Going to Far? Is There Really Such an Animal?

Kathleen "K.C." Neill working with Zach Hyman in the MMofA, NYC
Photo by Clint Spaulding

"I never expected to see the day when girls would get sunburned in the places they do today."

- Will Rogers

"Brandi Bottoms", Model Mayhem

I was wondering how this would play out. I'm sure you remember Kathleen "K.C." Neill who was arrested in August during photographer Zach Hyman's shoot at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, right. He had also been doing the public subway nudes. Well everybody thought he was taking this one too far, perhaps rightly so. She was arrested, but prosecutors finally reached the conclusion that they may not have been able to prove reasonable doubt. Its not illegal to be topless in NYC. Neill, however, was butt-naked. I knew there was the potential that they may try to make an example out of her and Hyman, but the question is really in defining what the law says is illegal and what isn't. Public Lewdness is the apparent legal term which really obscures the line. The defense can and did argue that she was not lewd in a room full of artistic nudes and that nudity does not equate to lewdness...per se. 

So the girl got off, but you have to still wonder what doors this might therein open. Can Hyman now walk into a elementary classroom in PS 234 and commence to shooting? Can he now stroll into Bellevue Hospital and do as he wills? I can understand his need for his artistic expression. I hold true to the same thing. Public nudes is also concept I'd like to explore, but I'm not for being around kids. I guess that's where I draw the line. There were kids in the museum the day he and Kathleen Neill were working and I think I'd like to respect a parent's right to not have a kid in that atmosphere. You can see in the top photo, above, that there is a young boy getting full-frontal staring him in the face. If I'm the kid, I'm not so sure I'd be complaining. But if I'm the MOM standing next to the kid, I'd be looking for my mace. Viewing painting are one thing. Its a finished work and you still have the element of choice there. Hyman's gig was a work in progress and there was no reasonable sense of expectation for parents that their kids would be subjected to this scene. I've shot in a museum before. I had a nude model in the Erotic Heritage Museum during normal business hours. A lady was startled to discover my nude model was indeed live and not a mannequin. I will admit, that was a funny thing to witness. HOWEVER, no kids were in this museum. There was already depictions on erotica all over the museum. My shoot was for a non-erotic workshop, and my party were the only ones allowed in with cameras. The pics you see here are of Model, Brandi Bottoms as she worked that session. Talk about a fabulous model! If you get the chance to work with her, don't pass it up for no reason whatsoever. Make sure you get her well in advance, though.

Brandi Bottoms, OMP

But,I guess even I have my limits. I applaud Hyman for his efforts and his choice of expression. I just wish artists didn't feel the need to ... well, I'm not quite sure how to articulate this statement. "Push the limits" was how I had initially intended to end that sentence. But isn't that what we are encouraged to do. We all want to push the limits. That's how we differentiate and distinguish ourselves. I'm just bothered by it a little. No, I didn't want to see the model go to jail. I just wish the photographer had chosen a different forum or venue for his expressions. I'd have a healthy respect for those artists who allow me the opportunity to decide when its okay for my kids to be exposed to nudity. I thank them for letting it be on my terms and not forced upon them unawares. Yes, I know there are so many other darts of exposure shot at them from movies, the internet, and video games. I'm not so naive to believe otherwise. However rarely are you surprised to see it in a rap video. You realize there's the possibility of seeing it in a movie because of the rating. But in the Metropolitan Museum is not an venue that I would expect to see it. My kids are all grown up now. But I'd have been a pissed off individual had I walked in to my Wells Fargo bank with my young ones and have an artist expressing themselves in like manner.

Different Styles of Editing

"Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things you didn't do than by the ones you did. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover." - Mark Twain

Good gracious. I'm trying to use the time I have to organize and do some re-edits of some of my older photos. At some point, I've really got to update my landscape work. There's been so much that I've learned over the last year that its difficult to now go back and try to apply it all. I've touched on this before in a previous blog entry. Things like updating meta-tags on my images are on my mind. Getting my next batch of images in the right format for copyright  registration is also paramount. I need to figure out how I'm going to update my back-ups procedures based on some more efficient tools and processes. Being jobless has posed some strict limitations on  what I can do so prioritizing is of utmost importance.


"Oh, by the way...How's the job hunt going, Terrell?"

Model, Clarissa

Thanks for asking. Its going is about all I can say. I'm in the process of updating materials and seeking new ways to market myself better. All in all, I gotta tell ya...I'm doing okay with this. The job I had was really consuming valuable time that allowed little room for recuperation. I've been able to focus on my photo work, and despite the challenges, its still fun for me. The one thing that hasn't been so fun is the pinched nerve I've had over the last month. Vicodin and Flexeril don't even touch the pain. I'm serious. X-rays revealed nothing, so its basically a suggestion to add Ibuprofen to the mix and go home. I'll do some physical therapy next week. Its been a while since I've been in this much frustration from pain. Who's had a pinched nerve before?

Photo and Model by Nora,(Edge-Dreams)

Edited with permission by Terrell Neasley

I got to meet another up and coming business woman in my area. Lillie Kleemeyer is the proud owner of the new photography studio, Xquizit Pix, located here in Henderson, serving the Las Vegas, Clark County area. She's got a nice setup, complete with a 1300 square foot studio space with 14 foot ceilings, a kitchen, model changing areas, and space for a MUA. She rents her studio space for $30 an hour! Sweet, huh? Yeah, I'll be spending some quality time there and I think you should too, especially if you're on a budget like me. She's got props, wardrobes, lights, seamless and muslin backdrops, the works. Or you could just go to her website and check all this out yourself. I was there for several hours til I got kicked out so she could do a private model shoot. But then I just came back later. I'm looking at doing some of my Las Vegas Art Model Group gigs there. So go see Lillie and check out her facilities next time you're in Vegas needing an indoor shooting arena. Give the girl some love.

Model Katherine, her dog and hawk

Lastly, I've missed working with alternative editing techniques. As a film purist, I had really just begun mastering the print process and then exploring new techniques when I moved to Vegas and no longer had a darkroom. The top pic is my first ever Polaroid transfer. I think I did that in back in 2006 or 2007. Basically we took slide film and made a Polaroid from the processed slide. Then we used another process to lift the emulsion of the Polaroid substrate and apply it to something else. I transferred mine to a piece of watercoloring paper. Here's a tutorial on how its done. The other shots are more experiments with the distressed style similar to scratching negatives like I used to do back in the day. Enjoy.

In 140 Characters or less...

These social networking sites are the new wave of communication amongst many in not only the US, but the world. Twitter has slid its foot in the door and forced its way in between Facebook and MySpace as the juggernauts of internet commo. It has grown faster than any thing we've seen before. This thing has become global in just 3 years. I hadn't done the research behind it yet, but I'd certainly like to see how it is profit driven. Its a free service and there are no cluttering advertisements that float across the screen or use dancing figures in triplet to get our attention. To my understanding, one way they do this is to sell member information to 3rd parties. If you wikipedia Twitter, you'll see its use in everything from education, politics, and even space missions. That's right, astronauts were using Twitter to give updates on Hubble repairs! 

So let me ask those of you in the art community...How many of you models, photogs, and artists use Twitter regularly and how do you use it? I think I'll post this on my devianART page as a poll question. Virtual Photography Studio.com posted this article on 80 photographers you should be following on Twitter. WeFollow.com also does this same thing...track photographers on Twitter. I jumped on a few months ago to see if I could get a feel for it. I'm definitely not an everyday...every second user. These constatn updates, sometimes called "microblogging" can be overkill for the regular Joe Smoe. Because of Chad Ochocinco, (wide-receiver of the Cincinnati Bengals), the NFL has banned twitting during the games. The NBA has done the same I believe. Right now, I tweet under Artnudephotog, but I just now created one for PhotoAnthems, as well. So take your collective asses on over there and start following me. Oh, and if you've not clicked on the button "Follow Me" on this blog, You're Wrong! So get right on both accounts. 

You all know Stacey Scott, right. She was like my first model for my Las Vegas Art Models Group art nude photo workshop. Well in case you don't recall, here's the blog post on it. That first workshop was stressful as  hell, but we got it done and Stacey was great. Well, I got to shoot her later on in another Lighting Seminar that also went well. Stacey has since moved to New York were she got to compete in tryouts for America's Next Top Model. I revisited some of the work we did and did some more edits to a few of her shots. At the time, I didn't edit that many and she's contacted me recently about some of our work together. So that's what's prompted this revisit. Is she not pretty? Chris St. James was totally smitten with her. I think she was also the first model I interviewed for his Univers 'd Artistes blog. You can also see her new website here. 


And speaking of model interviews on that blog, I'll be doing another one in the next few days on Trixie. She's got a great story behind her and she's not holding back anything. That's why I love the girl. She tells it like it is.

Contemplations

"Experience is a hard teacher. She gives the test first, the lesson afterward."

~Anonymous

 

As interesting as the above quote is, there's a ring of truth in it that cannot be denied. So far, I have no idea how I am doing on my test, nor even how much longer it is. More still, I have no idea as to the lesson I am to learn or even if its one I CAN learn. In school, I did fairly well on exams. Even if I didn't study or prepare myself for them, I had a knack for knowing HOW to take tests, especially ones that were multiple choice. I learned to deduce the correct answer in most cases to at least earn a low "B". In the event where the answers took essay form, I learned to basically BS my way around for at least partial credit. It was the fill in the blank questions that usually got the better of me. Even then, I could answer some of the questions by continuing to read the following questions, hoping for a clue.

 

Where am I going with this? Good question, because I am not all so sure. My current challenges in a city with drastically high unemployment still remain. Yes, that's the more obvious and probably more pertinant situation that I most needs to resolve. However its the conundrum of my photographic art that has me slightly puzzled at the moment. I often meet potential models in my comings and goings of daily living. As I meet someone I may happen to be interested in shooting, I make no hesitations in introducing myself and asking. It just so happened that earlier this week, while at a Denny's restaurant, a young lady I spoke to about my work asked me what it was that I did with my art since I made no real effort to profit from it. Of course I explained that as any artist, my endeavors are to exhibit and share it. I explained that I did so on my web site and blog. She looked at me, as if to say, "That's it?". Or maybe I just read that into her pause, as she starred at me, waiting for more in my answer.

 

Another potential model even earlier than the last, asked if I was any good. With my chest thrown out and a slight smirk on my face, I tried to resist a prideful or boastful answer, so I kept it simple and said, "Of course." But then she asked, "Says who?" I found myself searching for an answer that wouldn't set myself up for a response like the one you get when someone says, "Beauty comes from within." To which the popular response is, "That's what ugly people say".

 

 

So how much creditablility does an artist need before he's officially "good"? Does that warrrant being famous and well-known? Then at what level do you achieve that? Does local cred count? How do you get famous in the nude art arena? How do you establish yourself as "good"? I know I like my own work, but then that's kind of like asking a mother if she thinks her child is a handsome or pretty. Is doing art for the sake of art not enough or are credentials necessary to validate your street cred? Who knows? These are just a few other things I have to figure out for myself. Now that I have time on my hands, I can contemplate these things.

Scouting Nevada...Again!

"Live passionately, even if it kills you, because something is going to kill you anyway."
-Webb Chiles 

Well, the job hunt continues. Gotta make rent, you know. But sometimes you gotta take a break. Granted, I took a week off from losing my job before I started back the job hunt, but these experiences can really get to you. So I had the opportunity to head back out on a scouting trip of Nevada again. Actually, I retraced my steps back in June of 08 when I headed up to Cathedral Gorge. With the exception of Delamar, I made all the same stops. You can read about my first endeavor on the lonely Hwy 93 HERE. Most of the images from that excursion were lost when my computer crashed not long after I returned and I hadn't backed up those shots. So my rusty can project...gone. I could have headed back in to Delamar where I got all those shots, but I'll save that one for another time.

This trip was a little different. I didn't take the same shots as I did on the last one. Some were similar, but I don't think I got one shot of Cathedral Gorge this time. It was a little more of an adventure to me this time around. Previous posts spoke of my climbing, scrambling and at one point, almost getting stuck on a mountain out in Red Rock. It was no different at Cathedral Gorge. There were some teenage kids that drove up and as they walked nearby, I asked them if any of them had a rope. I wanted to climb back down into the cave that Felix helped me explore on the last trip. None of them did, but they told me about another cave that I've got to go back and check out. I'm all about some spelunking. Anyway, a few of them started climbing the formations that make up Cathedral Gorge. One of them saw something that he thought was cool which prompted me to join him. Next thing you know, a few others come up and somehow, somebody gets the notion to see who can get to the top...all the way to the top...first.

There was that errant pause, that often proceeds the quick considerations that run through the mind when you are contemplating doing something stupid. It lasted only about 3.6 seconds at the most. Then there's that sudden burst of appendages reaching out in all directions as each of us tried to find the easiest and quickest path to the top. One chickened out first. Another got stuck in an impassible route. Me and another kid were like live action Spidermen as each of us reckelessly made our ascent. Twice, I hit a few spots that initially looked impassable, but my momentum simply forced me to jump to the next ledge before my mind could have the benefit of thought. "Thought", would have been an exercise in wisdom because at any time, the loose dirt and rock could either take away your footing or simply cave in under you. But at the same time, "thought" made you sacrifice speed. No way I was gonna let this kid beat me.

As you reach the top, it's actually not the top. Its just another plateau. There was more to climb. It reminded me of the Yamahs, back in Korea, which are what we called the mountain ranges that had staggered plateaus. From our vantage point, we couldn't see the top. All we could see was the next plateau which was a few hundred feet deep and hid the next summit. So just when we've thought we've finally reached the top, the next climb is revealed. That gets discouraging after a while. But anyway, I beat the kid. He talked smack initially, so I threw it into his face that he let a 40-year old man kick his ass. Needless to say, I am certain he didn't need to soak in a hot tub later that night like I did. Getting down was the tricky part, so I let him lead me back down. It was not a bad day at all. I don't know why I act like such a kid when it comes to this sort of thing, but when its in you, you gotta let it out somehow.

Its good to get away from the city. I like being out in nature. Passing through Caliente this time, I got to talk with a lady who was born and raised there, Roz, along with her daughter who lives here in Vegas, Dawn. I was intrigued that the city (or town, as it were) even existed. I can see why it was there back in the mining days, but why its still there today was a mystery to me. You can't get a cell phone signal with AT&T or Verizon. There is no Wal-Mart and the closest fast food joint is an hour an a half away. Roz explained that the place sort of grows on you and you get used to it. Crime is low and its a great place to raise kids. They still have all the amenities of a regular city. Not sure about a movie theater, but they do have a park, schools, police, firemen, and a hospital equipped with a medevac helicopter. They feel its an excellent place to retire. Dawn gets bored there too easily, she says, so I guess its not for everybody. I'll be visiting there again at some point. I gotta check out that cave those kids told me about.

By the way, did you notice the logo on the truck's trailer!?!?

The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth

Everybody Loves Calvin and Hobbes... I thought this one was appropriate.

Franz Nieto, Piercing Expert

Martha, Piercing Expert

I mentioned to you all about last weekend's excursion into the mountains. What I saved until today about this past weekend was my invitation to the Tattoo Expo 2009, dubbed "The Biggest Tattoo Show on Earth". I think it lived up to it's billing. Granted, there was a Photoshop convention going on at the same time...I went Friday afternoon. However the Tat Expo was the bigger deal for me. It kicked off at the Mandalay Bay and had an enormorous turnout. As soon as you walk in you hear the loud buzz of tattoo guns, but as you acclaimate, you cease to hear them. There were so many artists there with a labyrinth of booths and stations set up to give anyone their heart's content. I need to give a special big thanks to Martha and Tattoo & Company piercing expert, Franz Nieto. Talk about some awesome folks with big hearts. Martha had some of the first dermal achors that I had ever seen. I think I'd seen them before but mistook them for bars.

Esther Hanuka

Do you remember the T-Mobile commercial where a series of accountants are getting the door slammed in their faces for trying to talk to families about saving money on their cell phone plans; but then Catherine Zeta-Jones walks up to do the same thing and immediately gets this one guy's undivided attention? Well, that's what it was like when I got to meet Esther Hanuka, aka Queen Esther, who is probably the prettiest thing on the planet wearing skin art, and let her talk to me about tattoo magazines. I'm telling you, I was within arms reach of the woman and I still wasn't believing how gorgeous she is. As many nude woman as I photograph, you'd think I'd be fairly comfortable around women and I tell you she gave me a case of the dry mouth. However, she quickly put me at ease, with how cool she is. She's not standoffish at all, as some hot mods get a reputation for. I'm pretty quick on discerning people's demeanor and at no time did I get the impression that she's stuck up or maybe too good for us regular folk. We talked for more than a minute and, in fact, she talked to me about how gorgeously beautiful Vikki Blows is, as if she weren't just as fabulous herself. (She even promised to let Vikki know I want to shoot her, next time she see's her!) But then again, I can be honest. When I walked away from her table of tattoo magazines, I wasn't thinking about Ms. Blows. Esther is a fabulously gorgeous woman, but I was mainly impressed with simply how awesomely cool she is. And besides, she's got a beautiful name.

All in all, I enjoyed myself at the Tattoo Expo. I just finished editing several of the pics I shot that day. You can find about 20 more shots of them on my web site, Photo Anthems.com. One thing that I didn't expect was to be able to take my camera in there. I brought no flash, diffuser...and only the 50mm prime. I figured if I went in with a bigger lens, that I'd get stopped at the door or something. Had several instances where a nice zoom would have made the difference. I figured I'd get to go back on the next day, and bring the bigger gear, but then that was when I got stuck up on that mountain. I was too tired to go afterwards and the knee was just starting to ache by the time I got home. Lesson learned.I'll def know next time.

Check out Melissa on Univers d' Artistes

The interview for Melissa has been up on Univers d'Artistes for a few days now. This girl has been working constantly, but I am sure you can still get on her calendar if you contact her. You should go over to check it out. (Speaking of calendar, you can get her's here.) I think it went well. In fact, let me ask you to take a second to help her become the face of E.L.F. Cosmetics by voting for her on this link right here. You can vote every day in fact, so bookmark it and comeback as often as you can to give her your vote. I did it just now and it took me 4 seconds, so help out a model, why don't cha!

What you see here are the images we used for that post taken recently in the Vegas deserts. I've been out to that location twice since we shot looking for a specific geographic feature and have come up nil on both occasions. There is supposed to be a body of water out there up in the mountains and I see now way how one can reach it in 30 minutes from the location Melissa and I did our shot. I spent hours scrambling up rocks on the first attempt in one direction and got not even half way. Oddly enough I decided to come back down for two reasons. One it was getting dark, and two I had began to feel light-headed. I had forgotten to eat pretty much that whole day. I had forgotten to wear a hat as I usually do and I even forgot my watch. Things started getting black like tunnel vision so I sat down for a while, but as I got up, I was still dizzy. So I just passed out on a big flat rock for a spell and woke up to the sun almost down over the mountain. I guess losing a job can have that sudden effect of temporary stupidness.

The second trip, I took a different route. No trail this time. I just went straight up a canyon valley, scrambling over rocks. This time I think I was half way up before I decided to come back down. I tell you the distance is much farther than you think when you are looking up at it from below. The scrambling this time was a little tougher and once again, its about 5pm and it dawns on me that I hadn't eaten a thing all day. Fortunately, I never felt faint on this hike, even though it was more strenuous. I think I'd like to do it again if for no other reason then just the exhilaration of the climb, only without my backpack. Twice I lost footing because it threw me off balance and there were several spots where there were just inches of foot space along a ledge with a sheer drop-off. Going up was much easier than coming down, although coming down was faster. I was high enough to switch my phone over from 3G to the Edge network to still get a signal out. So I called Felix to let him know a reasonable proximity of where I was and that if he didn't hear back from me in 3 hours or so, to send somebody looking for me. I figured it might be wise to do so, since I was alone in a remote place. Sometimes, my knee can just give out without warning (from an accident while in the military).

I seldom discuss politics or religeon on this blog. However speaking of the military, I was reminded of an article I read today that just burns me on both ends. I recall seeing in the news a while back about an organization that stood outside the funerals of fallen soldiers and protested while the grieving parents and family tried to say good-bye to their son and pay their last respects.

"NASHVILLE, April 11, 2006 — As dozens of mourners streamed solemnly into church to bury Cpl. David A. Bass, a fresh-faced 20-year-old marine who was killed in Iraq on April 2, a small clutch of protesters stood across the street on Tuesday, celebrating his violent death.

"Thank God for Dead Soldiers," read one of their placards. "Thank God for I.E.D.'s," read another, a reference to the bombs used to kill service members in the war. [One even read, "God hates your tears".] To drive home their point — that God is killing soldiers to punish America for condoning homosexuality — members of the Westboro Baptist Church of Topeka, Kan., a tiny fundamentalist splinter group, kicked around an American flag and shouted, if someone approached, that the dead soldiers were rotting in hell." - New York Times

As a veteran myself, you have to understand, this pissed me off to no end. I am still amazed at the depravity of humanity. Just as it seems I can't be surprised anymore of how low mankind can get, another invention of hatred and evil is released upon society; and in the name of God, no less. I felt fairly confident that this was such a clear-cut case that it would not only be stopped but that the perpetrators would be penalized and the victims redeemed. Well, I was wrong:

Court Says GI Funeral Protests Legal, September 25, 2009, Baltimore Sun
"RICHMOND, Va. -- A federal appeals court ruled Thursday that a fundamentalist Kansas church's protest outside the funeral of a Westminster Marine killed in Iraq is protected speech and did not violate the privacy of the service member's family, reversing a lower court's $5 million award."

I don't always agree with the some of the reasons why we go to battle. As a soldier, I pledged to follow orders and defend this country and its interests and allies against enemies both foreign and domestic. We are a military with a civilian politician as Commander-in-Chief. It is not always a cut and dry decision when we deploy and the public may not always agree. I can understand that. Iraq is not popular. I can understand that. Soldiers on foreign ground done always solve a problem. I understand that. But to disgrace and disrespect the men and women, and their families, who are the ultimate servants of our country, who volunteer their lives to provide the freedoms all of you enjoy... I just don't understand why everyone in America is not coming to the defense of our fallen. Too many cases. Too many situations arise where our fallen are disrespected in order to get a story, express a radical opinion, or otherwise get attention and not enough is being done about it.

Damn. That went on more than I wanted. I'm done ranting.

For My Subscribers...(my bad)

That personal message I mentioned towards the end of the last post is now in yellow text, so that is shows up on the email posts, which have WHITE backgrounds. The text itself is in white font, which is okay for my green blog background. So that paragraph should have looked like this:

Now on a totally different matter all together, let me deviate just a little. I got a personal message this evening from a friend who ended an email with the following sentiment:

"Thank you for being in my life."

There. Now that makes sense, doesn't it? Okay, tell you what; to make up for it, here's a recent shot of Melissa done this morning. You can see an interview on her on Univers d'Artistes in the next few days.

Get Well Chris...

"To Chris St. James:
As often as it takes, We are here for you.
Despite the miles and the space, We are near to you.
A burden shared, reveals the merit of a Friend;
And there are many of us, ready to begin. 
Get Well Soon!"

Things are definitely different now. Looks like I'll have a little more time on my hands to keep up my blogs, at least for a while. I lost my job today. It was a damn good one too. But I was released today into a city with an already surging 13.1% unemployment rate. Damn. Oddly enough, I gotta tell ya, in some ways I am relieved, though I know this feeling will be short-lived really quick. I was spending many a weekends working. Long days and nights in an office. I had never wanted a job in the first place that was going to be so time-consuming of my days and take away from my photography. Granted, I had no idea it was going to be this consumptive of my time. I knew I'd voluntarily put in the hours in the beginning just to learn the system. I hate being ignorant of anything. But in July things when into overdrive and weekends became routine. Well, now I've been spat out. I said my good-byes to my crew and bid them well. I think I was far too gracious about it. I asked for no reasons or tried to argue/defend my case. I said thank you for the opportunity with a dry mouth. It sucks that it had to come 12 days after I just moved into a new apartment though.

As it were, this occurred an hour or so before the close of the day. My first thought and the first thing I did when I got home was to finish a get well greeting card for Chris St. James, my friend and mentor in France who runs, Univers d'Artistes.com. (Well, I guess you all know who he is by now. My tag cloud should be testament to that fact.) He should be getting out of the hospital today and Unbearable Lightness has put forth a request to us to send a uniquely styled get well card for him, spawned from the imagination of Michael Siu, of New Orleans. As soon as I got home, I finished it up and emailed it to U.L. Here is mine. I think I'll relax this weekend, do a shoot with Melissa in the morning, finish editing some family portraits for Faerie, and complete some edits for a wedding. I'm not thinking about a thing concerning employment for at least another week. Besides, I am so tired of working for somebody else. Honestly, I don't know why I am even discussing this now. I had plans on not even mentioning this to anybody til at least Monday. But maybe that won't make a difference. Who's reads this blog anyway...

Now on a totally different matter all together, let me deviate just a little. I got a personal message this evening from a friend who ended an email with the following sentiment:

"Thank you for being in my life."

Now I've had some personal expressions of love before. I've had people express good will and benevolence. Some have blessed me with eloquent prose. But when I read the above sentence, I had to pause and just examine the contents of the words of which this sentence is composed. I think part of the profoundness has to do with the fact that its different, new, and oddly enough, an odd concept. These words were received despite the lack of any sort of intimate relationship. Rather its the culmination of mutual respect and simple appreciation for one's peers. Despite everything that has transpired today, and the job is only a part of it, this sentiment alone helped my day. It reminded me of a poem I wrote a while back, entitled, "The Power of Mankind", (enjoy the abstracts):


Doesn't it just make you feel good,

When a kind word is passed your way

Makes you feel appreciated

Exalts your self-worth

Puts a glow on your face for the rest of the day.

They are the building stones for character

Leaving the recipient much improved

         An elixir for the spirit

         A salve for the heart

Liniment for the body, once before abused.

There are words that build up,

                                  reinforce and compliment.

There are words that tear down,

                                  weaken and kill.

Thus, is the power mankind oft wields

                                  without the benefit of thought.

Tragically so, our words can condemn.

But, doesn’t it just make you feel good

When you pass a kind word someone’s way

You have the power to make them feel appreciated

Exalting their self-worth

And it puts a glow on you face for the rest of the day.

Don’t Abuse Your Power...

by Terrell Neasley

December 1997

Blog URL Change

Man, I didn't even realize I could change the url on my blog, til just now. So I'm putting the word out to all my subscribers that its changed as of tonight.

So now you can see me at www.PHOTOANTHEMS.blogspot.com

Yeah, I know all my numbers are gonna drop for a while, but hey... things change.

Switch to Photo Anthems

Well, in case you hadn't noticed, Photo Anthems.com and Photo Anthems Blog are now in effect. I've been working to make all the changes and updates today. This shouldn't be a surprise, as I've mentioned previously that I'd be doing this update at some point. If its not too much trouble, I'd like to ask everyone who has linked to me to change the link to Photo Anthems, as well. What is Photo Anthems? For starters, it was one of the last cool names available for use without having to buy it from somebody just sitting on it. So, since I did't have a million dollars lying around, I had to leave Photography.com alone. I started to go with "www.thecoolestnudesyou'lleversee.com, but Marketing 101 says that's just a few consonants too long. Photo Anthems was still sitting on the table, so I grabbed it. I thought of several names dealing with muses, art models, and a few others, but I do shoot more than just the nude, so I needed something that encompassed all my work. The name Anthem is just a beautiful word to me. I had long had it in my head to use it at some point. In hopes of being able to make a song out of my images, Photo Anthems was born.

One of the coolest things in the updating of all this is that its been a while since I've checked out the stats on my sites. Despite not blogging on the same 2wice a week schedule I was adhering to last year, my numbers are still way up. My state-side numbers now far supersede my European counts (mainly the UK, France, and  Germany). It wasn't that significant of a difference before, but now, its about 10 times my European count combined. I hadn't really looked into whether or not I'm losing my Euro-readers, or if my US readership has simply taken notice. More than likely its the latter. Most of my visits come from search engines, which brings me to some of the most surprising stats of all. Now you'd expect, searches for words and phrases like "best nudes on the planet", artistic nudes, art models, model poses, etc, would bring traffic to me. But I was somewhat gagged to see some of the stuff that drew traffic. Granted, they were pretty much one time visits, per keyword, (instead of 100 people searching model poses), but there were bunches of them and I am hesitant to repeat them. Some people are just weird like that.


I thought we'd revisit Natalie. Its been a while since you've seen her.

On Morocco

These photos were taken of Melissa during a recent figure drawing session.

This weekend is Labor Day weekend, and I've really got nothing planned. I've got to actually work this weekend, just to get ahead on my job and I plan to do some scouting for my next photo workshop. Gotta find a new location. Something out of the sun, scenic of course, and something not too difficult to get to. That's the real trick, right there. Mainly, if its easy to get to, scenic, and shaded, its going to have a lot of people in it. Which is sort of counterproductive unless all those people are paying participants. I don't mind so much then. So much of today, or yesterday was spent at work. Tomorrow, I've got a lunch date, and then its off to scouting. Labor Day will assuredly be spent laboring and depending on my progress, I might be able to work in some scouting if I don't find what I am looking for on the morrow. I've only got these two days to find something.

On another matter of locations, I was reading about Morocco a few days ago. My first encounter on anything Moroccan, besides the leathers, was two girls I picked up out of the rain while in Grad school in Kentucky. They were carrying grocery bags from Wal-Mart which was right across from campus. One of the girls was holding a bag that I thought was a baby which is what prompted me to stop in the first place. It was raining. What man wouldn't stop? But in my car is now seated the most beautiful slash gorgeous woman, I think I've ever been that close to. Forget celebrity beauty. This girl was just plain fascinating. She was like museum beautiful....not to be touched...just gazed upon. I'm talking Mona Lisa, here. I got to know her over the next few months, since we had classes together and were both in the MBA program. At different times, I was introduced to other friends of hers. ALL of them were gorgeous. None as beautiful as she was, granted, but all these women were Moroccan and they were all gorgeous. Well, this girl got to see some of my work at one point and we discussed my artwork. I never made a pass at her and never even asked her to model, but she did bring up the possibilities herself and we both considered it. Alas, it never came to fruition. She went on to graduate a semester before I did I think.

Nonetheless, I began to research her country even after she was gone. Everyone knows about Casablanca, but I knew little else about the place. I recently read that Morocco was the first county to officially recognize the United States when we claimed our independence:

1750 - 1912 "During the American Revolution, so many American ships called at the port of Tangiers that the Continental Congress sought recognition from the "Emperor" of Morocco. This was accorded, in effect, in 1777, making Morocco the first country to recognize the fledging American republic. Negotiation of a formal treaty began in 1783, and resulted in the signing in 1786 of the Moroccan-American Treaty of Friendship. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson, both future U.S. Presidents, were the American signatories." - http://www.moroccanamericantrade.com/relations.cfm#1

This was about 3 or 4 years ago and I have since steadily been reading about this country. I must visit this place. There are many places in the world I want to travel to. Belize, Jordan, Israel, Portugal, and Turkey, top the list. I want to revisit some places, I have already been such as the Netherlands and Spain. But Morocco is one place I don't think I would mind living in. Aside from the beautiful women, its another place for me to explore for a few years. I like learning about new cultures and being in different surroundings. I understand from my friend, that the place is much more progressive than what I might think of a Muslim country. However, I am not sure how well my nudes would go over there. I think for that time in country, I'd resign myself to landscape and portraiture. It would make another interesting chapter in my life. I don't know when I would be able to visit. There is much in my own country I am still exploring. But if the opportunity presents itself, who could pass that up. Yes, I think I'd move there.

André Elbaz (born April 26, 1934, El Jadida, Morocco) is a famous Moroccan painter and filmmaker.

Elbaz studied art and theatre in Rabat and Paris from 1950 to 1961. He started painting only at the age of 21, until which age he had been interested mainly in theatre. A few years later, he managed to combine his two passions into a new approach in art-therapy, inventing together with his wife, a psychiatrist, the Pictodrame, which brought him world recognition.

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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