Jaguar

Time to start looking for models. I set up a few "Desire to Work With" acknowledgments on OMP... though I do dislike the site. It has too high an escort content and I'm not looking for a date. I am looking for alternative/art/glamour models willing to work nude and semi-nude, though.

Aside from updating and expanding the model portions of my portfolio I'd like to position myself to make contributions to Mike's website, Femmexotique. It generates money. He pays and that would mean I can pay. If I can pay, I'll shoot more. Pretty simple formula. The bottom line is that I'd like to shoot more.

Bluegrass in Arizona 

Parade Rest ...

ain't what it used to be. I won't ask if you don't tell.

Culture Clash

The Fiesta de los Vaqueros is coming around again toward the end of February. I'm afraid that Candy's back problems may preclude our going this year. We had been planning on taking a box so I could get some decent photographs of the action. We sat in the bleachers last year and I was disappointed by the chain link fence that blocked my view of the rodeo. I could "see" what was going on but photographing it was more than simply problematic.

There are other things coming up just as fast. I am not looking forward to going to those things alone. However, I think I have to start liking the idea. I think venturing out is becoming less and less of a thing we do together and more and more of a thing I must do on my own if I'm not to be held prisoner as she is to her medical condition.

There were so many things we'd planned to do together. Visits to Mexico, touring the Anasazi ruins ... now this. We will see what the doctor says next week. There is the possibility of surgery but even in the best of circumstances, there is no such thing as routine surgery.

The Keyboard 

Dinner - Chicken with Green Beans, stir fried with a touch of Pino Gregio.

Another pocket camera sketch. I should break out the Alien Bees and really work at shooting food. I've always thought it would be a fun project ... but on the other hand, when you think it through, there's a lot of preparation that goes into a food shot - and by the time you've finished shooting, the food is worthless as a meal!

Things Coming in Twos

It's getting time to update my portfolio with some slightly more premeditated stuff than I've been shooting lately.

I'm jealous of the photographer/model relationship that Sharon Spear and Frank Mengles (in St. Louis) have. They work together often. They share an artistic taste (though not always to my taste). They have a collaboration. Unlike fashion and commercial photographers, I really don't need new faces every time I turn around. I would rather work with someone for an extended period of time - develop a rapport and a collaborative communication. I think that's asking too much. Most models are bubble-gum chewing post teen prima donas with dreams of being discovered in a drugstore in East Armpit, Idaho - not realizing that the odds of them making it big are about the same as the kid down the street getting tapped for a multimillion dollar pro-basketball contract or moving from garage band to rock star in the space of a week and a half. Oh, gawd, give me someone in their 30's ... someone who's had that kind of BS put into perspective!

Self Portrait

Midnight

I seem to have become my own subject. In the last few years I've taken a number of self portraits. I think the fascination is that I don't fully recognize the person I see in the pictures. There is a familiarity but ... not who I expect to see. I think I expect to see myself as I was 20 years ago when I was 40 and to see myself now is always a surprise.

A Small World

Here's an insight into who I am, by golly. I spend 10-12 hours a day in this space, putting out an international news letter, digitally editing photographic images and making a little music now and then.

Can you find:

• Two photographs of my daughter?
• A photograph of my wife?
• A wood model of a WWII P-38?
• An Art Deco bronze statue?
• A 1960's Lava Lamp?
• A Yamaha keyboard?
• An HP multifunctional fax-printer-scanner-copier?
• A Canon i950 photo printer?
• A Microtek s400 scanner?

A Little Further Down the Road 

Down the Road Apiece

I find the mundane scenery within the walking distance radius of the house to be very interesting. I think I has to do with the fact that I'm from the east and living here in the desert is still a novelty.

Tucson is a 'low" city. Even multi-story buildings appear less tall than they are. There's also a certain desolation that comes with the absence of lush grass lawns. Very often it's difficult to tell the poorer neighborhoods from that that are comfortably well off.

Real Life

A Study in Contrasts

Here on the desert floor the vegitation is green while on the mountain above us, the snow is several feet deep.

Candy and I spent Saturday in the Emergency Room. The pain in her arm was too much for her to handle. After about 10 hours and an MRI the final E-room diagnosis is there a problem between vertibtae 5 and 6, where the nerves pass through from the inside of the spinal column and connect down her right arm. The hole through which the nerves pass is growing smaller. This has gone to the point where there is a pinching on the nerve.

We'll be talking to a specialist on Wednesday. In the meantime, Candy is heavily medicated for pain.

New Toy

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood ...

I bought a little Sony CyberShot, 4.1 megapixel, point-and-shoot camera to use alongside the Canon 300D SLR. I plan to use it mostly for "street" shooting. The things that recommended the camera to me were the facts that:

1. It's physicaly pretty small. It fits easily in the palm of my hand or in my pocket and I can carry it with me where ever I go.
2. It's quiet. You don't get that barn-door slam that comes part and parcel with an SLR mirror. You can turn off the shutter beep, making the camera totally silent.
3. It's one of the least expensive 4 megapixel cameras on the market. It puts out decent resolution - though I think I'm going to have to buy a little more memory than the 16 Meg that comes with the camera.

The shot above is one of the first from the Sony. I shot it on the way back from one of the neighborhood community mail boxes - shooting from the hip.