Reflections Of What We Eat

Art / Experimental / Photography

Reflections Of What We Eat

June 27, 2021

Maybe all that pasta isn’t a good thing

All my life I’ve heard, “You are what you eat.” While that is fundamentally true in an organic chemistry sort of way, diet has a limited affect on our personality, the decisions we make, our skills, or the portions of humanity we decide to embrace. A recent body modification convention, which I did not attend, reminded me how much we like wearing things on our skin and got me thinking what might happen if we wore what we ate? I’m not talking about all those times the taco leaks and we are stuck wearing hot sauce the rest of the day. What if the salad we had for lunch, or the peanuts, or the snack cake, whatever we most recently consumed, was reflected onto our skin until we decided to consume something else? As these pictures show, the effects are mixed. I think, of all these, Citrus and Mixed Veggies are the only ones I personally find appealing. Kat likes Tomatoes, though, and you’re welcome to have your own preferences. Click on any thumbnail below to view the collection full screen.

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Art / Photography / Portrait

Figure of a Woman Under Construction

June 20, 2021

Constantly improving, updating, revising, and redecorating, a woman is never a finished work of art

Women are not static figures. They are always changing, taking off the old, replacing it with the new. The circular process is never-ending and just as one might think a woman is perfect, she finds ways to still improve. She can’t be chained down, slowed down, torn down, or locked up. A woman is a perpetually developing work of art and for that we love them all, for without them there is little point to Fathers’ Day.

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Art / Photography

Colorful Impressions Of A Changed Soul

June 13, 2021

Actively avoiding realism

No big mystery here. No need for profound comment. Although, in a funny sort of way, this is almost like an artistic “Where’s Waldo?” There’s a nipple in every picture. Some are obvious, others not so much. Can you find all of them?

Click on any image below to view the set full-screen. Do it. Don’t make me cry.

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Art / Photography

Becca, Enhanced: Studies In Isolation

June 6, 2021

click on any thumbnail to view the gallery full-screen

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Personal / Photography / Portrait

Families Are Forever In Transition

April 25, 2021

With growth comes a change in how we look both inside and out

Families are forever,” the saying goes. I suppose that’s right to a certain degree in that we don’t get to decide with whom we share certain aspects of our DNA. We are forever biologically connected to a specific and, perhaps thankfully, limited group of people based on the commonalities of our shared heritage. That doesn’t mean we have to like them, agree with them, or even associate with them. They are simply there. I have cousins I’ve not seen in many years and they each have children and grandchildren I’ve never met, but in the larger context of humanity, we are still, technically, family.

More important for our day-to-day existence is the family we create for ourselves. Here, we may include those of biological extraction, but it is their choice as to the desired level of participation and association. We may also include those who become family through other means such as romantic relationships and extended cohabitation. Kat’s little ones made the choice to call me Dad not through any means of coercion but because I was here to fulfill that role for them. Eight years doesn’t sound like a long time for us to have been together until I look back at the last set of pictures we took together and realize how small they seem then compared with the young people they are now.

Growth means making some adjustments. Hairstyles change to reflect personalities. Clothing changes according to personal identities. Mental health needs mean some don’t take new pictures at all for now. We’re still the same grouping of persons that we were with the previous photosets, we still identify as family, but none of us are the same. Our relationships have morphed with our needs. Just as our physical appearances have changed, so have our personalities, our habits and practices, our health, our desires, and our dreams.

What this collection of photos represents is where we are now. Or actually, where we were two and four weeks ago when the pictures were taken. Our lives have changed to such a degree that we couldn’t even manage to take everyone’s pictures on the same day. I’d have better luck getting all nine cats together for a group shot than I would the five of us. And yes, before you ask, one of us abstained from pictures for the time being. We’ll include them when they’re ready. Still, this is how families evolve. That old saying is incomplete. Families ARE forever. They’re forever in transition.

Enjoy.

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Art / Photography / Portrait

Sometimes You Have To Show How Badass You Really Are

March 21, 2021

You can be nice for a while, but when necessary, you have show your strength

One of the things the misogyny and sexism of our culture teaches is that it’s okay to push other people around, especially women. Stop teaching your children that lesson. Stop acting out that behavior. Stop putting women in a position where they have to whip your ass before you understand that what you are doing is wrong.

After the events of this past week, I’m rather over the convoluted and never-appropriate notion that women deserve something less on any level at any time. They deserve just as much respect, just as much attention, just as much opportunity, just as much funding, and just as much credit as any male in any position, ever. We’re well past the point of it being okay to expect women to sit quietly in the passenger seat and let men do the driving.

More often than not, one doesn’t want to see a woman’s badass side. Relationships rarely survive when she gets pushed that far. Lesser creatures have died. But not only can she out maneuver, out drink, out smart, and out think you, she looks better than you while doing it. These pictures are evidence of that.

Okay, so maybe not all women go around topless or wearing a rope corset while being badass. That’s a minor point. What’s important is that you start showing some respect. Polishing her boots might be an acceptable place to start. Get to it.

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Art / Photography

The Definition of Chill

March 14, 2021

Some people are always relaxed no matter what they’re doing

I tend to be a bit high strung at times, especially when my schedule is too full and something goes wrong. This would be why I’m on high blood pressure medication. Stress and I do not have an amicable relationship. The more I try to relax and not overload my schedule, the more stress fights back by adding things I neither wanted or needed in my day. This is one of those aspects I’ve come to accept as a part of life.

The young woman in these pictures gets stressed as well. I’d be lying to infer that she doesn’t. And I’m sure there are moments when she gets as frustrated as anyone else. The difference is that I never see her when she is stressed or frustrated. She may text Kat, or fuss at her partner, but by the time I get wind of any of it the whole matter has blown over. So, from my perspective, she’s totally chill. Always.

Carefully lit black-and-white photographs do a good job of communicating a level of casual ease, in my opinion. Regardless of what’s actually going on in the image, the tone of the photograph removes the intensity that comes with color. The emotion, even when it’s sadness or grief, carries a sense of resignation or acceptance that color doesn’t quite muster. As a result, when we start with a casual scene from the beginning, what we hopefully achieve is a level of relaxation that is seductive not in its content but in its emotion.

Judge for yourself. Click on any of the thumbnails below to view the images full screen.

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Art / Current Issues / Photography / studio nudes

Searching For My Happy Place

February 14, 2021

I’m damn sure not happy with the condition of the United States at the moment

My blood pressure is too high. It’s Saturday night and I’ve lost all faith in the two-party system of government. 43 Senators violated their oath of office, completely ignoring the rule of law. There’s no living with such traitorous action. But at the moment, there’s not a lot I can do. There is a lot I will do when the time is appropriate, but for now, I need to find my happy place. So, here it is. You’ll have to click on the image below to see the full version. No, I didn’t cut everyone’s head off. I’m reserving that action for politicians.

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Art / Experimental / Personal / Photography

Experimental Series: The Progression of A Bottle

January 31, 2021

Experimental Series: Progression of a bottle

Having come to the conclusion that I enjoy this manner of editing even when it takes several hours longer and at times makes me angry

Does it matter what anyone else thinks about my work? Well, yes, if one is wanting to be employed or wants their work to sell to an admiring public. When either of those are influencing what we do, then yes, the opinion of others matters.

For the moment, though, I am past caring. With long days of sitting here without any interaction outside of family, focusing on writing, and wrestling with what seems to be a growing number of health issues, caring about what someone thinks about how I edit pictures kinda takes a back set. Anyone who hasn’t purchased a picture before isn’t likely to change their mind and do so now, so why bother catering to that market?

Not that I won’t submit quality work to art shows if they indeed happen again. That’s always an option and it sits outside the online galleries that have yet to be worth the trouble of participation.

But what that means is that instead of whipping out a new set every week, this one took three weeks. Instead of whipping out 40 images a day, most of these took the better part of two days each. Inherently, that makes them more valuable but since no one’s buying anyway that’s not my concern. I’m more focused on whether they meet my goal of what I want from both the image individually and its place in the series.

These were shot on a plain white background, which is evident in the first image. We were a couple of hours into the shoot and the bottle in the model’s hand is empty for presumably obvious reasons. The effect of the wine was just starting to hit with the first image and grew as we progressed. No one was inebriated, but the buzz generated smiles and giggles that were entertaining to capture.

I can’t say I’ll stay in this funk. Part of me is anxious to return to straightforward editorial shots but for that to happen the environment for shooting them has to be safer for everyone. But for now, this is where we’re at. I have more images to edit, but I’m not rushing them. Each will reflect how I want to interpret the scene and situation. If that bothers you, that’s your problem.

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Photography

Approaching Life From A Different Perspective

January 10, 2021

Sorry, but with all that’s happened this week, I’m not ready. I’m not ready to see people in front of my camera. I’m not ready to sit and edit for endless hours. I’m not ready to put weeks of creative thought into a project. Not yet. I’m not there.

That doesn’t mean I didn’t feel the need to shoot some this week. While I didn’t want to take the camera out in sub-freezing weather, the 105 megapixels on my phone were an adequate substitute. We played. We looked at things from odd and different angles. There are a couple of reflective double-exposures that are interesting. Pay attention to those. The cat in the sink is… one of those things that happens around here. We deal with it.

I don’t have anything else at the moment. Leave a message in the comments below or at the tone.

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Art / Editorial / Experimental / Photography / Portrait / studio nudes

Oh my god, 2020

December 27, 2020

The best thing we can say is that at least it’s almost done

Okay, last post of the year. I traditionally give this spot to a look back and I’m not inclined to change that. Never mind that we snapped fewer frames than ever. We dropped back into the archives and still managed to come up with new material for 47 of the 52 weeks. Pretty good considering how rarely I’ve left the house.

And that’s all I’m going to say about it outside a huge THANK YOU to those who did manage to find their way in front of the camera. There were so many more I would have loved to have seen, but… Yeah, you know how that went. Next year? I’m not even going to guess. Maybe we’ll do 51 weeks of me nude. Maybe you’ll volunteer to take my place. Maybe $100 bills will fall from the sky. We’ll see.

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Current Issues / Photography / Portrait

Quietly Dancing The Night Away

November 29, 2020

Life frequently sucks but that should never stop us from dancing.

More than ever, I am inclined these days to keep the identity of our models anonymous. We did such two weeks ago, are doing so today, and will continue next week. Increasingly, it is rare for us to be able to use any portion of a model’s name with a sense of safety. The vitriol spewed, the doxing, and the outright harassments we’ve seen this year is a sad reflection of a society that has lost any sense of artistic appreciation. Where we once enjoyed a widely-accepting audience, I find myself now looking for ways to limit viewing to a handful of people I know approach the material in an appropriate manner.

Everywhere I look recently, the phrase “it’s been a rough year” is batted about as though everything is going to get better come January 1, or January 20. What I’m more aware of this morning, sitting here in the dark with Smashed-Face Wheezer Kitty blocking a substantial portion of my desk, is that for far too many people, this hasn’t been a “rough year,” it’s been a continuation of a rough life. There are still children separated from their parents being kept in cages, sleeping on concrete floors, in the name of national security. There are still young black men who know every time they step out the door of their homes, they may not come back; victims of trying to live in a racist America that refuses to acknowledge that their lives matter. There are still millions of people addicted to opioids who have had trouble finding help as hospitals don’t have room for them now. There are still families tormented by continued patterns of abuse.

What has happened this year isn’t as much an anomaly as it is a culmination of not caring for anyone other than ourselves. The global pandemic has not only made us vulnerable to a deadly disease, but it has ignited our long-standing selfish, ignorant, and hateful attitudes toward anything that looks like compassion. We are not merely afraid to care about other people, we openly despise those who do. There are too many people who still look at the simple task of wearing a mask in public as a political statement rather than the reality of caring for the people around them. Nurses report instances of people still claiming the virus is a hoax as they lie dying from that virus. Millions rushed through airports this week because they simply couldn’t stand the idea of spending a holiday at home, where everyone would be safe.

How we should respond, what action is most appropriate, is a matter with which I continue to struggle. Over the past couple of months, I’ve vacillated across the spectrum but at the moment I’m taking my cue from Smashed-Face Wheezer Kitty. This little guy developed a life-threatening problem when he was still too young to wean. It took a lot of care to keep him alive and we still have to watch to make sure his sinus passages don’t become clogged. We always know where he is because his breathing is noisy. So what does he choose to do? Act like every other cat in the house. He chases pieces of fluff. He plays with his brother. He sits in my lap and nips at my hand. The status of his life always is, and to some degree always will be a bit precarious, but he goes right on living his best life.

And that’s where I’m at this morning: with all the challenges we face, we can, and should, live good lives. We can still dance. Maybe not in public, and definitely not all up on someone else, and if you’re like me, not well, but we can still dance even if we have to turn the lights off and wait until no one is looking so we don’t embarrass ourselves.

Our pictures this week are of a young woman who had never taken professional pictures. She was nervous. She didn’t know what to do and even with direction, she was still tense. Life does that to us, makes it impossible to relax. Then, we turned on the music and gave her permission to dance. That’s all it took. Fear and tension slipped out the door and we were able to get some images that didn’t look like I was holding a gun to her head. All she had to do was dance.

Take the metaphor and run with it. The pandemic isn’t going to suddenly end when the calendar switches to 2021. Life doesn’t magically get better for everyone when the occupancy of the White House changes. People, by the millions, still hurt, still need, still struggle to stay alive. I’m not sure what happens next but I do know that when things are at their worst, it’s okay to dance. For yourself. In your own way. With no criticism or condemnation from anyone, anywhere, at any time. Dance the night away.

My thanks to Greg Fleckenstein and Matt Corsaro for their assistance with this shoot, as well as to the model for being brave enough to step way outside her comfort zone and try something new.

As always, click on any of the thumbnails below to view the images full screen.

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Art / Current Issues / Photography / Social Commentary

Here We Go Again On Our Own

November 22, 2020

Wear a mask, wash your hands, protect what’s important

What we have this week is the second set of photos from a group we shot back in September when it was still, barely, warm enough to be running around naked in the woods. At that point in time, we were fairly hopeful. COVID-19 numbers were down. Schools were slowly starting back. Bars and restaurants were opening. While we knew there was a good chance of a second wave, it was still a while off.

Now, I look at these pictures and wish I’d taken more. Lots more. As much as I’d love to call Ashley and say, “Hey, meet me…” I don’t dare. Coronavirus infection rates are the highest they’ve ever been. As of the particular moment when I’m typing this, the United States has seen more than twelve million cases and just crossed 250,000 deaths. Our daughter, who had been enjoying going to school and seeing her friends, will now be back at home learning remotely starting Monday. All schools in the county are completely closed to in-person instruction. That bars and restaurants haven’t done the same is more cowardice and lack of supportive action on the part of lawmakers than it is any reasonable form of science.

One of the most difficult parts of this past week was making the decision to not participate in family Thanksgiving celebrations, despite them being small. They’ll only include two more people than normal, but they’re people outside my normal bubble and one of them works in retail, exposed to a plethora of people with little consideration for anyone else. Making that decision more difficult is that our youngest son’s birthday falls on the same day. We’ve promised him an additional celebration at home, but it’s not the same. There are no friends coming over for a party, no sharing cupcakes with classmates.

Of all the songs running through my mind right now, perhaps the most relevant is Whitesnake’s 1987 hit, Here I Go Again.

No, I don't know where I'm goin'
But I sure know where I've been
Hanging on the promises in songs of yesterday
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time
Though I keep searchin' for an answer
I never seem to find what I'm lookin' for
Oh Lord, I pray you give me strength to carry on
'Cause I know what it means
To walk along the lonely street of dreams
And here I go again on my own
Goin' down the only road I've ever known
Like a drifter, I was born to walk alone
And I've made up my mind
I ain't wasting no more time

I know I’m not the only one feeling this way. Millions of people who would normally be spending portions of this week with large gatherings of family are either staying home or severely limiting the number of people around them. Across the country, there are more than 250,000 chairs that empty and most of them didn’t have to be. We, as a country, continue to be irresponsible.

So, here we are, on our own, out in the woods, staying several feet apart from each other. We can look at the pictures and enjoy the beauty and, perhaps, for a moment, forget how unforgivingly horrid this year has been on so many different levels. Perhaps next year will bring more opportunities to be more adventurous. For the moment, we are thankful for the time we had.

Enjoy.

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Art / Current Issues / Photography / Social Commentary

The Abstract Surrealism of 2020

November 15, 2020

There is nothing about this year remotely resembling what we once considered reality.

Abstract Surrealism isn’t really a thing, let me make that clear right upfront. Abstraction is ambiguous, intentional removal from any objective reference. It’s also extremely controversial as some argue that it is the sum of art while others complain that it’s nothing but a jumbled mess of color with no meaning whatsoever.

Surrealism is, for many people, defined by the works of Dada and Dali. Perhaps we think specifically of Dali’s melting universe creating a detailed but dreamlike view of a world that defines reality not by what we see with our eyes but with our subconscious.

They are two very different forms of art and confusing the two is a good way to make an art curator or serious patron quite angry. Merging the forms? One would have to be completely delusional to invoke that level of insanity.

Insanity. I’m sorry, have you met the year 2020? There are no words left that haven’t been reshaped, reclassified, and/or redefined. Nothing about this year is remotely normal nor has it stayed within the boundaries of what we formerly considered real. There have been too many events happen that logical people of reason never thought possible. Our minds have exploded as people we thought we knew, including some we’ve loved, stepped off the deep end into some kind of fantasy where nothing currently happening makes sense within the context of everything that happened before.

Which brings us to the Abstract Surrealism of 2020. This is the first set in what may turn out to be an entire series (if we live so long). We asked a young model, who understandably enough has chosen to remain anonymous so that her career does not suffer from the association, if we could paint her body in a loosely defined manner—not genuinely abstract, but not a recognizable form, either. We then took the images and carefully, painstakingly, with frequent bouts of frustrated cursing, rendered each to fit a month of this pandemic. As one sees below, this results in a dramatically unique set of images that hardly appear to be related.

Let me see if I can explain the progression for you to a limited degree. A word of caution: trying to follow the meanderings of my mind can lead to internalized stress and possible combustion.

April: There’s a sense of a definite figure but nothing around it feels quite right. The lines aren’t all in place and, what is this splashing up from out of nowhere? We’re blue because we’re depressed by a lockdown that only some are observing while others completely deny that there’s anything wrong. We know this is going to get worse, but we’re still hopeful.

May: Color change as the pandemic grows more intense. School ends without any commencement. Unemployment sets records never before imagined. Arguments over whether to wear a mask rage both online and in-person, casting suspicion on people once thought to be at least marginally intelligent. That splash thing keeps getting bigger and there’s no explanation coming for why the curve isn’t flattening.

June: We’re tempted to breathe a sigh of relief and the colors calm a bit as the number of new cases each day starts to decline. People are telling us, “Hey, we’ve got this. It will all be over soon.” Yet, notice that our model’s face is no longer visible. She’s blinded by her hair just as we were blinded by unhinged optimism. We start to emerge from our cocoons only to have to retreat toward the end of the month.

July: Staged reopening plans are announced and there’s an official statement of optimism in which we believe because we refuse to accept that this stupid virus can be upsetting our lives this severely. We’re determined to have our vacations one way or another. We whirl ourselves in circles clamoring that, “Look! The numbers are going down!” and illogically letting that one statistic fool us into letting down our guard.

August: We’re smiling. We’re going to send kids back to school even if it has to be in stages. Sure, the virus is still splashing all around us but just ignore that. We’ve got a plan and there’s a vaccine coming by the end of the year. No one’s going to trust it, but it will be here. The patterns might seem to be recognizable but that’s only because we’ve looked at this situation so many times we’re starting to hallucinate good news where none exists.

September: “This pandemic is nothing,” we say as we casually flip our hair. Never mind that the numbers are starting to go up in the places where they had previously been low. Pay no attention to that huge wave sweeping across the South and Midwest. Let’s open things up some more; it will be good for the economy, and the economy is what matters more than silly things like people’s lives.

October: Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck! Hell no, we’re not going to go back into lockdown! Open everything up! Stage 5, motherfucker! Sure, the number of cases is starting to spike again, but look at the low number of deaths. See? Hardly anyone’s dying except for the people who shouldn’t be dying. More young adults are being affected but they probably had underlying conditions. It’s not the virus’s fault they died.

November: The virus is not merely back, it’s pouring on us like rain and we’re going to drown. There’s still no vaccine and even if there was more than half the people in the US say they’re not going to take it, rendering it ineffective in stopping the spread of the disease. Ten million people have died despite the fact someone keeps telling us that it’s fine, it’s not a big deal. Keep smiling. Cancel the holidays. We’re all going to die.

By the time we get to the last piece, our entire sense of reality is warped. Our thinking, if not our vision, is completely disconnected from any sense of objectivity. We think we know what’s going on, kind of, but we’re uncomfortable, uncertain, and unsure of what to do next. If you’re looking at the final image on a large enough monitor, you’ll see that the model is beginning to fade into the background—not strongly, yet, as there’s still a definite sense of person even if place and time are nonexistent. This is bracing for disaster as our identity melts into the abstraction of calamity.

The rain is poison and like the Batman’s Joker with his forced smile, we’re laughing through the pain, unable to escape the horrors this year has foisted upon us.

No, these pictures aren’t pretty. They shouldn’t be. This isn’t Pashur’s bodypaint. This year has not been okay and any portrayal of it in traditional tones or imagery is doubling down on a lie that everyone already knows is false. I need these images to be troubling to one’s aesthetic sensibilities. We should not hide that we’re bothered, or disturbed, or possibly even worried about the mental state of the artist (the gods know I am).

There are more thoughts to compile, more images that need to sit alongside these. Give me a few weeks. Any other year, I’d be shutting production down, but not now. I need to explore more, deeper, into the pain. In the meantime, ponder over these and their implicit meaning. I’ll try to give you something more traditional next week, just to perpetuate the myth that we’re all fine, that this week is an aberration. In the meantime, ponder.

Our HUGE thanks to our anonymous model. She truly is a lovely person and I owe her a less fraught set of pictures for helping us express what we’re feeling in this moment.

For those who might be new, click on any of the thumbnails below to view the images full screen.

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Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.
Salvador Dali

Art / Just For Fun / Photography / Portrait

Rough And Rumble

November 8, 2020

When two of the nicest people you know act tough

Part of the fun of doing a photoshoot is the opportunity to wear things and behave in ways that one’s normal life doesn’t allow. Costumes, props, hair, makeup, all can make one look dramatically different from how they present themselves in their normal professions. Here, there are no limits. You set the rules for yourself. If you can put it together, we’ll take the picture. There’s no judgment coming from my side of the camera. You be whatever or whoever you wish to be.

So, in the midst of acting silly, Jane and Kat decided to flip to their tough personas. Sure, in real life they’re both sweet as molasses. Well, sort of. Never forget that Kat’s a Marine and can genuinely kick your ass if the need arises. Still, that’s not an identity she wears on the average day. Jane donned a leather jacket (with sparkly pink boots) and Kat stole my hat (because it matched her corset) and away they went.

One caveat to Jane’s pictures here. This is really a set that needs to be viewed on the largest screen possible to look good. I was pleased when I edited the images, but seeing them on my phone hurts my eyes. Please, do us both a favor and find a desktop.

With the external stresses of this past week, and the inevitable stress of the week to come, we need fun moments like this to alleviate some of the pressure. Sure, there are plenty of moments when art and photography need to be serious. This isn’t one of them.

Click on a thumbnail. View an image full screen. Enjoy.

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Just For Fun / Photography

Best Friends Being Naughty

October 4, 2020

Are you really BFFs if you’re not doing something inappropriate?

Upfront, one needs to know that looking at these images as anything other than silly expressions of friendship and fun is contrary to the spirit in which they were created. The whole purpose of this shoot was to get together with friends we’ve not seen in a while and have fun. That it resulted in some very silly photos is not unusual but neither should it be considered serious works deserving any judgment. This is strictly fun.

That being said, this is the kind of thing that happens whenever these two get together. There are costumes. There are toys. There are adult-oriented moments of fun and hilarity. Their enjoyment of each other and their time together is what makes these pictures worth sharing. There’s not a serious moment to be had across all fifteen images.

There are two sets here. The first is reminiscent of a set of very campy and hilariously bad films with names like “Toxic Alien Zombie Babes from Outer Space,” “Ninja Babes from Space,” “Spacebong Beach Babes,” and “Space Babes from Outer Space.” None of them can be considered serious cinema and they probably ruined more than a few acting careers. Still, when you’re in need of a laugh, this is the level of silliness that does the trick. Yes, that’s a 14″ pink double-ended dildo. No, it’s not mine.

The second set is vector-based, something one might associate with the 90s. One of the girls said it looked like MySpace, except that she wasn’t old enough to have been on MySpace. There was a time when this type of imagery was everywhere. While we’re glad that it’s no longer a trend, it’s fun to revisit it every once in a while.

What probably made the sets the most challenging was that neither of them could stay still or keep a straight face. Under different conditions, that might have been frustrating but with these two it has to be expected and I’m pretty sure the same is true for most all BFFs when they get together. After all, if you can’t share inappropriate naughty moments with your BFF, why are they even there?

As always, click on the thumbnail below to see an image full screen. Enjoy!

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Editorial / Photography / Portrait

An Afternoon Along The Wabash

September 27, 2020

At least, what’s left of that famous river…

Two things built up my confidence for this week’s trip to Lafayette. First, was that I survived last week’s shoot without catching anything. Protections work. Second, my visit with doctor number 87 did not predict imminent death. Wasn’t too worried about that one, to begin with, but a win is still a win. So, feeling a little confident, I tossed a message at Cassandra to see if she’d be available to shoot and when she agreed I started making plans.

Lafayette is one of those towns I’ve been through dozens of times but only stop at convenience stores along the interstate. Some ten or so years ago, I had a photo hanging at a gallery there for some contest of some kind, but I went directly there and back home. I’d never driven around, getting to know the city nor the university it hosts. Having cleared the day, I took some time and drove around, happy to find that Purdue students were staying inside and that finding a parking place didn’t mean driving in circles for 30 minutes.

Cassandra joined me in the early part of the evening as the sun was perfectly placed in the sky. Quickly enough, street lights began to pop on and the shadows grew long enough we couldn’t get decent natural light without invoking tremendous amounts of noise. Black and white with a touch of grain is fine, but there’s a limit. As for the Wabash, well, it’s at an all-time low, shallow enough one might walk across it in places. Sigh. So much for that “majestic river” vibe.

This is the first of what will likely be three posts with Cassandra. I enjoy the fact that she always comes prepared for multiple looks. As always, click on the thumbnail to view the image full screen. Enjoy!

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17284″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

Photography / Portrait

Adventures in the Outdoors: Maddi Skates

September 20, 2020

Throwing a calculated amount of caution to a light breeze, we invited Maddi to our first new shoot since February

Even if I shot once a week every week for the remainder of the year, this would still be the fewest photographs I’ve taken in over 35 years. We all know this year is crazy, though, and there’s no point in looking at it as anything other than an anomaly.

I first met Maddi back in February. We talked then about doing a shoot, but before we could get anything scheduled, everything shut down. Since her shoot was outdoors, though, I figured it would be easy enough to sufficiently social distance ourselves and still get some good pictures. I would use a long lens, she wouldn’t do anything that required her flying over me to get the shot. There was no air to grab. No pipes to ride. Nothing dangerous. Just a cautious amount of fun.

The surprise for the day was that Maddi brought along her best friend, Mr. Crowley! No, he doesn’t pull the board. If anything, he’s a bit frightened of it. But he’s quite photogenic and posed nicely while watching Maddi skate.

That’s it. No shocking surprises. No one naked (this time). Just a fun but cautious trip to Major Taylor Velodrome. Hopefully, this is a start for getting back into the groove a bit. We’ll see.

In case you’ve forgotten, click on any of the thumbnails below to see the image full screen.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17257″ layout=”contain” columns=”4″]

Art / Personal / Photography

Pressing Pause

August 2, 2020

Sometimes one needs to stop and evaluate where they’re at before continuing

This is going to be my last entry here for a while. I’ve tried to keep up and produce something interesting every week through the pandemic, but I’m at a point where I’m not feeling the least bit inspired. So, I’m leaving you with a set of images in which I literally hit the pause button in the middle of processing. None of these are genuinely finished images. Some still have rough edges, others lack detail, a couple are obscured. They represent how I’m feeling at the moment in many ways.

I’ll start reposting when I have new material or manage to come up with something I find at least marginally interesting. I’m not hanging up my camera, mind you, but for the moment it’s not safe to ask anyone to shoot and without new material I’m feeling uncreative.

Here’s to better days and new pictures.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17225″ layout=”contain” columns=”3″]

Current Issues / Documentary / Photography

Signs of the Time

July 19, 2020

The signs we display say a lot about our approach to life’s biggest challenge in July, 2020.

No one would question that life this year has been bizarre. I’m still waiting for that first photoshoot since February. Maybe it will happen this week, but I’m not going to be surprised or upset if it doesn’t. There are too many challenges. The National Weather Service this morning issued a heat advisory for all of Central Indiana for today from 1:00 PM to 8:00 PM with warnings of heat indices over 105 degrees. Tomorrow may not be any better, nor the day after that. Shoot indoors, you say? Where? I’ve yet to find an indoor location that is both suitable to the content and appropriately sanitized against the virus. If you know of such a place, please share.

This situation leaves me with a conundrum each week of whether to re-process and re-imagine work from the archives, as we’ve done often, publish pictures of the kids, which we’ve done a few times, or go with something more random and timely, which we’ve done once. I’ll admit to not feeling terribly motivated by any of those options. I’d skip this week completely if I wasn’t afraid that with everything else going on you’d completely forget I exist if I didn’t regularly remind you that I’m still here, still hanging on, pining for days when I’m shooting something exciting every week. So, we went with a topic more documentary than anything, just to have new pictures to post.

One thing of which we are now certain is that this damned pandemic is going to roil this entire year and probably next year as well, at least in the United States. Why? We’re stupid and we lack substantive leadership. Our so-called president has decided that the virus is a distraction and doesn’t want to be bothered. Daily, he proves himself a fool. Even if he was capable of the leadership necessary, however, a formidable portion of the US population is just stupid. There’s no other reasonable explanation for why people didn’t wear masks and stay home and shut this thing down in March and April like every other developed industrialized country in the world did. NO ONE is continuing to face increasing infection rates as high as we are. Yet, I see doctors re-stating the obvious each morning: if everyone wore a mask, the virus would be contained within two weeks, a month, max. That this hasn’t yet happened is disgusting.

As a result of failed leadership across the US, corporate entities, trying desperately to remain solvent, stepped up this week and began requiring masks in their stores. And while the cynics among us are waiting gleefully with cameras in hand for when the requirement at Walmart goes into effect this week, many of us are questioning why we had to wait this long for such a substantial response. Indianapolis has been under a mask mandate in public for the better part of two weeks now and I’m still cautious when going to the grocery store because no one wants to be the “bad guy” who enforces the safety measure.

The recent corporate decisions, however, have spurred a requirement for new signage. In most cases, local stores were sent images to print out and tape to their front doors. Larger entities, such as Kroger and Home Depot, have more professional signage. Knowing this, and being completely clueless as to what else to photograph this week, we went to our nearest strip mall and took pictures of the variations of signs informing customers of the need to mask up. The result was marginally interesting. Some were adamant with a “do it or else” tone. Others gave a, “hey, it’s not our fault,” message. A couple came at it from the perspective of personal responsibility, not that Americans have a clue what that is.

What we ended up with is some of the most boring pictures I’ve ever shot. Really. Grass growing in the front yard would be more exciting. I tried adding some artistic nuance to them in the processing, but even that feels too much like a giant, “UGH!” How many different ways can one say, “Hey stupid, wear a mask!” None of the ones we saw were imaginative to any degree. Dealing with my own reflection in the glass doors didn’t help any, either. Still, there is some, perhaps minimal, documentary value in recording how we’re (not) handling this situation. I apologize for not being more exciting this week. Maybe next week will be better.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17179″ layout=”contain” columns=”2″]

Photography

Looking For Signs Of Life

June 21, 2020

Some days one is prone to wonder if there is any intelligent life on the planet at all.

I can’t say this this week’s photos are particularly inspiring. Perhaps that is due to the fact I wasn’t feeling particularly inspired. Not that I didn’t try. It was still fairly early when I arrived at the Eagle Creek Marina one morning, hoping to at least catch some wildlife in action. Nothing seemed to be overly cooperative, though. Even the starlings kept themselves backlit so their portraits turned out too dark to salvage reasonably. Trying to chase a cardinal through the trees was wholly frustrating.

Patience is necessary for trips like this, though, and time was a luxury not afforded to me this particular morning. I had but 45 minutes before I needed to be on my way. Thoughts of stopping back by another day were interrupted by necessary tasks needing completion prior to Kat leaving for the salon.

Our need to still stay distant from others is proving frustrating. I’ve booked a shoot for a couple of weeks out with someone new doing something different. The concept is one that demands I shoot from some distance. I have no idea how well it might work. Such a different approach has me re-examining why I shoot.

For the moment, however, there are these eight images. At least the squirrel seemed mildly amused.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17105″ layout=”wide” columns=”2″]

Documentary / News & Comment / Photography

A Stark Reminder Of What We’re Facing

June 14, 2020

The state of Indiana may say it’s re-opening but downtown Indianapolis is a very different picture.

Yes, I do still have a good camera. Yes, I still remember how to use it. Having not shot anything new since February, though, I had to dust it off and clean the lenses before taking everything out early Thursday morning and venture into downtown Indianapolis. I was itching to shoot something, anything, and after hearing about all the protests downtown and the Arts Council’s project for painting boarded-up shops, I was fairly certain I would find littered streets juxtaposed against incredible murals.

I couldn’t have been more wrong.

I hit downtown at 8:20 AM, right smack in the middle of what should have been one of the busiest times of the day. Instead, I encountered practically no traffic at all once I was inside the mile square. I parked less than a block North of the Circle. The place was empty.

Sure, there were some construction people doing construction things, but there were no pedestrians, no one rushing to get to work on time, no one grabbing that last cup of coffee before trudging into an office, no police, no lingering protestors, nothing. Almost everything was boarded up but most the boards were still bare and the few on the Circle that had been painted were amateur attempts at prettying-up a hard message: Black Lives Matter. The streets themselves were perhaps the most clean I’ve ever seen them. No sign of the previous night’s protest remained. Even the trash cans had been emptied.

I walked south out of the circle to Washington then west to Illinois. Seeing Circle Center Mall boarded up was surreal. Even more unnerving, though, was being able to stand in the middle of an intersection, multiple times, and take my time framing my shot without having to worry about being run over. Traffic was practically non-existent. I walked on down to Georgia Street where a lone couple sat snuggling on one of the concrete supports. There was some utility construction nearby, but beyond that, everything was quiet.

The one image that stands out in need of comment is the statue of Governor Oliver Morton with what appears to be bird poop squarely down his face. I couldn’t think of anything more appropriate. Morton, on one hand, got the state of Indiana through the Civil War without it being torn to shreds. He fought off white supremacist groups and made Indiana one of the most supportive states in the Union. Sounds like a good guy, right?

Hardly. While he might be applauded for his support of the Union, the methods he used in the process were nonetheless detestable. He illegally borrowed millions of dollars in federal and personal loans to support the state budget because he wouldn’t let the state legislature meet. He hired thugs who beat up, kidnapped, and allegedly killed political opponents. When Confederate troops crossed the Ohio River into Indiana, not only did he illegally call up the state militia to fight them but he had them ransack and burn the homes and barns of any Hoosier family who displayed the flag of the Golden Circle, a group sympathetic to the Confederacy. Perhaps difficult times call for difficult measures, but seeing bird poop on his face still feels appropriate.

Seeing the city this way was a reminder that regardless of what other issues we might face there is still a pandemic to fight. While people out in the suburbs might be reckless and running around without a care, the few people who were downtown were taking matters seriously. Mosts wore masks. They all avoided getting too close to anyone else. And the whole place felt a bit like a ghost town.

I can’t say the following photographs are exciting. If they are interesting it is on a documentary level as we consider where we are and what is really taking place. While it was nice to get the camera out again, I must say that I prefer more lively subjects. I kept looking for tumbleweeds; at least they would have been interesting.

[tg_masonry_gallery gallery_id=”17086″ layout=”wide” columns=”4″]

Art / Current Issues / Photography

Plagues, Rage, and Home Decorating

May 31, 2020

Art reflects what we experience but when our experience is something other than positive or sanguine, how do we make that art fit into our lives?

This week has been unnerving, to say the least. I’ve waited until Sunday morning before deciding whether to post what I’d planned or wait. I won’t argue that what we have to share this week doesn’t fit with national or local tragedies. I don’t have anything in my archives that would. However, I’m not convinced matters will have improved by next week, nor the week after. So, I’m sharing in the hopes that, perhaps, in some moment separate from the chaos filling our conscious existence, the pictures might provide a distraction, a different vein of thought, perhaps even a twinkling of amusement that helps in some small way to carry us all forward.

I created this week’s images, perhaps unsurprisingly, in response to the global pandemic that, despite all other distractions, continues to take lives around the globe. This morning’s verified numbers are that 6.05 million people have been confirmed to have the virus. 369,000 of those people died. 105,000 of those deaths were in the US. 1,850 were in Indiana. COVID-19 is no respecter of race, gender, religion, or political persuasion. Diseases are like that. They don’t care who they infect.

The first six images reflect how the virus takes a beautiful life and distorts, consumes, and obliviates that existence. The last three images shift to the softness of our response. Sure, there’s some caution and some urgency, but we’ve colored our attitudes and responses with excuses and misinformation and a complete suspension of belief in science so that we’re convinced it’s no big deal and you’re not going to notice the body is on fire unless you look closely.

I like the finished works and probably, eventually, will make them for sale. You’ll want to keep checking our catalog at Saatchi Art for those updates. What occurred to me, though, as I was working on the first piece, is that art addressing challenging topics can be difficult to place in a room. Showing the art by itself in a staged room didn’t quite provide the aesthetic experience I want to share. So, I pulled out some design templates and created mood boards for each image with different ideas for colors and textures that might match well with the photograph.

Does one decorate a room around an image representing such an unpopular and rather depressing topic? One certainly doesn’t furnish a room to clash with such an image! If we find the artistry in the photograph, I see no reason to not work the room in which it hangs so that everything is complimentary.

The problem with digital mood boards, though, is that they really don’t give one any sense of the image’s detail. So, I’m giving you both the image and the mood board. Depending on what size device you’re viewing these, the layout will either be helpful or leave you scrolling down forever. I’m not responsible for the failings of your electronics.

These images do not take away any angst or worry one might have regarding current events. They do nothing to address the violence nor the systemic racial injustice. These photographs are a distraction. I hope they provide you an experience void of pain.

Art / Experimental / Photography

Butterflies, Bugs, And Blossoms

May 10, 2020

Taking a creative turn toward nature

Being quarantined over two months, not having the slightest clue when I will feel safe enough to invite someone back in front of my camera, is really pushing me to come up with creative ways of processing images. Part of the problem is that I’ve looked at the same pictures for so many years that I now find the originals a bit boring. Whether that might translate into something more interesting when I do start shooting again, I can’t yet say. I do know, though, that I’m likely to be more involved in directing models so that I have a greater variety of poses.

One of the things I’ve noticed in looking around various art sites is the popularity of butterflies and other elements from nature composited or layered onto images. The technique is so popular, in fact, that with some artists it becomes redundant after 20 or so images done in exactly the same style. To that end, the images below are likely to be the only ones you see done in this precise style. I’m not saying I won’t use some of the elements again, but if I do it will involve a very different processing style.

I also am not particularly moved at this point from the stark magazine cut-out style of compositing that is popular with a number of artists. Again, it feels redundant to the point that if I see another butterfly with an uneven white border placed over a person’s mouth I may have to puke just on principle. As a result, I deliberately worked to keep edges softer, often deteriorated, and in some cases completely obscure. In one piece, Floral Explosion, there are no edges at all, no lines, just vague shapes, and colors. Artistically, I like the softer touch and may eventually do a set of figure pieces that avoid lines completely, which would be abstract as hell but potentially interesting. Potentially. What exists as a concept in my head doesn’t always work out in reality. We’ll see.

Anyway, we’ve uploaded this set to Saatchi Art for purchase. No, they’re not cheap because they were incredibly time-intensive to produce. Everything we’re doing at the moment is time-intensive. Part of the purpose is to keep myself focused on creating so I don’t get lost thinking of how much I’m not creating. I hope you find something here you can enjoy.

Art / Photography

Turning Destruction Into Art

May 3, 2020

What looked like nothing more than trash turned out to be some very interesting images

All this quarantining stuff has really been a challenge. I’ve thought about taking pictures of all the animals, or the children, or perhaps the sky on an interesting day full of fluffy cumulus stuff. None of that has yet to prove inspiring or cooperative. Other people’s cats may not mind posing for pictures, but ours do and fight it every time I try. The children aren’t much better. Clouds are probably my best choice but dang it, they always seem to end up behind power lines that make the editing a pain in the ass. So, I’ll still work with pictures from the archives for now.

First off, because I spent so much time on this week’s pictures, I didn’t have time to go back and link last week’s pictures. If you want to see more of the black and white figure work, click here.

The photos we chose this week originated in 2006 when a Daimler-Chrysler plant was in the process of being demolished. I honestly don’t remember the exact circumstances of how we came to the then-abandoned site. I know we didn’t have permission to be there (like that’s ever stopped me) and apparently I wasn’t using my camera, though it’s not clear whose camera I was using. I know it was a Canon and that’s about it. I remember the covered stairway that took employees from the parking lot across the street to the plant. Unfortunately, we couldn’t get too close due to additional fencing, but we got close enough.

The result this week was a set of six images that were painstaking to complete. Each one is processed multiple times (which takes forever) and carefully composited together to create the final image. They are unique. A couple of them border on abstract. Any of them would look good hanging on a wall somewhere.

One note about that wall-hanging thing. These are super-busy images with a lot going on in the details that aren’t immediately seen in the images below. For that reason, I’m strongly recommending that they be hung on walls that don’t have much else on them. Put them on a busy wall or too close to other artwork and the effect is going to be diminished.

Here are the works mounted, one of which I intentionally put in a place that creates some irony. I’ll let you figure out which one it is. With each, click on the image or the title to get a more detailed view of the image.

These are also more expensive. I spent so much time with these that my head was throbbing by the time I was done. There has to be some compensation for that.

Enjoy the works and feel free to ask questions in the comments below!

Church Of Destruction — *Church of Destruction*

Yeah, there’s a touch of irony/sarcasm in the placement of that last one. [grin]

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Page 3 of 36

photograph

Maybe all that pasta isn’t a good thing

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Constantly improving, updating, revising, and redecorating, a woman is never a finished work of art

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Actively avoiding realism

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With growth comes a change in how we look both inside and out

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You can be nice for a while, but when necessary, you have show your strength

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Some people are always relaxed no matter what they’re doing

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I’m damn sure not happy with the condition of the United States at the moment

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Having come to the conclusion that I enjoy this manner of editing even when it takes several hours longer and at times makes me angry

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The best thing we can say is that at least it’s almost done

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Life frequently sucks but that should never stop us from dancing.

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Wear a mask, wash your hands, protect what’s important

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There is nothing about this year remotely resembling what we once considered reality.

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When two of the nicest people you know act tough

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Are you really BFFs if you’re not doing something inappropriate?

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Throwing a calculated amount of caution to a light breeze, we invited Maddi to our first new shoot since February

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Sometimes one needs to stop and evaluate where they’re at before continuing

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The signs we display say a lot about our approach to life’s biggest challenge in July, 2020.

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Some days one is prone to wonder if there is any intelligent life on the planet at all.

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The state of Indiana may say it’s re-opening but downtown Indianapolis is a very different picture.

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Art reflects what we experience but when our experience is something other than positive or sanguine, how do we make that art fit into our lives?

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Taking a creative turn toward nature

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What looked like nothing more than trash turned out to be some very interesting images

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