A Few Points to Hit On

(This has nothing to do with photos. I just thought it was funny!)




"I believe in equality for everyone, except reporters and photographers."

 - Mahatma Ghandi

I don't know what all this funky weather is about. My family in Texas and Tennessee are seeing more snow than they have in ages. My sister sent me some pics of my folks house in Texas and I've just never seen that much snow there. I didn't see that much snow til I did my first tour of duty in Germany. I went from having a vague knowledge of what snow was to being knee deep in it. I tease at times about the contrasting weather they have compared to here in Nevada. Today I was in shorts, T-shirt, and flip-flops. It was a reasonable 70 degrees here. Oddly enough, we've gotten our share of the oddity in weather too. We've had more rain here in the last few weeks than I've seen during the monsoon seasons of all 3 years that I've been here put together. El Nino? What the hell?


Now I thought it was pretty dog-gone cool when Unbearable Lightness was featured on The Sensual 7 Seconds Blog (a week ago). You can't imagine my elation when Karl contacted me and asked me to participate in his questionnaire feature as well. That made my day. But now that he's published it on his blog and I got to read the things that he said about me...well, let me just say its good to feel appreciated. I feel so good right now, I'm going to go spend some money. Drop by to see his interview with me. 

Regardless if friends go with me or not, I'm heading to Death Valley in the next month or so and staying out overnight to catch some nice sunrises and sunsets, hopefully with a valley of wild flowers aplenty. If I can get a model to tag along, then that'll be great too. But I haven't had one model yet give me even any inkling of an idea that she'd be willing to camp out. Day-trip? Sure. Staying outdoors overnight? Kiss my boo-tay, okay...! 

*City girls....*

As one who is a patron and proponent of the nude arts, you may find it ironic that I am also oddly drawn to freelance men's wear journalist, Simon Crompton's "Permanent Style" Blog. I am not a true fashion person. I don't even pretend to work in much fashion photography. I'd rather not even give consideration to succumbing to the latest trends of the day. If everybody's wearing it, chances are, I am not. As a kid, I wanted to be like the popular kids. When Michael Jackson sported the red jacket with zippers all over the place, I wanted one. People were putting zippers in their collars! I couldn't even get the popular Member's Only jacket. If it didn't come from Wal-Mart, Payless, or the local thrift store, chances are, I wouldn't be wearing it. 

Even as a kid, it wasn't so much that I was into fashion as it was that I wanted to belong or at least not get picked on for what I wore. Actually, I think it was maybe my 7th grade year when I realized that I didn't give a damn about fashion trends. I found a pair of bell-bottom pants that I pleaded with my mom to buy. Bell-Bottoms were NOT in style anymore. I got teased and since my mom spent money on them, she made me keep them and wear them. After that, I could give a flip-flam about fashion and swore, I would wear what I like regardless of the trend of the day. What I like about Permanent Style is that it covers clothing of a more refined taste. To me, its fashion that's above trend. Simon presents clothes, clothiers, and materials that have a focus on the quality and classical wear. Class doesn't go out of style. In particular for me, I pay special attention to his shoes. I've been so intrigued about what goes into the custom hand-made shoes. They have a look of elegance that cannot be denied. These are shoes that you can actually see the worth of $200 plus going into them. They don't cost that much just because of the name or because they are in demand right now (and then be half that price or no longer made the next year). Simon presents us shoes that hold up 15 years later and are still considered fashionable. Its the same thing with suits and shirts. The man teaches you the art of wearing clothes. I like that. 

I revisited images I did with a model two years ago. I went back over her shots and edited some that I hadn't touched before and then some that I re-edited again. She goes by Tyler Aria now and has a OMP profile as well as one on Model Mayhem. She was one of the first models I worked with in my workshops and she's definitely a performer. That's right. Her modeling can be viewed as a performance. The girl simply has a talent for the camera and giving up what you want. She's an adrenaline junkie so I hope you don't try to take advantage of that. In my outdoor workshop, I left for a few minutes to scout the location we were getting ready to move to. I came back to find that the guys had her hanging upside down in a tree. Treat her right and chances are you'll get what you want. Its probably your own fault if you don't. That's how good she is.