to happen"?

Answer: Yes. But seldom has the suggestion been made by the model - more often by onlookers (location owners, etc.)


Interesting. Everyone seems to handle those kind of situations differently. Q13: How have you handled such pieces of unsolicited suggestions from onlookers?

Answer: Probably not well. I have an unerring knack for saying precisely the wrong thing in any given situation. So I've learned to bite my lip and try to ignore.


Q14: Who are some visual artists you admire, whether they be here on or elsewhere? The answer need not be limited to the photographic medium either.

Answer: My mother: painter, photographer, sculptor and woodworker. Without resorting to words she taught me to see. Eolo Perfido, Salvidor Dali, & Helmut Newton all come to mind. Same w/ the unknown smiths and painters of Viking and Celtic cultures.


Q15: Who is your favorite cartoon character?

Answer: Not sure if this counts but Chris Landreth's depiction of Ryan Larkin...

www.youtube.com/watch?v=gvfgLB…

... so if you wish to scroll up a couple of lines & add both Chris and Ryan to "visual artists you admire", you're welcome to it.


Q16: Who would win in a 3-way fight: pirates, ninjas, or robots? Most importantly, how do they win?

Answer: Pirates.

Robots are bound to formulae and so just too easy to defeat. Ninjas only understand Asian culture so Euro thought can confound them. Korsan straddle Europe and Asia and so will win through sheer weight of experience and understanding.

Why did you leave out Vikings and Scots?


Its an old, open-ended camp question that would keep the campers occupied for hours. Can't give them to many possibilites or else they'll never get to bed.

Q17, What's your favorite movie? Any reason why its your favorite?

Answer: Tough one. "Henry and June"? or maybe "The Cook, the Thief, His Wife & Her Lover" or maybe "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest" or maybe "Catch 22". Or was it "Insignificance" or the Loxton/Barzyk "The Lathe of Heaven"? Oh wait, I think it might have been "A Fish Called Wanda".

Why? Cause they were good!


Q18: What's your favorite book & tell us about it?

Answer: There is so much to love that I generically hate these "your favorite" questions : but the mood I am in ATM says: "20,000 Leagues Under the Sea". It carried me away as a child, then Disney's adaptation sealed the deal.

Now looking again, a different mood and thinking inspiration/guidance and I want to say "Don Quixote" or "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance".

Why do you ask these difficult questions? Now I have a new conundrum to attempt to sort.


You're welcome for the new conundrum. As Indy said, "I'm like a bad penny, I always show up". *cues mischievious laugh* Q19, Anything else that you'd like to add or ask us here at BeautifullyNude?

Answer: No. As this group points out, beautiful nudes are beautiful nudes. Anything else will pale in comparison.

We here at BeautifullyNude are grateful you've taken the time to put up w/ our conundrumly questions. I think our readers will appreciate what you have to say. In the meantime, take care everyone.