Is it an itch or a scab?

NYC - 010711

Damn. I have that itch.  I really need to get out of Dodge and go to New York.  It is like that lustful itch that nothing but the real thing will satiate.  I would be happy as a clam to be sitting on a subway car watching the stops come and go with the daily humanity shuffling about me. 

NYC - 010711

I wonder though if that itch is in need of a scratch or is a scab covering something hurt and could leave a scar.  Sadly, the earliest I will get back to that place is October.  Until then, I guess I am left to look at my images and watching TV shows and movies set there.

What are your favorite movies or TV shows set in NYC that truly reflect the life and locale of that city?

Two years on...

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. 

Moi, but I've changed since then

My art has changed in the past year.  I've given up the notion that I want to be another Edward Weston, Ruth Bernhard, or Imogen Cunningham.  You can read more about that here.  I am more interested in mixing it up with a sprinkle of those giants, a bit of Robert Frank, a dash of Bob Guccione (RIP) and lots of my own psyche.  I am less into celebrating the aesthetic art of the form and more into what the context of the moment means.

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

Valya

Moon

Candace Nirvana

Mollee

Andrea

Courtney

 

Fremont District - Las Vegas, NV

Fremont District - Las Vegas - 2010

We went to Las Vegas last summer to celebrate our anniversary.  Even though we stayed in the faux New York New York, we spent much of the time on the old side of the Strip, especially on Fremont Street.  I really like the old side of Vegas and saddened a bit that they renovated a big chunk of it into a big outdoor mall.  I guess it helped save the area though and keeps tourists visiting that side compared to the mega casino side of the Strip, where our hotel was.

El Cortez Hotel - Las Vegas - 2010

The El Cortez Hotel is an old school casino...  or old school to me.  It has a Subway Sub in it.  That is healthiest thing in that place.

Beauty Bar - Las Vegas - 2010

The Beauty Bar (Salon of Beauty) is a great hot spot with a 60's style beauty shop theme inside.  They have cheap drinks and the best alternative music in Vegas (or at least the little bit of Vegas I saw.)  It is a great little hip place that had youngins and oldins' like me are welcomed.  The concerts in the back lot are hot as hell, even on a summer night.  Great music.

Lady on the ceiling - Las Vegas - 2010

The ceiling of the renovated covered walking mall is a long screen showing music, dancing and sexy ladies eating cherries.   I would guess she is 15 feel tall in that photo, just to give a bit of size perspective.  I am not a big fan of this part of the Fremont experience, but it gave me good light to take photos with.

Showgirls -  Las Vegas - 2010

God bless the showgirls.  There were a number of street performers out there that night, including a few Elvises, mimes, and two beautiful showgirls that put on short routines and posed with the tourists for tips. There is something about fishnets and hot pink boas that seems at home in Las Vegas.

Cowboy in lights - Las Vegas - 2010

I forgot the name of this cowboy and the cowgirl below.  They are Vegas landmarks and I am glad they are preserved.  The advertising under the cowgirl tells of the modern age of this sin city.

Cowgirl in lights - indeed - Las Vegas - 2010

Emergency Arts - Las Vegas - 2010

Emergency Arts was a bastion of sanity for me.  It is a former clinic that houses a number of art galleries and a great little coffee shop that plays old LPs and has delicious healthy sandwiches.  As a tourist, it is hard to eat healthy in Vegas.  There is a great little museum/display inside honoring the art of burlesque and its history in Nevada entertainment.  I will post photos from there at another time.

Dinner Company - Las Vegas - 2010

We were starving by the end of the night and found a great little taqueria open late.  It was as bright and colorful inside as the strip.  Elvis, the tall black lady dancer, and the little lady in the shot glass looked over our meal from the shelf by our table.

I love Las Vegas.  I don't really gamble or take in the big shows, but the little things there are precious gems.  This is another great city that I need to get back to.  Terrell over at Photo Anthems Blog lives in a great city.

In Country

Delta - 110410

 Silence is the universal refuge, the sequel to all dull discourses and all foolish acts, a balm to our every chagrin, as welcome after satiety as after disappointment - Henry David Thoreau

 Took a field trip to the California Delta.  Here are some photos from that little excursion.

Consumnes River Preserve - 110410

 

 

 

 

Consumnes River Preserve - 110410

Autumnal and Avuncular

Autumnal Foothills

Autumnal and Avuncular - I love those two words.  They describe so many things.

It was one of those perfect English autumnal days which occur more frequently in memory than in life.  ~P.D. James

Delicious autumn!  My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.  ~George Eliot

Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting and autumn a mosaic of them all.  ~Stanley Horowitz

Autumn is my favorite season.  My favorite colors live warmly inside the fall color palette.  The lengthening nights and angular sun light makes every thing more brilliant and beautiful.  I enjoy getting out my jackets and feeling the cool, crisp air.  Many feel spring is the birth and growth season.  I feel that in the fall.  I feel most alive in these magic months.  One of my best trips abroad came during autumn.

I am the avuncular presence in many lives.  I am not the father, the brother, or the friend.  I am the slightly off center authority figure that is more of a source of wisdom than a source of discipline.  While I like to think I can be an authority figure, I am happy being the counsel on the side.  My only requirement is that if you seek out my counsel, you listen.  You don't have to take it, but just listen to me.

Tonight I am going to find a coffee shop in San Francisco's Castro district while I wait to pick somebody up from the airport.  I look forward to sitting back and looking at SF and its beautiful people in their Autumnal clothing and moods.

Here is a link to a Magnum photo essay honoring Fall.

Back from Sin City

Me in the NYC Simulacrum

Spent a long weekend in Las Vegas celebrating our anniversary.  While there I thought of fellow blogger Terrell and his work.  I hope one day we can meet up when I get down there again.  As for this trip, every moment was hot, full and fantastic.

What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas*

 The is one of the cleverest ad campaigns ever.  It was so effective that the saying is worn out, yet still holds cache both in the hearts of those visiting, and the feeling the city promotes to those of us visiting it.  Nothing happened to me while I was there that needs to be kept secret or compares to the antics of the bachelor party from one of my favorite recent movies, The Hangover.  

I took over 500 photos while bouncing about.  That is not much for me when I am traveling to take pictures.  That is a ton when traveling to celebrate an anniversary.  I intended to try and capture the simulacrum of the city, and in particular the resort we stayed in, New York New York.  Along the way though I found many other parts of the city that made me reconsider it as more than glitz, facade, avarice and vice.  I left this morning with both an appreciation and soft desire to live there. 

I am going to work on the photos over the next few weeks and write about Las Vegas - my interpretations, my growing love for it and the issues I have about it.  Without going into details now though, the people (not just those working in the casinos or entertainment world) were kind, helpful, and very interesting.  Thanks Las Vegans... Veganians, Vegasonians... or how ever you label your selves.

 
* Heard a spoof on it.  "What happens in Reno... is greatly exaggerated."

Side notes -
One major positive of Las Vegas - no asthma.  Even in the smoky casinos I had barely, if any, asthma.
One major negative of Las Vegas - the heat.  For the past month I've enjoyed an SF cool summer of highs in the upper sixties and lows in the fifties.  It didn't get below 77 in Vegas.  It was around 105 yesterday.  It is a dry heat though.  I found that if I followed the same rules that got me through Burning Man (also in a NV desert) I did well.  I grew to enjoy the heat, or at least to function in it.  II moved slowly, drank lots of water, and stayed in the shade if I had to be outside for long periods of time.  I really liked rolling down the car windows in the hot evenings and cruising around the city, bathed in the hot moving air.  On the other hand though, it was a smack down when we would leave a hyper-air conditioned casino and appear in the direct sun on broiling concrete.  It felt like a gut punch.

Hit the road Jack...

Hung Like a Bus - NYC

I am traveling for a while.  I doubt I will write much during that time.  I hope to be shooting though.


I have a great treat for everyone upon my return.  I am bringing back a blog gem from the past.  Until then boys and girls, keep breathing, sleeping, eating, sexing, and staying alive.


One more thing, Happy Birthday Photo Anthem's Blog.
Here is a link to an interview with Terrell, the creator of that fine blog. 

Here is a song to play me out.

Dirty Things

Donna's Ranch Brothel - Wells, NV

A dirty book is rarely dusty.  ~Author Unknown

Not much to add to that quote other than it is true.  I guess it goes well with the saying of "a rolling stone gathers no moss".

What did you decide?

All Your Dreams - NYC

Life is the sum of all your choices.  ~Albert Camus

But adults need to be allowed to be adults. ~ Z

Outie - NYC

More NYC images.

My Moonrise, My Citizen Kane?

Movie Still from Citizen Kane

Moonrise Over Hernandez, NM - Ansel Adams

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.

I wrote a short post last night about which photos models choose to use from our work together.  At the top I put the photo Leila uses in her Model Mayhem portfolio, Yin and Yang.  My friend UL wrote a comment about the post and the image.

Yin and Yang

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.

Walker Evans - Polaroid

Walker Evans - Polaroid

Walker Evans - Polaroid