Sour Grapes

by Jon B Barry, Simian Doucet (Editor)

Overview

Sour Grapes:

The period covered by this book was one of my most fraughtful periods in my last 20 years. I had been experiencing a severely reduced work load and had found only frustration with my shooting of models to facilitate sales of photos to various web sites to which I had always been able to sell photos. The models were standing me up, they rarely looked like what their portfolios portrayed, not always their fault, but regardless, it definitely hurt my ability to get approvals from my clients before I would do the work.
This was happening all over the country. What I have tried to relate to my readers was how it was affecting me, and what I was doing to make changes in how I was able to make a living. It had become quite tough. I had done commercial work as well as some portraiture work, but my interest level in that type of work had also fallen, as there simply was not enough money in the jobs to live comfortably. I was looking for a life change. It was this period which I went through that helped me move

I pick up with life shortly after my return from Central America. Life was different. I was no longer doing much work with models and the problems were many. The stand-ups were outrageous and the girls were no longer what the websites I was working for wanted. I never knew when I book a girl what they would look like when they would disembark from their plane rides. Their photos hardly resembled what their true appearance was. The obstacles were so many and the money was no longer good. A new life was in order and that was the difficult part.

Reflections:
Life was never going to be the same again. I wanted to continue in photography but the handwriting was on the wall. The girls of Europe were more desirable and they were certainly prettier. The religious fervor here was so strongly radical evangelist that nudity, my mainstay in photography, was dead.

I love the girls and I love the work but the format I was wanting to continue was over.

Overview:
Sour Grapes is far and away the most personal and revealing story about myself and my times. It might shock some, but it is straightforward and will interest people in so many ways. I lived the life most want but are afraid to live. I believe in my fellow man and I believe in living life to the utmost. This book was both enjoyable and painful to write. Please enjoy it to the max, and be sure and look at the images. They are extraordinary.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940149596980
Publisher:	Jon B Barry
Publication date:	03/20/2014
Series:	Realizations , #4
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	21 MB
Note:	This product may take a few minutes to download.

About the Author

My background in art has been quite varied over the last 50 or more years. When I was very young, I wanted to be a naturalist, much like John J. Audubon, who was my hero when I was growing up. Drawing animals and coloring them in was one of the things I liked doing more than anything in the world. Later, as I got into high school, my interest shifted to�drawing pictures of naked women.
My uncle, Bubby Huye (my mother�s brother) was a commercial artist in Baton Rouge, and I wanted to be just like him. I simply did not have the ability to draw as well as Bubby did. So, I cheated.
Back then, there were few pictures of nude women around�generally, only in art books and in the form of paintings.
Just like so many other young boys, I discovered National Geographic, and learned how naked women looked. The females depicted were always natives of some far away country. Back then, National Geographic was also a magazine where a great number of nudes were drawn. The fact was, having access to photos of nude women was difficult. I am sure other boys looked and learned through Playboy Magazine or Esquire Magazine. I did not.
Catalog magazines such as Spiegel controlled a great deal of the lingerie market. I would tear out the photos of the nearly nude beautiful women and put that printed page onto one of the little glass tables that my mother had. I would set a lamp underneath it and use it like a light table.
I then traced images of the women, leaving the lingerie out of my drawings. I never thought any of it was wrong until my grandmother caught me at it. Even back then nudity was thought of as bad, and she caused me to go underground. I later learned that my uncle used to do much the same thing when he was my age, but Bubby had the distinct advantage of being able to draw much better than I could. He did not need the tracing table.
Over the years, I learned I would never be an artist with an ability to draw well. Drawing is a discipline and it can be learned, but what cannot be learned is how to see something and take that something from one�s head, from memory, and convey it as an accurate drawing onto a piece of paper. Drawing was never going to be one of my assets. I took to photography to overcome this shortcoming, and to be able to accomplish the fantasies that were filling up my head.