Ambition

PotD / Social Commentary

Ambition

September 17, 2015

INTENSITY (2012)

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.—Helen Keller

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]There is something seriously wrong with the world when schools inspire and encourage fear and suspicion rather than learning and ambition. Fear and suspicion lead to remission, fighting, and ultimately war. Learning and ambition lead to cooperation, understand, and progress. That there is anyone in the world who promotes the negative over the positive is a point of concern, but when it is the institutions we entrust to teach and prepare the next generation, we should be furious.

On Monday of this week, news broke of a 14-year-old student at MacArthur High School in Irving, Texas who was arrested for making a clock for his engineering class. Ahmed Mohamed is a young man of Sudanese descent. In fact, his father, Mohamed Elhassan Mohamed, ran for President of Sudan earlier this year. The whole purpose of putting Ahmed in the Texas school was to encourage his ambition in science and technology. Unfortunately, when Ahmed’s English teacher saw the briefcase containing the clock, he didn’t bother to ask the student what it was. Instead, the teacher made the false assumption that it must be a bomb and reported Ahmed to the principal, who in turn called the police.

I find it interesting that this happened at a school named after the late five-star general, Douglas MacArthur. The tough-as-nails general with a reputation for pushing his troops to their very limit, for accepting nothing short of victory, would almost certainly be embarrassed by the school. General MacArthur once said,

It is part of the general pattern of misguided policy that our country is now geared to an arms economy which was bred in an artificially induced psychosis of war hysteria and nurtured upon an incessant propaganda of fear.

The general understood that fear is always the enemy, and that ambition and learning are the solution.

School principal Daniel Cummings (972.600.7370, dacummings@irvingisd.net) made a grave error in choosing to punish Ahmed for his ambition, and deserves to be held accountable for such an egregious mistake. Fortunately, more intelligent forces across the country have attempted to make up for the school’s inadequacy. Tech giant Google invited Ahmed to it’s tech fair this weekend. Facebook founder, and soon-to-be-dad, Mark Zuckerberg invited Ahmed to visit him at Facebook’s headquarters. Officials at NASA have reportedly even offered Ahmed a job (Ahmed was wearing a NASA t-shirt when he was arrested). The growth of the hashtag #IStandWithAhmed has been dramatic.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]The bigger response came from much higher up. Secretary of Education Arne Duncan tweeted: “We need to be encouraging young engineers, not putting them in handcuffs. #IStandWithAhmed”

Then, almost immediately after Duncan’s tweet, the President weighed in with: “Cool clock, Ahmed. Want to bring it to the White House? We should inspire more kids like you to like science. It’s what makes America great.”

White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest explained further:

“The president, like many of us, was struck by the news reports of this particular incident. The fact is, America’s best teachers and our schools and our best schools, at least, nurture the intellectual curiously of all of our students. And this instance, it’s clear that at least some of Ahmed’s teachers failed him.

Ambition is one of the traits of humanity that differentiates us from animals. More than relying on instinct, we have the ability to push ourselves to do things we don’t necessarily have to do. Ambition, fueled by curiosity and the desire to move forward, is what leads to innovation, progress, and invention. Without ambition, we are no better than sloths sleeping on a tree limb.

The model shown in today’s picture was also a person of considerable ambition. Short of stature, she pushed herself, and her body, to achieve a level of strength and muscle tone that enabled her to perform feats of physical strength not generally attributed to people of her gender or profession. Her ambition led her to excel.

Earlier in his administration, President Obama was quoted as saying:

We need to steer clear of this poverty of ambition, where people want to drive fancy cars and wear nice clothes and live in nice apartments but don’t want to work hard to accomplish these things. Everyone should try to realize their full potential.

Regardless of what we want to do with our lives, ambition is required to succeed. When ambition is suppressed, discouraged, and even punitively punished, we destroy that which drives us to become better, that which improves our society, that which moves us forward. We need ambition, not only for ourselves but for others. We should never accept anything less.[/one_half_last]

PotD / Social Commentary

Point of Origin

September 16, 2015

Royalty (2011).Model: Danelle French. Face paint: Jennifer Baxter

That means that every human being – without distinction of sex, age, race, skin color, language, religion, political view, or national or social origin – possesses an inalienable and untouchable dignity.—Hans Kung

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]For as long as I can remember, I have had to answer the question, “where are you from?” No matter where I’ve lived, with no regard to how long I might have lived there, the accent with which I speak has never quite matched where I live. I’ve never minded answering the question because it seems reasonable to me that point of origin is a central part of our identity. What amuses me, though, is that as I get older and tell people I’m from Oklahoma (forget those first 12 years in Kansas), they sometimes give me a quizzical look and respond, “No you’re not. You don’t sound or act like anyone from Oklahoma.” For that, I am grateful.

Point of origin has always, throughout history, been an important part of our identity. To which tribe one belonged could mean the difference between free or slave, or even life and death. Our species began as nomadic foragers, roaming to where ever food and shelter were most readily available, but the place from where we started, our point of origin, has always been, and strongly remains, a critical factor upon which judgments, whether just or not, have been made. Inherent social construct inserts a geographic tag into our identity from which there is no escape.

One of the reasons our point of origin so often comes into question is because we, as a species, don’t stay put. Even after all the building of cities and farms, creating and fighting over national borders, and even cruel attempts at keeping people in or out of certain places, we are now more migrant than we have ever been. Our point of origin is but a GPS marker from which all our travels begin. Move so much now that scientists who study such things are referring to the 21st century as the age of the migrant. Not only are we already moving around a lot, it’s going to get worse.

We are all migrants, not because we are born as such, but we cannot help becoming such, leaving our point of origin, sometimes by choice, but with increasing frequency because we have no choice. By engaging in this conversation, it is important to understand the vocabulary. An emigrant is someone known by where they have left. An immigrant is known by where they are going. Coming or going, though, there are over one billion people on the move at any given time, and that number is growing rapidly.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Thomas Nail, a philosopher at the University of Colorado, recently published a book, The Figure of the Migrant (Stanford University Press, 2015), in which he explains:

People today relocate to greater distances more frequently than ever before in human history. While many people may not move across a regional or international border, they tend to change jobs more often, commute longer and farther to work, change their residence repeatedly, and tour internationally more often. Some of these phenomena are directly related to recent events, such as the impoverishment of middle classes in certain rich countries after the ﬁnancial crisis of 2008, subsequent austerity cuts to social welfare programs, and rising unemployment. The subprime mortgage crisis led to the expulsion of millions of people from their homes worldwide (9 million in the United States alone). Foreign investors and governments have acquired 540 million acres since 2006, resulting in the eviction of millions of small farmers in poor countries, and mining practices have become increasingly destructive around the world—including hydraulic fracturing and tar sands. This general increase in human mobility and expulsion is now widely recognized as a deﬁning feature of the twenty-ﬁrst century.

Whether to keep us out, keep us in, or simply segregate us for statistical purposes, both societies and governments are concerned with our point of origin as a defining piece of information. There is no escape. The more we move, the more we are connected to where we began. Our great migration is a tremendous force of social change and progress. The world into which one is born holds little resemblance to the one in which we die.

So, more than ever, there remains this question: where are you from?[/one_half_last]

PotD / Social Commentary

Self

September 15, 2015

The Beauty In Nature (2009)

Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.—Golda Meir

[one_half padding=”4px 0 px 0 4px”]Over the years, I think more has been written about the self than any other topic. Self-worth, self-esteem, self-identity, self-loathing, self-love, and self-help are all topics that have lined bookshelves and stores as long as humans have put ink on parchment. We are very concerned about ourselves and have little difficulty discussing ourselves endlessly, especially now that we have social media so that we can broadcast every ridiculous and trivial detail about ourselves to the entire world. With the advent of phones with cameras, we’ve even started taking voluminous pictures of ourselves, and call them selfies. We are, and always have been, quite full of ourselves.

What has been born out by countless research, however, is that for all our bravado, we really don’t like ourselves all that much. How one sees one’s self determines to a large degree how one sees others. Where we are unsure of our own qualities we find fault in others in an effort to compensate for and distract from our insecurities. We don’t like our bodies, so we shame the bodies of others. We are embarrassed by our own sexual proclivities, so we express outrage at the sexual identities of others. We feel inadequate in our own understanding of a subject, so we refer to those who are experts on that subject in as unflattering a way as possible.Every negative we see or imagine in ourselves we reflect back in some way negatively on others. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]For several years, self-help and self-improvement books and audio tapes have been one of the world’s best-selling genres. We understand that our view of ourselves is inferior and misguided, but we are unsure how to best address the issue. Then, studies have shown, once we purchase the book and begin to see what is required to change, we give up and stop reading. We want to improve ourselves without having to make any significant changes or sacrifice to our current lives. If possible, we would happily take a pill to make it all better, but to have to actually work toward improvement is something very few of us are disciplined enough to actually do.

So, we continue, from one generation to the next, parent to child, handing down the same foibles and shortcomings that have limited us since the dawn of our existence. We fight the same wars, often with the same group of people, we have the same arguments, we battle the same ghosts as everyone who has gone before us. We blame others for refusing to change, to grow, or evolve, not wanting to realize that the problem is more with us than with them.

We talk a lot about improving the world, but we must first start by improving ourselves.[/one_half_last]

PotD / Social Commentary

Pain

September 14, 2015

Attic Fashion (2011). Model: Sarah Harris. Hair & Makeup: Christopher Thompson. Styling: Tiffany Gilstrap Scott.

Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.—Angelina Jolie

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Humans are designed with a built-in warning device called pain. We feel it soon after we are detached from our mother’s umbilical cord. Hunger is our first experience with pain. We cry and someone feeds us. The pain is our body’s way of telling us that something isn’t working correctly, that a part of us needs attention. Yet, as a society we are intolerant of pain and just as we remove the batteries from smoke detectors so that we don’t have to put up with the screeching sound going off at unexpected moments, we try to mask or cover or ignore the pain we feel. We shove the pain into our emotional attic and try to forget that it exists.

As young children, we are taught that expressing our feelings of pain is not acceptable. “Walk it off.” “Suck it up.” “No pain, no gain.” Our intent is to dissuade children from complaining about every little insignificant boo-boo they encounter. “If it’s not bleeding, you don’t need a bandage.” The longer-term effect, though, is that from those very early moments we teach children that feeling and expressing pain is a bad thing. No one wants to hear about your pain. Ignore it and it will go away. Be tough and play through the pain.

Often, however, that strategy backfires on us. My father’s youngest sister succumbed to cancer perhaps sooner than was necessary because she chose to treat the pain, not the cause. Rather than being consistent with the chemotherapy, she chose alternative treatments that only covered up the pain. Only when the pain became intolerable did she return to her doctor, and by then the cancer had spread too for treatment to be effective. She didn’t even communicate to her family that anything was wrong until the pain became debilitating. She didn’t want them to worry. She had seven children and wanted to put pain aside to care for them. While her attitude might seem noble, in the end it took her from them sooner than might have been necessary.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Part of our problem in dealing with pain is that we look at it as an inconvenience and a bother rather than the warning system it is. When, as a child, we first encounter something hot and we pull back from it, learn to treat it with some respect and don’t touch it again without taking appropriate precaution to not burn ourselves. That is an appropriate response to pain. Consider what causes the problem. Fix it, if possible. Respect what caused the pain and then take steps to not repeat the pain again. Yet, we don’t apply that formula too often once we pass the age of five. We prefer to ignore the pain and keep going.

Philosopher/poet Kahlil Gibran penned these wise words:

Your pain is the breaking of the shell that encloses
your understanding.

Even as the stone of the fruit must break, that its
heart may stand in the sun, so must you know pain.

And could you keep your heart in wonder at the
daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem
less wondrous than your joy;

And you would accept the seasons of your heart,
even as you have always accepted the seasons that
pass over your fields.

And you would watch with serenity through the
winters of your grief.

As we get older, pain becomes a more constant part of our reality. There are some pains, both physical and emotional, that will never go away no matter what we do. Our challenge is to not look at our pain as an inconvenience, but rather an opportunity to learn.[/one_half_last]

PotD / Social Commentary

Humanity

September 13, 2015

Held Together (2010)

You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.—Mahatma Gandhi

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Humanity is baffling. How can the same species that produces individuals of great caring and compassion also produce those of great hate, deceit, and cruelty? How can some countries with practically no economic standing offer to take in more refugees than they can hold while another with every economic advantage in the world prefers to build a wall? How can one claim there is sanctity in life and still desire to put people to death?

The multiple paradoxes of humanity, though, are part of what defines us. One doesn’t see other species wake in the morning pondering whether to participate in the genocide of millions. In being given the choice to choose between right and wrong, we create an everlasting and inherent struggle between doing that which preserves ourselves and acting toward the greater good. While this struggle has always been within us, we seem blind to the lessons that would be taught by the actions of others and still look for ways to justify our own selfishness and greed while doing our best to minimize the good of others.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]What makes the difference in whether make choices for the good of all or the good of ourselves is a matter of focus. When we only look in, we do not see the needs of those around us, no matter how blatantly obvious they may be. When we only look outward, we see those needs and feel compelled to respond to them, perhaps neglecting the necessity of our own care and well-being. Trying to look both directions, though, only sets up more conflict and confusion as to what we should do.

Humanity has no easy answers. To be human is to struggle, continually, with right and wrong, good and bad, selfish or selfless. Humanity has had great successes and colossal failures based on the decisions of a few individuals. When kindness is answered with greed we become monsters. When cruelty is answered with compassion we become angels. Humanity has the ability to be either, and we each decide in which camp we will reside with the dawn of every morning.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

A Good Pair Of Shoes

September 12, 2015

A Good Pair of Shoes

You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.—Dr. Seuss

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]So, here we are in the middle of New York Fashion Week and already we’ve had one of the biggest spectacles we’re likely to see all month.Traffic on New York’s West side will be a nightmare all week. You’ll need a good pair of shoes if you’re going because much of the time it will be easier and faster to just get out of the cab and walk the last few blocks to the venue. Even after all these years of covering these same shows, I’m still amazed at the number of people who put so much of their lives into what comes down the runways at these shows.

Fashion really is a big deal and for countries such as Italy and France, it contributes significantly to their national economy. Not that the average person in either country has a closet full of couture wear, but it employees thousands of people and the taxes fashion generates contribute heavily to the health of those nations. Yet, because both are so reliant on sales outside of their borders, when economies such as China’s suddenly stumble, the effect for fashion labels can be severe and we’re already seeing that, especially with Italian labels. More than a handful of large fashion houses have seen considerable declines the past few weeks. Some, such as Prada, are beginning to seriously struggle.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]I can understand people being concerned about shoes. After all, the ground is rough and at times dangerous. I felt sorry for a couple of models who took tumbles on the runway last night because the designer thought it would be cool to not tie their shoes. Shoes are critical to our ability to get around and do the things we need to do. Fashion, on the other hand, isn’t really that important at all. Beyond the matter of practicality, the only reasons we have for concerning ourselves with fashion is to either make people notice us or to pretend that the labels we wear make us better than anyone else.

Okay, so we can’t exactly go naked all the time, even though some may want that. Street style tells us that most people would rather dress for comfort than style. Paying extra money just for a label is foolish and our heads know that. All we ever really need is a good pair of shoes; the rest can be off the rack from Goodwill and we’re happy with that. So why all this fuss? Maybe it’s the art. Maybe we’re dreaming. Maybe we want to stand out. Or maybe it’s just because you like my reviews, which you’ll find over on Pattern all month (shameless plug). You choose which way you’ll go. Choose carefully and wear good shoes.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

PotD / Social Commentary

Pain In The Ass

September 11, 2015

Pain in the Ass

You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass. —Frank Sinatra

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Today’s meme is insulting to some and offensive to many, but at 4:30 AM EDT, which is when I’m writing this, I really don’t give a shit. I didn’t care last week, either, when I created the pain in the ass meme. Sure, it’s Friday and we tend to try and shrug things off by focusing on the weekend, but I’m rather tired of having to be nice all the time and judging from several conversations I’ve had lately I get the impression that many of you are feeling the same, you just don’t feel that you can safely voice your opinion without getting into trouble.

I’m not aware of any objective research on the subject, but observationally it seems that men seem to be more likely to be a pain in the ass than women. I think it might be because we have control issues and have difficulty letting the people around us think for themselves and act in their own best interests. Guys then use their fists or declare war when they don’t get their way. What a complete pain in the ass those guys are.

Religious people are a pain in the ass to those who are not, and vice versa. For those who are not religious, we really don’t give a flying fuck what anyone else believes and we sure as hell don’t appreciate your beliefs getting in the way of things we want or need to do. For those who are religious, those who are not are a pain in the ass because they threaten and question one’s faith and cause one to second-guess what they’ve been taught.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Politicians, in general, are a pain in the ass, but at the current moment I’m especially fed up with the overly-abundant crop running for President. Every last one of them is a pain in the ass. Watch them today. This is the fourteenth anniversary of the 9/11 bombings and I’m willing to bet every last one of those jackasses manages to politicize the event rather than actually memorializing those who were lost. Done. Over them. Next, please.

People asking for money or trying to scam money are a pain in the ass. My email is full of both. Some are wanting me to support a cause. Some want me to support a politician. Some want me to take out a high-interest business loan. Fuck all of them. You know who gets my money? My family. We take care of our needs first, then, if there happens, by some miracle, to be anything left over, we’ll use it to help people who have legitimate need, not something they’ve concocted for a campaign.

Okay, so maybe I’m in a mood this morning. We all have the ability to be a pain in the ass from time to time, but there are too many people for whom being a pain in the ass has become a dominant personality trait. Everyone else on the planet is trying to make the most of their pathetic lives and we don’t need jackasses getting in the way. So, to all the pains in the ass we’ve mentioned, and those we didn’t: Fuck you, fuck off, get the fuck out of our lives. Now, enjoy your weekend.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

Fashion / pop culture / PotD

Wearing Pants

September 10, 2015

Wearing Pants

I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.—Queen Latifah

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Full disclosure: I’m not wearing any pants. While I fully support the #freethenipple campaign, I’m personally not all that comfortable sitting around the house without a shirt. Pants, though, are a different matter. I’m more than willing to let them stay in the closet, or on the bedroom floor, until right before the children wake up. Then, once the kids are off to school, being very thankful for bus service, the pants come off again. One of the perks of being my own boss and working from home is that it is largely up to me to decide whether any given moment is going to involve pants, and if it’s just Kat and me, there’s really no point in bothering.

Not wearing pants does not necessarily mean one is naked below the waist. While I’m not generally opposed to that scenario, there are times when naked doesn’t work well, such as when one has leather furniture. Wearing a kilt or a skirt or a dress doesn’t count as wearing pants, either. My mother never wore pants when I was little. Instead, she wore dresses and skirts even around the house. She didn’t feel that pants were sufficiently feminine until one particularly cold winter in Kansas when she finally broke down and bought her first pantsuit. Over time, she became more relaxed with pants, but she always still preferred dresses, especially in the summer.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]The problem with pants is that they tend to be restrictive, especially around the waist. I honestly don’t see how people wear the current crop of skinny jeans and still manage to eat enough food to keep themselves alive. Those of us who enjoy eating understand that the waist is going to expand and contract at various times throughout the day and pants don’t allow for that, unless you’re shopping in the old men’s section of Sears.

The upside to pants, I’m told, is that one doesn’t have to shave one’s legs as often. Being male and not involved in a sport where aerodynamics is a factor, I can’t really speak to this issue. I know plenty of women with fair hair who can get by without shaving too often. I’ve also known others who almost needed to do so twice a day. Nature can be cruel like that.

Today is the start of New York Fashion Week (NYFW) and designers will be showing their Spring/Summer 2016 collections. Don’t expect a lot of pants. Skirts, yes. Dresses, definitely. Shorts, let’s hope so. Sure, there will be a few with pants in their collections, but the best designers know that pants are limiting. To be really cool and comfortable in warm weather, one needs to be without pants every moment possible.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

Art / PotD / Social Commentary

Being Awesome

September 9, 2015

charles i. letbetter - charles i. letbetter

Being Awesome

It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.—Cesar Chavez

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Awesome; some people have it in abundance, other’s couldn’t buy it if it were packaged and on the dollar store shelves. Awesome goes beyond the ability to do something different and extraordinary. Awesome is the ability to remain cool, graceful, compassionate, and approachable while setting an example worthy of being emulated. Those who are the most incredibly awesome can’t seem to help themselves; the awesomeness almost seems to come oozing from the pores in their skin. In contrast, others seem to botch everything they do and serve more as a life lesson in how not to do things; no matter how hard they try, something always goes wrong.

One of the first awesome people I ever met was the late pianist, Van Cliburn. I was only six years old when the rather reclusive, and to some, difficult, performer gave a brief exhibition somewhere close enough to us that my parents were able to take me. I had been taking piano lessons myself for a couple of years at that point, but was nowhere near the prodigy he had been. I was mesmerized watching his hands fly over the keyboard.

After he finished playing, everyone had gathered around for autographs and my mother was trying to guide me that direction, but this was also the first time I had seen a twelve-foot grand piano. I was as interested in the instrument as I was the person playing it and slipped away from my mother and sat my short little self on the piano bench. From my perspective, the piano was huge and scary.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”] I let my fingers lightly touch the keys, being very careful to not actually press one down; I was shy and attention was the last thing I wanted. But as I sat there, pretending to play scales and finger exercises, it was probably inevitable that a finger would slip. When it did, the sound coming from the piano seemed massive, though it was just a single tone. I pulled my hand back quickly and looked around for Mother, expecting to be in trouble.

Instead, the tall, lanky frame of the great pianist came over, sat next to me on the bench, and said, “Go ahead, play.” I was scared, so he took my small hands in his massive ones and placed them on the action. All I could manage to play was a simple scale. Van Cliburn, being awesome, was full of praise. “See, you did it,” he said quietly. “Don’t be afraid. You can do great things.” Awesome.

I’ve met plenty of other awesome people over the years, enough that the stories could go on for hours. The thing about truly awesome people is that one never expects them to be as awesome as they are; it just seems to happen. Yesterday, a friend took me by surprise and quietly invited a large number of people to like our Facebook page. As the numbers began to jump, it took me a moment to figure out who was responsible. Betty Blade Holly is one of those people who can’t hide the awesome.

I know there are others. Maybe you’re one of them. Don’t be afraid. Be awesome.[/one_half_last]

pop culture / PotD

Quiet, Please

September 8, 2015

Quiet, Please

All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.—Blaise Pascal

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]There’s something to be said for good, intelligent conversation. Almost everyone has at least one friend with whom they can sit and talk for hours and the conversation never become boring or argumentative or difficult. Those are people we respect, love, and enjoy having in our lives.

Then, there’s everyone else, the people who never shut the fuck up, who always must be speaking (usually about themselves), who never listen to anyone’s opinion other than their own, never let anyone else get a word in edge-wise, and never end a conversation on another’s statement. Those are the people whom we most often desire to meet an untimely but just demise, or at least wish they’d move to the other side of the planet. They don’t know how to be quiet.

Perhaps it was growing up in small, rural churches that taught me how to be quiet. When there are only 20-30 people in attendance, every little sound draws attention. Unlike churches today, where children are only seen in the main worship service for Baptisms and holiday pageants, we didn’t always have a nursery worker. I would have to sit in the congregation with my mother, which wasn’t easy on either one of us. The threat was always that if I wasn’t quiet and behaved during the service my butt was getting spanked when we got home. Damn, if I didn’t learn to be quiet![/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Ours was ever an especially rambunctious household, though. The four of us could easily go a couple of hours with no one saying anything. Momma would be reading or grading papers, Poppa would be immersed in the evening paper, I would be either practicing the piano or doing homework, while Squirt played quietly with his toys or sat watching television. Our house could be surprisingly quiet. Conversation occurred at the dinner table for the most part, and beyond that any talking we did was born largely out of necessity, giving instruction, asking/answering a question, and occasionally playing a game. Quiet was valued.

Today, though, we are surrounded by noise, even when it’s not audible. The Internet, and especially social media, provide too many people with absolutely nothing worthwhile to say, the opportunity to speak at volumes they would never actually consider were one to meet them in public. They post endless memes, share inflammatory rhetoric in a constant stream, and never seem to shut up even to go to work or sleep. Quiet is practically non-existent.

Quiet stimulates creative thought and the more one talks the less creative that speech becomes. We need the break from the cacophony our planet serves up. There is a time to speak, but without quiet we have no time to consider what’s been said. So please, do everyone a favor: shut the fuck up. Now.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

pop culture / PotD

Better Beauty

September 7, 2015

Better Beauty

When virtue and modesty enlighten her charms, the lustre of a beautiful woman is brighter than the stars of heaven, and the influence of her power it is in vain to resist.—Akhenaton

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Once upon a time, it was an accepted fact that only a few, the fortunate, the lucky, the pampered, had any hope of being beautiful. Life was hard. Women were married and bearing children by the time they were fourteen, working in fields, toiling over hot wood stoves, and putting up with everything from dysentery to abusive husbands. People aged quickly. Life was short. Beauty was nice if you had it, but most didn’t and they were okay with that. One looked for something deeper in other people. Who was kind? Who was benevolent? Who was skilled? Those issues mattered much more than who was beautiful because with beauty too often came laziness.

Then, in the late 1950s and through the hippy faze of the 60s self-esteem gurus such as Nathaniel Branden started telling us that everyone is beautiful and we bought it. Well, more specifically, your parents and grandparents bought it; we were the product. 1970’s popular song Everything Is Beautiful by Ray Stevens (no relation to Cat Stevens), further sealed the concept in our minds that there is no such thing as ugly or unattractive. The concept was cemented with the movement that insisted everyone get a trophy, that children’s games shouldn’t keep score so there are no losers, and that everyone who participates is equal.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Bullshit. You know it. I know it. The world knows it. Not everyone is beautiful, just as not everyone can play the piano or pitch a no-hitter for the Yankees. And for Pete’s sake let’s make it good and clear that not everyone is a goddamn model. There are immutable standards for beauty that have stood since the dawn of time and they can be defined mathematically in something called the golden ratio. If you don’t speak math, I’m not going to take the time here to explain it to you. Just know that the ratio has always occurred in nature and once we figured it out some 2400 years ago we started adapting it to everything from architecture to art.

The golden ratio applies to people as well, from our face to our body proportions. Those whose features come most closely to matching those ratios, such as Cindy Crawford, Audry Hepburn, and Marilyn Monroe, are those we inherently consider beautiful. This isn’t some 20th-century thing and no, it’s not limited to any one culture. The phenomenon is universal. Society can attempt to re-define beauty by being more inclusive, but that does not deter what nature has decreed. Sure, you can say everyone is beautiful, but not everyone wears it well.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

pop culture / PotD

Welcome To Meme Week

September 6, 2015

Poison Coffee

The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.—Richard Dawkins

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Welcome to meme week! Sort of. I have this well-engrained habit of taking pictures that leave room for copy (those are the words in an advertisement). Almost every set I shoot has a couple of images that leave that kind of space. So, I thought we’d play with that a little bit this week.

In the most strict sense of the word, what we’re presenting this week probably falls short of actually being a meme. You see, we have British biologist Richard Dawkins to thank for putting the concept of meme into the public lexicon. The definition he was using, though, had nothing to do with silly pictures or the Internet. He coined the word in 1976. There was no Internet. Rather, he was using a definition more like this:

a cultural item that is transmitted by repetition and replication in a manner analogous to the biological transmission of genes.

For something to actually be a meme, it has to spread, such as from parent to children, President to citizens, teacher to students, or pastor to congregation. The presumption is that for a meme to spread, there must be some value to the idea or concept, something that make it worth sharing.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Nothing we’re going to share with you this week is that heavy. I’m not going to pretend that any of our photos this week have an ounce of actual value to them. Instead, what we have here more falls in line with the Urban Dictionary’s definition:

Used to give a bit of pseudo-academic gravitas to stupid viral shit.

I’m not even going to claim that any of this week’s photos are funny. Funny wasn’t what we wanted. Instead, we went for things more along the line of insulting (such as today’s), egotistical, and sexually inappropriate. If my read of the Internet is correct, those factors should make them immensely popular.

But that works only if you share them. And since we’ve disabled right clicks on this page, you’ll need to share the whole post, not just the picture. If you don’t share them, then all we have are pictures with bad copy on them. You’ll find the social media sharing icons below each post, or if you came from Facebook, you can share the link there. The success or failure of this week lies in your hands.

Yes, I’m very frightened.[/one_half_last]

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

Fashion / PotD

More Than Jeans

September 5, 2015

A Hot Summer (2009)

The whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t know which was which.—Helen Mirren

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]We’ve talked all week about jeans as though they were the only option for denim clothing. Reality paints a much larger and more varied picture, though. Denim jackets, dresses, shorts, skirts, bustiers, bras, leggings, socks and even denim footwear have, at various times, come in and out of popularity. Granted, not all of those were necessarily good ideas. The socks, leggings, bras, and footwear were all very short lived because, while they presented a unique look, they were a bit short on practicality. Denim is, after all, a fairly heavy material that can induce perspiration in places one doesn’t especially want any level of dampness. Not quite everything works.

Growing up in the 70s, it seemed as though almost everything was made of denim. Not only was everyone wearing their favorite flared-legged jeans, denim skirts were a huge rage. Not short, denim mini-skirts, either. Long, calf- or ankle-length denim skirts seemed to be everywhere. What has been interesting is that for a group of particularly conservative religious fundamentalists, that style of denim skirt or dress has stuck. One can still see them worn by women and young girls whose hair has never been cut, with plain blouses, as they shop at discount stores and thrift markets. Even a certain notorious court clerk wore a denim skirt to one of her many court appearances.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Much more popular, though, has been denim shorts and jackets. The jackets are especially popular with those who spend a lot of time on motorcycles because the denim provides similar protection as leather, but is more suitable for attaching patches and embroidery popular among riding clubs. Jean jackets are also heavy enough to keep one warm without interrupting the style going on underneath. They can be accessorized with anything from diamonds to costume brooches and still look great. A jeans jacket can be one of the most flexible pieces in a person’s wardrobe.

Nothing, though, beats the super-short, cut-off jeans look known as Daisy Dukes. Popular long before a television sitcom gave them that name, the shorts have become a summertime standard for young women everywhere, much to the delight of young men everywhere. There’s something to be said for the way the jeans shorts presents a young woman’s posterior and can make a short girl’s legs look longer than they are. Jeans shorts define that down-home, girl-next-door sensuality that turns heads and breaks hearts.

So ends our look at denim. What started as a fabric for workers has taken over the world. Fashion weeks are coming and I expect to see no shortage of denim still, so watch for it.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Casual To Classy

September 4, 2015

Well Accessorized (2011)

Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola.—Diana Vreeland

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]All week long we’ve talked about how casual and comfortable denim is. While we normally think of blue jeans and anything denim as being more of the type thing one just pulls on right before walking out the door, the past several years have seen quite a change in that denim has become quite the classy, couture material, showing up frequently on red carpets around the world, even at places such as the Cannes Film Festival and the Met Gala. Jeans have become the celebrities way of inferring that they haven’t lost touch with their humble beginnings, or at least don’t want their fans to think they’re stuck up.

There’s also the factor that not everyone who has a lot of money is comfortable showing that off in public. The late Sam Walton, founder of the Wal-Mart empire, was known for dressing in jeans or denim overalls when away from the office. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is frequently photographed wearing jeans and it would be out of character for Facebook’s Mark Zuckerberg to be seen in anything other than blue jeans and a hoodie. Ostentation is definitely out of style and blue jeans are the way many choose to “keep it real.” For them, being classy is more of an attitude, not a wardrobe choice.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Nothing takes on the concept of being classy more than the red carpet, though, and some severely big names have chosen to wear jeans as they make the paparazzi-lined stroll. If we were to drop names, they would include Mila Kunis, Kristen Stewart, Shakira, Rebecca Romijn, Ashley Tisdale, Perez Hilton, Jamie Foxx, Diane Kruger, Keira Knightly, Olivia Munn, Miley Cyrus, Kylie Jenner, Mel B, Selena Gomez, Lucy Lawless, Katies Holmes, and Jennifer Lawrence. Those, and several more, have not shied away from wearing denim to major awards shows and film openings.

Over the years, we’ve seen denim come down the couture runway as well, with names such as Viktor & Rolf, Donna Karan, Dior, Bill Blass, and Diane von Furstenberg attached to the waistband. They’ve been embellished with everything from pearls to diamonds, rhinestones to emeralds, feathers to metal studs, and copious amounts of leather and lace. Denim is a big deal and while it is still primarily a casual fabric, there’s no question it can be classy when it needs to be. Ultimately, the difference comes in the attitude. [/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Because It Feels Natural

September 3, 2015

Just My Jeans (2012)

A friend sat next to a nun on a plane. He asked her what she missed most. “Wearing blue jeans,” she replied. —Amy Krouse Rosenthal

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Why do we love our blue jeans so much? There would be many reasons, of course, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that a good pair of jeans just feels natural—almost like a second skin on our body. The more we wear them the more they adapt themselves to our curves and bulges, the way we sit, and the things we carry in our pockets. Our jeans become such a natural part of who we are that it is possible to forget we even have them on, and being without them can be a discomfort that leads to anxiety.

Blame the natural cotton fibers for most of that. There have been some jeans manufacturers who attempt to blend other materials with the cotton, but it never works long term. Natural cotton grows softer the more it is worn and washed. Sure, if one buys a traditional pair of blue jeans there’s a breaking in period where the dye causes them to be a bit stiff and maybe even itchy, but that matter is solved easily enough. All one has to do is wash them a couple of times, then wear them while doing something physical such as playing softball or riding bulls (the real ones, not those mechanical toys). The jeans fashion themselves to our bodies quickly and we don’t want to take them off.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]One of the sad aspects of the move toward pre-warshed denim is that the jeans don’t get that initial opportunity to fit themselves to one’s body. Sure, the cotton feels softer than traditional jeans, but when people complain about having difficulty finding a pair of jeans that fit, what they don’t realize is that jeans never really fit well until you’ve worn them four or five times. Pre-washing and distressing may soften the fibers, but that doesn’t replace the natural evolution that comes from actually wearing the jeans.

There are few things in life that we can really call our own: our toothbrush, our underwear, our dental implants, and our jeans. The first two make the list because of sanitary reasons. The last two, though, become part of us. Sure, you theoretically could share a pair of jeans with a friend, but they’re not going to feel natural on them the way they do on you. They conform to your body and just don’t feel the same on anyone else. A good pair of jeans even has wash marks on the pocket where you keep your keys or your cell phone. Our jeans are part of our person; it’s just natural.[/one_half_last]

Advertising / Fashion / PotD

Those Sexy Ads

September 2, 2015

HOT DENIM (2011)

Anyone who is secure about herself shouldn’t be threatened by the ads I do. What we’re doing is fun—if you have any sense of humor at all! —Calvin Klein

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Ads are designed to get your attention, but just because one has an ad doesn’t mean anything is going to sell. To actually sell anything, the ad has to be sexy, has to give the appearance that the product makes you more attractive, even if it’s something as simple as a toaster. Nowhere has sex been a more successful sales agent than in fashion, and there are a handful of brands, such as Abercrombie & Fitch, Balmain, Saint Laurent, and most notably Calvin Klein, that have convinced us that jeans are sexy.

When Calvin Klein hired a largely unknown fifteen-year-old model to utter the words, “You know what comes between me and my Calvins? Nothing,” the entire Western world screamed. Brooke Shields became an instant household name and the sales of not only Calvin Klein jeans, but all denim jeans skyrocketed. The war for who makes the sexiest jean was on and has yet to end. Styles have changed from skinny to loose to flared to straight-legged with at least a hundred different variations of each. Stone washed, pre-shrunk, pre-stressed, pre-torn, cut, embellished, and studded styles have all come, gone, and returned again.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Ultimately, what the ads are trying to say is that the jeans displayed are so sexy, will make you look so incredibly attractive, that someone will want to help you out of them. Notice how many of the ads now involve two people with posing implying that they might be a couple. Want a new boy/girlfriend? It all comes down to wearing the right jeans. Add the celebrity factor that has taken over and the ads also deliver the message that the right jeans will make you cool.

Of course, deep down inside, somewhere, you know the ads are lying. Just this year, one of the sexiest advertisers, Abercrombie & Fitch, has backed off their nearly hardcore ads because they weren’t working with a target age group that isn’t so impressed by the overt sexuality. Still, look at the ads, and even though the tone is softer, there remains an understated sensuality that pulls one in and makes them want a new pair of jeans. Even millennials eschewing materialism still buy jeans. You know you want them even now. We’ll see you at the mall.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

Him And Her

August 31, 2015

HappyTOgether (2012)

Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.-Diane von Furstenberg

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Like much in the fashion world, denim has at times been a bit sexist. For much of their early existence, jeans were something worn exclusively by men. Most early jeans manufacturers didn’t even make clothes with women in mind. The relatively few women who wore jeans had to adapt men’s styles and cuts. For a high fashion perspective, denim was such a low, working class fabric that it was considered too rough to be next to a woman’s delicate skin. Denim was a man’s material.

World War II did a lot to change women’s wardrobes as they took to the floors of assembly lines and machine shops to do the jobs of men who had gone off to fight. The loose skirts and dresses women were accustomed to wearing were inappropriate around heavy exposed machinery. Jeans and its even heavier cousin, denim dungarees, needed to be worn by women and they needed something that would better fit her frame and shape. Slowly, manufacturers took notice and women’s jeans started working their way onto store shelves.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]It wasn’t until the 1970s, though, that “jeans for her” really became stylish, and much of that is due to Anderson Cooper’s mom, Gloria Vanderbilt. Tighter, designed more specifically to fit and hug a woman’s body, Vanderbilt’s jeans raised denim from farm wear to Fifth Avenue. Then, when 16-year-old Brooke Shields appeared topless, lying on her stomach, in an ad that read, “Nothing comes between me and my Calvins,” sales of women’s blue jeans skyrocketed.

Today, the average woman has seven pairs of blue jeans in her closet, while men are only likely to have five. Styles of his and her jeans are more similar than not, with men being just as likely to wear tight-fitting, butt-hugging denim as do women. Almost everyone knows someone who lives in their jeans, wouldn’t consider wearing anything else. I know at least one bride (and I’m sure there are more) who wore jeans to her wedding. No longer sexist and low-class, jeans are a fundamental staple for both him and her.[/one_half_last]

Fashion / PotD

The Allure of Denim

August 30, 2015

A Causal Throne (2009). Model: Erica Von Trapp

I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes. -Yves Saint-Laurent

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Ah, denim. From such humble, working-class beginnings, this simple cotton twill fabric has become the staple of most wardrobes, it’s styles and name brands often envied, and grows in value the more it is destroyed. There’s nothing quite like a good pair of jeans, and there’s no denying the appeal of the look. Despite its working class beginnings, the exact same fabric can be so exclusive as to be affordable only by the super-rich. So, this week we’re focusing on denim, mostly in blue jean form, and all the sexiness and expressiveness that it brings to our lives.

Of course, first we have to get past the basic understanding of what denim is. Originally of Italian construct, the fabric quickly made its way to France where it became a standard in working men’s clothes, primarily trousers. It’s unique cotton twill is composed of one white thread running over/under two blue-dyed threads at a time. This gives the twill sufficient strength without making it too stiff. The indigo dye commonly used fades with washing, providing denim with it’s classic, relaxed and comfortable look.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Levi Strauss is, of course, the name most Americans associate with denim.It was Strauss who introduced the fabric to the United States in 1853, during the California Gold Rush, and pioneered the use of metal rivets at the stress points so that the jeans would be less likely to tear. For the next hundred years, denim jeans would be the uniform of the American working man, from riding the range to working in the factory. When denim shirts were introduced, the term “blue collar” entered the lexicon for most anyone who didn’t work in an office.

Today, one would be hard pressed to find any denim constructed as sturdy as those original trousers were. Instead, we prefer our jeans pre-washed, distressed, cut-up, ripped, and in a condition our ancestors would not have even considered wearable. Yet, when they’re carrying the right fashion label on the waistband, denim can cost several hundred, even thousands of dollars. All from the same, simple, working class fabric. It’s going to be a fun week. We hope you’ll not miss a day![/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

A Little Solitude

August 29, 2015

Sitting Alone (2004)

When I did my self-portrait, I left all the pimples out because you always should. Pimples are a temporary condition and they don’t have anything to do with what you really look like. Always omit the blemishes—they’re not part of the good picture you want. ― Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Okay, I get it: not many people lie or appreciate the style we’ve posted this week. With the exception of Wednesday, which was admittedly different, you’ve stayed away. We’ve not had a week with such low hit counts. Too bad. Fortunately for you, this is the last I have in this style. Next week we go back to more traditional imagery.

That doesn’t mean I don’t stand behind the work, mind you. I do. I like the pieces we’ve shown this week. They’re different. They eliminate the details and force us to look at form and shape, making a distinction between highlights and shadows. We let them sit in solitude, away from all the other images, and they’re often neglected. I don’t even have any of them printed, which is my failing. I should. They deserve some attention.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Solitude is what today’s image represents as well. I remember how much the young woman loved this picture when we first showed it to her. She said it was an almost-too-perfect representation of who she is. She likes being alone, and because she chooses to not interact with as many people, other people leave her alone as well.

Solitude is not a bad thing. It gives one space to think, to work things out, to be yourself when no one else approves of who you are. So perhaps it’s fitting that we end the week with this image, sitting alone, taking some time to ourselves, contemplating our place in the art world, derided by most, enjoyed by a few. Solitude is short-lived, though. We have things to do, and we shall do them. Onward.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Flip Phone

August 28, 2015

Communicate Everywhere (2005)

Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets ― Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Here is the proof that 2005 was eons ago: that flip phone design was brand new. I’d chosen that particular phone primarily because it reminded me, a lot, of the communicators used in the original 1968 Star Trek series. Of course, they didn’t quite work like that. One still had to push buttons and wait for someone to pick up on the other end of the phone and half the time coverage sucked so you couldn’t hear what the other person was saying. Still, the look was cool, in my opinion, and there’s just enough geek in me for that to matter. I would happily flip my phone, communicator style, and use the voice function to place a call. The future had arrived.

Until I visited New York, where the images for this photo were taken. We were out shooting in Central Park on a horribly cold and windy day in February and, for some reason I don’t remember, pulled out my phone. The model giggled. I thought she was laughing at my geekiness. She then explained that, at the time, flip phones were a favorite of local pimps and drug dealers. While there were probably hundreds of thousands of people running around Manhattan with similar phones, the stereotype was prevalent enough that pulling one out while standing on a street corner was likely to get the unwanted attention of NYPD.

I was careful about where and how I used my phone after that conversation. Placing it in these photos, with the same model, was our inside joke. Nothing said pimp quite like a flip phone on a woman’s naked chest. We convinced ourselves that it was the duty of art to make fun of such social idiosyncracies and that even if we were the only ones who understood the meaning behind what we were doing that the message was still valid. One thinks such things in New York when the snow is falling. Realities of the world are somehow altered and art was as good a justification as any for being naked and playing with phones.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Ten years later, flip phones are making a comeback, largely in frustrated response to the increasingly large smartphones that everyone else seems to be carrying. My phone is so large that people often ask if it’s a tablet. While I like the benefits of my phone, such as being able to see it in the dark without having to squint or hold it at arm’s length, there are times when the shirt-pocket convenience of a flip phone would be nice, at least on a temporary basis. Of course, there would be no facebook on that phone, and trying to send text messages was an absolute pain in the backside. Still, carrying something that is the size of a thin brick isn’t exactly fun and games all the time, either.

The evolution of phones over the past fifteen years has been nothing short of amazing. They have completely transformed our lives and our expectations for communication. It really wasn’t that long ago that we were all tied to land lines. If someone wasn’t home or at their place of employment, they couldn’t be reached. Now, if someone doesn’t respond to their phone, either voice, text, or social media, in a matter of minutes, we are immediately concerned about their health and safety, or upset that they might be ignoring us. There is no escape. Phones have now made us available to everyone all the time. Even in bed.

With the exposure of the recent Ashley Madison hack, I have to wonder how often people used their phones, rather than a computer, to make that connection. Rather than being an object that identifies a pimp, the phone has become the pimp, selling out our information, our lives, our souls, and maybe even our bodies to the highest bidder. They track everything we do, report back to the NSA when we connect with certain people or go to certain places or use a certain vocabulary. Thinking along those terms, I look at today’s image and laugh even harder. Phone. Pimp. Damn straight. [/one_half_last]

Art / pop culture / PotD

Learning To Live

August 27, 2015

Coming Clean (2005)

People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly. ― Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Late March, 2005, I was preparing for my move to Indiana when a young woman approached me about taking some nude pictures. Her one requirement was that they all be framed and processed so as to keep her identity anonymous. She had recently graduated from a prominent university with her Juris Doctorate, would be sitting for the bar the next week, and had an internship at a prominent human rights organization. I couldn’t help asking, given the direction her life appeared to be going, why she would risk taking any nude pictures at all. Yes, they would be sufficiently anonymous, but should anyone ever see or find her copies of the photos it could be just as detrimental to her career. Her response was nothing I expected.

“How can I defend the rights of other people’s lives if I have no knowledge of how to live myself?”

I have long since forgotten the young lady’s name, so I’ve no idea where her path has taken her, but her statement has stuck with me. Her insight at such an early point in her life was astonishing. Too often, especially when the intent is good, we become so concerned about what other people are doing that we pay little or no attention to the fact that our own life is passing us by. We reach middle age, or later, realize that the flexibility of our youth is gone, and try to compensate with the time we have left, not knowing how much time that may be.

While millennials have been roundly criticized by their predecessors as being too slow to grow up and take responsibility for their lives, perhaps they have more sense than their elders did in their twenties. Young adults today are more likely to postpone marriage and families and long-term responsibilities for one primary reason: they want to experience life before doing so becomes an act of chasing old regrets.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]We have expanded the longevity of life to the point where it is now reasonable to expect a fair number of people to live past the century mark. 65 is no longer the old age marker that it was a mere thirty years ago. Yet, we have to ask ourselves what good it does to exist for longer periods of time if we continually put off learning how to actually live that life? What good does it do us to argue over when life begins or ends when we completely ignore the quality of the substance between those two points?

Time is not nearly on our side as much as we may think. Accidents have always been a risk as long as humans have existed, but an increasing risk is what we are doing to ourselves. Just yesterday, a 24-year-old reporter and a 26-year-old cameraman left television station WDBJ for what they thought was a routine interview, shot live for the station’s morning show. They had no way of knowing their lives would be taken from them on-air. Later yesterday, in Sunset, Louisiana, the lives of a mother and a police officer were unexpectedly cut short. The United States has now had more mass shootings this year (247) than there have been days in the year (238). That we are the only Western, allegedly civilized, country to have such a problem is damning.

I firmly believe that people who understand how to live life neither interfere with nor take the lives of others except as a legitimate act of self-defense. People who learn how to live do not threaten the lives of others. While there are no one-word or single-action solutions to any of the social problems we face, there is something to be said for removing oneself from the mayhem and focusing on living one’s own life. Don’t just learn to live a little; learn to live a lifetime. One never knows what day opens the last page. Embrace each moment. [/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Swimming At Night

August 26, 2015

Kick Harder (2004)

If something’s going to happen for you, it will, you can’t make it happen. And it never does happen until you’re past the point where you care whether it happens or not. ― Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]This is not underwater photography. I’ve watched with interest over the past few years as that particular genre has gained popularity, but it’s not something I’m likely to actually do. First, an ear condition prevents me from being able to enjoy swimming; there’s no photograph worth spending the next two weeks trying to get rid of a painful infection. Second, the cost of even renting underwater equipment is excessive. Unless one is planning on making underwater photography a significant part of their services, it’s not worth the price. So, we won’t likely be doing any underwater shots any time soon.

Instead, this is an above-the-water, long exposure image. The shutter speed isn’t too terribly dramatic, three seconds being short compared to some I’ve taken. Yet, that was enough to capture this unique image. Of all the photos in this week’s series, this is one for which I wish I still had the original RAW file. The state of technology, and my understanding of it, at the time, prevented me from being able to do any more detailed processing. But then, the simpleness of the shot is part of what I like about it. There were others in the set, of course, but this is the one that stood out.

The situation around this image wasn’t exactly normal, either. I hadn’t planned on anyone doing any swimming that evening. I hadn’t planned on doing anything at all. Two models traveling from North Carolina contacted me when one of their scheduled shoots fell through. In one of those made-for-late-night-cable moments, they invited me to join them at their motel to take some pictures. Being human, I accepted, grabbed materials for a project I was shooting, and drove to their hotel. When I arrived, the girls informed me they wanted to shoot down by the pool. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Most hotel outdoor swimming pools aren’t open in mid-October, but this particular hotel sported a warm indoor/outdoor pool. A large glass window was the retractable barrier between inside and out, but it only came down to the top of the water. Swimming under the window was rather easy. Since the outdoor part of the pool was technically not open, the security cameras were conveniently off. So the models showed no hesitation in removing their swimwear once they were outside. Sitting along the edge of the pool, I was the only one who was feeling a bit cold.

The only light was the one inside the wall of the pool. Look in the bottom right corner of the image and you can see it. The amount of illumination wasn’t much and if the girls moved too terribly far away from the light they were completely in the dark. Since I hadn’t known I was going to be shooting outdoors I hadn’t brought a tripod. There was a limit to how long I could hold the shutter open without the result being a complete blur. I tried several other shots while they were swimming, but none were turning out well. I was feeling woefully unprepared.

What eventually worked was to have one girl hold the other in place, near the light but not directly above it. I was pleased enough with this shot and soon convinced them to return to the indoor portion of the pool. As the air grew colder, I was shivering too much to take a decent photograph of any kind. For someone else, this might have been one of those “Dear Penthouse” moments, but not for me. From there, the evening went downhill, with one of the models having a severe allergic reaction to some food they had brought up to the room. I have my picture, though. Life goes on.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Smelling of Flowers

August 25, 2015

charles i. letbetter - smells like flowers

charles i. letbetter - smelling like flowers

The Private Garden (2004)

Just because people throw it out and don’t have any use for it, doesn’t mean it’s garbage. ― Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Flowers carry a lot of meaning and subtly hold a rather strong and dramatic place in art, literature, and song. Three books that immediately come to mind are The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco, The Scarlet Pimpernel, by Emmuska Orczy, which thrilled me as a teen, and the one book I read in high school that still makes me stop and thing: Flowers For Algernon by Daniel Keyes. In all three the flowers are highly symbolic, subtle undertones that hold deeper meaning than one might suspect.

Musically, flowers are used to invoke a specific imagery to help make a point. I looked through my various playlists and see titles ranging from Henry Mancini’s Days of Wine and Roses (which will be playing in my head the rest of the morning now), to the Statler Brothers’ Flowers on the Wall to The Foundations singing Build Me Up Buttercup. There are myriad songs about roses, which I suppose is appropriate given their sentimental relationship to love, but I think it’s the non-rose songs that perhaps hold a stronger imagery, such as Edelweiss from The Sound of Music, and Tip Toe Through The Tulips by Tiny Tim.

My mother was always one of those people who said, “Give me my flowers while I’m alive,” and we tried to do that, but when she passed the church was so full of bouquets and sprays I’ve no idea whatever happened to them all. While flowers do, in some aspects, represent the temporary nature and frailty of life, I’ve never understood why we feel the need to inundate a family with them upon losing a loved one. Most cemeteries through them out after a week or so and for grieving families they can be an unwanted reminder of their loss. While their origin dates back to a time when bodies were not embalmed and would smell as they decayed, that’s not exactly a problem we face much anymore and too often the flowers are overwhelming, or a reminder in some cases of how few friends a person had.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]When flowers appear in artwork, however, I fear we are often too dismissive of their presence. We tend to think of them merely as decoration, or perhaps something to hold so that one’s hands don’t look awkward. Yet, flowers in art are symbols of femininity, virtuosity, and in some cases even conniving. Flowers have symbolized everything from a family’s wealth to the subject’s religious beliefs and in some cases even political affiliations. Present in almost every form of religious art, flowers serve as powerful metaphors for matters of significance.

So, where are we going when we pick a couple of dyed daisies and use them as we have in today’s photo? Daises traditionally represent innocence and gentleness. Given the implied placement of the flowers here, innocence and gentleness is certainly a preferred way of looking at the matter. However, that would really only apply were the daisies white. These were dyed red and orange. Red daisies represent a beauty the possessor doesn’t realize. Orange, while not natural in daisies, generally represents warmth. I’ll just let your imagination take it from there.

Flowers are so very fragile, and at the same time so very powerful. They are a simple way of infusing deeper meaning into an image that possessed little. Their mere presence can write stories that would go on for pages. They spark our sense of the romantic and the poetic. And occasionally, in certain circumstances, the flowers seem to beg us to pick them. Should you choose to pluck these, I strongly recommend handling with care.[/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

This Sh*t Is Bananas

August 24, 2015

charles i. letbetter - this shit is bananas

Matching Curves (2004)

I just do art because I’m ugly and there’s nothing else for me to do. ― Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]Bananas. Not only is there a giant one in this picture, in case you hadn’t noticed, but it’s also perhaps the kindest way to describe the model. She was from one of the barrier islands off Georgia’s coast, near Savannah. A trust fund baby, Daddy’s only little girl, who had grown up with every privilege possible. She saw one of my pictures in a magazine and decided that she simply had to come shoot with me for a whole weekend. I needed the money, so I took the job not knowing the girl’s reputation, nor the trouble into which she had a habit of getting.

My first warning came moments after meeting her at her motel, one in the higher-end of the Hilton chain. She carried a number of credit cards that Daddy had provided, but despite each one having an excessively high limit, she had already maxed them all out for the month, and it was only the 12th (strange how I can remember that date). So, checking into the hotel was a bit of a challenge. Hotels don’t like to accept cash anymore. She stood at the desk and argued with the night manager for the better part of an hour, calling him every dirty name in the book, before finally calling Daddy, who gave them yet another credit card number. She then called a sorority sister, at 1 AM, who was a regional manager for the chain, and complained. The manager’s phone rang immediately afterward.

After checking in, she changed clothes, and then wanted to go out to the clubs. I knew several club managers and owners personally, so that wasn’t going to be a challenge. What bothered me, though, was that we were supposed to start shooting at 8:00 the next morning. It was already almost 2:00. She promised she’d have no problem waking up and being fresh, so off we went. First place we went was doing jello wrestling. She volunteered to participate. Second place was doing wet t-shirt contests. She needed to do that as well. I almost lost track of her at the dance club. I had already nicknamed her bananas, to her face, by the time I tucked her into her bed at 4:30.[/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]I left messages for all the places we were scheduled to shoot, postponing everything until afternoon. Even if Miss Bananas managed to wake up, which didn’t happen, I knew it would take a couple of hours’ worth of makeup and water consumption before she’d be in any condition to take pictures of any kind. We had talked through several concepts before she arrived, most of which involved nudity in some form. I was hoping to tone down the ideas a bit toward something a bit less pornographic and more editorial. When she finally woke up, a little after 10 AM, we ate brunch then headed out. This was going to be an interesting day.

After she bought half the clothes at one boutique (Daddy had wired her cash), we started taking pictures. Convincing her that a public park in the middle of a Saturday afternoon was not a good place to be flashing her ample breasts was not easy. After more than one close call with police, I insisted we move inside, to a rented studio where I wouldn’t have to worry about being arrested for her actions. Along the way, she wanted some fruit. The banana shot was one of the first we took in the studio, and arguably one of the best. You would need a very dirty mind to imagine what she did with the banana afterward.

Over the course of the weekend, we managed to drop over 2000 frames. Only three photos remain, none of which records her face or her name. Interestingly enough, she was arrested for cocaine possession the moment she stepped off the plane back in Savannah. Apparently, she thought her tray table was a good place to set out lines. One of the flight attendants called ahead to local police. I never heard from her again. I sent pictures to the address she had given me on her release, but received no confirmation that she ever saw them. Gwen Stefani was right, this shit really is bananas. So, how’s your Monday? [/one_half_last]

Art / PotD

Trippin’ Like Warhol

August 23, 2015

charles i. letbetter - trippin on warhol

Strawberries For Dessert (2004)

Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. ― Andy Warhol

[one_half padding=”4px 10px 0 4px”]This is going to be an interesting week. Trippin’ is the only way I know to describe the seven pieces we’ve chosen without launching into multiple paragraphs that don’t fit well in the banner at the top of the page. And while the colors have a pop art similarity that might, to some, be reminiscent of the late artist Andy Warhol, I can’t claim any direct influence was present when we did these. They are unlike anything else in my catalog and certainly aren’t part of my normal portfolio. I no longer can find the originals, so we had to jump through some serious technological hoops just to get them in a condition suitable for presentation.

Pictures hold memories of specific moments, so I’m almost always able to recall at least the situation surrounding a shoot, if not necessarily people’s names and specific places. These pictures are among the fuzziest of memories. I remember shooting them in late 2004-early 2005, but I don’t remember model’s names and, with one exception, I don’t remember much of the circumstances. I certainly don’t remember processing any of them, so I can’t tell you how we achieved the effects you’ll see. I could possibly claim another Warhol reference and say I was literally trippin’ during this period, but that would be disingenuous.

Stress is probably more responsible for my lousy recollection of these pictures. Taken during a period of tremendous personal change and upheaval, photography was as much of an escape from, perhaps even a denial of reality more than it was an occupation. Most of the pictures from that period have been lost entirely. Of those that do remain, I only have small, 72 dpi copies taken from an old website backup. Theoretically, there might be better copies on an old Flickr account somewhere, but if that does still exist I’ve no clue how to find it. [/one_half]

[one_half_last padding=”4px 4px 0 10px”]Just looking at these images sends me trippin’ a little bit. They’re disorienting on a very personal basis, so I’ve absolutely no idea how other people see them. If no one else likes them, this could end up being a very boring week. I don’t necessarily have a good feel for what anyone else wants to see, other than the fact that nude images cause our hit count to go up. There is some sense of sexual provocation to these images, if one is bound and determined to find such. Models we worked with from this period tended to be more open and willing to experiment with what was then a relatively new digital media. There were no social media sites to provide potential embarrassment. There was less fear of backlash.

Comparatively, the cameras we worked with back then, which costs more than a medium-format film camera, were toys. Your phone can probably do as well. These were a mere 3.5 megapixels, something we wouldn’t even consider marketable now. Again, we have improved technology to thank for being able to bump up the quality a little bit, though I still wouldn’t want to try and actually print one. Only a handful of publishers would risk working with digital images, though there was no question that this was the direction photography would go. Ten years have seen a lot of change.

I may be trippin’ just to put these on display. You may not be interested and walk completely away. Warhol’s advice about not caring about opinions, just make art, is one I’m trying to embrace this. After all, I remember well the public reaction to his work; a lot of people thought it was stupid, pointless, and definitely not art. Today, those works are worth millions. I should be so lucky. Just know that you’ll likely not see us produce another set of images like the ones you’ll see this week.[/one_half_last]

photograph

Character cannot be developed in ease and quiet. Only through experience of trial and suffering can the soul be strengthened, ambition inspired, and success achieved.—Helen Keller

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That means that every human being – without distinction of sex, age, race, skin color, language, religion, political view, or national or social origin – possesses an inalienable and untouchable dignity.—Hans Kung

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Trust yourself. Create the kind of self that you will be happy to live with all your life. Make the most of yourself by fanning the tiny, inner sparks of possibility into flames of achievement.—Golda Meir

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Without pain, there would be no suffering, without suffering we would never learn from our mistakes. To make it right, pain and suffering is the key to all windows, without it, there is no way of life.—Angelina Jolie

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You must not lose faith in humanity. Humanity is an ocean; if a few drops of the ocean are dirty, the ocean does not become dirty.—Mahatma Gandhi

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You have brains in your head. You have feet in your shoes. You can steer yourself in any direction you choose. You’re on your own, and you know what you know. And you are the guy who’ll decide where to go.—Dr. Seuss

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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You gotta love livin’, baby, ’cause dyin’ is a pain in the ass. —Frank Sinatra

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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I am a strong woman with or without this other person, with or without this job, and with or without these tight pants.—Queen Latifah

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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It is possible to become discouraged about the injustice we see everywhere. But God did not promise us that the world would be humane and just. He gives us the gift of life and allows us to choose the way we will use our limited time on earth. It is an awesome opportunity.—Cesar Chavez

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All men’s miseries derive from not being able to sit in a quiet room alone.—Blaise Pascal

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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When virtue and modesty enlighten her charms, the lustre of a beautiful woman is brighter than the stars of heaven, and the influence of her power it is in vain to resist.—Akhenaton

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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The meme for blind faith secures its own perpetuation by the simple unconscious expedient of discouraging rational inquiry.—Richard Dawkins

Editor’s note: The opinions expressed in this week’s photographs are strictly those of the author: charles i. letbetter, and do not necessarily reflect the attitudes or opinions of the models involved in the pictures. If you don’t like what you see, don’t blame the model. Thank you.

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The whole thing of clothes is insane. You can spend a dollar on a jacket in a thrift store. And you can spend a thousand dollars on a jacket in a shop. And if you saw those two jackets walking down the street, you probably wouldn’t know which was which.—Helen Mirren

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Blue jeans are the most beautiful things since the gondola.—Diana Vreeland

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A friend sat next to a nun on a plane. He asked her what she missed most. “Wearing blue jeans,” she replied. —Amy Krouse Rosenthal

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Anyone who is secure about herself shouldn’t be threatened by the ads I do. What we’re doing is fun—if you have any sense of humor at all! —Calvin Klein

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Fashion is mysterious, as a rule. Why are blue jeans a classic? You just hit on something that happens to be timeless and right.-Diane von Furstenberg

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I have often said that I wish I had invented blue jeans: the most spectacular, the most practical, the most relaxed and nonchalant. They have expression, modesty, sex appeal, simplicity – all I hope for in my clothes. -Yves Saint-Laurent

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Sex is more exciting on the screen and between the pages than between the sheets ― Andy Warhol

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People need to be made more aware of the need to work at learning how to live because life is so quick and sometimes it goes away too quickly. ― Andy Warhol

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If something’s going to happen for you, it will, you can’t make it happen. And it never does happen until you’re past the point where you care whether it happens or not. ― Andy Warhol, The Philosophy of Andy Warhol

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Just because people throw it out and don’t have any use for it, doesn’t mean it’s garbage. ― Andy Warhol

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I just do art because I’m ugly and there’s nothing else for me to do. ― Andy Warhol

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Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art. ― Andy Warhol

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