Stephen Haynes is back in blogo-land (a special corner of the Pixel Forest). He created the blog Magic Flute Fine Art Nudes which ran until June 14th. After a break, some rethinking, moving blog locations, and many other activities, Stephen is back with his new blog, Truth and Justice For All.
I missed his commentary on photography/free speech issues, local and national culture, food, art, and many other areas of interest. He is a damn smart voice in our world and I missed reading his blog.
Welcome back.
Truth and Justice For All
You can also find Stephen's blog, and all the other blogs I find important to me, on the bar to the right - Some Blogs You Should Really Look At (Which should show up after he publishes his next post)
Some days I feel young. Other days I feel old. Today is the latter. Yesterday was the former. As I get older I realize that I can still do things I did when I was younger, but the recuperation time takes a bit longer. It all reminds me of a couple of lines from the Toby Keith song, As Good As I Once Was.
I ain't as good as I once was
But I'm as good once as I ever was
I don't have the physical prowess I had back a few decades ago, but I can still move and do pretty well. I think the difference now is that I am smarter and know when I need to make those youthful moves to my advantage instead of just using them all the time for no reason. I am not better for reserving my strength and ability than a young person. They should be enjoying their bodies every day. It is a celebration of life and it also teaches them when they should zig or zag at the right moments.
I think this knowledge of when to zig, zag, or stand to the side applies to art as well. Even though I continue learning new tricks, techniques and trying new things, I have a pretty good sense what works for me and is part of my art aesthetic.
Most artists start off trying everything, doing everything and exploring. We push limits, break rules, and have lots of failures. All this need for experimentation may even go back to when we were babies and we had to stick everything in our mouth. Over time, we learned what was good to have in our mouth and what wasn't.
My photography continues to evolve... or maybe refine. I like to use natural light or one or two light sources. I took a few portrait/lighting classes and experimented with up to six light sources. That was fun, but I found I work best with only a few and really focus on composition and subject. That is what works for me. I've received a few critiques where the critic looked at my photos and could tell they were mine. The images had a certain level of detail, angles, exposure, mood, lighting, composition, message, etc. that this person could tell that was a Karl photo.
I still feel that youthful spark for my photography. Put a camera in my hand and I still get a rush to start snapping. I will even step outside of my normal photographic ways and push boundaries, but I know now that I may "feel" a bit worn out the next day from it. That is OK, it is usually worth it.
Song note - I really like Toby Keith's song and tried to find video of it. Sadly, the official video is not too good and would not work well with this post. His lyrics still do though.
I am trying to stick to my promise from my last post. I will no longer post my writing or photos if they aren't of a high level of quality. I believe though I should share the best of other writers/artists.
My model friend Valya posted some Polaroid photos taken by Frank August. The photos are of two natures. First, a few are reminiscent of the snapshots we used to document events, yet have an edge of documenting something private. The second set show how beautifully simple and artistic Polaroids can be. They are some of the most sensual and beautiful images I have seen of Valya. Both photographer and model did well.
Part II - Thinning the "Pixel Forest"*:
Why artistic/photographic redaction is more important now than ever before.
I was going to write a long post about the need for photographers to cull their photographic herd down to the few, the proud, the best. I had a bunch of quotes from A.D. Coleman and other big shots to back it up.
Let me sum it up fast and dirty. When Coleman wrote about the need for redaction, news had come out that the late photographer Gary Winogrand had left around 342,000 unseen and never printed negatives to the Museum of Modern Art. Coleman stated that a true photographer decides what should be printed and this flood of negatives hurts art. Coleman wrote this in the late 1990s.
There are over 10,000,000,000 images on the internet. There are too many photos out there. There are too many photos by the same photographers out there that only hurt the photographer's portfolio by diluting it with numbers, not quality or meaning.
Dash: You always say 'Do your best', but you don't really mean it. Why can't I do the best that I can do?
Helen: Right now, honey, the world just wants us to fit in, and to fit in, we gotta be like everyone else.
Dash: But Dad always said our powers were nothing to be ashamed of, our powers made us special.
Helen: Everyone's special, Dash.
Dash: [muttering] Which is another way of saying no one is.
I also wrote:
Not every photo is art... or is special. If you go through my thousands of negatives and digital photos, you will find 98% of them are fair at best and shit for most. If they were all special, then none of them would be special.
That is why photographers need to only put up their best photos that support their body of work. Get rid of the clutter of your work. The internet has almost 10 billion too many crappy photos. Maybe a million of them have any value beyond a snapshot. We need to respect the art and the viewers by giving them only our best.
I make no self-aggrandizing statements that my photographs are worthy of value. At least though I know I am no longer going to show my "kind of good ones." They go to the garbage. The same goes for my writing and overall creative outputs. I am not going to put out blog posts just to show I am still existing, that is what Facebook is for. If it is not my best work, then it gets dumped to separate "the heap from the whole."
One of the hardest parts of photography for me is the reduction process. I've heard it called "culling the herd"," redaction", "thinning the forest", or "deductive selection." I think of it starting out feeling like a hair cut and ending with it stinging like dozens of little skin biopsies.
In A.D. Coleman's essay, "On Redaction - Heaps and Wholes, or, Who Empties the Circular File?" from his book Depth of Field -Essays on Photography, Mass Media, and Lens Culture. He argues for the absolute necessity of this discipline in photography and art.
For most workers, the ratio of potential images (negatives) to actualized images (prints) is low, as is the ratio of images actualized minimally (as contact and/or work prints) to images approved by the maker for public presentation via exhibition, publication, or other vehicle.
The question of redaction - of "putting in shape for publication"- is therefore a crucial one. To use a distinction from general systems theory, redaction is what transforms a quantity of images from a heap to a whole. The ability to redact is a hallmark of artistic maturity. As the photographer Lonny Shavelson has said, "Photography is about editing. If you don't edit your own work, you're not a photographer." (Emphasis by original author)
All photographers must go through their images and throw out the ones that don't work. The first 60% are usually pretty easy for me. I may feel a little sadness that the image failed and I missed something special, but my heart knows it has to go.
The next 25% feel a bit more personal and painful, kind of like plucking my eyebrows. I tell myself those are the images I can come back to some day and make something else with even though I almost never do.
The final 10-14% eliminated are very painful. By that time I've spent hours working on them and trying to either print (if from a negative) or edit (digital) them into something magic. At some point though I realize there are not enough tricks up my sleeve to save the image. It has some fatal flaw I recognize that keeps it from making the final selection. Each discarded image feels like a chunk of my flesh was ripped off and leaves me raw for a while.
Why must I put myself through this artistic pain? Why not just put them all out there and let the viewer decide? The answer is simple, dilution. If I put out too many similar images from the same series, they become diluted and the overall punch of the series is diminishes. The photos taken before and after the prime shot may be very good, but as a set, they can reduce the beauty of the prime one and bring the set down.
Twelve significant photographs in any one year is a good crop. - Ansel Adams
Robert Frank had to do this. He took over 28,000 photos for his The Americans book. In the end, Frank chose just 84 images to show his vision. That means he discarded 99.7% of his photos to get to his finished product. At a retrospective of his work last year at the SF MoMA, I saw some of his contact sheets from the series. I could tell which ones were instantly tossed, which were ok, but should be tossed, which had potential, and which one was the "it" photo. It would have been painful to make those decisions though because so many could have been "it." As painful as that may have been for Frank, I doubt he could have done any better than the ones he selected. He gave us a gift of his sacrifice. He reduced down to a perfect set of photos that will always represent a perfect set.
As I've mentioned many times before, I don't like the photos taken by Diane Arbus. Someday I will elaborate on why in a formal criticism of her work. For now though, let it be simply stated I don't like her photos. With that said though, there are some aspects of her artistic discipline I deeply respect. I envy her ability to "cull the heard" down to about 80 or so photos that represent her body of work. She may have had more if she had not taken her life at the young age of 48, but to have kept her total count that low is true dedication to ensuring only her best work got out there. Each photo is an iconic representation of her work and is recognizable to the photographic arts community as hers. I respect her passion to controlling which photos were good enough to share her name.
During the photo shoot I build a pile of images. During the first review, I begin the reduction of the pile to find the right ones. Sometimes I get a few true gems. Other times I get no gems. Either way, I must make sure that my work meets my standards of my artistic vision. It isn't easy. If it was, everyone would be an artist. This leads into my next post...
Part II - Thinning the "Pixel Forest"*
Why artistic/photographic redaction is more important now than ever before.
Not much to say. A good photo or two of Valya is worth much more than my words that I could share today. I am so pleased with my work with her. I am starting to work on the dark and dangerous photos I created with Valya and Moon.
This morning I listened to the duet "Portland, Oregon" from Loretta Lynn's Van Lear Rose album featuring Jack White on guitar and vocals. This song makes me smile for many reasons,- the location, themes, Jack's guitar and voice talent mixing with Loretta's, and what I know of both performers.
Location
I've been to Portland many times. It is a clean, progressive city in the northwest tip of Oregon. It is flanked by Mount Hood to the east. The Columbia River forms the city's northern boundary. Most days seem to be overcast and gray, but the rare sunny days are true beautiful gifts.
In the mid 2000's, Portland boasted having more strip clubs per-capita than any other US city. Most of these strip clubs are small "ma and pa" establishments. The performers tend to move away from the typical strip routines and perform more burlesque or performance art pieces that have strong erotic content set to individual sound tracks. In other words, they aren't just stripping off pink thongs to a Bon Jovi song.
Portland quiets down after midnight. It becomes a quiet city under rainy skies. I've spent a few nights there in a hotel's bar. The bar in the video is not much different than the ones I patronized. They are kind of empty and full of solitary people who want something more for the night.
Well Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz
If that ain't love then tell me what is Well I lost my heart it didn't take no time
But that ain't all. I lost my mind in Oregon
Themes
I imagine this song is about two people visiting the city separately, but finding each other over drinks. For reasons that may be both right and wrong, they extend their night together until the next day. They are reflecting back on it with a smile. They know it was one night "party" with each other and may feel a small bit of regret, but mostly a fond one-time memory.
In a booth in the corner with the lights down low
I was movin' in fast she was takin' it slow
Well I looked at him and caught him lookin' at me
I knew right then we were playin' free in Oregon
Performers
In my opinion there are two types of female voices in classic country music. The first is the angelic pure voice that melts your heart with its beauty. Patsy Cline had this type of voice and style. Listen to her sing "Crazy" to hear the purity of tone and the beauty she shared.
The second type is the sultry and worn voice. Where the first type melts your heart, the second either stokes your heart's arousal or breaks it from the sadness of the singer's story. These voices may have been tempered by smoking, whiskey, and over expression to create that mix of eros, pathos, despair, dark night clubs, and broken marriages, Loretta Lynn has the second type of voice.
Loretta Lynn is a country music legend. Her autobiography, Coal Miner's Daughter, was made into a Oscar winning movie. Lynn's library of country music has too many themes and styles to list here. Combined, they show how she has lived a full life and sang about it. The memories may be good, bad, old, or new.
Jack White was the singer and guitarist for the Detroit neo-punk blues band The White Stripes. White's music is known for his hard, bluesy guitar playing and solos that are both technically and musically amazing. His lyrics tend to be dark and reminiscent of childhood, relationships, and his perceptions of them. I saw The White Stripes in 2005 and it was the best concert I've attended.
Portland, Oregon starts with White's high-pitched, fast, pizzicato guitar lick that sounds like a humming bird's heart. It is a mix of blues, country, and flamenco guitar styles that provides the feeling of growing interest, excitement, and buzz of the night, yet slightly deadened by the alcohol fueling the moment. After White's solo, the tempo slows down and he slowly strums a repeated string of notes as other instruments join in. They speed the tempo up again and grow in volume right before the singing starts.
When you combine both of them, their duet takes on a new life. You can hear Jack's young male voice (he is 35 years old) mix with Loretta's sultry experienced female voice (she is 75). To me, they show his young, brash yet shy, eagerness and her wizened yet quiet desire to make the night one to remember. They both sing and perform very well to their respective roles in the song.
White and Lynn then take turns singing individually and ending the song together as they sing the songs final lines:
Well sloe gin fizz works might fast When you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass Hey bartender before you close Pour us one more drink and a pitcher to go
And a pitcher to go [repeat]
This is not an important song in the annals of music. It doesn't tell an important story or share deep parts of the human psyche. It is a short story of a short moment in two people's lives. It does not idealize or romanticize the night, it tells the story and alludes to the role of alcohol, location, and opportunity in making the night go its path.
Portland, Oregon
Loretta Lynn and Jack White
Well Portland Oregon and sloe gin fizz If that ain't love then tell me what is Well I lost my heart it didn't take no time But that ain't all. I lost my mind in Oregon
In a booth in the corner with the lights down low I was movin' in fast she was takin' it slow Well I looked at him and caught him lookin' at me I knew right then we were playin' free in Oregon
Next day we knew last night got drunk But we loved enough for the both of us In the morning when the night had sobered up It was much too late for the both of us in Oregon
Well sloe gin fizz works might fast When you drink it by the pitcher and not by the glass Hey bartender before you close Pour us one more drink and a pitcher to go
The band Vampire Weekend bought the rights to use the photo above for $5000 from photographer Tod Brody for their CD cover. The photo was taken in 1983.
The model in the photo, Ann Kirsten Kennis, states the photo was taken by her mother (who may have sold the image), not Brody, and she had not signed any model releases for using the photo. She is suing the band, record label, and photographer for using the photo without her permission for $2,000,000.
Tod Brody claims he took the photo and has a model release for the image.
1. If the mother sold the photo she took, then Ms. Kennis may have little ground to stand on. Technically, shouldn't the mother have had to gather model releases before she sold the photos? Who owns the rights to unclaimed/unattributed photos? How responsible is a commercial user in determining this?
2. The photographer's credibility is in question. His misspelling of the model's name is odd. There are other awkward parts to his story. Supposedly he has the model release forms and I assume he either showed them to the record label or has them available. If that is true, then at least the record company should be released from liability. It should not be up to them to have go and dig through the whole back story of the photo. If the photographer did anything wrong (i.e., stole the photo, did not have a model's release, forged papers, etc.) then he is liable. If his papers are legitimate and he is the photographer, he is free of liability.
3. If he bought the image and yet claims to be the original photographer, that seems dirty. He should have known better than to claim it as his. I am not sure if he is liable for selling it to record label, but may be for stating he took the image.
4. I would expect any company that deals in the sales and distribution of artistic property (music) to have a smart legal staff to ensure artistic property rights are taken care of in agreements. Sadly though, the record company is a larger target with deeper pockets than the photographer, so they will have to pay through legal fees and maybe fines.
5. In my humble opinion, I don't consider this image damaging to the model's character. The band and label did not intend to malign her by using it.
6. This photo was taken with a Polaroid camera, the fastest image and printing system of the day. With the speed and proliferation of digital cameras and the instant availability of the images, we (models and photographers) need to be very careful in how we use the photos. If we intend to use them for any potential money-making purposes, we need to get everything down in writing. Don't assume a handshake will protect you. I took the photo below with my iPhone camera before I wrote the first sentence of this paragraph and uploaded to here before writing this sentence.
Instant Me
Here is a Vampire Weekend video. I'm not a big fan, but it is light and pleasant.
Be careful of your thoughts; they may become words at any moment. --Ira Gassen
Maybe that is why I like photography. I put out the image of my thoughts, you provide your own words for it.
"Words are very unnecessary. They can only do harm."
This video is haunting to watch. The song is great, but the setting and location and the shooting in bright, smoggy daylight gives me chills to watch.
Words like violence
Break the silence
Come crashing in
Into my little world
Painful to me
Pierce right through me
Can't you understand
Oh my little girl
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Vows are spoken
To be broken
Feelings are intense
Words are trivial
Pleasures remain
So does the pain
Words are meaningless
And forgettable
All I ever wanted
All I ever needed
Is here in my arms
Words are very unnecessary
They can only do harm
Ansel Adams had Moonrise over Hernandez. Edward Weston had Pepper Number 30. Richard Avedon had Dovima with Elephants. Orson Wells had Citizen Kane. I have Yin and Yang. I do not list these giant's iconic photos and movie and my work as being on par in quality and beauty, but to share what they may all have in common. For most viewers they are the single piece of art everyone identifies with their creator.
The one you posted here is one of my all-time favorites of yours. I like the yin-yang of it, and the beauty of the alabaster bodies against the black. Stunning and somehow pleasing to the psyche.
Others have written:
stunning b&w. love the emotions - Drusilla Killswitch @ Model Mayhem
This is one of the greatest shots I have seen on MM - Digiphotoarte @ Model Mayhem
One even wrote a poem for the photo and posted it as part of their critique.
A snowflake
on midnight's window
spirals around my centre
stirs the vortex of my desire.
Wonderful entwining of human forms here - love how one body merges into the other in Geminesque balance. - Jac at Photosig.com
I appreciate all of the comments and compliments of this photo. This is a special image for me and I am proud of it. When Leila, Hana and I created it in 2004, I was standing on a ladder above them as they lay on a black rug. As with almost all of my photos, I spent little time staging since I am not too particular with every detail meeting some predefined concept in my head. This moment and the pose lasted one or two photos before the models moved a bit to a new pose. The whole thing took maybe forty seconds. I mention this because part of the success of the image was serendipity.
Dovima with Elephants - Richard Avedon
Yin and Yang has a rich aesthetic beauty for me. As UL wrote, "Stunning and somehow pleasing to the psyche." I agree and I like that description. It is a relaxing piece to look at, but does it have much more than that?
I believe Yin and Yang lacks complex meaning. I have many other photos I think are more important including some recent work from New York, Nevada, and Rome. They make me stop and think. I want to explore them and discern what they mean to me as the creator of them and also who I am. I seek the deeper meaning with them as they get under my skin and make me think. Yin and Yang does not do that for me as either a creator or a viewer of it.
Maybe I have to accept Yin and Yang, and how it reflects on me, in two different ways. First, not all of my art has to be about something. It doesn't have to carve deep into my psyche and share truths about existential issues. Yin and Yang can exist to simply celebrate beauty and aesthetic. Second, even with its success I have not pigeon-holed my art into making all my images like it. I am not Anne Geddes. While I have pride in that photo, I am free to make what I want and not be limited to cloning prior success. I have to remember Walker Evans may be remembered for his Share Cropper photo series, but my favorite photos of his came from his late-in-life experiments with Polaroid cameras.
I always get a thrill when a model I've worked with uses some of our work for their own uses. It interests me which ones they chose. Here are some of them.
You have to be sly to check out a woman without her noticing or feeling awkward. To do it right you must first look at her feet then slowly look up her body, not stopping on any body part, leading to her eyes. Always finish with her eyes. If you look at her eyes first then look down to check the rest of her, she will know what you are doing. Old advice originally written in the 1950's I recently heard quoted on a radio news segment.
Much has been written aboutthe male gaze.To gaze at something is to view it, absorb it and give it some personal meaning. The male gaze is described as the popular media focus of providing images that are primarily for the heterosexual male with heterosexual females being a secondary audience.
For both audiences, we are being manipulated into believing this slick propaganda is the only way to happiness. The only way to get the girl is to do what the ad, movie, tv show is telling us to. In an even more manipulative and devious method, the messages tell women they are not worth anything to men unless they meet these expectations.
I am not sure how prevalent the male gaze is in our media today compared to generations past. I've seen great spoofs of it where the tables are turned. This famous Diet Coke ad below is one example of the role reversal. Even with it, is the satire directed at mocking the male gaze or is it mocking women for their version of it?
I believe the male dominated media industry's male gaze machine hurts humanity by limiting us on what we should find desirable with narrow definitions of beauty, sexuality, and objectification of women. As a culture and a population, it is bad. One challenge for me though is to determine if that same sense of "wrongness" should apply to the individual.
Unseen Interactions
I am a mostly heterosexual guy. I overall know what my preferences are in determining attractiveness. My preferences are not limited to certain ages, races, body shapes, hair colors, or geographic backgrounds. I've been attracted to them all. For me, it is the attitude, beliefs, self perceptions, intelligence and physical appearance combining to make a woman so damn attractive and sexy. Sometimes I see an instant attraction that disappears as soon as a conversation starts. Other times I feel a great and deeper attraction grow from getting to know the person and learning about how attractive they are. On the special occasion, the instant and the ongoing attraction coincide.
Even though I believe I am a somewhat enlightened guy, I have my preferences that influence my male gaze. It is part of my DNA, my soul, and who I am that directs me to look at what attracts me. It is not as primal as a moth flying to the light, but it is an almost unconscious, autonomic physical behavior to look. I will look.
"The day I stop looking is the day they close the lid." Frank, an octogenarian and former coworker.
Over the years I've chosen to acknowledge and learn about the male gaze in modern media and pop culture and how it is damaging society. I believe everyone should recognize, develop, appreciate, and maintain a healthy (insert your name here) gaze. I am sure all people who are sexual have their version of the gaze. The Karl Gaze likes how the curve of the back of the leg is mirrored and accentuated by the curve of the breasts leading up to the neck and the chin. That is one part of my gaze, but not the only part of it. My gaze also likes how the sunlight shines through the silhouetted hair and caresses around the beautiful edge of skin on the nose, lips, chin, and neck of a woman standing by a window on a sunny day. My gaze also appreciates the slow walk of a woman deep in thought about something as her mind focuses and her walking becomes secondary. These and many other appreciated parts of my gaze make up a unique fingerprint of who I am and what I find attractive. My gaze/fingerprint should not be the same as any others'.
Piernas (Andrea on the hood of my old truck)
With all aspects of our individuality, we must recognize and respect others when we use it. Our gaze must not be the only discriminating filter when judging others. Our gaze should not demean others because they are not part of our preferences in beauty.
My gaze is reflected in my photography. It is not limited to the women in my photos, but to everything I capture. My gaze is part of the theme, soul, aesthetic, and core of my photography. It is not the only part of it, though I would be stupid to try to hide it and not acknowledge its importance. I am no longer going to feel obligated to apologize for my art. It is how I see things and art should be for the artist. Viewers of it are free to make their own interpretations, projections and decide if they like my art or not. I am interested in their views, but I will not apologize for what I've created.
"Europeans enjoy taking a moment to look at each other and appreciating each others' appearance. Americans feel awkward and self conscious about this." Something I recently overheard, but can not remember where and from whom.
Maybe it is time to accept, as individuals, that our gaze, what we find attractive and the preferences we hold are not bad to have. How we use them may not be good, but having them is part of being human. I refuse to limit myself to avoiding looking at beauty, in all forms, and enjoying it in a respectful manner. That goes for what I look at and what I photograph as well.
"Hey son, don't touch that. It will always burn you."
As he looked away, my five year old hand touched the hot wood stove. Maybe I learned that time.
"Hey, if you play with fire, you'll get burned." I listened but didn't understand it beyond the simple literal meaning it offered.
"Hey, be careful, that is hot..."
I drank the hot coffee and it burned my throat. Maybe I learned that time.
"Hey, don't think about it, that is fire. Everyone will be burned, especially those close to you." I listened to him but once again I knew I was fireproof. I got a few scars from that one.
Wait!! It will burn you!
Fire is beautiful and sensual to watch. It cooks, heats, and melts metal. It tempts us with its power to do things, but we forget how we can too easily assume we master it and know all its outcomes. Our arrogance burns us. With that reminder, we try to rethink how can we use it and not get burned. Maybe there is no safe way to play with fire and we will always get burned. If we don't play with fire though, we will never learn and grow to achieve our desires, aspirations and fulfill our needs. By taking that risk, we painfully live a full life.
Sometimes we have to just accept that we are going to get burned, but it may just be worth it. With that, I salute all those who are willing to play with fire and take those chances to truly live. Time to play with fire and get ready for the scars of learning from it.
Valya is a great art model I enjoyed working with in New York. She exudes the attitude, look, and emotion I wanted to capture of and in that great city.
Valya - 070810 - 2
Over the years I discovered it is extremely valuable to research the model and her work, interests, and projects. Valya and I communicated a lot before the session. Even with all the prior communication, we continued planning and evolving the concepts of the session during our time together. She shared creative suggestions and ideas including a great soundtrack (Bjork) to enhance the mood of the theme and intent of our work.
I also read through Valya's blog to help prepare and highly recommend visiting it. Much of her work has a raw force to it. She lets her images speak for themselves and offers minimal, but important written commentary, opinions and thoughts. I appreciate her conservation of words and only adding as much as is needed. I learned a great deal about her through her posts which helped when we planned the session.
Valya - 070810 - 3
Valya - 070810 - 4
I decided to try something new for this session. Along with 400+ still images, I shot twelve minutes of video. Over the next few months I want to experiment with editing both together to make something great. Mixed media is fun.
Valya - 070810 - 5
Valya - 070810 - 6
In that great city, so many millions of souls pass each other on the streets to become a combined life force and energy that makes the city hum. When the souls get to their home, hotel, apartment, or private place, they can only disconnect so much from the city they are part of. While being a quiet part of the larger life, they are still a unique individual with his or her thoughts, moods, desires, and rituals. This feeling of "quiet sensual solitary arousal" must be lived by millions every night in New York, New York. The theme I wanted to capture was that special moment of "alone" in the big city.
As with models Moon and Candace, we experimented with using the LCD projector. There must be something exciting about it for models because all three have enthusiastically participated in using it to create amazing images. I will post some of the projected images in future posts since they are very different than the ones I put up today.
Valya - 070810 -7
Here are a few early shots of our work. This was a big departure from my prior work since I wanted a quieter and more personal aesthetic. They are not in their final form, but I couldn't stand sitting on our fine work any longer. Thank you Valya. If anyone needs a great model in NYC, or the rest of the east coast, you must consider her.
I am a busy boy with thousands of images to edit and figure out how to present. Work is super busy with pushing out employee training deliverables (business speak)on a really crap project that I can not control. Personal life is full with visitors, yard work, and other obligations.
I am tempted to create the blog version of a clip show and hope that will do. For those who have been spared the pain of watching clip shows on TV, they are a cheap and easy ploy where the characters reminisce about things that happened on prior episodes. The scene clips from those earlier episodes offer very little new content, just a cheap filler. They are easy and cheap to make. They are similar and about as inspiring as a greatest hits album.
In an effort to avoid creating a clip show, I am going to do the next cheesiest thing - stealing... errr... I mean aggregating (hate that term)... err, spotlighting things I've seen or read lately and not offering much for an opinion on them. Seriously though, they are interesting nuggets and insights into art and music.
Here are some interesting quotes from the McChrystal career-ending issue of Rolling Stone (July 8 -22, 2010). Text emboldened by me for emphasis. None of the quotes are from the McChrystal article.
Interview with veteran rocker Tom Petty being asked about his new album, Mojo.
Interviewer: To me, this album has a feeling of being on the run, outrunning the cops...
Petty: ... or outrunning life itself. I didn't write it as a theme. Inevitably, though you find a theme creeping in. But any attempt to intellectualize my stuff embarrasses me.
From the article about Lady Gaga.
The former Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotto is on a mission: to prove that Lady Gaga is art and that her art is not a mask. It is her life.
"I'll always have one high heel in New York City. I live in Hollywood, but you can't make me love Hollywood. I'll never love Hollywood."
"I think, creatively as a woman, you change once you give birth. I'm totally not ready for that."
"When you resign your life to something like art music or art or writing, you have to commit yourself to this struggle and commit yourself to pain. And I commit myself to my heartbreak wholeheartedly. It's something that I will never let go. But that heartbreak, in a way, is my feature. It's a representation of the process of my work. As artists, we are eternally heartbroken."
"... So I guess I am a woman now. I don't know when or why you realize that you've become a woman, but I'm different. I feel different. And I care less and less about what people think as the hours go by. I feel very strong."
"I don't want people to see I'm a human being. I don't even drink water onstage in front of anybody, because I want them to focus on the fantasy of the music and be transported from where they are to somewhere else. People can't do that if your just on Earth. We need to go to heaven.
"Some people need to be reminded it's OK to be different."
"When I wake up in the morning, I feel just like any other insecure 24-year-old girl. But I say, 'Bitch, you're Lady Gaga, you better fucking get up and walk the walk today.'"
"Music is a lie. Art is a lie. You have to tell a lie that is so wonderful that your fans make it true."
Interviewer: It's interesting to speak with you, becuase you have this ineffectual and artistic side, but half of your hits are about clubbing and being drunk...
Lady Gaga: Well, now I have a little bit more of an opportunity to be that, don't I? I don't mean to speak arrogantly about my musical strategy as a pop artist in the Warholian sense, but today you have to almost trick people into listening to something intelligent." Interviewer: So you're thinking, "I'm going to trick this idea down your throat"? Lady Gaga: Or seduce people to be interested in something uncomfortable. And I have been for three years baking cakes -and now I'm going to bake a cake that has a bitter jelly. The message of the new music is now more bitter than it was before. Because the sweeter the cake, the more bitter the jelly can be.
For those who stuck it out to this point, I am interested in hearing from you what you think of these two performers and their art and quotes. I become increasingly fascinated by Lady Gaga the more I learn about her and see her videos. I wonder if she has staying power to remain current or ahead of current trends or will she fade into oblivion in the next few years.
Here are a few of her videos. The first, Alejandro, is filled with amazing imagery from many different themes and genres. The second video, Telephone, is an interesting twist on the Thelma and Louise, Kill Bill, and femme fatale themes in cinema. The final video, Bad Romance, has very interesting retelling of old movie archetypes and themes mixed with a Matrix sensibility.
