November 27th, 2011
Calendar Discount
November 27th, 2011
Order your calendars today and you can save 25% by using this code at checkout: HOLIDAYNOW
Good only through today, November 27.
Or wait and order tomorrow, “Cyber Monday,” and you can take 30% off by using the code: CYBERMONDAY
But that one is only good tomorrow, November 28, until 11:59 PST. Looks like you can use the CYBERMONDAY discount starting now, so never mind about the other discount, use that one and save an extra 5%.
Order here: http://www.lulu.com/spotlight/wayward
Gallery Banner
November 27th, 2011
The Darkroom Gallery just sent me a photo of my winning photo on the banner in the gallery window. Looks like it blew up to that size ok. The show at this gallery in Essex Junction, Vermont opens Tuesday, November 29. The opening reception for the show is December 9. If you are up in the Vermont area go check it out. I won’t be able to be there for the show, but I’m looking forward to visiting the gallery when I’m up there at the start of the new year.
It’s Calendar Time
November 21st, 2011
I’ve finally gotten around to doing some 2012 calendars. They are now available in my Lulu Store. You can see previews in my store, or look at the embedded previews right here.
There are two all new calendars, Coyote Buttes, featuring Brooke Lynne and Kat (above) and Blackhand Gorge, featuring Brooke Lynne and Artistic Physique (below)
And I’ve reworked my classic “Figure In Nature” calendar to include a few new photos along with many of my old favorites:
Something To Think About
November 18th, 2011
I’m going to interrupt our irregularly scheduled nudity to take a detour into what is going on in our country right now. Friend, model and intelligent, thoughful person, Theda, works in NYC near the Occupy Wall Street area and has been going by there and keeping tabs on what is going on…and writing updates on facebook that I’ve been enjoying. Today she wrote an insightful essay about the situation there. It deserves a wide audience, so I’m going to stop writing and just let you read what Theda has to say:
The American dream is now the American fantasy
The most amazing thing about Occupy Wall Street may be how radically the news coverage has diverged from the reality of the protest. Even NPR’s coverage doesn’t quite mesh with my own experience.
Pardon me while I go bullet pointy on the whole thing, but I’m tired of re-writing this over and over, so this covers a bit of everything. Please note that I have only been to the original Zuccotti Park encampment, so I can’t speak of the other occupations with any degree of accuracy. I’m certainly not going to rely on 3rd hand reports.
This was written in bits and pieces, both before and after the eviction. So if the writing isn’t quite cohesive, eat me…
The protesters don’t even know why they’re there.
Between 100 and 200 people were sleeping in a park for eight weeks through rain, snow and freezing temperatures with limited access to plumbing and constant threat of arrest. And you think they didn’t know why? Every single Occupier can give you a reason for making him/herself uncomfortable and vulnerable. Maybe many of those reasons will sound foolish and some will be downright stupid, but they know why they’re there. The fact that not everyone’s reason is identical does not mean they “don’t know why they’re there.”
What are their demands?
“Demands are for terrorists.” There are no official demands from the movement as a whole and there probably will not be. There has been a declaration and a FAQ, which are worth reading. Despite the lack of demands, there are some key points of policy that come up frequently:
1) Overturn Citizens United. Corporate personhood is a slap in the face of democracy. Corporations are not people, but they are composed of people who already have the right to vote and openly donate to the candidates of their choice. Not that there wasn’t plenty of soft money floating around prior to Citizens United, but this decision is an open “fuck you” to the average citizen. Campaign reform is required to level the political playing field. Only the wealthy are in a position to run and only with the support of even wealthier corporate interests. That’s plutocracy (or plutarchy, if you prefer).
2) “Too big to fail = too big to exist.” Reinstate Glass-Steagall and break up trusts. If Glass-Steagall had not been repealed in the mid-90s, “Too big to fail” wouldn’t have become our mantra has we handed out hundreds of billions in corporate welfare.
3) Open and regular audits of the Federal Reserve that will probably result in, at minimum, a drastic restructuring of our central banking system. You will also find quite a few who wish to dismantle the Fed all together.
4) Repeal Bush-era tax cuts on the top earners. The top marginal tax rate is the lowest it’s been in decades, yet the rate of unemployment is near that of the Great Depression. Top earners are defined anywhere between $250k and $1.3 million per annum, depending on who you ask and what mathematical formula you use. After 30 years of Reaganomics, it should be abundantly clear that the wealth is not “trickling down.” When allowed to retain more of their capital, the rich do spontaneously become “job creators.” In an unsteady economy, the wealthy invest conservatively and save. That’s why they’re wealthy.
5) Hold financiers accountable for the fraud involved in the subprime mortgage securities fiasco. The handful of civil cases against powerful bankers have been largely unrelated trials.
The government caused this housing bubble to burst by forcing banks to make bad loans.
No one was “forced” to make subprime loans en masse. And no one was forced to rebundle those bad loans as mortgaged backed securities, slap triple A ratings on them and sell them off at a tremendous profit. This is an incredible line of bullshit and no one with any real knowledge of events believes this. But it is awfully nostalgic to blame Jimmy Carter, isn’t it?
They’re just trust fund kids looking for a party and handouts.
Risking hypothermia and arrest is not a party. And if they were trust fund kids, wouldn’t they already have all the handouts they could want? There was certainly plenty of signage about student loans, but very few (if any) actually believe they shouldn’t have to pay them back. Some of those signs about “student bailouts” were tongue-in-cheek references to corporate bailouts. Others were about restructuring the student loan system in such a way as to minimize defaults by the under-employed. It isn’t pretty.
They’re homeless and/or criminals, not productive members of society.
In the last few weeks of the Occupation, more of NYC’s homeless flocked to the park. For the most part, as long as they were polite and helpful, they were welcome. There was some concern that the Occupiers’ kitchen lacked the resources to feed the city’s entire homeless population and various proposals were raised to minimize “freeloading.” No, this is not ironic. Occupiers actively participate in any of a number of working groups. An internal security detail evicted the violent and drug users as needed.
There is some indication that the NYPD deliberately sent vagrants, drug addicts and sex offenders to the park as part of an effort to discredit the Occupiers and drive them out. There is little proof of this. It’s totally expected that the word would get out and how much role the police played in that hasn’t been proven. It could have been just a handful or a department-wide effort.
In any case, it’s worth noting that not everyone in the park was a protester or a park resident. There are many people who visited only briefly and many who only participated during the day or after work. And of course, there were those merely looking for a meal and a place to sleep, but I find it hard to blame them.
They should “occupy a job.”
Roughly 70% of the protesters are employed and quite a few more are retirees. A recent poll found the age group most supportive of Occupy Wall Street is 50-64. In fact, as the Occupation wore on, the average age of the crowd increased drastically. By the last week, I was seeing at least as many gray heads as dredlocks.
The protesters themselves are a remarkably diverse crowd. You do have your share of crust punks, white boys with dreds and aging hippies, but you also have WWII veterans, economists, professors, union leaders, entrepreneurs, librarians, nurses, teachers, Lego men…
“Redistribution of wealth” is class warfare and tantamount to stealing.
Isn’t it, though? America’s wealth has been redistributed at an alarming rate since the 1980s. A more progressive taxation plan could slow or reverse the process that’s been eating away at the middle and lower classes for decades. To parrot a common talking point, why is it only class warfare when the poor and middle classes fight back?
The protesters are jealous and just want what the 1% have.
If you mean opportunity and an audible voice in government, yeah. If you mean their piles of money and mountains of toys, not so much.
The movement is anti-capitalism.
The majority of protesters are not seeking to overthrow the entire free market. I’m sure some of us would love to live in a Marxist utopia, but that’s not realistic and there was never certainly a consensus on such a thing. This is not about capitalism or corporatism so much as it is about the abuses of capitalism and corporatism.
The movement is anti-Semitic.
There was one anti-Semitic protester (who had other protesters next to him with signs reading “this guy is crazy” and “asshole”), but he’s the only one I know of. There was also one seemingly anti-Semitic heckler that some sources have tried to pass off as a typical protester. He’s been trying to become youtube-famous by uploading videos of himself being obnoxious for a long time and shows no preference in whom he annoys.
I did, however, see a number of anti-Zionist protesters objecting to the United States’ unfaltering allegiance to Israel. Some of them might also have been anti-Semites, but some of them are Jewish. Israel is not the sum total of Jewry and there are many among us who long for an amicable settlement between the Palestinians and Israelis, including homelands for both.
Regardless, local rabbis held kol nidre and simchas torah services for observant protesters and interested onlookers. In addition to the Jewish services, there were frequent meditation and yoga groups. Religious intolerance was never part of the game plan.
The Tea Party never had complaints of assaults or resulted in arrests.
The Tea Party never tried anything so drastic as an indefinitely established Shanty Town near centers of business (and they were quickly co-opted by the same corporate interests that Occupy Wall Street is protesting). Perhaps if the Tea Partiers were committed enough to protest around the clock for eight weeks, they would have run into the same sort of problems (assuming they came as unprepared for violence as the Occupiers have). We’ll never know. The primary difference in ideology is with whom the bulk of the blame rests. The Tea Party blames government. Occupy Wall Street blames everyone. but mostly the corporate lobbies.
You’re protesting in the wrong place. You should be in front of the White House/Congress.
There have been numerous Occupy DC events. But when you’ve come to the conclusion that all your elected officials are really corporate puppets, you go to the puppet masters, not the puppets. Pay attention to the man behind the curtain.
Obama and his advisers are responsible for this movement.
Maybe, but not in the way you think. Obama was the Left’s small ray of hope and we’ve been severely disappointed. This is political learned helplessness. Under the current system, no one with the means to run for major office could possibly be on the side of the middle and lower classes. The campaign costs are too great. Obama is not terribly popular among the protesters and this is no diversionary tactic. Obama may end up being the lesser evil in 2012, but he’s no longer anyone’s ideal.
The unions, George Soros and the Working Families Party has been paying people $600/week to protest.
New York’s Working Families Party advertised for people to work for their established party. No one at Occupy Wall Street has been paid cash by anyone to protest. Prior to the eviction, they were “paid” in meals and bedding. Thousands flocked to a small park due to their own convictions.
I read that someone at Occupy DC “admitted” to hiring migrant workers, but nowhere other than a few conservative blogs. Nor have I seen the exact quote in context, so I’ll reserve judgment on that. With ten of thousands of participants all over the world, it’s far fetched to believe even a substantial minority were on the payroll.
The Occupations accomplish nothing.
Occupy Everything has, at least temporarily, turned the national dialog from ceaseless debates about raising the debt ceiling versus destroying our position in the global economy to issues that weigh heavily on the minds of average Americans.
The unemployment rate exceeds the number of available jobs by a large margin. Many of those who are employed are underemployed and can only afford basic needs, which may not include paying off tens of thousands in student loan debt. Many more are being denied cost of living increases in salary and are therefore inching towards underemployment. Manufacturing in America is almost dead. Preventative health care is a luxury. Multitudes feel they’ve been systematically disenfranchised. The vocal occupation forced the media and our governing officials to focus on the people’s immediate concerns.
More obviously, the Occupy movement campaigned for Americans to close their accounts with “too big to fail” institutions and move their money to local banks and credit unions. Hundred of thousands have. More Americans have switched in the last month than in the entirety of 2010. An exodus of about one million customers won’t collapse any of the large banks, but it will make a statement and hopefully lead the banks to reconsider some of their more usurious practices.
The Occupation has cost the city millions.
The city is going overboard with barricades and additional police. There have been permanent police posts in the immediate area for years, but adding 20-30 officers to stand around and clear the sidewalk and erecting a barrier maze on Wall Street is overkill. However, I’m sure the Blue Shirts appreciate the over time hours.
The protesters made every effort to police and clean the area themselves (up to and including cleaning the bathrooms at the nearby McDonalds), and were quite successful given the unique circumstances.
Local residents and businesses are suffering because of noise and sanitation issues.
Per an interview with the president of the local community board, the community was largely in support of the protesters’ right to remain. There were multiple meetings between the community board and OWS representatives that resulted in the bulk of the Good Neighbor Policy, which included limited hours for drumming and forbids drug and alcohol usage. Since I wasn’t there overnight, I can’t say how closely the policy was adhered to at odd hours.
The primary complaints from residents and small businesses were about the police barricades. They were removed (probably at the behest of Donald Trump) briefly, but many were put back up within hours. The mayor claimed the protesters took to the street when the barricades came down, but I saw no evidence of this. I took a walk over there when the barricades were down and the streets had roughly the normal amount of tourists photographing each other in front of the NYSE and Federal Hall, but not a single protester. I asked around the encampment if there had been any sort of march down Wall Street that evening and no one knew anything about it.
Zuccotti Park encompasses the entire (small) block. Except during some of the larger marches and media blitzes, there have been no building entrances blocked. The sidewalks were mostly crowded with onlookers stopping to read signs and talk to protesters, who stuck close to the perimeter of the park. The food carts are still there, and if anyone had a legitimate complaint about their business, it’s them. (Especially the vendor who had his generator confiscated by the FDNY as a “fire hazard.”)
Furthermore, the encampment itself was becoming a tourist attraction. People on their way from the NYSE and the 9/11 Memorial made Zuccotti Park one of their stops. I’ve been asked for directions to “the” park. “See the city” tour buses come down lower Broadway frequently and passengers would often wave, cheer and take pictures as they passed.
I neither saw nor smelled any evidence of public defecation or urination so often mentioned in the news. Some nearby residents volunteered their bathrooms for showers, so most of the Occupiers were reasonably clean. The city refused permits for port-a-potties, but an organization nearby eventually donated space for that purpose.
Drum circles suck.
Yeah, they really do.
The “people’s mic” and hand gestures are ridiculous.
The NYPD prohibited bullhorns and other forms of artificial amplification. The “people’s mic” is a work-around. On a cognitive level, repeating what you hear facilitates comprehension. So while it feels cult like initially, it’s actually a lovely example of a disparate group cooperating to insure everyone has a say (aka hippie shit).
The hand gestures were developed to reach a consensus in an orderly fashion without interrupting the speaker. It’s easier to determine how popular or unpopular an idea is by wiggling fingers than by a cacophony of clapping and/or booing. And yeah, spirit fingers do look stupid, but they work.
Disrupting the subways will only inconvenience the working class people.
I’d really, really like to know where this “OccupySubway” rumor was started. To my knowledge, there was never any intention of disrupting anyone’s commute. The itinerary for November 17th I was given mentioned nothing of the sort. And it never happened. My only guess is someone misread that the events planned at several subway hubs were actually intended to take place in the subway and off it went through social media until major networks were reporting fictional pandemonium. There was plenty of real pandemonium in the streets, but I somehow managed to miss all of it.
House Fisheye
November 13th, 2011
I’ve been trying all week to get a chance to write a new blog post, but obviously did not succeed. I did get the print made for the gallery show in Vermont that opens at Darkroom Gallery in Essex Junction on November 29. I reworked the photo from the original file and was able to make a very nice 16-inch-wide print with my Epson 4900 printer. I also sent the re-worked file off to the gallery and it sounds like it will work out ok for the banner to advertise the show. So that’s all worked out well.
I also want to say some good words about the US Postal Service. I boxed up the print and took it to the post office on Thursday. I sent it off to Vermont using Priority Mail with delivery confirmation. Friday was Veterans Day with no mail service that day. On Saturday I got an e-mail from the gallery saying they had received the print. I hadn’t even thought to check on the delivery confirmation because I didn’t think it would arrive until tomorrow at the earliest. Pretty amazing service for the price.
Today’s photos are still from the shoot at my friends’ house with models Artistic Physique and Isabel Allende. For these first two I got out my new fisheye lens, which I’m still learning to use. I think it did a pretty good job with these two shots.
And, I’ll conclude the photos from this shoot with a little portrait of the two lovely models who spent that day wandering around the house with me, making these photos possible. Thank you lovely ladies.
Juror’s Choice
November 6th, 2011
First let me remind you all about the show that is currently up in Pittsburgh, Naked In Pittsburgh. I went over there for the opening on Friday and it was a huge success. The show is beautiful and the turnout was massive. It was hard to even make my way through the gallery to see everything, there were so many people there. The show will be up through November 20, so if you missed the opening and want to see it, there is still time. I think you’ll enjoy it if you go.
Now, about that photo at the top of this post. A couple weeks ago I was looking at a call for entries for a nude show at the Darkroom Gallery in Vermont. As I was looking at their web site I noticed that there was also a call for entries for a landscape show that was due to close in just a few days. On a whim I decided to send some photos in for that show as well and pulled up a few of my favorite landscape shots and sent them in.
At the end of last week I received an e-mail telling me that my entry, the photo above, was the Juror’s Choice for the show…i.e., the “winner.” I’m, of course, very pleased and honored by that selection.
But, there’s a bit of a problem. The gallery wants to make a banner with the photo to advertise the exhibit. The banner will be 35 inches long.
Now, the best camera for any photo is the camera you have with you at the time. It happens that this photo was taken at a lake near my home where I often walk in the mornings. On one of those morning walks a few years ago I saw this photo and pulled out the little Casio point and shoot camera that I always kept in my pocket back then. It let me take the picture. But the file isn’t the prettiest digital file I’ve worked with by a far cry. I’ve tried to make a large print from it because it really looks like a photo that would be good large, but it just seems to fall apart at a size above about 11×14. Of course, part of the problem is that the fog makes everything seem soft, so it isn’t just the fault of the camera. I had planned to send the gallery something on the order of an 8×10″ print if this one was accepted for the show. Now I guess I’ll see if I can print it a little larger…maybe about 15″ wide…since it won that award.
So, I wrote back to the gallery and told them all that. They asked me to go ahead and send them the best quality file I could and they would see what they can do. So that’s what I’ve done. I went back to the original file and did a re-edit to make it as good as my limited PhotoShop skills can make it. Maybe the material that the banner is printed on will be kind enough to the photo to make it work. I hope so. I’d love to see my photo on a banner at a gallery.
Around the House
November 3rd, 2011
Don’t forget the opening Friday night of the Naked in Pittsburgh gallery show at 2112 Sarah Street. I plan to be there for the opening. I have four photos in the show, all of which feature model Artistic Physique, who also plans to be at the opening. So, if you are in the Pittsburgh area come on by and say hi.
This week I spent a couple days in Athens, Ohio, shooting a dance concert at the Ohio University School of Dance. I haven’t had time to even look through those photos yet, and I need to get on that so I can get them uploaded for the dancers to see. But that will have to wait until I get back from Pittsburgh.
I’m staying too busy, but here are some more photos of my shoot at my friends’ old house with model Isabelle:
And here’s an intentionally blurry one just for my old friend Unbearable Lightness:
Happy Halloween
October 30th, 2011
Cam Damage enjoying a little time with Death. That is all. Enjoy the holiday.
Dark, Dank Basement
October 27th, 2011
Sorry I haven’t been posting much here. I’ve been having a bit of a hard time getting back into the swing of things since I got back from the trip. Part of that, of course, is the issues of getting the truck fixed. Today it went into the body shop, so I’m without wheels until the weekend. You’d think that would mean I’d get a lot done at home, but it didn’t work out that way today.
But, before I left for the trip I had done a couple shoots that I didn’t get time to edit before I left. So I’m going to post from those shoots before I get on with editing the trip photos. Here’s the first installment of that.
These were shot at a friend’s house that they are fixing up to rent or resell. Lots of work being done. And a great place to photograph. These photos may make the place look a little scary, but it isn’t really like that. This is a case of seeing a setting and the light that was there and knowing how the camera would treat the light…which allowed me to create photos that really don’t look anything like what you’d see if you walked into this basement. But these are straight out of the camera with nothing other than minor tone adjustment in PhotoShop.
That’s the wonderful model and bodybuilder, Artistic Physique, in the photos above and below.
And I worked with a new model that day, Isabel Allende. That’s her below and with Artistic Physique in the last photo.
I’ll have more from this shoot to post before I move on the the next one in the que. I think there will be some more “normal” photos of Isabel and AP for you to see soon.
Incidently, for those who care about such things, it was dark down in that basement. These were all shot at 6400 ISO at very long shutter speeds, in the neighborhood of 1/2 to 1 second. I used a table-top tripod braced against the wall to keep the camera steady. These aren’t my typical thing, but I saw the possibilities of the location and I’m pleased with the results.
