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| SoHo Street Corner - 123110 |
12.31.2010
12.30.2010
Photo first
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| Kate Moss - NYC Street Art Poster - 123010 |
Trying something new. I am selecting a photo(s) first and letting it inspire the whole post. For today, I wanted to explore these images of Kate Moss I found in two separate alleys a half mile apart) in SOHO.
I am a big fan of good street art. I don't care whether it is spray-painted, written, or stickers/posters stuck to something. It is vandalism and damages property. I know that and I believe it is a part of the aggressive nature of this art form, similar to street musicians and performers. Most ignore both, some love the expression, others despise the visual/sound pollution and destruction of property both put out.
Where is the art in these pieces? For me, it was the content, placement, location and surrounding environment that made them both powerful. The top one has Kate below a red light staring at you... daring you to enter this door she overlooks. The scribbled pink swishes framing her and the touch of pink on her nipple makes as strong vertical leading to her breast and face. It is all about her vacant, yet judging stare.
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| Kate Moss x 2, NYC Street Art Poster - 123010 |
The second photo shows someone covered up other street art with both Kates with an eye for strategic placement. Underneath both Kates and the shoe is a line drawn sketch of two people holding each other in a park. It is a peaceful moment of privacy that is being squashed by Kate (and all the corporate, fashion, glamor, drugs, over-consumption and style empire she represents. On top of Kate is a man's shoe squashing her down as well. The shoe could represent "the man" crushing all that does not directly serve him or is a tool for crushing others.
As with this type of art, you may disagree with my analysis and even with the idea this is art. That is the beauty of art - it doesn't have to work for everyone. If it did, it would only be pop kitsch.
12.29.2010
Promises, promises, promises
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| Valya - 122910 |
Many people look forward to the new year for a new start on old habits. ~Author UnknownOh, the old habit to make new ones takes to my mind this time of year. What will I start doing? Stop doing? Do more of? Do less of? Who will I do more of with? These are all parts of the resolutions I am looking at starting at midnight Saturday.
Never tell your resolution beforehand, or it's twice as onerous a duty. ~John Selden
The new year begins in a snow-storm of white vows. ~George William Curtis
A new oath holds pretty well; but... when it is become old, and frayed out, and damaged by a dozen annual retryings of its remains, it ceases to be serviceable; any little strain will snap it. ~Mark Twain, speech in New York City, 31 March 1885
But can one still make resolutions when one is over forty? I live according to twenty-year-old habits. ~Andre Gide
May all your troubles last as long as your New Year's resolutions. ~Joey Adams
He who breaks a resolution is a weakling;
He who makes one is a fool.
~F.M. Knowles
I made no resolutions for the New Year. The habit of making plans, of criticizing, sanctioning and molding my life, is too much of a daily event for me. ~Anaïs Nin
Health - A slow diet and increased activity to shed some unwanted Michelin affliction that returned last year. The slow diets tend to work better since they help form better and longer lasting habits.
I really enjoy getting out and being active. I am vague about the type because I like doing many different ones. The perfect activities include: hiking, biking, running, lifting, sex, kayaking, skiing, and many other activities. The key is not to get into a rut of the same stuff. I get bored pretty fast.
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| Valya-122910 |
Art - As I mentioned a few days back, I need to work on a few aspects of my photography.
First, I need to take more photos. I get rusty, complacent, and bored if I am not taking photos and creating *fine images from them. I am trying to schedule time with a great model in early February.
Second, I need to work on getting ready for my next stage of life and art, getting an MBA. I've said enough about that journey in a prior post. This includes financial planning and saving for paying for the jump to school.
Third, I need to see more art of others and learn what I can steal, appropriate, and use as influences in my stuff.
Fourth, I need to increase my skills, especially Photoshop and other application abilities. I don't believe in heavily manipulating my images and call it truth, but I don't mind messing them up and distorting their realities.
As for all the other stuff... maybe 2012.
The only way to spend New Year's Eve is either quietly with friends or in a brothel. Otherwise when the evening ends and people pair off, someone is bound to be left in tears. ~W.H. Auden
*"Fine" does not mean the same as the defined "fine print" for me. It means I have refined it down to what I want it to be. Whether it meets Ansel, Edward's, etc., criteria does not matter a whit to me.
PHOTO NOTES - God, how did I miss these? I went through my photos of Valya tonight and these two were in the discard pile. I found a bunch more that I tossed and am happy with.
12.26.2010
What next???
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| 5 Pointz - Queens, New York - 122610 |
So, when I put up a title like, "What next???", it sounds very profound and alas... it isn't. I am thinking short term, like next semester. Next semester I am taking two classes at my favorite local college. Both are important for helping me get ready for my MFA program.
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| 5 Pointz - Queens, New York - 122610 |
The second course is more of an independent working course, but with 17 other photographers. I am taking a Professional Portfolio Development course. It doesn't have much classroom time, but lots of critiques and individual time with the instructor working on my portfolio. I really need this for my MFA application.
As mentioned in yesterday's post, my job situation is precarious. The college classes are pretty inexpensive, so if my job gets axed, I will be able to stay in school.
I am getting impatient to start my MFA, but I remind myself by saying, "baby steps." All of this makes me want to get my camera out today and photograph... something. I have no idea what and that is a problem I will save for another post.
Until then, ciao bellas.
Photo note - Taken at the 5 Pointz buildings in Long Island City, Queens. These buildings are specially set aside for graffiti and street art muralists to use. It is very temporary art with most murals being painted over in only a month or two. I highly recommend it.
12.25.2010
As I sit
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| River Cam - 122510 |
It is a low-key Christmas. I'm sitting in a Berkeley coffee shop while my wife is at mass at her uber-liberal Catholic parish. I'm neither jolly, nor ho-ho-ho, but I am not a Grinch either. After 41 Christmases, this day has little meaning to me other than a time to wish others well.
I am not asking for a Christmas miracle to thaw my frozen heart. My Christian belief does not rely on celebrating the false birthday of the religion's namesake. The fact that the church moved it to be near a pagan solstice makes the date meaningless. (I am not disparaging winter solstice, it is my favorite day of the year.)
Next year is tenuous. Over half of the department I work in will be laid off. We have four courses we will be tracked to. 1. Job is safe for another year. 2. Job is cut immediately. 3. Job will last x months until duties/responsibilities can be transferred or outsourced. 4. Job is relocated and I have to move or quit. We find out by January 31st.
My health has been declining for the past half year. Most of it is self-inflicted due to handling stress poorly and adding more stress by my own stupidity to my life. My life is no where near endangered in the short term, but I am doing a great job of taking a decade off it on the tail end.
My art is a high point. I am excited about it. I like the darker turn it has taken. I am not just thinking of the images I made with Courtney, Valya and Moon, but in general. I am starting to appreciate those tough bits of life around us that make us all the same, yet unique in how we approach them.
So, what are my plans for all this? I need to take better care of myself. That is going to be one of my two top priorities for 2011. I need to find time to eat better, workout, and be outside.
My other top priority is my art. It takes two paths. First, I need to actively and consistently creating and pushing it forward. Second, I need to plan and implement strategies to get to the next steps - an MFA and teaching.
Regardless of my job situation, I can work on these two areas. I'd prefer to get laid off in 2012 since my wife will have her PhD and I can follow her to whichever university/college she teaches at. The severance would be good seed money for helping with getting an MFA. If I get the axe this year, I will simplify and find temporary jobs to maintain until I can move to the next step. I guess if I get axed earlier, I will have lots of time to exercise.
So, I guess you were probably expecting a prophetic or (more likely) sappy Christmas message. Not this year. My wish for you though is based on the four gifts of faith - hope, joy, love, and peace. I don't care if you are of my faith, another one, or none at all. I think we all could use these four gifts.
12.21.2010
Winter Solstice
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| Moon 122110 |
Winter Solstice -
I love the long darkness that is broken by short daylight illuminating a desaturated gray, white, black and muted colors world.
I love the cold expressions of the earth - steam rising off the water, a dog's breath visible with every pant, the shivers of the people in line for the bus.
I enjoy this day when we are all the same gray beings shuffling about in our gloved lives.
I see the world and all living things as they are - naked of pretense, color, or spark for at this time we exist to move toward the lighter longer days.
Tomorrow is when every day will start getting longer and people come back to color, life, purpose, pretension of what is going to sprout from the sky's warm light.
Instead, this is the day when all pretension of the earth is stripped bare, we are naked of rich beauty and exposed as the raw, unadorned bones and leafless trees.
Hazy Shade of Winter - Paul Simon
Hang on to your hopes, my friend
That's an easy thing to say, but if your hope should pass away
It's simply pretend
That you can build them again
12.20.2010
"Loneliness adds beauty to life. It puts a special burn on sunsets and makes night air smell better." ~ Henry Rollins
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| California Delta Fence - 122010 |
Language... has created the word "loneliness" to express the pain of being alone. And it has created the word "solitude" to express the glory of being alone. ~ Paul Tillich
12.19.2010
I love photographers - Courtney
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| Courtney the photographer - 121910 |
A photograph is usually looked at - seldom looked into. ~Ansel Adams
For the final project in my class I photographed photographers I respect. I wanted to capture them with one of their own images they love and/or feel great pride or connection to. There are many examples of photographer portraits with their photos in the shot. I wanted these to be different. I wanted these to be big and for the photographer to become part of the photo since it is their art.
The first person I worked with is my friend Courtney. She chose this self-portrait that includes her former boyfriend. I can see why this photo is important to her. You can see more of my photos of Courtney from another session here.
I want to thank all of the photographers who sat for me. I will post some photos here that the photographers agreed I could share on this site.
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| Courtney the photographer - 121910 |
12.16.2010
Unbearable lightness of coincidence???
Those who follow this blog know about two of my friends here, Carla and Valya (follow these links to read my Proust interviews with them). Valya modeled for me in June and helped me follow my art in a new direction. Carla is a long time friend of this blog.
The coincidence - Carla's old alias was UL or Unbearable Lightness which comes from one of her favorite books, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. She used this alias for years at her blog, What We Saw Today. This morning, Valya published a post with the title Unbearable Lightness of Being along with a photo of her posing in an amazing yoga stretch position that communicates strength, flexibility, and grace all in one.
As a part time scientist, I believe in "pure coincidence" as well as the opposite of it. For now though, I like seeing two parts of my life intersect, however briefly and potentially coincidentally.
The coincidence - Carla's old alias was UL or Unbearable Lightness which comes from one of her favorite books, The Unbearable Lightness of Being. She used this alias for years at her blog, What We Saw Today. This morning, Valya published a post with the title Unbearable Lightness of Being along with a photo of her posing in an amazing yoga stretch position that communicates strength, flexibility, and grace all in one.
As a part time scientist, I believe in "pure coincidence" as well as the opposite of it. For now though, I like seeing two parts of my life intersect, however briefly and potentially coincidentally.
A woman's dress should be like a barbed-wire fence: serving its purpose without obstructing the view. - Sophia Loren
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| California Delta Fence - 121610 |
If you didn't grow up in agriculture/livestock regions, you may not know the main purpose of barbwire fences. You would think they are there to keep predators away from your livestock. That is a small part of it. The main purpose of barbwire fences is to keep your livestock in a controlled area and prevent them from running away, getting hit by a vehicle, or mingling with your neighbors herd. The invention of barbwire transformed the West from wild openness to closed agriculture empires.
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| Joshua Tree National Park - 121610 |
There are so many barbwire fences in our lives - things meant to keep us in. Seat belts, social norms, sidewalks (to keep us from wandering into the streets), offices, cubicles, etc. Our houses are our places to live our lives without intruding into the public. I can get naked, dress, eat, read, watch tv, view porn, make love, scratch, belch, go to the bathroom, yell, listen to music, and do my personal stuff at home without it escaping into the world.
I am neither a fence builder nor a fence wrecker. We need them for safety and privacy. They also hinder us from exploring out of bounds - like kids learning to use crayons in coloring book and told "stay in the lines". Barbwire is designed to scratch and cut both ways... those trying to get in and those trying to get out. Nobody every straddles or sits on barbwire fence due to indecisiveness due to the rusty barbs. Either you are in or out. The question becomes, when is it right to get out?
12.15.2010
Two years on...
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| Valya - 121510 |
This blog is a toddler. It is starting to walk on its own and speak simple thoughts. Since December 15, 2008, this blog has:
- been reborn not once, but twice and been renamed three or four times.
- 371 published posts still accessible
- 60 published posts deleted due to self censorship, poor writing, culling, and other issues
- 123 draft posts that were never published
- 15,070 visits
- 50,558 pages visited
- an average reader spending 2 minutes and 33 seconds per visit.
- visitors from 114 countries
- one evil offspring/brother blog, Hear Me Roar. - A stuttering attempt at validating, defending, and defining masculinity.
- are you bored yet with the "greatness"stats??? I am.
I read last years post, One year on and got bored in the first few paragraphs. I wrote last year about all the changes in substance, style, yada yada yada. I am not as sentimental about this blog now as I was a year ago.
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| Moi, but I've changed since then |
My two highlights for the year were trips to Rome and New York City. In Rome I found my spirit. In New York I found my soul. Both changed me forever.
Over the years I've made friends along the way, interviewed a few of them, and savored the comments they shared. Thanks to Carla, Joe, Terrell, Valya, Alex, Z, and many others.
So, enough rambles. Here are my favorite photos of 2010. You may disagree, but all of these are personal, beautiful, and somehow changed me. Some more than others, but they were important. Thanks to locations for being open to me. Thanks to the models for opening themselves to me.
Hit the Road Jack -
Rome
Wells, Nevada
Joshua Tree National Park
New York City
Las Vegas, NV
California Delta and Foothills
Models, muses, beauty, and truth
12.14.2010
Fantasy love is much better than reality love. Never doing it is very exciting. The most exciting attractions are between two opposites that never meet. - Andy Warhol
Valya - 121410
Trying a blog style similar to Valya's. Keep it simple, relevant, and leaving them wanting more.
12.13.2010
Simple
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| Valya 121310 |
As you simplify your life, the laws of the universe will be simpler; solitude will not be solitude, poverty will not be poverty, nor weakness weakness. Henry David Thoreau
Everything should be made as simple as possible, but not simpler. Albert Einstein
For every problem there is a solution which is simple, clean and wrong. Henry Louis Menken
12.12.2010
Feel like drinking.
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| Hogs and Heifers Bar- NYC 2010 |
It's been a long weekend and I feel the need to obliterate it with some alcohol. Not all was bad, or good, but it has been intense. Right now, I would give my last dollar to saddle up on a bar stool in this bar, pour a tall one on two ice cubes, and stare at the bottles on the wall for meaning.
On a different note. I am almost the same age as Elvis when he died at 42. I am about to the age where I am older than all of those that dies too young. MLK was 39. RFK - 42. JFK 36. It wont be long before I start seeing friends dying and not being shocked that it happened at this age.
Until then, I am understanding what Elvis was singing about in this classic. I appreciate his voice and talent more as I grow older and soon, I hope but shouldn't assume, I will have outlived him.
A much lighter version of it.
12.10.2010
Word - Sensual
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| Sensual - Moon - 2010 |
Today's word is Sensual
Sensual - (according to dictionary.com)
–adjective
1. pertaining to, inclined to, or preoccupied with the gratification of the senses or appetites; carnal; fleshly.
2. lacking in moral restraints; lewd or unchaste.
3. arousing or exciting the senses or appetites.
—Synonyms
1. Sensual, sensuous, voluptuous refer to experience through the senses. Sensual refers, often unfavorably, to the enjoyments derived from the senses, esp. from the gratification or indulgence of physical appetites: a sensual delight in eating; sensual excesses. Sensuous refers, favorably or literally, to what is experienced through the senses: sensuous impressions; sensuous poetry. Voluptuous implies the luxurious gratification of sensuous or sensual desires: voluptuous joys; voluptuous beauty. See also carnal. 2. lascivious.
If autumn is the extrinsic sensual feast for me, then winter is the intrinsic one. As the world grows gray and cold, my mind, body, and spirit look inward and all sensual gifts are more personal and felt to the core.
Marvin Gaye sang about sexual healing. I wrote about sexual grace. I think it is time for people to enjoy a season of sensual healing and grace. Sensuality is a beautiful gift that can be shared or enjoyed alone. The quiet winter is a perfect season to enjoy it. We aren't so distracted with the fireworks of external experiences of the other seasons and we can truly focus on what gives us, and those we want to share with, the sensual gifts. These gifts can be the warmth of a fire, a touch of love and care on the shoulder, the peace of snow falling on a quiet night, and smell of sensual moments that each of us remember (whether they be filled with spice or eros...)
I find it interesting that one definition of sensual is - "lacking in moral restraints; lewd or unchaste." I guess the sensually repressed had to have their opinion on something they feel should be hidden. Wouldn't the world be better if we took a moment to sensually appreciate the true value of the things we have, instead of just collecting them as status symbols? Why have a big fireplace if you aren't going to lay down and watch it? Why have the best wines gathering dust in a cellar when they are meant to be savored? Why walk by someone special and not share with them that kiss that melts, warms, arouses, takes over you, and ends with a pile of clothing in front of the above mentioned fireplace?
I hope all of you have a sensual moment today. Lose yourself in it if you are alone, share it if it is right, relish and enjoy it either way.
Photo note - Thanks to Moon for creating this image with me. She took the idea of Sensual into the area that makes our skin tingle.
12.09.2010
Rejuvenate
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| Courtney - 120810 |
I worked with Courtney again last night. It is part of a series honoring photographers I greatly respect. Photos will be coming soon. It is always interesting having a photographer model for you. They behave very differently from all other types of models. Most are reluctant to be in front of the camera and most know a bit about how the camera functions so the communication is very different.
12.08.2010
Imagine
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| Strawberry Fields - Central Park - New York |
Imagine
Imagine there's no Heaven
It's easy if you try
No hell below us
Above us only sky
Imagine all the people
Living for today
Imagine there's no countries
It isn't hard to do
Nothing to kill or die for
And no religion too
Imagine all the people
Living life in peace
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will be as one
Imagine no possessions
I wonder if you can
No need for greed or hunger
A brotherhood of man
Imagine all the people
Sharing all the world
You may say that I'm a dreamer
But I'm not the only one
I hope someday you'll join us
And the world will live as one
12.07.2010
Quiet Treatments
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| Valya - 120710 |
A quiet mind cureth all. Robert Burton
Looking for a quiet day here and this photo of Valya (in its two treatments) captures the mood perfectly for me.
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| Valya - 120710 |
12.06.2010
Congrats to Carla
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| Campo di Fiori Statue |
Blog friend Carla, aka UL and Dr.L, has outed her identity. So many of us in this area of art and culture hide behind aliases because we are afraid of what may happen if certain groups in our public lives knew of what we created and thought.
Last year I shared my first name, Karl. In that post, Carla wrote a beautiful and true comment.
Good for you!! I wish I could do the same. It is a disgrace we have to fear exposure as creators of fine art nudes. No, it is not a disease, but it is a passion.Today, Dr. Carla Johnson went all in and showed her cards to those who tried to leverage her anonymity. I think she won that hand magnificently.
Earlier this year I interviewed her for this blog. Please take a moment to read it and get to know her a little better. I also recommend reading her fine blog. She is a true sensual beauty, inside and out.
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| Piazza Navone |
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