Perfection Fails Creativity

March 1, 2016

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. —Salvador Dali

By pursuing perfection, we cut ourselves off from creative options we might otherwise explore

Please pardon me for name dropping, but this story loses significance without it.

Standing next to the late Helmut Newton one day, he reached into his bag and pulled out his old 35mm camera, sans lens cap, checked his film, and started shooting. After having taken about a dozen shots, he turns the camera around and looks at the lens; it was covered in dust. The whole camera, for that matter, was somewhat less tidy than one might expect. Worn, obviously well-used, there were smudges and dirt on the body as well as the lens. Helmut sighed, took out his shirttail, and quickly rubbed it over the face of the lens.

One of his long-time assistants ran over with a different lens and said, “Here, this one’s clean.”

Helmut replied, “But this is the one I want; it’ll do.” He then proceeded to finish the set, creating wonderful images with an interesting touch of texture in the shadows.

Some have called Newton’s photography perfection, but I was there; it wasn’t. While there were things he would fuss about, especially regarding composition relative to light, there were plenty of other issues he let slide. He was always more concerned with the creative aspect than he was perfection.

By contrast, anyone who has worked around photographers in general, especially younger photographers, has met that one who is never quite satisfied. They’ll mess with lights for hours, fuss over the slightest wrinkle in a backdrop, scream about whether there is enough white showing in a model’s eyes, and complain that everything on the set is not perfect. They produce technically accurate photos, but their images lack any passion or creativity.

I’m not saying one shouldn’t strive for a certain amount of excellence in their work. By all means, whether one is taking a picture or writing a song or painting a landscape there is a given standard of excellence below which a work is not considered viable. To be so consumed with the ultimate perfection in one’s work, though, achieves only technical excellence and results in work that is ultimately boring.

Perfection is not just a creative problem, but a psychological issue. A 2008 article in Psychology Today states that, “… perfectionism is a crime against humanity.” Our society requires flexibility, adaptation, and accepting ambiguity if we are to survive. Being a perfectionist makes one a slave in addition to creative a level of psychological stress. Perfectionists equate mistakes with complete failure and who can stand up to that kind of pressure?

Diana C. Pitaru, M.S., L.P.C. has written a three-part article on the perils of perfection wherein she states:

At the core, perfectionism is about fears of failure and rejection and trying to keep ourselves protected. Perfectionism is a defense that tricks us into believing that it protects us. If we perceive the possibility of an attack, we get back into our shell to protect ourselves. When we engage in this never ending cycle, we self-sabotage and set ourselves for failure.

Creativity defies perfection. Being creative means taking risks, breaking rules, stretching outside one’s comfort zone and taking sometimes severe risks. Perhaps one of the biggest risks is that other people may not like your work. Again, that’s not to say that there aren’t standards, but when we’re being our most creative we are also most susceptible to criticism. We are always targets of criticism for those who just don’t “get it,” but we should never let that keep us from trying something different, something new.

I look back through my archives at various attempts to do something different. Some I absolutely abhor and shudder to think that I ever shared them publicly; they no longer meet my standards for which is acceptable. I look at others, though, and wish that I could maintain that same level of creativity in everything I do. Yet, one of the challenges of being creativity is that it is not a constant. As new ideas pass through our mind some are inevitably more viable than others. Sometimes we don’t have the resources, in other instances we don’t have the time. With such fluctuating variables, attempting to impose perfection on top of it all simply opens the door to what we perceive as failure.

I wrote yesterday how frustrated I am with the boring state of the arts and how popular culture has imploded. Our drive toward perfection has led to a sameness that is void of passion. There is a lack of experimentation and no one is ready to take risks. Too often, even when one does take risks and tries to buck “the system,” they get shut down, de-funded, or otherwise ignored.

The solution requires more than just changing our personal attitudes toward perfection but simultaneously rejecting it from the media we consume. Avoid the boring. Stay away from the movies that are just like all the other drivel you’ve seen. Avoid the music that sounds exactly like all the other drivel you hear. Don’t accept digitally driven perfection that compromises true creativity.

Perfection is the enemy because it cannot, ever, be achieved and our drive toward that unattainable goal blocks our ability to be creative. Let your creativity run free, let mistakes happen. We’ll all be happier for it.

Current Issues / PotD

Say Something Nice

February 23, 2016

I don’t enjoy any kind of danger or volatility. I don’t have that kind of ‘I love the bad guys’ thing. No, no thank you. I like nice people.—Tina Fey

We have become a mean, vicious, and cruel race of people because there is no one to stop us

Finding nice things to say can sometimes be very difficult. Yesterday, for example, one presidential candidate said he wanted to punch a protester. News the past few days has been littered with claims of one person disparaging another, someone shooting someone else because they said the wrong thing, and people who are supposed to be leaders outright lying about facts that are easily checked.

Social media is even worse. Descriptors such as, “idiot,” “slut,” and “jackass” are commonplace as people respond to topics with which they disagree. Do the people speaking actually know the ones they’re insulting? No, of course not. One thing social media is very good at doing is encouraging us to participate in discussions about which we know very little. In fact, the success of apps such as Twitter and Reddit depend on us not being able to keep our mouths shut when silence would certainly be the better tact.

Fashion isn’t any better. I am trying this season to avoid reviewing shows that I dislike. I’m fortunate to have a choice in which shows I cover and I see no point in putting myself, the designer, nor Pattern’s readers through the agony of discussing something I don’t like. Not everyone is so fortunate, however. Between shows, I frequently listen to the panels assembled at SHOWStudio. Participants are tasked with talking about a designer’s collection not only for the duration of the show (which I ignore) but for at least 30 minutes afterward. When a presentation is good, finding something to talk about for that length of time can be excruciatingly difficult. Inevitably, the talk turns negative, and at times even vicious.

We have become a society of mean speakers. The ancient advice of, “If you can’t say anything nice, don’t say anything at all,” is lost on us. Instead, we embrace what we consider the “right” to say anything we want, anytime, anywhere, and we think we should be able to do so without any consequence. Should anyone challenge our comments in the slightest, we fire back with some claim of “free speech.” Never mind that what we say may be hurting someone else. We don’t care. We have a right to open our mouths and let filth and disgust spill from them, so that is exactly what we do.

Body shaming has become a global pastime and photographers and photo editors are among the worst, not only in how we talk about models, but how we rate photographs based on the physical qualities of the model. I can shoot two different models in the same location and the same time of day wearing the same garment and exactly the same settings, but the photo of the thinner model is inevitably rated higher than that of the more curvy model, even when both are smaller than a size 6. One of the reasons I rarely participate in photographer’s forums online is because there are too many who have absolutely nothing civil to say about anyone.

Even church isn’t safe. When the Pope and a politician exchange insults, what kind of example does that set? Pulpits have become dispensaries of hate and aggression rather than sanctuaries of peace and love.

As a result, we are becoming increasingly violent and intolerant of one another. The recent murder spree by an Uber driver in Michigan wasn’t a random act so much as it was the physical manifestation of anger and resentment building up in all of us. This guy wasn’t crazy. He’s every bit like you and me, angry at society and the world. The difference is that he took his actions too far, going beyond words and deciding to use bullets the same way he might otherwise have randomly left mean and inappropriate comments on some website. We shudder at the horror of what he did, but are the rest of us really all that far removed from doing exactly the same thing?

What we say matters. Words do hurt, and the example we set with our words has the ability to destory our entire civilization. We cannot coexist in a situation where we have lot the ability to say anything nice about each other. When our first response is one of sarcasm, belittling, and finding the worst even in other’s good intentions, we pick away at the threads that hold our society together.

I’m guilty. You’re guilty. We have to do better. We have to find more ways to be nice to each other. We’ve been mean and self-centered for so very long, that being nice is going to take considerable effort. Turning around what have become instinctual responses is going to take time. Even more, we need to stop accepting such meanness from others, especially those in positions of authority and those campaigning for those positions. When someone decides to be mean toward another, we need to walk away, withdraw any evidence of support, and go elsewhere.

Being nice isn’t all that difficult. We can be truthful without being mean. We can disagree without being insulting. Our words are killing us. All of us. Say something nice, will you?

Advertising / Fashion / PotD

Sexy Is Still What Sells

February 22, 2016

charles i. letbetter - sexy isn't always enough

I don’t know what a world would be like if you do away with sexy images.—Christie Hefner

The advertising mantra has always been “sex sells, ” but today’s market may change how sexy is defined

When one spends two months or more out of every year, as I do, watching fashion show after fashion show after fashion show, one can become a little jaded. What might have been considered innovative and attractive at the beginning of the season starts to look boring and over-used by the point we’ve seen it 87 times. We see certain designers try to define, or re-define, what is going to be the look for the next season and sometimes what they might send down the runway intending to be sexy completely changes how we look at women’s apparel. Other times, however, the whole concept fails, miserably. Even the best of designers have off seasons. Getting sexy right can be challenging

“Sex sells,” has been an advertising commandment longer than I’ve been alive and nowhere has that been more true than with lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. The company has not only dominated the lingerie market, currently holding a 61.8% share, but they’ve successfully changed the entire course of the conversation regarding women’s underwear. Through the 1980s and 90s especially, they defined sexy with lace and silk, a heavy dose of tease, and an out-of-season runway show that is the thing of fantasies for both men and women. All that, however, may be changing.

Anyone paying attention last week was caught off guard when Victoria’s Secret CEO, Sharen Jester Turney, the woman largely responsible for making the brand the powerhouse that it is, resigned without warning. Her reasons were, “to prioritize my family and my personal life and consider what’s next for me professionally,” she said. Yet, the timing is interesting. The brand just finished its strongest quarter ever. What might Ms. Turney see on the horizon to make her think this is a good time to take a few days off?

Mallory Schlossberg thinks Ms. Turney might not like what she sees coming in the future. In an article for Business Insider this morning, Ms. Schlossberg considers all the social changes taking place that could very well challenge the VS approach to what is sexy. After all, attitudes are changing. Look at the covers of this month’s Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition and on one we see a very fit but definitely not size two Ronda Rousey, while on another we find the very curvy Ashley Graham who is more along the line of size 14-16. Younger women especially are less likely to respond to overly airbrushed and manipulated images of women that are not real. What was considered sexy for previous generations of women isn’t working for Millenials or the Generation Z that is following them. Could this mean that Victoria’s Secret and brands like them, who have largely built their empires on being sexy, are going to have to change their tunes?

Maybe, or maybe not. For all the fret and worry and endless discussion over what Millenials and “Gen Z” shoppers may or may not buy, the fact is we’re just now starting to see the leading edge of their purchasing power. While that power is going to continue to grow, so, too, does their income. What we’ve not yet explored is the degree to which their shopping habits might change as they get older and reach a more mature income status. Granted, their shopping habits as young people are different from their parents, but they’ve yet to achieve the same income level as their parents. They don’t yet have the same level of expendable cash, so it seems natural that they’re a little more conservative with how they spend.

By contrast, let’s look at the fashion styles we’ve seen coming down the runway the past two weeks. Sheer is now everywhere, despite the fact that we’re looking at fall/winter collections. Backs are more likely to be open and necklines are likely to plunge well below the navel. Slits up the side of skirts frequently go all the way to the hip. While layering is still popular and often results in very bulky, shapeless silhouettes, even there, designers have found ways to show a bit of cleavage or flirt with the sight of bare thigh. Sexy is still a very strong look and we’ve yet to get to the notoriously skin-tight styles of Milan and Paris.

Each generation puts their own twist on what is sexy, to be sure, but whatever direction that twist takes, the fact remains that sex still sells. So maybe Victoria’s Secret has to widen the sizes of lingerie they’ve traditionally offered, and maybe they use a little less airbrush in their ads. I don’t imagine women’s appetite for things that are sexy to go away anytime soon. If anything, as the definition of sexy expands, it gives advertisers even more options for reaching out to a new generation of shoppers.

Sexy as your mother defined it may not always be enough, but it is still the dominant force in selling clothes. Sex still sells. A lot.

PotD / Social Commentary

Time Ticks Too Loudly

February 21, 2016

charles i. letbetter - time ticks far too loudly

A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.—W. H. Davies

charles i. letbetter - time ticks too loudly

Time is a measure we use to punish ourselves with the reminder that we can never have enough of it

I have a new wrist watch. I’ve not worn one in well over ten years. In fact, I can’t honestly say I remember the last time I wore a wrist watch; the batteries tend to not last too long and I rarely have time to stop by a jeweler to have the battery replaced. Watch bands also seem to be problematic for me. But, this watch was only a dollar, a promotional item actually, so how could I refuse something that cost less than a cup of bad coffee?

Most watches today are smooth, digitally driven timepieces, but this one is old-fashioned gears and springs with a contemporary face. I don’t expect it to last too long. Mostly, I forget it’s on my wrist until the face gets caught on my shirt sleeve. The watch is about as simple a timepiece as one might find.

But early this morning, in the darkness before my alarm went off reminding me there was a fashion show which would ultimately end up being disappointing, I noticed something about my watch which may ultimately be disturbing: it ticks loudly. Tick. Tick. Tick. No tock, mind you, because the tock response to the tick only occurs in devices driven by a pendulum; it is the return of the pendulum that creates the sound. Spring-wound watches just tick, tick, tick, and in the middle of the night this watch was annoyingly loud.

My mind immediately thinks of that chorus from the Steve Miller Band’s Fly Like An Eagle:

Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’
Into the future
Time keeps on slippin’, slippin’, slippin’
Into the future

Over and over and over that phrase repeats with all the annoyance of the ticking on my watch. Time. Ticking. Slipping. What am I doing in bed? Why do we have to sleep? I should be up, awake, living.

We were in the car yesterday with the TED Radio Hour playing on NPR, half-listening, half-daydreaming as Keith Chen talked about how our language affects our ability to save money. Specifically, people whose language does not contain the future tense tend to save better than those who do use the future tense. That part is interesting enough, but toward the end of the talk Chen says that not only does the absence of future tense correlate to higher savings, but better health, better eating habits, less likely to smoke, and more likely to practice safe sex. All of this hinging on how our language leads us to understand the future, and in a broader sense, time itself. Extrapolating those findings out to the extreme, we might conclude that how we understand time, the perspective our language gives us on time, may lead us to behaviors that affect just how much time we have. Future tense kills.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Loudly. Far too loudly.

In the quiet of the night, every sound is exaggerated, of course, and so is our reasoning. Acting on thoughts one has at 1:00 in the morning is rarely a good move. A cup of coffee, perhaps some bacon and eggs, a moment to give those thoughts a second examination, might prevent one from doing something they would later regret. The ticking of my watch doesn’t change volume levels between 1:00 AM and 7:00 AM, but my perception of that ticking, and my perspective of time, does change. I’m less disturbed by either once I’m up and active and waiting for the next fashion show. I worry less about running out of time in my life, and more about being on time for the next runway.

Still, I wish I had more time; more time when my brain is active and not feeling sluggish from the morning’s work. Getting up so early often means that by the time my schedule opens up around 1:00 PM, either my brain or my body is exhausted. I want to keep going, to edit more, to write a couple more articles, or perhaps read a bit, but rarely is there enough energy for that to happen and I end up feeling that I’ve wasted time napping. Just imagine what I could have gotten done had I stayed awake!

With each birthday, time ticks a bit louder, reminding me that I have less of it now than I did 12 months ago, and raising the question of how I will use the time I have left. We’ve all heard the platitude about living each day as if it were your last. That doesn’t work, though. What we do today affects tomorrow, and for the greater majority of us there will be a tomorrow. We can’t live as if there are no consequences for our actions. The fact that we might die tomorrow does not excuse our lack of responsibility today.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Time for me to wrap this up. Another fashion show starts soon. If you’ve not been reading the reviews on Pattern, I’m disappointed in you. Those take a lot of my time, and I only have so much of that to give.

Tick. Tick. Tick. Louder and louder.

Fashion / Photography / PotD

Pictures Or It Didn’t Happen

February 15, 2016

The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want.—George Lucas

The fascination with Instagram and Pinterest is more than an annoying habit; it’s changing the world

We’re calling them Generation Z, those who are currently teenagers, and already they’re having an impact on the world. Wth smartphones glued to their hands and cell phone cameras ever at the ready, one of the traits this generation has learned from the Millennials right before them is that experiences matter over materialism. The big difference between the two group of youngsters, though, is that Gen Z is finding ways to make everything they do an experience, whether it’s the ride to school, ice cream afterward, or brushing their teeth before bed. Everything ends up on Instagram. And if it’s going to be on Instagram, one has to look good doing it.

Helping teens decide what makes them look good is Pinterest. Unlike their parents, who use the social media app for things like recipes and decorating ideas, Gen Z pins pictures of street styles and ads from their favorite online magazines so they can put together their own wardrobe combinations; a little of this, a touch of that, and they have a look that is all their own.

Now, imagine what it would have been like had my generation had cameras at the ready and an easy distribution method when we were teens. While we almost certainly would have taken just as many pictures as teens today do, what we captured would have likely been different. For starters, I’m not sure how often we would have been able to see anything due to the overwhelming amount of smoke that was everywhere. Even the few of us who didn’t have a pack of cigarettes tucked away somewhere had plenty of friends who did, so even a picture from the back of the driver’s ed car would have had smoke. No wonder we’re all dying.

Would looking at pictures of ourselves all the time given us a better idea of what to wear? While I’m still seeing 70s influences for the third season in a row, most of us actually had the fashion sense of a squirrel, and if one looks at the majority of us today, that hasn’t changed much. Of course, we country kids weren’t as big on the super-wide bell bottom pants as the city kids were because they were a hazard; those flared legs were dangerous around farm implements, so we tended to keep our 501s with a boot leg for practical reasons.

One thing for certain, though, had we had phones back then with the capabilities of those today, we would have captured some kick-ass music events. Imagine recording AC-DC, The Rolling Stones, Jimmy Buffet, Foghat, Chicago, The Doobie Brothers, Three Dog Night, or Led Zepplin back in their prime! Bands that are being inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame next month were still young, the concerts were legendary, and what happened after those concerts is responsible for Generation X. Imagine how great it would be if we had captured that all on Periscope and then saved it!

Being able to take plenty of pictures as we go through life sounds like a great thing, but there are consequences to such an over indulgence. The first one, right off the bat, is storage; it was a problem when I was a kid and it remains a problem now. We weren’t terribly shy about taking pictures when we considered it worthwhile, but where are those pictures now? Chances are, a few are stuffed in envelopes at the back of a drawer or file cabinet. My mother was into scrapbooking as she got older; what remains of ours are in a couple of large plastic containers under a bed at my brother’s house. Teens today, though, tend to not keep their pictures all that long. When the card on their phone begins to get full, they start deleting. They’re too young to realize the value of the pictures they’re taking today. After all, they’ll be taking more pictures tomorrow. Unfortunately, of all those experiences they are having, it’s not until years later that they’ll realize which ones were really important.

The other consequence is that taking so many pictures and sharing them changes how we shop. An article in Busines Insider this morning details how the Gen Z fascination with pictures and Instagram and other social media is killing more traditional retailers like the Gap, J. Crew, and Abercrombie & Fitch. Not only that, but it is that same attitude that is leading an increasing number of designers to shift their runway calendar so that instead of showing a season ahead for department store buyers, more and more are showing current season and allowing for instant online purchases immediately after the show, skipping both the buyer and the department stores all together.

How and when we take pictures, and our fascination with sharing them, changes our decision-making process, from where we go on vacation to what we’re having for dinner. Since almost everything we do ultimately has some economic tie to it, that impulse to share everything online is dramatically altering the world’s economy, for both better and worse.

When I first picked up a camera some 30+ years ago, my dream, along with those of my colleagues, was that maybe one of my pictures might have an impact on the world. Just one. Today, kids with smartphones are changing the world with every picture they take.

And more than ever, if there are no pictures, it didn’t happen.

Current Issues / PotD

Disaster In The Making

February 7, 2016

Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we’re still at the mercy of nature.—Neil deGrasse Tyson

Zika is one of those diseases that, unless we find a treatment, could unravel the fabric of society

I have been watching over the past few days as the specter of snow looms over tomorrow’s forecast. As much as a heavy snowfall has the potential to really mess up my schedule for this week, that may be exactly what we need. With our winter, to date, having been so very mild and comfortable, there hasn’t been enough snow and freezing temperatures to do what winter does best: kill bug larvae. Unfortunately, we’re likely to get little more than a dusting tomorrow, or so it seems. Our portion of the Midwest has missed the blizzards and the sub-zero temperatures that usually help keep the insect population in check. I’m beginning to worry. We could use a minor disaster to prevent a major one.

The problem isn’t all bugs, of course. The danger the lurks in the coming of Spring is a common nuisance: mosquitoes. We fight them every year and the wetter the spring the more challenging that battle becomes. For most people in the United States, they’re little more than a nuisance, but this year they hold the potential to bring society to its knees as they may be carrying a deadly disease known as Zika.

This past Monday, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Zika a public health emergency. Such a move is fairly rare as it raises warnings that affect economies and social practices. Even in this statement, the WHO was been accused of playing politics in not putting a restriction on travel to affected areas by pregnant women. Why? Because ground zero for the disease is currently Brazil, the country hosting this summer’s Olympic games. Any level of travel restriction (which the US implemented last month ) could devastate Brazil’s already shaky economy. Yet, the risk to pregnant women is severe, and not exactly welcoming for anyone else.

While pregnant women and their unborn fetuses have been the primary focus of those attempting to corral the disease, Zika can affect anyone. Most healthy people would experience the all-too-common symptoms for about a week and not know what was the cause. Fever, rash, joint pain, red eyes, and perhaps a headache are the most common symptoms and most people who contract the disease never need to see a doctor or go to the hospital. They can wait out the symptoms, which last about a week, and be fine. So, what’s the big deal? Why are we worried?

Because Zika has the ability to do so much more. While mosquitoes remain the primary means of transmitting the disease, having sex with anyone currently infected with Zika can also spread the disease to an uninfected partner. Not everyone whose bloodstream is infected will present symptoms and while, for most people, the disease only stays in the bloodstream about a week, it can hang around longer without the host being aware of its presence. The one case of Zika that has occurred in the US was spread through sexual contact with an infected person. As we’ve seen with other sexually transmitted diseases, once the spread begins it can be difficult to stop.

Where Zika becomes a real disaster is in the effect it has on unborn children. Zika appears to affect the development of the head and brain, resulting in something called Microcephaly. There is no treatment that diminishes the effects. There is no cure. Children born with the disease are disabled for life and will never be able to care for themselves. Seizures, loss of hearing and/or sight, balance difficulty, and difficulty swallowing are among the dangers faced by children with microcephaly.

As if affecting children wasn’t bad enough, the great social disaster could be in how to respond, especially for pregnant women. Already, women in affected countries, most of which are in heavily Catholic South America, are beginning to re-think their stance on abortion, which not only puts them at odds with the church, but in most South American countries, such as Brazil, abortion is illegal except under the most extreme circumstances. The Church also forbids the use of any form of birth control, including condoms, which could contribute to the further spread of the disease.

Already, the United Nations has issued a statement urging “the repeal of laws and policies that restrict access to sexual and reproductive health services.” Here is where the disaster threatens to do the most damage. While few debate the need to curb the disease with medicine and science, when the most readily available means of prevention collides with religious beliefs, people are ready to go to war to protect what they consider their religious duty. Even in the United States, women’s reproductive rights are a hotbed of controversy, with Congress repeatedly attempting to defund women’s care providers, specifically Planned Parenthood, because of their willingness to provide various methods of birth control. Given that this is a presidential election year with passions already running high at both political extremes, this could be the disaster the ultimately leads to domestic violence on a level we’ve not seen since the Civil War.

Even in the United States, women’s reproductive rights are a hotbed of controversy, with Congress repeatedly attempting to defund women’s care providers, specifically Planned Parenthood, because of their willingness to provide various methods of birth control. Given that this is a presidential election year with passions already running high at both political extremes, this could be the disaster the ultimately leads to domestic violence on a level we’ve not seen since the Civil War.

Public health officials in the US are attempting, for the moment, to downplay the risks, citing effective mosquito extermination programs in the past. However, given that Zika can be spread through sexual contact, and we’ve not yet begun mosquito season, it is too early to be so dismissive. At the very least, it would seem prudent to impose even more stringent travel restrictions to places where Zika is a known problem. The CDC is already urging the use of condoms and other means of birth control as a way of avoiding pregnancy if one plans on traveling to an infected area. Consumer Reports, whose content is normally behind a paywall, has made public a list of mosquito repellants that best protect against Zika.

Disaster could still be averted, but to ignore the threat is foolish. We’re still three to four months away from seeing mosquitoes begin to spread across the United States. For many areas, especially rural communities, measures to fight mosquitoes are likely to require federal funding, something Congress has loathed. If the funding is not there, the risk for disaster increases. If people attending the Olympics are not careful in every possible sense of the word, the risk for disaster increases.

In comparison, maybe getting snowed in for a couple of days isn’t so bad.

Advertising

Censoring The Super Bowl

January 28, 2016

You know, the Super Bowl is so fresh that every single commercial is even on, you know, some next-level entertainment.—will.i.am

Censoring ads in the midst of a program built upon violence seems a little more than hypocritical

I’ll admit to enjoying a bit of football, but, like millions of other people across the US, the primary reason I watch the Super Bowl is for the ads. Rarely do I care at all about the outcome of the game, though I generally hope that it isn’t a complete blowout. What is much more entertaining for me are the increadinly creative commercials that show especially during the first half and at half-time. I watch those ads with rapt fascination and, unless the game is unusually good, fall asleep somewhere in the third quarter.

Teasers for this year’s ads are looking especially promising. Already, we’ve gotten hints from Christopher Walken, Alec Baldwin, Dan Marino, Jeff Goldblum, and Lil Wayne, among others, that have me absolutely salivating to see the delightful pitches coming forth. There are also a fair number of first time Super Bowl advertisers putting up the $5 million-plus for a 30-second spot. Amazon, Bai, Shock Top, Pokemon, and SoFi are among the rookies who are putting it all on the line during this game.

Who we won’t be seeing during a two-minute timeout is People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA). Their ad, titled Last Longer, focuses on the health benefits of not eating meat and how that, in turn, allows one the stamina to be more effective in bed. Sounds like the perfectly targeted ad for a Super Bowl crowd, doesn’t it?

Apparently not. CBS network censors, working under guildelines from the NFL, deemed the ad too explicit for television.

We’ve seen Super Bowl ads censored before; that part is definitely not new. The NFL takes a very prudish view toward any overt sexualization that might distract from the bone-crushing, concussion-inducing, permanently-disabling activities taking place on the field. Furthermore, we have seen just how terribly upset half-drunken moms can get at the mere 0.001-second slip of a nipple. They’re all so terribly worried about having to explain procreation to their precious little children, but don’t seem to have any issues with open acts of violence being referred to as sport.

Let’s be clear: I’m not a fan of PeTA. I’m very much a carnivore and while my personal sexual exploits are best left unmentioned, I assure you that it is arthritis, not my diet, most likely to limit the duration of my activity. PeTA is well known for their over-sensationalism and this ad is yet another example of that tactic.

Still, I cannot help but fnd it extremely hypocritical that this ad is banned from the Super Bowl of all places. Football is nothing but overt violence disguised as sport. Each year, the devestating effects of concussions and other injuries are demonstrated as debilitating in the lives of those who once played in the Super Bowl. Rumors are swirling that this may well be the final game for Denver quarterback Petyon Manning because of the life-threatening injuries he received and the punishment his body continues to endure. So, we’re okay with all the violence going on for the better part of three hours, but we’re not good with 30 seconds of simulated sex?

Please, tell me I’m not the only one who has difficulty making any sense of this decision. Don’t give me any BS about the children, either. If they’re old enough to watch grown men attempting to kill each other, they can handle a little fake nookie.

There is a time and a place for everything, and I sure wouldn’t run the PeTA commercial during the first two hours of weeknight prime time family comedies. But to censor implied sex while endorsing blatant violence, whether in a game or a scripted police drama, is not just hypocritical but about as immoral as television can possibly get. So, since CBS and the NFL won’t show you the ad, I will. Here you go:

Current Issues / PotD

Avoiding Bad Blizzard Sex

January 24, 2016

My favorite thing of all time is a New York City weekend when there’s a blizzard. Everything gets really quiet, and everyone goes to the movies and the park.—Idina Menzel

Stop and think: do you really want to be handcuffed to that person if the power goes out?

This has been a crazy weekend, has it not? New York is reporting 26.8 inches of snow, officially; the second largest snowfall since 1869. The #JonasBlizzard logged the most snow ever in Baltimore, second heaviest at Dulles International Airport. In keeping with tradition, no one knows exactly how much snow fell in Washington, D.C., because they’re still arguing over how to measure the white stuff. The good news is that at least the snow has stopped falling. The bad news is that now comes the problem of getting rid of the frozen wonderland. Flooding has already started in New Jersey and several other areas. It could still be several days before the majority of roads are passable and people’s lives are back to normal.

Of course, as Idina mentions above, a little snow doesn’t stop New Yorkers. By the time you’re reading this, New York’s travel ban should be lifted and people will be getting out, making their way to Central Park, and trying to make the best of the situation. Aged rock star Steven Tyler even found a CNN live report to bomb, which may actually be one of the most interesting things to happen in the past 24 hours.

One of the biggest challenges now is avoiding bad sex and keeping yourself from participating in the seemingly inevitable spike in births currently scheduled for late September. Sure, I know we told you to make new friends to help keep you warm, but do you really want these people to hang around all summer, smelling things up, putting their stinky feet on your coffee table, and taking over your life in ways you never imagined? No, of course you don’t. The last thing you want is to encourage your blizzard buddies to linger by having sex with them. Even worse, you definitely don’t want to have bad sex with them and chances are high that any sex you would have at this juncture would not be the best ever. Let’s not make this blizzard any more of a disaster than it already is, okay?

Don’t worry, we’ve got your back, metaphorically speaking. Here are some tips you can use to avoid having bad blizzard sex.

Don’t. Just don’t. For the love of warm bagels and cream cheese, show some restraint for once why don’t you? Do you really want to risk going into the fall with a newborn, or a partner that acts like one? Having sex with someone you didn’t know well before the blizzard destroys any chance for you to have a long and meaningful friendship. Two days in the snow is not enough time for you to really get to know each other, no matter how many secrets you spilled after you were three beers into Friday night. Don’t go there. Don’t. Stop it. Don’t even entertain the idea.
Stay ready for further emergencies. Just because the snow has stopped falling doesn’t mean the worst of this blizzard is over. There will be flooding. Power outages may still happen. You might need to evacuate quickly and without warning. Stop and think for a minute: do you really want to be handcuffed to that person if the power goes out? Would you want first responders breaking down your door and finding you struggling to get back into your footed pajamas? No, that isn’t a risk you dare take. You must remain alert and vigilant until your guest(s) leaves.
Keep all your adult toys well hidden. Despite the weel-long warnings that this was going to be a “blizzard for the ages,” no one really prepared for the thing until late Thursday afternoon. You may not have picked up your stray friend until Friday. Nothing says bad sex like someone discovering your box of sexual indulgences and asking, “What are these?” Even worse is the question, “Can you show me how these work?” Now is not the time for you to take up teaching remedial sex education. Should your temporary body heat buddy come across your stash, pretend they were left by a former roommate and then, for added measure, suggest they could be covered with some STI. That should keep you safe.
Use Netflix to determine their sexual maturity. This one might be a bit complicated for some of you, so pay attention. From within Netflix, enter category number 1402, which takes you to Late Night Comedies. Be sure, there is nothing here that is socially redeemable or actually funny. These are disastrous films made for adolescent minds. So, as you’re scrolling through the list, should your would-be partner give any indication that they’ve not only seen but actually enjoyed any of these movies, you definitely don’t want to have sex with them. If you are unsure, start one of the movies. If they giggle at the first sight of bare boobs, you know you’re in trouble. Kick them out into the snow. Now.
Go for a walk in the snow. This is the real reason you find all those people in Central Park after the city gets socked in. You’ve been cooped up with this person (or these people) since Thursday or Friday. Your decision-making ability is not as strong as it should be. Get out, taking a walk, cool down. The cold air will help you snap to your senses and remind you of all the things that could go wrong if you have sex with this person. Can they even tell the difference between a tube of lube and a tube of toothpaste? What would happen if you had to introduce this person to your mother? Walking in the snow is great for clearing your head, and if you’re lucky maybe the dimwit will get lost in a snowbank and you won’t need to worry any further.

Hopefully, that is enough to engage your creative juices, as opposed to those associated with adult copulation. Obviously, if you are sequestered with someone you already love and cherish, nothing here applies. We still encourage restraint unless you really want a September baby. Maybe you’ll get lucky and your Ob/Gyn will have a half-price sale due to all the volume. One thing for sure, though, is that sex with someone you just brought in from the cold is definitely not going to be good. What happens in your fantasies doesn’t exist in real life.

Perhaps it’s time to warm up another frozen pizza. Good luck.

Current Issues / PotD

Everything Eventually Becomes Trivia

January 23, 2016

charles i. letbetter -everything becomes trivia

I think democracy’s undermined when those who own newspapers fill them with trivia rather than real issues.—Ken Livingstone

charles i. letbetter - everything is trivia

As increasing amounts of information are thrust at us, even the things we enjoy risks becoming trivia

News, valid information that people need to know, too easily becomes trivia in our world. I look through the headlines this morning and struggle to choose a topic that is appropriate for this space. It’s not that there isn’t plenty to talk about, but sometimes the volume becomes so much that each additional voice begins to mute the whole.

Granted, I could keep talking about the #Snowmaggedon that is plaguing the East coast. I do genuinely feel sympathetic toward the people who live there. However, to write about an event like that when one is not actually experiencing it at the moment risks turning the whole story into trivia. Our eyes become tired of seeing the subject in headline after headline. We begin to assume that we’ve already consumed all the important information and ignore the rest.

At the same time, because of the sheer volume of information flooding the pipeline, there are a number of stories that become trivial simply because they don’t stand out enough to grab our attention. These stories fall under the category of, “oh yeah, this happened, too, but no one really noticed.” In newspaper terms, it becomes page six fodder. No one reads page six.

So, as I’m going through the headlines this morning, let me share with you some stories that you might have missed but that are probably more important than we realize. I’ll just give you a synopsis and then a link to the full article. These deserve to not be relegated to trivia.

Hidden peanut connection kills Minnesota man. If you’ve ever been around anyone with a peanut allergy, you know how crazy careful they are not only about not eating peanuts themselves, but staying away from anything that has come into contact with peanuts. Peanut allergies are one of those against which the body has limited immunity. Each negative reaction takes away from that immunity and when it’s gone, there’s no replacing it. This young man was being careful, but ate a chocolate from a manufacturer who also processes peanut candies. While none of the chocolates in the box contained peanuts, and he had eaten other chocolates from that box without a problem, the one he grabbed that morning was enough to kill him. Read the story here.

The global refugee crisis hasn’t stopped. One of the dangers of this election year is that when an issue stops being the talking point of the moment, it is promptly forgotten. A couple of weeks ago, the refugee crisis had everyone’s attention, mostly because no one in the US wanted to actually deal with the situation. Now that our political attention is literally stuck in the snow, we’ve stopped talking about the continuing waves of people flooding Greece so heavily that the EU is seriously considering, get this, building a fence around Greece to keep refugees from entering mainland Europe. People are dying on a daily basis. The humanitarian crisis is more severe than ever. What we treat like trivia now will come back to haunt us. Here’s the story from the Washington Post.

There is a superbug waiting to kill you. Getting competing drug manufacturers to agree on anything, especially government involvement, is nearly impossible but that is exactly what happened yesterday. 83 companies, including Pfizer and Merck, signed a declaration urging governments around the world to take action in combating drug-resistant infections. The bug that has them most concerned at the moment is called MCR-1. The bug was found in China late last year and has since popped up in Denmark as well. There is no existing drug to combat it and the potential fatality rate makes last year’s Ebola scare look like a tea party. You know it’s serious when drug makers are asking governments for help. Read up on the matter here.

China is still a horrible totalitarian regime. As trade relations with China have normalized over the past few years, we tend to forget that the Chinese government still has one of the worst records on human rights in the world. Recently, they’ve been rounding up dissidents and human rights attorneys and charging them with “subversion of state power.” People continue to disappear off the streets, and the crackdown isn’t limited to Chinese nationals. A Swedish citizen employed by a human rights NGO has been arrested as well. We have to ask ourselves whether the cheap electronics and fashion knockoffs are worth turning a blind eye to this tragedy. The Wall Street Journal has the story.

Skin cancer is five times more deadly when you’re pregnant. Melanoma is a personal issue for me because my father died of complications from melanoma, even after doctors initially said he had a 95% chance of beating it. Now, a study published this week shows that when melanoma is found in pregnant women, or within a year of pregnancy, they are five times more likely to die. Understand, this isn’t in older women, this is among women under the age of 50, women who are still very much in their childbearing years, women who, under more normal conditions, shouldn’t have to worry about the disease for another 20 years or so. The test group was small, but the results were strong enough to be frightening. Read the story here and then, if you’re pregnant, talk to your doctor.

I’m stopping there because my intent is not to totally depress everyone, but to emphasize just how much information, news we really need, is being missed, relegated to the trivia bin of social media’s short attention span. I understand, sometimes the glut of “bad” news is so heavy that we have to turn it off for a while to prevent our own plunge into depression. The world is not hopeless, though. The more you know, the better equipped you are to do something. Watch labels. Talk to your doctor. Avoid certain Chinese imports. You don’t have to be radical to make a difference. We just need to be aware.

And if you were expecting a trivia game from me this morning, I’m sorry. Maybe we’ll do something fun tomorrow.

Advertising / Fashion

Snowbound Solution: Spring Fashion

January 22, 2016

If you let fear take hold, if you let it own you, your life ceases to be your own. ― Blake Crouch, Snowbound

charles i. letbetter - snowbound solution

from my 2007 book: a Bella Mafia: Looks Can Kill. Fashion by Nikki Blaine.

With snow pounding the East coast of the United States right now, and cold generally being the state of things most everywhere else across North America, we thought this might be a good time to offer up a distraction by looking at some of this Spring’s more promising ad campaigns. Of course, not everything made it through our sensors, but since you may likely be snowbound and possibly not ready to dig into your Netflix cache just yet, we thought we’d at least give you a taste of what’s coming to store shelves once all this white stuff gets out of the way.

Balmain

All hail Olivier Rousteing as he manages to pull off the casting coup of the season, bringing a campaign not littered with blank-eyed 16-year-old, but rather women who set the standard for being a supermodel: Naomi Campbel, Claudia Schiffer, and Cindy Crawford. These ladies continue to demonstrate how modeling is really done and make this, by far, the most visually appealing campaign we’ve seen this season. No one else really comes close.

This is really a different look for the DKNY, which is to be expected. Much more street, much more in touch with their base audience. This is the first campaign since Donna Karen left the brand and creative directors Dai-Yi Chow and Maxwell Osborne definitely leave their mark and let it be known that the brand is moving in a very different direction. Not expecting to see any khaki jumpers here anytime soon.

Equipment. Photo by Daria Werbowy

There are so very many campaigns hitting at the same time that it really can be difficult for a lesser-known brand to stand out. Equipment found a way around that little problem by letting models Kate Moss and Daria Werbowy take off for some remote island in the Carribean. They gave them a couple of silk button down shirts, a camera, and … uhm … that was about it. So, of course, we’re guessing there are some outtakes that didn’t make it past the US censors, which is too bad. The campaign is fun, especially since neither model bothers wearing much … makeup.

Givenchy

When I first saw this collection by Ricardo Tisci hit the runway last September, I couldn’t help thinking that there was something slightly familiar about the all-white ensembles. Oh yeah, Nikki Blaine did that back in 2007! Okay, so Tisci’s designs are a little more racy, a lot heavier on the lace, and in some cases may not be suitable for public exposure. Still, what caught my eye in this campaign is the sheer number of models he pulls together. Trust me, I know how very challenging that can be. I counted twelve models through the entire campaign, and will admit that I might have missed a couple. Adding the poems is a nice touch as well. Of course, for those who are snowbound, white may not be your favorite color at the moment.

Kenzo

I’m not really sure whether this campaign is pouring salt in the open wound of every snowbound soul or if it is an accurate description of your desire to be somewhere else. There are only a few of these photos out at the moment, most of them for media use, not paid ads yet. An accompanying film by director Sean Baker (Tangerine) hits February 3 and if you’re still snowbound by then and haven’t completely lost your mind then it might be a respite from looking out at all that white. The old trailer park with the bohemian styling is interesting, to be sure, and splashing “snow bird” across the top of the picture is definitely timely. Yes, we all wish we’d bought tickets for Florida two weeks ago.

Those are the best of what I’ve seen this week. There will be more, I’m sure. For those of you along the East coast, just try to stay away from the windows. Watching the snow fall won’t help your depression any. Think Spring. Think warm. Don’t go out without a coat and boots.

Advertising / Fashion

Fashion + Advertising = Porn

January 13, 2016

What we see in advertisements is just selling fake dreams, fake things, this impossible beauty. I think we have to be honest. Yeah, this is an ad, we’re selling shoes. But it’s in an interesting way, and people smile.– Nicola Formichetti, creative director, Diesel

Can people not wearing clothes actually sell clothes?

Diesel‘s creative director, Nicola Formichetti, has had a peek at your browser history. He knows where you really spend your time, and now he’s going to make sure you’re seeing ads for his clothing while you’re there.

Of course, the majority of people who are regular visitors to the sites Formichetti is targeting, Tinder, Grindr, PornHub, and YouTube, actively deny that they have ever been there. Yet, somehow, PornHub is the 66th most visited website in the world. People on Tinder swipe left or right 1.4 billion times a day. Grindr has 7 million users. Clearly, someone is visiting these websites and they’re visiting them often. But, even with the high traffic numbers, does it make sense to sell underwear next to ads for penis enlargement scams?

“We’re a sexy brand. To support the launch of our underwear line, we’re going to be the first brand to ever advertise on Grindr and we’re the first fashion brand to be working with Pornhub, too. The message is simple: before you jerk off look at this,” Formichetti says with a wink. I don’t think I want to know how hands on Formichetti was with this research. Is the natural marriage of fashion and advertising really porn?

Okay, before we get too terribly upset and all the prudes on the planet swear they’ll never buy Diesel, let’s do a reality check. Number one, if you are truly offended, chances are pretty good you aren’t a Diesel customer anyway. “We’re not scared of these places, we’re not high fashion. We are street,” Formichetti says, and he’s right. Diesel sells denim, not silk.

Second, only one set of underwear ads is going to run on the aforementioned websites. The remainder of the campaign can be seen in all the typical places. Formichetti is very much aware of what’s going on in the digital world, though, and is very comfortable using it to the brand’s advantage. If he sees a website capturing an obscene number of viewers, chances are he’s going to put an ad there.

Third, he’s neither the first nor the only designer to make a connection between fashion and adult material. Remember the pole dancers at Alexander Wang‘s show last season? And just recently, JW Anderson, not typically considered the sexiest brand on the planet, streamed its menswear show on Grindr to the largest online audience the brand has ever seen. Fashion is taking a very sexy turn that may well challenge Tom Ford’s Gucci ads for raw sex appeal. Fashion ads have long been criticized by more conservative segments of society as being porn, so why not embrace it?

Luxury brands have struggled this past year and there’s not a brand in the industry that hasn’t considered what it might have to do to turn sales around. Some are switching creative directors. Others are swapping ad agencies. Still others are employing runway gimmicks and media tie-ins to garner attention. That Formichetti would follow the digital trail to adult-oriented websites fits with the “try anything” attitude currently dogging designers.

Once again, Formichetti tries to explain his reasoning. “I want to portray the world we live in today, and the people in it – so it’s very important that we have different genders, body types, colours, that’s our norm. And then we all live through the phone and the computer, so I wanted to be honest about that.”

Be sure, every other designer is gong to be watching to see whether the porn approach works. If it does, we may just see clothing ads next to naked people on a more regular basis.

Advertising / Art

Art Models As Ad Gimmicks

January 12, 2016

charles i. letbetter - art models as ad fodder

There are so many beautiful girls who aren’t photogenic. In real life, half the models you see look really hideous.—Lisanne Falk

Two models posing for public art drawing class, Atlanta, GA (2005)

Please, take everything I say from this point forward with a bit of tongue-in-cheek humor.

Being an art model is a lot more difficult than it looks. Surrounded by people you don’t know, sometimes people you wouldn’t want to know, one is asked to remove their clothing and stand, or sit, or lie, in poses specifically designed to provide an example of how the human body looks in that position, often highlighting a specific muscle group. This is how artists learn. Missing these classes leaves a huge chunk missing in one’s art education. The job is thankless. The poses are rarely comfortable and have to be held for several minutes at a time. Many times, the model doesn’t get to see, and probably doesn’t want to see the end result because, again these are art students, just learning their craft. Not all of them have a clue what they’re doing.

Most of the art models I know are wonderful people with typical, average day jobs that wouldn’t begin to give away the nature of their extra-curricular activities. Most are intelligent people who genuinely care about the arts and arts education. However, as with any profession, there are some who are just on the dangerous side of dull, even on a good day. Art instructors continue using these “dull” people because they tend to be passionate about their employment (sometimes their only employment) and have few, if any, qualms about the poses. Again, decent enough people, you just probably don’t want to try and engage them in conversation. Ever. It’s painful.

Our friends at BBDO are responsible for the current Snickers® campaign; you know, the ones about being hungry causing you to not be yourself. Those have been particularly entertaining ads over the past year, and their non-traditional outdoor ads have been especially on point. So, when we came across the new ads, shown for the first time this past Sunday, for a new product called Snickers® Crispers, I was anxious to see what the creative minds at that table had devised. At this moment, my feelings are rather mixed.

What they’ve done is slightly morph the Snickers ads where the unfortunate subject’s hunger leads them to behave in rather foolish ways. There’s certainly plenty of potential behind the concept, but of the two ads shown this past Sunday, only one was at least mildly amusing, which was the one with an art model. The second, featuring a young man blowing a job interview, was groan worthy. Parent company Mars Candies has paid for Super Bowl spots for both Snickers and Snickers Crispers and I’m really hoping they pull some new material for those overly-expensive displays.

Still, knowing art models as I do, and having met some, especially male models, who are on the far side of clueless no matter what they’ve eaten, I did find this one ad amusing and the camera work entertaining. Take a look for yourself:

https://youtu.be/IWsOAieBz40

What’s interesting about the ad is the premise that the model would get this far into his posing before anyone in the class said anything. Don’t you think someone might have asked a question or two when the model removed his clothes? Oh, but that would spoil the joke, so we’re just supposed to overlook that detail. The ad has some problems.

Nonetheless, it’s not every day that we find ads featuring art models so I felt rather obligated to highlight this one. Who knows, maybe someone could build a whole campaign around art models showing up in uncomfortable situations—such as lunch with your grandmother. Naked people and grandmothers sounds like a sure win to me. Go for it, BBDO!

Fashion / Music

Ciara & The Double Standard

January 12, 2016

You Can Create Your Own Life Story With The Things You Say, So When You Speak, Say Good Things.— Ciara

Spin Me (2012). Model: Angela Denton

There was, apparently, a football game last night. Apparently, Grammy award-winning artist Ciara sang the national anthem. Apparently, the only thing some people noticed was her dress.

This is one of those times when a portion of American society is being so incredibly stupid that I wish I could reach out and give them all a collective slap right across the face. Apparently, not everyone has gotten it through their heads that shaming women for having breasts isn’t cool; in fact, it is a very disgusting habit that demonstrates severe ignorance and perpetuates the kind of culture wherein rape is always the woman’s fault. Stop. This type of behavior is not acceptable in contemporary society.

Just how offensive is this dress Ciara wore? Take a look at this gorgeous gown for yourself:

Getty Images

How in the world some people dared to call this nude is beyond me. Do they have x-ray vision or something? The trolls hit Twitter so fast it was infuriating. Making matters worse, they were led by former ESPN analyst Bonnie Bernstein who should know better than to make a statement as offensive as this:

Dear Ciara. You’re stunning. But this is a National Championship Game. Kids are watching. Cover up.

— Bonnie Bernstein (@BonnieBernstein) January 12, 2016

That was all the cue Twitter trolls needed. Within seconds, the pile on became heavy and increasingly ignorant. The diatribe continued even after the game was over, as though, somehow, Ciara wearing this dress was going to bring about the fall of civilization. Quite to the contrary, it is such narrow-minded, sexist opinions that are more likely to be our undoing.

What’s even more glaring, though, is the double standard such outrage presents. While, apparently, it’s okay to give Ciara grief over wearing such a wonderful gown (I mean, come on, the arch of that cape is perfect), no one says a damn thing about college students running around the field looking like this:

I wonder if the University of Alabama offers a degree in Objectifying Women or if it’s just an extra-curricular pastime on campus?

Quite honestly, it shouldn’t matter one bit if Ciara opted to walk out onto that field bare-ass naked; that would still be no just cause for attempting to shame her. We, as a nation and as a society, need to get the hell over this bad habit and realize the long-term harm such attitudes do to women, to the violence this attitude perpetuates.

Whoever dressed Ciara for this occasion should be congratulated on choosing a gown that was beautiful, flattering, and looked spectacular under the stadium lights.

Meanwhile, I guess I’m the only one who noticed the 0 in the 2016, which was a significant part of the game’s marketing, looked a bit too much like a vagina. And if you still want to really be upset by something, consider the fact that Coldplay is doing the Super Bowl halftime. Now that is offensive.

pop culture / PotD

The Final Countdown(s)

November 22, 2015

I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.—Martin Luther King, Jr.

We’re hurtling toward the end of the year and that means we only have ten, count ’em, #POTD posts left before we take our December break. So, we’re going to spend these final few days with pictures that we weren’t able to make fit anywhere else and counting down a number of things we think are fun and important.

There’s no real cohesive point to the images. Some, like today’s, are quite old by digital standards. The Legends Football League’s Cynthing Schmidt was only 19 years old when we took this picture. Now, you’ll find her popping up in places like Sports Illustrated’s Lovely Lady of the Day feature. She seems to have done quite well for herself, but that has absolutely nothing to do with today’s list.

10 Things We Need To Do Before The End Of The Year

Kiss A Baby.
Chances are, unless you live in a cave with absolutely no interaction with anyone, you know someone who has a baby, or at least a toddler. Nothing is as calming and joyful as being slobbered upon by a six-month-old who thinks you taste good.

Spend five minutes doing nothing but petting an animal. Animals are wonderful givers of affection and are surprisingly effective at de-stressing humans. Just be selective about the animal. Lions and fish aren’t so cuddly.

Take an online class. Yep, there’s still time for you to actually accomplish something so that you’re not totally embarrassed while visiting with family over the holidays. Mashable has a good list here.

Donate some time to a charity. This time of year, charities who directly help the poor need more than just money, they need your time. Packing and distributing food take a lot of effort. If you have children, make it a family affair. The lesson in giving is invaluable.

Count your blessings. Seriously. Pen. Paper. Write. Do it the old-fashioned way so that it actually sticks in your head how fortunate you’ve been this year. Then, seal it in an envelope to open next year when you’re feeling blue.

Try the new Oreos® churros. Seriously. They’re real. Check here for details. The holidays are time for special treats, right? J&J Foods just gave us the best present ever. You know you want to try them. Go ahead. Give in. We won’t tell.

Read a book. You’ve been meaning to do that all year, but somehow the time just slips away. There are a lot of lists with great titles from which to choose. We rather like the choices at NPR Books, or just visit a bookstore and browse!

Join a sing-a-long. The world is full of timid singers that would never dare to sing in public on their own, but one of the joys of this time of year is that several groups sponsor community sing-a-longs, usually featuring holiday songs that everyone knows. Look around and find one near you.

Wrap something different in bacon. There is no going wrong with bacon. I’ve put it around food I otherwise detest and it totally changes my ability to down brussel sprouts. I’m thinking bacon wrapped sugar cookies sounds like a good idea.

Thank a service member. Holidays can be especially tough for those who are away from their families. Remember, the US military is comprised totally of volunteers. Show them some appreciation for their sacrifice.

This is your final chance to keep the year from totally sucking and should keep you busy for a moment or two. Should you become bored, don’t worry, we have more lists coming all week!

Art / Photography / PotD

Lighting Matters

October 19, 2015

A Little Light Through A Window (2011)

The great photographers of life – like Diane Arbus and Walker Evans and Robert Frank – all must have had some special quality: a personality of nurturing and non-judgment that frees the subjects to reveal their most intimate reality. It really is what makes a great photographer, every bit as much as understanding composition and lighting.—Caleb Deschanel

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]If Playboy® magazine’s chief content officer Cory Jones thinks that nudes have become passé, perhaps one of the reasons might be that the magazine has dropped their emphasis on creatively and seductively lit images. Back when the magazine started in 1953, the gatefolds were pinups in the classic style, with a careful attention to maintaining a sense of illusion. Lighting was critical. The photographs from the first few years, the ones that caught your grandfather’s or great-grandfather’s attention, look to us now almost like a set of realist paintings. They were carefully shot and carefully processed to portray a specific image that implied luxury and refinement. They were classy, not slutty.

During the 1960s and 70s, Helmut Newton came to the magazine and set the world on fire with his black and white images that were naturally lit. While the concept sounds easy, just show up someplace with decent indirect lighting and shoot where there are no shadows, photography for Helmut was never that simple. He would scout locations and check for the perfect time of day when the lighting was going to be precisely the way he wanted. Then, he was picky as hell about things such as reflection and making sure that poses put shadows precisely where he wanted them. There was never anything accidental or surprising about Helmut’s photos; what you saw was exactly what he intended.

Then, starting in 1976, Arny Freytag pretty much took over Playboy’s® gatefold and did so with highly-specialized lighting schemes that sometimes used as many as fifty flash heads to create just exactly the precise amount of light he wanted across every inch of the photograph. Arney didn’t just make sure the lighting for the model was correct, but he cared about the background as well, whether it was a complicated room full of furniture, or something seemingly as simple as a rumpled sheet. Arny would fuss endlessly over the precise placement of lights, taking endless Polaroids® until the lighting was to his critical satisfaction. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Such were the years of Playboy® at its heyday. As Arny got older, he didn’t shoot for the magazine as often and the difference was dramatic. Lighting was terribly inconsistent from one photographer to another. Some insisted on blowing out the highlights and the background. Others, especially once the magazine moved to using digital cameras, created images that were as flat as the paper on which they were printed. Shadows showed up in awkward places. Sunlight glared down on models with no filter or any form of diffusing. Editors and photographers alike seemed to rely more on Photoshop® to fix the errors rather shooting good pictures to begin with. With those attitudes, anything would quickly become passé.

When Hugh Hefner started the magazine, there was an inherent emphasis on quality because he wanted a men’s magazine that would stand out with class and not be like the low-class smut being produced at the time. He knew that was the only way to win over the large-scale acceptance of the men’s magazines necessary to make it profitable. There was no room in Hef’s magazine for bad lighting or poor photography. Even non-nude photographs, such as those accompanying the famous interview portion, were by photographers who knew how to light a portrait correctly.

Playboy® faces a tough battle ahead if it plans to go up against men’s giant such as GQ and Esquire with the bad lighting some of their photography has shown the past 20 years or so. There simply is no substitute, now or in the future, for a photograph that is lit properly from the very beginning. If an editor wants to capture readers attention, good lighting is an absolute necessity, even if readers don’t recognize it. Sometimes it’s the details that keep a magazine from being passé.[/one_half_last]

Music / PotD

What Kind Of Woman Is This?

October 14, 2015

Blue All Over (2015)

Being jealous of a beautiful woman is not going to make you more beautiful.—Zsa Zsa Gabor

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]I’m going to go off script this morning, because, with a title like What Kind Of Woman Is This? I feel the need to do some explaining. We tend to look at the Blues as a way of working out something challenging to us. No, not always. There are times when all it takes is the presence of a beautiful woman. Here are the lyrics:

The gates of Heaven must be open
I think I saw an angel just walk by
Hey, the gates of heaven must be open
I think I saw an angel just walk by

I heard a blind man screamin’, say
Now there goes a sight for my sore eyes
There goes a sight for my sore eyes
Now there goes a sight for my sore eyes
What kind of woman is this?

You should be locked up, pretty girl
In my bedroom with me
Hey, you should be locked up, pretty girl
In my bedroom with me

So we can do the same thing that Adam
Did under that old apple tree
What he did under that apple tree
What he did under that apple tree

Well, well, well, well, well, well
Choke out
Here I come again

There’s always some good lookin’ girls
Hangin’ ’round this famous place
Well, hey, there’s always some good lookin’ girls
Hangin’ round this famous place, talkin’ bout legends now

Aww, but this particular one
Looked like somethin’ from outer space
She looked like somethin’ from outer space

What kind of woman is this?
Hmm, what kind of woman is this?
What kind of woman is this?
Ooh, what kind of woman is this?

Look at that, she shakes all over when she walk
She made a blind man see
Made a dumb man talk
What kind of woman is this?
Hmm, shucks

[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]What Kind of Woman is This? is the only original song on Buddy Guy’s 2005 album, Bring ’em In. That would mean he was 68- or 69-years-old when he wrote the song. Considering the fact that it really is not much more than one long pick-up line, one might think that the Blues comes from knowing he’s not going to be the one to get her. I would have to challenge that, though. Blues musicians seem to get better with age, like so many other things, and I’ve not seen one yet that didn’t have groupies waiting at the stage door.

One might also question whether the song’s title is sexist, patronizing, objectifying, or possibly even misogynistic. I think the song is actually more appreciative than anything. We’ve all been in that crowded room when a particular woman walks in and turns every head in the place. Maybe she’s wildly attractive, or maybe she’s a strong, confident woman who doesn’t put up with the bullshit she gets from men; perhaps she’s both.

So, where do the Blues come in? What’s the cause for the emotion? Can there be such a thing as a happy Blues song? Yes, there are happy Blues songs, and in some aspects this may be one of them. But what I think Guy is talking about is a distraction. Perhaps the woman’s presence was unexpected. Maybe she sat a little too close to the stage. One thing for sure is that everyone in the room, including the blind man, if more interested in the woman than in the person on the stage. Any musician will tell you, a distraction that compete’s with your performance is plenty of reason to sing the Blues.

Here’s to the women who can distract whatever is going on in any room, and here’s to the musicians who have to endure the distraction. May you both manage to keep your composure. Enjoy the song.

[/one_half_last]

Behind The Scenes / Photography / PotD

One Grumpy Cat

July 21, 2015

Ilford Delta

In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv. —Henri Cartier-Bresson

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Remember that warning about not working with animals or children? This cat is a good example of why animal photography is difficult. The shot was taken in March, 2007, long before that whole grumpy cat meme took over the Internet, but he easily could have served as the inspiration. The model, whom we had shot before, was on her way home from college for Spring Break and was, naturally enough, taking her cat with her. She stopped by just long enough for a few shots and, given that she had a hat whose coloring matched that of the feline, she wanted pictures with her dear feline. Sounds reasonable enough, doesn’t it?

The cat wasn’t nearly as enthused as was it’s human. Actually, dear cat hated being stuck in a carrier and absolutely loathed riding in the car. By the time they had made the hour trip to us, dear cat was nothing short of royally pissed. He expressed his displeasure by yowling and hissing from inside the carrier as she brought him in. Thinking it might help him settle down a bit, the model decided to let the cat out so he could roam and get acquainted with his surroundings. The problem with that thought? We were shooting from Nick Tucker’s place on the South side of Indianapolis. Nick had a dog. A very large, friendly, and slobbery Saint Bernard.

You can probably guess what happened next. Even though the poor dog was sequestered to a separate room, the cat took one whiff of dog and ran for cover. Finding and retrieving him took so long that we had to drop one of the sets planned. By the time we actually got the extremely miffed cat in the pictures, the model was exhausted, which shows. The cat scowled the entire time, I think. It can be difficult to tell with cats like this; they have a resting grumpy face that never really changes.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Our challenge in choosing a processing method for this shot lies in the fact that everything from the wall to the chair to the cat is pretty much within the same general tonal range, with the exception of the model’s jeans. Nick did a great job with the lighting, but there was still a danger of losing detail. So, I chose a method duplicating what was typically my second-favorite film: Ilford Delta 100. Ilford is an old British film company that has been around since the 1870s, started in the basement of Alfred Harman’s house in Northeast London.

What makes Ilford Delta the best choice for this image is its sharpness and such fine grain that it is nearly grain-free, even under the most severe of conditions. Given the tonal range of our image, even Kodak professional films would have difficulty matching what Ilford Delta could do with this shot. The challenge, of course, is finding a digital conversion that meets that standard. This one took a while, but what we finally came up with is this: reds- 34, yellows- 76, greens- 40, cyans- 66, blues- 25, magentas- 61. That back-and-forth approach hits just the perfect tonal balance for pulling out detail without introducing unnecessary noise. Once we had that conversion setting, we made only the slightest adjustments to contrast before closing the file.

Shots like this are difficult to convert to a good digital black and white. It’s too easy to go too low on the contrast, which leaves the photo looking flat. Take the contrast just a tweak too far, and the highlights are lost. I’ve used this conversion method on several different challenging images, though, and it has yet to fail. It even manages to make a grumpy cat look almost friendly. Don’t be fooled, though. He wasn’t. [/one_half_last]

Advertising / Photography / PotD

Varying Effects

July 17, 2015

Drink More Tequila

Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ― David Honegger

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Nowhere do the varying effects of Photoshop™ draw more criticism than in advertising. I understand why: people are inherently wired to believe what they see; we are not inclined to ask questions. Even with the Internet being over 20 years old, we still tend to trust what we see, especially if it is in print. Yet, if one thinks for a moment, where is the most logical place to manipulate images if it isn’t in an attempt to sell something? After all, there are some boring products out there and without a little pizzazz to spark some interest there’s no way anyone would ever just think to examine the product on their own.

Fashion, and any other ad that features women, draw the most criticism for how they manipulate an image, especially when it comes to body shape and size. Women have, for as long as there have been print ads, used the examples they see in magazines and catalogs as a basis for judging their own bodies and, subsequently, their own self-worth. As a result, for as long as there have been print ads (which originally had to use illustrations rather than photographs), there have been people complaining that the example set forth is “not real,” and “impossible to achieve.” Yet, while campaigns such as Dove’s “Real Women” at least try to move the industry, and women’s opinions, the opposite direction, years of sales evidence points to the fact that people don’t buy products when the image is too realistic. Sexy sells every time, even if it is totally a work of fiction.

What’s amazing is that we know better. We know that ads lie to us, that images have had varying effects applied to them, that claims are deceptive and that some bust-to-waist ratios defy the laws of physics. We have experienced these things our entire lives, we’ve criticized them in conversation, we’ve had countless studies done to prove the degree to which some industries lie more than others (Big Tobacco, anyone?). Still, at the end of the day, when the dollars are counted and the sales added up, the ads work.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]For the most part, I prefer to keep my images within the realm of reason and only apply varying effects that I feel aid the communicative qualities of the image overall. There are always exceptions to that rule, though, and today’s image is certainly one of them. With the proliferation of mobile ads popping up everywhere one looks, it is more important than ever to create images that stand out, that are different, and able to grab one’s attention at first glance. Sometimes, that means going for a more extreme effect such as those composited together for this image.

The original picture (seen below) is hardly recognizable by comparison to the finished product. If one were to drop the same copy over the grey/blue background of the original image, it would get lost. Even changing the colors wouldn’t help that much. As an ad, the original image doesn’t have what it takes to stand out from the crowd. On its own, sure, it’s a nice portrait of a lovely young woman. But if we’re selling tequila we have to apply a number of varying effects to create an image that gets attention. Reality isn’t a concern because reality isn’t our goal. We want an image that looks interesting. The copy, which is a modification of a quote by Ernest Hemingway, encourages one to drink for the specific purpose of leaving reality behind. So, we created an image that is interesting, with little concern for reality.

In our criticism of manipulated photos and all the varying effects applied to them, we forget, I think, that we’re really not interested in looking at reality. We don’t read novels for the reality. We don’t go to the movies for the reality. Even reality television is an over-edited caricature of reality (and the whole genre is losing popularity). We get our fill of reality when we look in the mirror. Fortunately, the varying effects of good photo manipulation hides reality just long enough for us to pull out our wallets. The economy works, we keep our jobs, and the world continues spinning. There’s reality for you.[/one_half_last]

You’ll Dream of Me (2014)

Art / Photography / PotD

Varying Dreams

July 16, 2015

Varying Dreams

Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. ― Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]”I just had the strangest dream …”

How many times have you awoken with that thought? Sometimes it is followed with, “At least, I hope it was a dream.” Varying dreams are something that not only unite us, but also mystifies us. Why do we have them? What purpose do they serve? Why are some dreams repetitive and some even common among different peoples around the world? What would happen if we stopped dreaming? Dreams are the most unexplained yet most common pieces of our humanity.

Talk about dreams and we have to talk about the work of Carl Jung, the late psychiatrist of some prominence who felt that dreams were one’s subconscious and that they could be translated to tell us more about ourselves and why we do the things we do. Jung initiated the concept of keeping a dream journal to keep track of which dreams repeated and how one felt and acted after having particular kinds of dreams. Those who follow in his footsteps are still quite sure that dreams hold answers and may even warn of impending mental issues. The majority of psychiatrists find the field interesting, but largely lacking in scientific authority and research.

Varying dreams definitely have their effect on us. Wake up from a particularly good dream and one is likely to start the day in a better mood. Dream about something terrifying or dangerous, and one may find themselves on edge and anxious for a while. Dreams about deceased family members or close friends may have us feeling depressed and lonely. Then, there are those pesky dreams about showing up somewhere important stark naked. Almost everyone has those dreams on occasion, even in tribes where clothing is practically non-existent in the first place. Opinions differ as to the exact meaning, but they always leave us a little unsettled as we try to laugh at how silly they are.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Artistically, varying dreams are great image fodder, especially if one tends to lean toward surrealism in the first place. Translating dreams into works of art is something we’ve been doing almost since we first started making crude drawings on caves. The challenge for a photographer, though, is that our cameras only capture what is real. While we can perhaps go to great lengths to create situations that are dramatic and seem somewhat unreal, where our dreams take leave of the laws of physics and reason they become almost impossible to capture. Fortunately, Photoshop™ allows us to fill that gap with special effects and tricks that make possible the physically impossible.

Today’s image is a great example of how we can be influenced by varying dreams. The original image comes from a set we did last year with model Loren Hawk. Pouring paint on her was fun, interesting, and colorful in its own right. The original pictures are not something that necessarily need a lot of manipulation in order to look good. When we started playing with this one, though, we became obsessed with trying to communicate a dreamy, etherial feeling, almost like an underwater ambiance. After almost three days of work, I think the image sufficiently captures the surrealness of a dream state.

We may never know with certainty what our dreams are trying to tell us. Perhaps they’re messages from deity. Maybe aliens are trying to teach us something. Whatever the purpose is for varying dreams, they certainly interest us and at times make our lives very interesting. To the extent we are able to do something productive and creative with our dreams is a benefit. Not to mention that visually suspending the laws of physics on occasion is rather fun.[/one_half_last]

Body Painting (2014). Model: Loren Hawk

Fashion / PotD

All The Possibilities

July 5, 2015

Pondering Possibilities (2006)

I was the child who would leave school and take her clothes off the second I got into the house. I made my mom buy me lingerie when I was 5 years old. I was a sicko. My mother must have been mortified. -Alessandra Torresani

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Eleven billion dollars. Think about it. That’s how much revenue lingerie generated in 2014. Eleven billion dollars for bras, underwear, and related frilly things that cover less physical real estate than a bath towel. Oh, but we love every minute of it. Since the mid-70s there hasn’t been an adolescent boy in the US or Britain that didn’t somehow manage to get his hands on the Victoria’s Secret catalog. Before that, there was always the Sears & Roebuck catalog, which could get surprisingly racy for two or three very important pages. Lingerie is that one thing on which both men and women are willing to spend severe amounts of money with rarely any complaints.

Okay, women complain more than men do. Bras are uncomfortable and depending on where purchased never seem to fit exactly right. Of course, lingerie shops counter that most women don’t know how to buy bras correctly. Most young men I know would happily volunteer to help women figure out just exactly how to find the perfect bra, but women have never been too terribly keen about taking them up on that offer. In fact, when I’ve specifically gone to a lingerie store to help a friend or model, the store hasn’t been all that accommodating to my services. Lingerie clerks seem to doubt our intentions. I can’t possibly imagine why.

Still, lingerie is one of those things on which most men and women can agree help define sex appeal. As much as we might find nudity enticing, there is still something about the tease, about the hint of what might be there without actually seeing it, that drives men crazy and elevates a woman’s self-confidence. I would dare say that with the right lingerie a woman can get a man to do her complete bidding with eagerness without the poor sap ever realizing the degree to which he is being manipulated. Lingerie puts women all the more securely in the driver’s seat for any sexual activity their lover may desire with an element of beauty and fashion that is every bit as high-end as the fanciest evening gown.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Yes, there is the practical aspect of lingerie. Some women need bras to help prevent sagging, especially after they’ve nursed a child or 15. Some women use bras to make up for the fact there really isn’t much there to hold. Others use lingerie to help define their shape and there are even lingerie pieces that help those who’ve had surgeries maintain a sense of femininity. Not everything within the lingerie segment is meant to be sexually enticing. In fact, the practical element is most likely the larger part of that eleven billion dollars, though if there are any real numbers in that regard I couldn’t find them.

Still, say the word lingerie and it is the sensual side of the business to which our minds most immediately turn. We think of lace, silk, and satin, carefully design and crafted to entice, to capture our attention, and arouse our senses. We want lingerie to be sexy whenever possible. No one likes wearing boring underwear, though every woman has some. There are, after all, laundry days, or that time of the month when the last thing one wants is to attract attention on which one cannot follow through. Women would much rather slip on the silk and the lace, to feel the soft fabric next to their even softer skin, and to think throughout the day about the encounter that might come at the end of the day.

So, this week we look at lingerie and consider just a few of the more common possibilities. We won’t cover everything, mind you, and if you look around the Internet you’ll find plenty of lingerie designers that even more enticing and provocative than Victoria’s Secret ever thought of being. Lingerie gives women the chance to be naughty beneath their nice, soft beneath the hard, and sensual beneath the strict. What could possibly be more wonderful? We hope you won’t miss a day![/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Aww, Shucks

June 14, 2015

Anything For Art (2011)

“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]This is strange. We’re beginning a new week and I’m not even home to see it. Great Zeus, I do hope this turns out okay. We’ll take every precaution, of course, to ensure that this #POTD is delivered on time, or at least on the correct day. There are still limits to technology, though, and I’m not entirely sure that when it comes time for this thing to post that I’m going to be where I have a Wi-Fi signal with which to check it. I think I will, if memory serves me correctly, but I’m not 100% sure. We’re camping, you see, somewhere out in the almost-wild-unknown, except for the fact we’re not leaving Indiana.

This is a test, actually. This is only a test. We’ll get around to the real camping later this summer, but we needed to make a bit of a dry run in relatively safe conditions and not too terribly far from home in order to see how the children, to whom I fondly reference repeatedly as bear bait in hopes that the one wild bear seen in Indiana will migrate our direction, will behave given that a year has passed since the last time we dared take them into the woods. We’re not going off the beaten path. There are emergency services nearby should they be needed. This is only a test. But we may not have Wi-Fi.

Actually, as long as our phones work we should be safe, right? After all, this site is mobile friendly, in case you hadn’t noticed, and that friendliness extends to the backend as well. As long as our service provider doesn’t crap out on us and fail to cover an area their coverage map says they have covered, we shouldn’t have any problem making sure this entry posts on time. I’m not even concerned about oversleeping. Why? Bear bait, again. First crack of dawn and they’ll be up, which is why I’m better off writing this well in advance and saving it for Sunday morning. Who knows how little sleep I might get and if you think I’m crazy now you should see me when I’ve not gotten any sleep. I think we’re taking coffee, but who knows if we’ll be able to work the camp stove to heat the water to make the coffee without actually having some coffee first?[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]How does any of this relate to our topic this week of missed photos? Easy: I want to emphasize just how simple it is for us to make a mistake and misplace or lose or overlook a photograph, no matter how attractive the image might be. Depending on the day, we may take anywhere from hundreds to thousands of pictures but from those only select a handful for processing and chances are even fewer for public display. Often, we delete what we don’t use, especially if the photographs are of a sensitive nature from the client’s perspective. But sometimes, the extras just sit there in folders waiting to be recognized. Sometimes they sit there for years. Sometimes they die.

So, we decided to save a handful of those images this week and display them here. None of the pictures you’ll see this week have been processed and shown anywhere else. Each one of these is getting its world premiere right here and you are a witness to that event.

Oh, come on now, you can show a little more excitement than that. After all, the people involved in these pictures have largely forgotten they even exist. Allison here has moved off to Vegas. Hair and makeup artist Christopher Thompson is off chasing ghosts; not metaphorically, mind you, but the real thing that will scare the living daylights right out of you. The least you can do is show some enthusiasm for their hard work. I can promise you won’t come any closer to seeing Allison naked than right here. That’s one lucky corn husk.

I really hope this thing posts correctly. After all this hard work and all the effort that went into making it possible, it really would be a shame if we didn’t get this up in time. Of course, it always makes us feel bad when you miss something. Most the time that’s your fault, though, not ours. You do know you can subscribe and get a reminder in your email, don’t you? That way you wouldn’t miss anything. Assuming we actually get this posted.[/one_half_last]

Photography / PotD

Shooting For Exposure

June 9, 2015

Through Different Lenses (2011)

“If you follow the rules, it’s your own fault.” ― Marty Rubin

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Life is busy for everyone and it is quite nice that we have at our disposal now a variety of tools and applications to help ease just a little bit of the strain here and there so we can better focus on the truly important aspects of whatever it is we’re doing. One of the applications I have installed assists me with catching common grammar errors. More than just spell checking, it looks for proper subject/verb agreement, makes sure the verb conjugation is correct, and that I’m putting the most appropriate punctuation in place. When I’m typing quickly, and especially early in the morning when I’m still on my first cup of coffee, the tool saves me a lot of time going back and proofreading, especially since I’m really lousy at proofreading.

There’s a problem with this application, though: it doesn’t like the Oxford Comma. Personally, I quite like the Oxford Comma and find that the meaning of some word lists changes significantly depending on whether the comma is used. If I have a sentence, or thought, or fragment, or phrase such as this one then I am going to use the extra comma every time. Unfortunately, the application marks it wrong every time and attempts to correct the matter. I end up having to take extra steps, and time, to keep the comma in place and assure that the list is going to infer exactly what I intend.

Image processing software is no different. Applications such as Lightroom and Photoshop are full of little guides and measuring devices to provide photographers and graphic artists with multiple checks and balances so as to, hopefully, prevent errors that might result in bad print. However, none of those tools is accurate 100% of the time and relying on them too heavily can sometimes result in even larger errors than if they hadn’t been used at all. Certainly, the tools are helpful and are included with the best of intentions, but in the end there’s no substitution for pulling a hard print and going with what your eyes tell you is best.

Today’s image is a perfect example of the tools not always being the best judge. This is also an example of just how much the appearance of an image can change from one computer monitor to another. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]When I shot this image in 2011, I processed it using the most current version of Photoshop, but on a Frankenstein computer I had been carefully rubber-banding together since 2005 using a monitor that dated even older than that. While the monitor was calibrated to the best of its ability, I knew from experience that what I saw on the screen was not a true match when pulling a print. So, I tried making adjustments as best I could and most of the time I was at least within the ballpark.

The primary challenge of this image is one of exposure. The model’s hair is jet black, to the point that one has to dramatically open the shutter to even begin picking up any highlights. Without a high level of exposure, her hair would appear to be nothing more than a black mass sitting on her head. In a studio, that problem is easily resolved by putting a light specifically on her hair. We’re not in a studio, though. We’re using natural light and even with a reflector there wasn’t enough natural illumination to pull out the highlights in her hair without risking over-exposing the entire left side of the image. I made specific choices and was pleased with the result.

Then, a couple of years ago, I got a new computer and monitor and loaded newer software. Going through the archives to see what needed to be revised, I brought up this image and it instantly showed a warning that the left side was over exposed. I tried correcting the image to what the software said was appropriate, but doing so left the photo flat and dull. Finally, I had no choice but to pull a print and, wouldn’t you know it, the over-exposure was still within gamut (barely), and the image looked fine.

Exposure can be a very tricky thing at times and while generally running highlights out of gamut is a no-no, there are times, arguably including this one, where the risk is worth the effect. Are we going to make mistakes? Yes. Is everyone going to agree with our choices? No. But again, what matters is whether the image generates the emotion the photographer intended. At the end of the day, perhaps a little too much light is better than not enough.[/one_half_last]

PotD / Social Commentary

Not Quite Naked: Unspoken

May 23, 2015

Undisclosed (2011)

When women pose thoughtfully and artistically – in nothing but their bare skin – they find themselves. They discover that they are truly alive. They become a Nude. -David Allio

[one_half padding=”4px 8px 0 4px”]All this week we’ve been talking about being naked and how social media inherently dislikes anything too close to showing a nipple. We’ve talked about artistic purpose and artist intention and all the other topics that are inherent any time someone posts a picture that just might make those of impure thought a little uncomfortable. Fact is, no matter what kind of picture one puts online, there is always going to be someone who objects for one reason or another and someone else who is secretly perverting it in their own way. Nothing we do or say is ever going to change that.

What we can do, however, is make sure the act and conversation around being naked isn’t dominated by the negative. We don’t need to be shy about being comfortable in our own skin and no one has any right to judge or speak maliciously of someone who prefers to not wear clothes. Being naked should not be limited to works of art. People who enjoy living au naturale should be able to take selfies just like anyone else without needing to censor who they are or what they are doing. Nudity should be as casual a part of conversation as might be the coffee one had for breakfast this morning or replacing a belt on the vacuum cleaner. No one should be made to feel they have to hide such a normal part of who they are.

I have to admit that the conversation is doing better today than it was a mere 15 or so years ago. On the backside of the freewheeling 60s and 70s came a knee-jerk conservatism that had everyone buttoned up and anything that might be remotely considered sexual was demonized. If one was naked, the public perception was that one was also likely doing drugs and having sex with multiple people and not raising their children correctly. Discovery of HIV and the subsequent AIDS panic didn’t help because during that initial period where we weren’t sure exactly what caused the virus anything that could possibly be considered sexual, including kissing and holding hands, was demonized. Fear drove people to chastity.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 8px”]Getting past those unrealistic and misinformed fears has been quite a chore but from that has come an even stronger urge to make being naked more socially acceptable. We’ve already discussed the Free The Nipple campaign, which is a wonderful thing, but there are also those who look at nudity as a form of expression to be protected under the first amendment of the U.S. Constitution and judges have begun upholding that right. Portland, Oregon’s annual Naked Run sounds like a lot of rebellious fun, but it is actually designed and intended as a means of peaceful protest, again protected by the Constitution. You have a right to be naked without that nudity being sexualized by someone whose own mind can’t be trusted.

Early in the 20th century, before all those stupid wars and politics got in the way, there was a strong naturist movement across Europe. During that period, doctors were actually prescribing patients to be naked, especially outdoors. The well-to-do would commonly hold tea parties on their patios that were completely sans clothing. Not only were these events largely asexual, but children were also included and there was no fear that a child seeing a naked adult might have any adverse effects. Quite the opposite was true. There was a greater acceptance of homosexuality and other lifestyles during this brief period than there has been at any time since.

Can we again achieve such a level of casual nakedness? I’m not too terribly optimistic just yet because the Internet has allowed those who would impose their own morality on the world a level of volume larger than their actual size. One thing of which I’m certain, though, is that being naked is not something that needs to remain unspoken. Be proud of who you are, the skin you are in, regardless of your size, age, or sexuality. And if someone doesn’t like that, allow them to go away and deal with their problem on their own. [/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Not Quite Naked: Inherent

May 22, 2015

Mmmm, Chocolate (2012)

Modern pessimism denies the intrinsic beauty and replaces it with a subjective vision that cares little for the objective truth. In this thought the figure, whether nude or clothed, loses its form by putting more value on its symbolism than its actual form. That’s when you need a Rembrandt to step in a remind us of the value of content in its relation to form and beauty! -Shane Conant

[one_half padding=”4px 8px 0 4px”]Everyone gets naked, but not everyone knows how to be nude. Being naked is inevitable; one bathes, one changes clothes, sooner or later naked happens to everyone. Being nude, though, requires a level of comfortability with being in one’s own skin. The person who is naked is more likely to run for cover is the doorbell rings while the person who is nude may go ahead and answer the door. The person who is naked is careful to keep the blinds closed and the curtains drawn while the nude individual enjoys the warm sunlight coming through the window. Being naked is inherent, but being nude is a choice.

Artists often focus on the nude, not the naked, and I think it is important that we understand the difference between the two not just in the personal sense but how it makes a difference in the basic condition of approaching a work of art. Art school is partially responsible for our focus on the nude because it necessarily looks at the figure first as an object to be drawn. Even some photography schools insist that their students first take figure drawing classes before moving on to other forms of photography. Understanding the basic mechanics of the nude form is essential to accurately portraying the figure in other settings.

At the same time, part of our need to find symbolism and meaning in the nude form comes from a defensive position wherein we feel the need to justify having an unclothed person in front of our lens or our canvas. Moral criticism of the nude, which by its very nature objectifies the body as a thing to be shamed, puts artists on guard and finds us looking for meaning in work that, such as today’s image, doesn’t necessarily need any additional meaning for it to be appreciated. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 8px”]Insisting that there be meaning to every aspect of an image takes away one’s ability to enjoy the human figure for the natural work of art that it is. The human form does not require us to explain what makes it beautiful for it is beautiful beyond the ability of our words to describe. Imposing unintended symbolism on every image of a human form we see is just as improper as those who impose unnecessary morality upon everything that exists. Not everything requires our intervention or interpretation in order to be a work of art.

I very much like this quote from an artist who understood the difference between nude and naked:

Hitherto the nude has always been represented in poses which presuppose an audience. But my women are simple, honest creatures who are concerned with nothing beyond their physical occupations… it is as if you were looking through a keyhole. (Edgar Degas)

Dripping chocolate down a naked back has absolutely no symbolism, no greater meaning, no architectural inference. Mmmm, Chocolate is simply dripping chocolate down a naked back. That’s it. Nothing else. Any artistry comes naturally in the juxtaposition of light and dark, highlights and shadows, contrast and toning. One needn’t be an artist of great experience or full of profound thought in order to take this picture. Sometimes we don’t need any reason for capturing an image beyond the basic desire to capture that specific image. Art doesn’t always need an explanation or deeper meaning. Let art be art. Let naked be naked.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Not Quite Naked: Implicit

May 19, 2015

Reflections of Now (2012)

The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning… The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express. -Henri Matisse

[one_half padding=”4px 8px 0 4px”]It’s not especially easy being naked before someone you don’t really know; at least, not for most people. You stand there, exposed, feeling every slight draft of air on your skin, wondering if they’ve noticed that scar on your thigh from when you were six years old and got caught on the barbed-wire fence. You wonder not if but how they’re judging you: are your breasts too small or large or shaped funny? Is your skin splotchy? Can they tell how much you suddenly need to go to the bathroom? How do you tell them your period just started without being embarrassed? Why is this taking so long?

For all the hoopla they sometimes create, especially in social media, implicit art nudes, or art nudes of any kind, are so far removed from anything sexual as to make the imposition of a sexual comment laughable. Artists, whether painters or sculptors or photographers, are consumed with the details of how to recreate or represent the totality of what is before them. Models are more than flesh and bone, but an architecture of emotion, experience, beauty, and humanity. How does one accurately capture all that in a single image in a way that communicates to the viewer everything the artist is feeling? The model, on the other hand, wonders if the pose looks as silly as it feels, if maybe she shouldn’t have had that burrito for lunch, and if she’s going to be done in time to let the dogs out before they mess on the carpet.

What implicit nudes do to the viewer, though, is challenge one’s perception of what is versus what may be. If one comes to an image from the perspective that all things are sexual, then one is going to perceive a sexuality where none was intended. If one approaches an image while consumed with a given emotion, one is going to find that emotion first and perhaps dominantly within the image regardless of what the artist sought to communicate. One of the greatest challenges in working with nudes is that the artist can only control what’s happening, what’s seen, what’s felt, what’s intended, as the image is created. We do not control the viewer’s experience.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 8px”]Great art, some argue, is that which communicates its intended purpose regardless of when, where, or under what conditions it is viewed. When multiple generations of people look at a piece of art and come away with the same or at least similar understanding then the artist did their job well and the work is worthy of commendation. Yet, all one has to do is show a five-year-old a picture of Michaelangelo’s David (assuming one probably isn’t close enough to visit the real thing), to see that one’s perspective of art is learned, not inherent. Amidst a flurry of giggles, they will gleefully point out that David is missing his pants. Depending on the child, “Ewwwwww” is likely to be their artistic critique.

That is not to say that great art does not inherently stir emotion within most everyone; there is a sense of awe that comes with standing in front of a painting so incredibly detailed as to seemingly lift off the canvas. A photograph carefully lit to emphasize a specific element while keeping other details shadowed draws us close and raises our curiosity. Abstract sculpture leads us to contemplate our perceptions of shape and construction even when we don’t understand those factors at all. Art does not require an education to have an impact on its viewer.

Art does require, however, that we approach it openly, honestly, recognizing our personal biases but having the ability to set aside that bias to see more of what the artist desired to communicate. Nowhere is that more true than with an implicit nude. There is much to be said in today’s picture about self-examination, self-esteem, and self-worth. We might ponder what the girl feels about the reflection she sees in the mirror, and how we feel when we look at our own reflection. Emotions in this image may run deep if the viewer is willing to take that risk.

If all one is seeing is sex, the problem doesn’t lie with the image but with the person viewing it.[/one_half_last]

implied

Have no fear of perfection – you’ll never reach it. —Salvador Dali

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I don’t enjoy any kind of danger or volatility. I don’t have that kind of ‘I love the bad guys’ thing. No, no thank you. I like nice people.—Tina Fey

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I don’t know what a world would be like if you do away with sexy images.—Christie Hefner

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A poor life this if, full of care, we have no time to stand and stare.—W. H. Davies

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The technology keeps moving forward, which makes it easier for the artists to tell their stories and paint the pictures they want.—George Lucas

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Even with all our technology and the inventions that make modern life so much easier than it once was, it takes just one big natural disaster to wipe all that away and remind us that, here on Earth, we’re still at the mercy of nature.—Neil deGrasse Tyson

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You know, the Super Bowl is so fresh that every single commercial is even on, you know, some next-level entertainment.—will.i.am

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My favorite thing of all time is a New York City weekend when there’s a blizzard. Everything gets really quiet, and everyone goes to the movies and the park.—Idina Menzel

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I think democracy’s undermined when those who own newspapers fill them with trivia rather than real issues.—Ken Livingstone

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If you let fear take hold, if you let it own you, your life ceases to be your own. ― Blake Crouch, Snowbound

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What we see in advertisements is just selling fake dreams, fake things, this impossible beauty. I think we have to be honest. Yeah, this is an ad, we’re selling shoes. But it’s in an interesting way, and people smile.– Nicola Formichetti, creative director, Diesel

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There are so many beautiful girls who aren’t photogenic. In real life, half the models you see look really hideous.—Lisanne Falk

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You Can Create Your Own Life Story With The Things You Say, So When You Speak, Say Good Things.— Ciara

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I refuse to accept the view that mankind is so tragically bound to the starless midnight of racism and war that the bright daybreak of peace and brotherhood can never become a reality… I believe that unarmed truth and unconditional love will have the final word.—Martin Luther King, Jr.

10 Things We Need To Do Before The End Of The Year

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Being jealous of a beautiful woman is not going to make you more beautiful.—Zsa Zsa Gabor

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In photography, the smallest thing can be a great subject. The little, human detail can become a Leitmotiv. —Henri Cartier-Bresson

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Advertising may be described as the science of arresting the human intelligence long enough to get money from it. ― David Honegger

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Those who dream by day are cognizant of many things which escape those who dream only by night. ― Edgar Allan Poe, Eleonora

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I was the child who would leave school and take her clothes off the second I got into the house. I made my mom buy me lingerie when I was 5 years old. I was a sicko. My mother must have been mortified. -Alessandra Torresani

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“It is unwise to be too sure of one’s own wisdom. It is healthy to be reminded that the strongest might weaken and the wisest might err.” ― Mahatma Gandhi

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“If you follow the rules, it’s your own fault.” ― Marty Rubin

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When women pose thoughtfully and artistically – in nothing but their bare skin – they find themselves. They discover that they are truly alive. They become a Nude. -David Allio

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The living model, the naked body of a woman, is the privileged seat of feeling, but also of questioning… The model must mark you, awaken in you an emotion which you seek in turn to express. -Henri Matisse

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