Introducing Briana!

"I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they now do." - Will Rogers

Since the last time I posted, I know there were several things I wanted to mention. Wisdom would recommend writing these things down or at the very least, start posts sooner. I can remember not a one of the points I wanted to bring up. So let me just talk about some new things then.

One, I'm starting to see several people start to ditch deviantArt. Several of my own mentors have either taken off their nude work or just deleted their galleries entirely. Much of its been because of dA's lack of responsibility of protecting artist's work, (or at least not encouraging theft), and then also in protecting the artsists personally. One mentor of mine experienced malicious racist attacks that went on unchecked for far too long. What's dA's stance? I really don't have a clue. The finally banned the guy, but why not act more decisively or even take preventative measures that either strongly discourages or keeps these sort of things from happening in the first place. In any case, I may have to abandon the site myself, if for no other reason than the principle of the matter. If they can't treat my friends with some respect, then why should I hang around.

I'm still looking to reinvent my Las Vegas Art Models Group. My 1st figure drawing session had a good turnout, but this past Thursday's did not. I've had to postpone my next Art Nude Photo Workshop for a few weeks, also for poor sign-ups. I want to stick to my original reasons for founding the group, but its not easy. Competition has become fairly stiff. But if there's one thing I learned in school on that, is that you can't go hating on the competition...at least as long as they are being fair. I was listening to KNPR about Jerome Boykin who graduated college and started his own business cleaning parking lots of major retailers. I laughed when he recounted a story of making enemies. Once, a competitor whom he was a replacement for dump a load of strash in a parking lot he was responsible for. Another time, somebody killed the battery on his sweeper truck. The fact of the matter is Jerome provided a service that was more desired than his previous competitors had done and word of mouth got him more contracts. So, provide a better workshop is what I must do. For me, the trick is to get ahead on my day job. I've been getting pounded here lately and it taking up time that I would normally be devoting to my own business endeavors.

I had a nice little back and forth on Model Mayhem with model Nettie R. Harris. Sweet girl. She's another one on my list of "Got to Work With" models. Very insightful, and a pleasure to talk to...you kind of get a sense of what kind of person she is, just by the way she writes. At least, I do anyway. I'm usually not far off on the feeling I get about a person when I read them. That's not to say, I will know everything about them or whether or not they are a Crest or Colgate person. I can just tell if I'm going to like them. And her, I like. She's a prolific model who gets around the country as a traveling art model. You already know my affinity towards art models, but I have more of a curiosity slash adoration for those who make it their livelihood and travels the country to do it. I mean, come on...imagine the life. You can also check out her blog, Rhythm Before Unknown.

Nettie has unique features that I think lend well to a high degree of versitility or maybe a dynamic range of possibilities. Despite her age, she has a very adult face for portraiture. She can easily range between early to late 20's depending on her makeup. Granted, anybody can apply enough makeup to look any age, but Nettie won't require much and still keep a natural look. I've seen her do that best with her Glamour or Fashion images, yet she can just as easily flip the script and become the lithe, hippie-chick, which I prefer most. She can give you flamboyant or simple. Sexy and classic or playful and awkward. Either way the girl's got range. She's been shot by the best and golly-good-jeepers, I want my shot.

Well, the model you see posted here is Briana. I shot her the same night as I did Keisha and what a great showing it turned out to be. I didn't get as many shots of her, (since it was almost 3 in the morning by then), so she's coming back for more. For now, enjoy these.

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New York City

This time last week I was enjoying myself by celebrating my birthday in New York City. It was my first trip and was quite an experience. I hadn't "experienced" a city like that since well, when I first came to Las Vegas. Vegas has its own feel, but its quite different. NYC felt like it had history and it felt like a home. Not my home, granted, but the city felt as though you were walking into your best friend's grandma's place. Everything there was grounded...rooted...the city is a weathering rock. And despite all that, I didn't bring my camera...purposely. I already have enough work to do and I knew I'd spend all my time shooting rather than enjoying the company of friends. For the record, the iPhone is not a good camera phone, but it did do a nice job when you can hold it steady. That's the view from my hotel room pictured to the left there.

I hadn't seen my friend Shwu Huoy, (pronounced Shu-Hoy), since my last semester in grad school about two and a half years ago. We've kept in touch over the years. So it was definitely cool to see her again and have her show me around her city. We both graduated at the same time...but with dual Master degrees in the same programs: MBA and a MS in Telecommunications. When we graduated, I came out West and she went East. So she's only been there a few years, but she's got that city down. I arrived on Friday morning and I got to see her later that afternoon. From then on, it was us in the streets or the subway. The subway system seems so difficult to learn and I felt like I had to be on guard for much of the time. I was surprised to learn that Shwu Huoy often took the subs at night. I guess I've seen too many movies about how dangerous the underground trains can be. When you see women with strollers doing this, you start to feel a bit more comfortable with the idea. The intricacies of the labyrinths were truly a monumental feat of engineering. At one point, as I commented on the last post, I saw a huge rat go around the corner. Nobody even flinched.

Central Park was probably the most amazing to me. I'd meet people everywhere and talk to them for a bit, conversing with them like we were life-long friends who hadn't seen each other in a while. I met a beautiful woman who had shaved her head. You could see through her blonde stubble that she had a map outline of the globe tattooed on her skull. It was gorgeous. I had to ask to check out her head and I HAD to give her a card, cuz I'd love to work with her sometime. I played catch with a couple guys throwing around a football. It was one of those "I had to." moments for me. All I had to do was signal the guy with the ball that I was wide open for a pass. It the universal signal meaning, Throw the Ball. Of course, I caught everything thrown my way.

Central Park was another staple of New York in which I had a misconception. I didn't realize how large and expansive it was. I thought it was just a open space surrounded by trees. No...the place is more than 850 square acres. I could have spent my entire time in the one place. We walked the walking/running/biking paths and I came upon a group of women who were trying to get one girl up into a tree for a picture. You know me...never to leave a damsel in distress. So I boosted her up onto the tree limb and helped her down. We proceeded on over to a pond where there must have been a million people in row boats. We watched one couple run into another. That many people really takes the romance out of it, I think. That's where Shwu Huoy and I stopped to catch up on life and the happenings of our lives.

We were due to meet good ol' Dave Rudin later that night for dinner. We made our way over to the South Street Seaport in lower Manhattan, and had dinner at the Pacific Grill. Our waitress, Irena, who is from Russia was a beautiful girl. She's with me in the picture. I had a lobster ravioli entree that was delicious. I liked it better than the place we went to the night before, which was an Italian joint, in China Town called Il Piccolo Bufalo, if I remember correctly. Pacific Grill had the view, it was next to the open waters, and it had Irena!

The three of us then took a walk over the the Brooklyn Bridge and we walked to the other side. Now that was an experience as well. Only two thing marred the moment. One was the traffic. There were still a bunch of people walking and biking at night. Second, and most weirdest of all was a scary moment when a guy made a threatening move toward Shwu Huoy. Dave had stopped me for a sec to explain some sights. Shwu Huoy didn't immediately see that we had stopped and walked another 15 feet past us. I half listened to Dave as he explained the view and watched a somewhat imposing figure of a man approach Shwu Huoy. She never said anything to the guy but he made a threatening move toward her as if he wanted to make her flinch. Granted, I was over there in less than a second but it still unnerved me that the guy had gotten that close to her. I guess my concerns in the subway were warranted after all. The guy just smiled and walked on. He passed us once more later on...said something....and left. I kept my eyes on him the whole time.

We had breakfast at the Tick Tock Diner which was connected to my hotel, the New Yorker. We hung out there for a while with my bags in tow and then we did B&H Photo which I didn't even realize was just around the corner from where I stayed! The place was HUGE. I know many a photog has walked in that place and come out broke more often than compulsive gamblers do in casinos here. I got to meet Dave's friend. Dean Lavery, who really knows his stuff and takes some wonderful photographs.

I know there is something I am missing or forgetting to mention but I'll pick it up in the next post. Oh, I think NASCAR can save a lot of money training their drivers, if they'd just train them in a New York City Cab.

Introducing Keisha

I've got some catching up to do. My computer crashed about 2 weeks ago and it was out for the count. The morning after my last figure drawing session, it wen

t belly up...or hard drive up, as it were. I just now got another computer, a desktop...PC; not a mac. (Thanks Win!) I know I said I'd have a mac as my next one, but Apple

has really been pissing me off as of late. So, screw that notion.

One of the things I didn't get a chance to publicly do was to thank Peter Lime for giving me props on his deviant art site. As it turns out,

I was the 1000th person to sign on to "watch" his

deviantart gallery. I don't have a thousand people watching my gallery, I can assure you. I didn't even know that was the deal, but I knew something was up because

I kept getting visitors saying congrats or that Peter has suggested they take a look at my work. Thats when you know how huge you are. Peter was like Oprah to me on that day, which was sometime last week. So if you would please help me return the favor by visiting Peter's sites, I'd appreciate it.

I was very compelled to talk about my recent trip to New Your City. But, I'm going to waive that one til my next post.

I'll only make a brief inquiry as to why there were several sightings of hairless pointed-nosed cats down in the subways. What's up with that? Dave Rudin actually did an excellent job of chronicling the story for me so well, that I might not even need to talk about it at all. He calls it, "Big T in the Big Apple."He really summari

zes the whole thing in a nutshell. It was certainly good to see him on his own turf for a change, as opposed to him coming here to Las Vegas.

I will also add that I didn't sleep much while I was there, except for the first night and that was only because I stayed up all night the night before. What was I doing you might ask. Well, I was shooting. I'm

only pulling all-nighters for photo related work. In this case, I got to shoot the beautiful Keisha whom you see pictured in the accompanying shots. The girl definitely brings it. It took us less than half an hour to "break the ice", but after that, this amateur...soon to be pro...was in my head, giving me what I wanted before I needed to even ask. So yeah, she's got some good intuition. I also got to work with her nearest and dearest friend, whom I'll get to posting after I talk about the NY trip. So stay tuned in cuz this girl has got a dangerous degree of hotness approaching critical mass. I was so glad to meet these girls and relish the time we spent shooting. More projects are already in the works. Like I said, stay tuned.

Observations of Self

(Calvin and Hobbes are always funny. This one KILLS!)

Something I observed:

The other day I was driving home from work. I was stopped at a stop light which seemed to take, just short of, forever. But as I waited, I got to watch a scene play out before me. Vegas certainly has its share of homeless and destitute men, women, and children on the street. At any given time of the day, you can see them holding signs at major intersections, begging for change. You can drive by almost anywhere and see them sleeping under a bridge, in the park, or even along the sidewalk in the open. Humbly speaking, sometimes the thought enters my mind that I could just as easily be among them. "...There by the Grace of God, go I."

At any rate, I watched as a mid-aged woman stood on a corner, leaning on a light pole, waiting on the light to change so she could cross the street. I saw as she noticed a man approach her who had the look of extreme fatigue and destituteness in his eyes and clothing. My window was up so I never heard the exchange of words. The woman avoided the man by repositioning herself so the light pole was between the two of them, for this man was reaching for the drink as if she had offered it to him freely. However she was not willing to share her quenching drink with this person who looked to have really needed it. More words were exchanged. The man must have voiced his disapproval, as he began walking away. As his back was now turned, the light changed. The lady surprisingly began to pour out her drink, which again, got the attention of this man. Then she let the can fall to the ground and preceded to cross the street. I saw the look in the man's eyes as he watched the drink spill its contents as if he was watching a friend bleed out on the ground. No matter what this man had said to her, I felt she had acted cruel. Many a rude people attacked and killed for less. I am not sure why she felt safe enough to take that risk on this part of town. Such is life.

Something I've been getting into:

I don't know why, but I've found it difficult to turn the channel when I browse past one of those cooking competitions between two or more chefs. On this one episode, chefs were given bananas, collard greens, and grits and told to go make something. What the hell are they supposed to come up with in that combo. At least that's what the mind is thinking and you are forced to watch so you can get the answer to the question. Sometimes, I see some nice creations, but when you are given chocolate and squid, what the hell...?

I think a better show of distinct similarity would be to model the show after single moms and families that don't have adequate means, who are trying to feed their kids with concoctions that are remaining in the fridge or cabinets. When I was coming up, we had sandwiches. Today, I will throw down on a nice roast beef sub from subway, with provolone cheese, fresh spinach, red onion, tomato, black olives and pickles...drizzled with the sweet onion sauce. Splash in some Parmesan cheese and a little olive oil and I can go to town. But back in the day, growing up, I had sugar sandwiches...Mustard sandwiches. We we were fortunate, we did the peanut butter, jelly, and bacon sandwiches when some bacon was left over from breakfast. As young parents, my ex-wife was not too shabby with inventing new stuff from anything that was edible in the kitchen to feed the kids. When Ramen noodles came out, THAT was a god-send. You could always afford Ramen.

Something new I just read:

A really close friend of mine, recommended I read "The Red Tent", by Anita Diamant. Its the story written from the first person perspective of Dinah, the only daughter of Jacob, who is mainly mentioned regarding her rape as told in the Book of Genesis, chapter 34.

Amazon.com Review:

"The red tent is the place where women gathered during their cycles of birthing, menses, and even illness. Like the conversations and mysteries held within this feminine tent, this sweeping piece of fiction offers an insider's look at the daily life of a biblical sorority of mothers and wives and their one and only daughter, Dinah. Told in the voice of Jacob's daughter Dinah (who only received a glimpse of recognition in the Book of Genesis), we are privy to the fascinating feminine characters who bled within the red tent. In a confiding and poetic voice, Dinah whispers stories of her four mothers, Rachel, Leah, Zilpah, and Bilhah--all wives to Jacob, and each one embodying unique feminine traits. As she reveals these sensual and emotionally charged stories we learn of birthing miracles, slaves, artisans, household gods, and sisterhood secrets. Eventually Dinah delves into her own saga of betrayals, grief, and a call to midwifery."

The book was hard to put down once you got into it. It was like trying to exit a hot bath after you just get accustomed to the heat. Its just not something you do. It brought a unique perspective on the trials of women in that era, that you really don't even bother to consider. Most times the Bible doesn't go that deep into insight on the thoughts of non-central figures, so you have to rely on other historical and archaeological discoveries. But this book really takes you into the mind of women of that time and you find amazingly that you can relate it to today. (Actually, I wish I had read it a month sooner.) If I had one grief with the book is that it changed some elements from the Bible, so you can't read it and think that things played out in a certain way. Granted, the book is fiction, but it uses some actual events as they are told biblically. Its easy to confuse those events with her fiction. Where the Bible says Dinah was raped, Diamant says she was a willful lover. Regardless, I loved the imagination of this woman and would like to know more about how she produced the material to wrap around this one short mention of this woman. I'd like to know if she's intended to do more Biblical characters as such.

Brittany is moving to New Orleans. She's the featured model on this post and she was my model for the recent workshop. I was looking to book her for the August workshop but when I found out she would have moved by then, I rescheduled her for my July session. She was fabulous as always. Heads up Michael Sui!

A Lesson Learned - Flying First Class

I'm just getting back in from Texas where I got to shoot a wedding in a beautiful building in Dallas, the Weisfeld Center. I learned a little something about handling business. Sometimes, its not an excessive luxury to fly first class. I used to look at first class seats as a way for people with means to have another excuse to separate themselves from the rest of the world. It seemed frivolous to pay so much extra to fly in front. What's the big deal that you get to board first. I once flew coach in an assigned seat that was near the first class section. I hated how the flight attendant closed the curtain as I happened to be starring into the front cabin. All that was to me was an airlines attempt to play favorites with one class of people in order to charge them enough to make up for all the losses in everything else. I also would laugh at the $3 bag of chips and a $6 bottle of water they would bring us back in coach.

But on this flight, I was introduced to another perspective of the first class option. The concept actually hit me when I was visiting a model in her new home. She has a boyfriend living with her who is a Titanic freak and I don't think he would mind me saying so. Well, I noticed in his memorabilia that he had in his possession a few White Star tickets ranging from a first class to 3rd class. In today's dollars, the price difference seemed negligible, but I would imagine the $5 to $10 difference between classes meant a lot more. I still came to the conclusion that it would still be worth it to find some means to come up with the difference and get better accommodations. Therefore, I responded positively to the unexpected offer to upgrade my seat as I operated the automated kiosk to get my boarding pass. I paid the extra money since my trip was an all expenses paid deal.

As I had to lug around my two carry-ons of camera equipment and personal sundry items, I justified my selection in that I had camera gear in both bags. The last thing I wanted to do was to be one of the last ones to board in coach and not have any overhead or under seat place to store my gear. At that point, they normally offer to take your bag and check it into the cargo hold. There was no way I was going to let my gear get checked. In first class, I boarded first and had plenty of room to store both my bags overhead. They were asking coach passengers to not place two bags on top if they could help it, but rather to place one was preferred under foot. Well, that's another point of protest for me. I busted up my left knee in the military. If I fly on any area of the plane other then on the right side in an aisle seat, you'll be wheeling me off the plane or throwing me over your shoulder in a fireman's carry. I've got to have that room to flex my knee or else I'm in pain...big-time. I've flown next to the window on the left side of the plane in first class and had no pain at all.

Another contention is the reduced stress of flying when you are travel first class. Packing, driving through heavy traffic to get to the airport, parking, going through security is already enough to make you into a stress ball. You're in no mood to deal with a client when you arrive at your destination. On the trip going to Texas, we were immediately served a heated assortment of deluxe nuts in a ceramic bowl. There was not one peanut in the bunch. Somebody came by more than necessary to ask me if I wanted something else to drink...alcoholic or not. I got a glass of Merlot at one point, but turned down another one. That would have been $16 in coach. My point is that when I got off the plane, it didn't matter so much that the plane arrived later than expected, or that my car rental wasn't already fully paid (by the client) when I got there. My demeanor was affected only slightly that I had to make other arrangements on my own. Had I been flying coach, I'd still be locked up right now and only imagining that I was writing this blog post about wishing I had flown first class.

"Paradigm Shift" by Mike McGrath

Making preparation for my wedding shoot in July. The day is fast approaching and there's still some stuff I need to get. I've opted to rent some equipment from LensRentals.com. I REALLY wanted to have that Mark II, for this shoot, but the things been on back-order for ever. I'm happy I was able to go through them and find what I needed. Garrett recommended them and so far, I've found them pretty easy to work with. They are a company out of Memphis and FedEX your rentals anywhere in the US. I found their prices reasonable as well. I made sure to insure everything, with the exception of the camera body, surprisingly. They'll insure the lenses, but not a camera body. I'm guessing the insurance is for repair costs for a lens, but they figure if you mess up a camera body, you've pretty much bought it anyway. Well, interesting enough, Digital Photo Pro has an article in the latest issue about taking care of your bottom line and this feature is on insurance for your photo business. I think its worth while for you to look into it. I've subscribed to this magazine for about 2 years now and its worth it.

Its been a while but I interviewed another model recently, but actually, she interviewed me, I think. The girl had a bunch of questions...good questions, and it took us about 4 hours of coke refills at a local pub to sort through it all. She's got a plethora of ideas of concepts she'd like to shoot and I'm only happy to oblige her. Hopefully within the next week or so, I'll be posting new work of her. Like I said, its been a while since I've shot a nude. So I guess I finally got my wish. I finally put off shooting nudes for a while. Granted, I didn't do so in lieu of shooting other things. I had to put photo on hold all together. I did get in some shots here and there, but I also reworked some of my older images and organized my files. Its time to ship another body of work off the the Library of Congress and I'm still doing all my meta-tagging. So I've posted a mish-mage of stuff I've been working on.

Another priority is getting my Las Vegas Art Models Group up and running better than before. I've got a few ideas but making them happen is something different. I haven't done a workshop in quite some time and I guess a few people began to get concerned about my welfare in that no one had heard from me in a while. There are some who knew what's been going on but a great many hadn't a clue. My issue has been to revamp the group and refocus on the reason I started the group in the first place, but I need to do so in a manner that makes the group at least pay for itself. I've been out of pocket in this thing for quite some time. I may as well make it a profit-oriented venture so that I can expand my resources and broaden my capabilities/options. Getting models hasn't been such a big thing, but many times, more than one is necessary and that is where affordability comes into place. Paying models for these gigs has been important since the main reason I started the group was to give models more venues to earn money at what they do, through my own workshops and sessions, but also through networking. For a while, any person or business needing a model knew that I could deliver and I passed on recommendations. The same held true for artists and photographers. Some of the artists in my drawing groups came away with commissions and I had photographers make connections as well. So any of you readers with suggestions, I'd be more than happy for your support.

A few changes coming up is a new name. PhotoAnthems.com will be the new name for my blog and website in the near future. I need a logo design and maybe a new blog layout. I still have work to do in that regard, but don't be surprised when it pops up and you think you've come to the wrong site. You can also now follow me on Twitter! Don't know if I want to keep up with it yet, but I'm gonna play with it for a while. So at any rate, come give me some love at www.twitter.com/ArtNudePhotog. And if you're gonna be traveling anywhere, visit My Rovia Travel Site before hand to see if you can save some money. So far it hasn't been beaten as far as I've seen and they also price match. So check out the deals.

And finally, there's "Paradigm Shift" I'd be interested in knowing what you might be inclined to feel towards, this life-sized bronze sculpture by artist Mike McGrath, of a female nude, squatting with knees spread, and exhibited in a privately controlled space, but viewable to the public. I can still visualize it as art, but I'd like to know what you think about the venue. Right now its exhibited at the Burien/Interim Arts Space, or B/IAS. Would you say its too explicit?

"Paradigm Shift" by Mike McGrath

Stacey Scott Interview

"I want people to understand the fact that I may be deaf, but that won't stop me from fulfilling my dreams. I'm deaf, but I can do anything (except hear !)." - Stacey Scott

I recently got to pay homage to a model I hadn't worked with in a long time. Stacey Scott was the first model I hired for my Las Vegas Art Models Group. I did an interview of her for Univers d'Artistes last week that I believe turned out well. Stacey is in New York now and is still kicking ass. I've been so impressed with her. She's deaf and has never let that be a barrier or obstacle her her ambitions for modeling or being a success at whatever she wants to do. So JUMP on over and check out what Stacey has to say.




Since I've been working a real job now, I haven't been out shooting much. I've had to focus on job transitions, new events in my personal life, and planning for upcoming events. Jeff is also back in the hospital. Its all been a thrill ride in some senses of the word. In others, its been downright nerve-wracking. But as one friend recently told me, there's a sense of freedom that comes with it all and now the future is wide open. That's exactly the way I feel right now. Life isn't fair or unfair. Its just life and you can either make the best of it or not. Despite all my shortcommings, trails, and tribulations... I gotta say I've been truly blessed in my life.


I've still been going back through my old stuff and editing material that I didn't complete as well as getting rid of stuff that I know ain't going to be used. You'll be seeing new graphics on both my website and my blog. I think I want to change things up every year or so. I've registered a new domain name so you might be seeing everything change to PhotoAnthems.com in the near future. I'll be looking into a new logo design for it and will eventually change my web site and blog domains to reflect the new name and logo. (And to think I just got an order of about 1500 business cards last month.)


And finally, I've recently bought in with a travel company and now have my own web site where you can book travel. So far, I've had several people tell me they've found my travel fares either cheaper or equal to comparable sites. So if you need to book travel, hotels or vacation packages take a look at my Rovia site by clicking www.TerrellNeasley.Rovia.com/. Its the only way I'm traveling now. Even if its just for kicks, comparison shop and let me know what you find out. I'd be really interested to know how much of a savings my customers are averaging.

Some Original Trix

This'll be a quick one since I just noticed Blogger's scheduled outage that's coming up real soon.

So what's new? I got to hang out with Dave Rudin again this past weekend. Dave is a big Star Trek fan. So am I, but I'm thinking Dave's got every episode on a deluxe special edition DVD anniversary set. We did Star Trek at an IMAX theater on Friday, along with Model Melissa. Everything was cool. We got there early. We got our tickets early. But I guess pouring into the auditorium 40 minutes early wasn't early enough. To get 3 seats together we had to make our way down to the 3rd row where in order to see the movie without neck strain, you've got to position yourself as if you are in the space shuttle as it sits on the launch pad for 2 and a half hours. I was all set to call it a wrap and try again on another night, but a lady comes ups as I say lets go and tells us that up close isn't so bad. She says she's experienced sitting close like that before and it was all good. Melissa and Dave look at me with renewed expectation, so how could I resist. For the record, the lady was wrong.

Felix just got back from his fishing trip to Kirch Wildlife Management Area, about 3 hours or so from here. He's going back in a few weeks, so I think I'll look into a trip with him. I wanted to go out and spend a day this past weekend there, but I ended up having to work and I really didn't trust my car for a long trip. The transmission has been acting funny, so before I use it for anything other than the Las Vegas area, I gotta get it checked out. That may take a while cuz, I'm in need of saving up for the 5D Mark II. I need to have it for a wedding in July, so we'll see. I know I need to pack up and head out sometime. I'm getting antsy for a good camping adventure.

I've also got a new goal for this month. Clean up and Organize. As it pertains to all my photo work, that is. I think I'm going to go through my pics and get rid of stuff I know I don't want and do some editing on stuff that I always planned on coming back to but never did. I need to catch up on all my metadata labels for my old images and check my backup drives. Maintaining digital work isn't all that easy. At least not for me. I'm always checking on new ways to organize and archive my work. I thought I'd bring back some of my original work with Trixie. Enjoy.

The Trunk Monkey Chronicles

" Find your niche and what you like, be professional, sometimes be patient and appreciate every memorable experience and great opportunity that comes at you." - Lorelei

I don't know if you realize it or not, but you already know you can read me here on this blog, but did you know I am ALSO a co-editor for Chris' Univers d' Artistes blog? Didn't know that did you? Okay, I may have already said it a couple of times here, but I'll be helping out over there from time to time. Chris St. James is posting EVERYDAY and I know its got to be wearing out Unbearable Lightness trying to keep up. Chris is a freak-n machine. So, by request, I just did a post on Lorelei.

It turned out great as I did a 10 question interviewed with her. I loved her answers and not cuz she hyped me, but because you could tell she was speaking from her heart and that she really took the time to give me some good feedback. I'm not doing any copy-pasting or reprints over here, but you can click on the jump link over there and check it out. Actually, I will copy over one request she made:

"...visit MAXIM.com and VOTE for your homegirl ! I'll be in week 6 of voting April 27 through May 4th until noon, much love if you can vote for me everyday til then, just takes a few clicks and no typing. Thanks!"

Life is good. I'm working. Dave's coming next month. My uncle is here for the weak. I'm happy. Yeah I still got a few issues to solve and things to work out, but that'll be the deal til I'm dead. What I want are NEW problems. "Gee, where am I going to invest all this money and what charities should I contribute to this week?". "Goodness, how am I going to find the time to shoot ALL these models I keep getting requests for?". "Should I go with the lace-up Berlutis or the buckle-down Lobbs as I accept my Ig Nobel Prize for Art tonight?". See what I mean...NEW PROBLEMS. Everybody should be working towards new problems rather than the elimination of problems in their lives all together.

I've been working on more of my non-nude images lately. I've taken several, but they sat on the proverbial shelf since I just couldn't bring myself to do the edits. I had too many nude works to edit. Its cool going back over old work and trying to get back into the mindset you had when you released the shutter. I worked on a series of compositions I did while on my way back from Phoenix last year during my road trip with Felix and Summer. Remember that? This couple is a shot (above) I took while visiting the Phoenix Art Museum. They seemed like an interesting couple that I knew I wanted to photograph, but I didn't want to harrass them. As it happened, they were leaving the same time we were and I got them in the parking lot. They were cool about it and flattered. Unfortunately, I was out of cards that day and can't find their contact info. Damn it.

The other shots were of a stop we made on the way back by way of Vidal, California. Some of it was just junk. Actually, all of it was junk or stuff on abandoned properties. I still got a few good shots, but even then, it would have been nice to have somebody naked there.

I don't know how long it has been out, but I just discovered Trunk Monkey. Oh, I LMAO!

If you can't see the video, -->click here<--

Something a Little Different

"Off into the Horizon"

Head Colds... awful stinking head colds. This isn't anything like I had back in January, but its one of the more annoying kinds of things that really funk up your day. All the hacking and coughing, the chest congested head and chest...oh, please let me be done with it. I think I may be on the far side of it now. I'm doing the liquid Theraflu for Chest and Cold Congestion that seems to subside my coughs. I went and got some around midnight last night and I think its helping. I hate going to work feeling so drained and the last thing I want to do if start infecting other people. I know I had being around someone else who is sick and I am a firm believer of sending someone home rather than letting them continue to work, get worse, and then spread the disease around.

"Another traveler through Nipton"

So I'm going to stay in today even though its bright and sunny here in Las Vegas. Nice day for a hike. It occurred to me last night that I was supposed to have been going out doing just that with my good friend JKompare to explore some sites he's recently visited. He's a regular member of my Las Vegas Art Models Group and I've been slacking there as well. The photo part has really been successful but I'm still looking to get the figure drawing part of it up and running again. I have done nothing with it since last summer. I lost the venue where I hosted them and now need a new place AND I've got to get the people interested in it again to at least do an every other week session. I want to have a venue for models to work more than just once a month. My goal is to have 4 different sessions going between photography and figure drawing. Right now, photography once a month is it and even that's been tough just recently. I'm trying to decide on whether or not to do a studio on May or another outdoor gig. I like outdoors. That's my specialty.

"Fixtures at Denny's"

Well, I thought I'd post some of my non-nude work this time. Lin says I don't do it enough and I do want to be more than just a shooter of nekkid ladeez. Portraiture is the next thing in line that I love to shoot, but there's still more that I do. So here is some of that.

"The Glory Days are Gone"