Variety

Fae DeCay - 012413

I watched the documentary, Thinking XXX.  It chronicles the making of a photo series by Timothy Greenfield-Sanders where he takes two portraits of porn stars (male, female, gay and straight porn), one clothed, one nude.   Much of the movie has the stars talking about the industry.  It also has rich commentary and analysis by John Waters and Gore Vidal.  In it, Gore Vidal shared this great thought on porn and the human condition.

We never seem to tire at looking at naked bodies.  That is true, but they always have to be new ones. Gore Vidal from the movie Thinking XXX.

This quote has two great features, the hook and then the yank of the hook.  In the hook or the first part, he describes how we endlessly enjoy viewing the nude.  I enjoy looking at the nude form.  I prefer female nudes, but appreciate male nudes as well.  For centuries, artists, and many creators lacking artistic intent,  captured the nude form through paintings, sculptures, photography, writing, etc.  We can't help but look when confronted.  For me, I enjoy seeing not only the nude form, but how the artist captured it.

Ludovica Albertoni Cetera - Bernini - my photo 012413

Ludovica Albertoni Cetera - Bernini - my photo 012413

The master sculptors Bernini and Rodin both captured nudes, but in different ways.  The almost-photo realism of the Bernini's art makes me want to touch it and feel the real moment captured.  I want to feel St. Teresa's  ecstasy.  I can almost feel the passion, fear, and arousal in his masterpiece, "The Rape of Prosperpina" where you can see how his hands are pressing into the flesh of her thigh.   As for Rodin, he is not so much a realist as much as sharing the raw emotions and behaviors of the moment.  Whether it is the elegant simpleness of "The Kiss" or the sultry passion of the "Lovers, 1911" or the torn and conflicted pain of "The Tragic Muse" (one of my favorites), I am feeling what is being represented in the work.   I not only want to, desire to, and seek these nudes out, I must see them.  I am drawn to them at both the primal animal self and the intellectual appreciative self as well.

The Tragic Muse - Rodin - Photographer unknown

This desire leads to the second part, the yank and setting of the hook in Vidal's quote about always needing to see new ones.   Even though I have personal favorites of nude imagery, sculpture,  erotica, porn, etc., I will always want to see new ones - new faces, bodies, stories, and themes.   It is lust, need, and appreciation that I need to look at them and want more.

This desire for change, variety, and novel experiences applies to my art as well.  Once I create and refine an image, or set of images, from a photo shoot with a model, I start getting inspired for the next shoot.  If it is with the same model, I focus on where can we go deeper and change it up.  If it is a new model, what new things will she bring that I haven't seen or created before.  Regardless, I tend to then lose some interest in the work I created and completed and desire the next one, and then the next one.

Am I shallow for continually wanting and not being satisfied with how I create and consume the nude form?  On one hand, this insatiable desire sometimes leads me to feeling it is more of an obsession or thirst that can never be quenched.  On the other hand, if this desire ever stopped or was denied to me, would I become less of who I am?

You take the good, you take the bad...

Tiana - 123112

... because you have no choice.  

I recently heard on NPR a great show on meditation and mindfulness.  While I do need to include much more of each into my life, I heard a sentence or two that hit home.  In essence the spokesperson said, "In Buddhism, you must acknowledge that both change and tragedy are unavoidable in life.  This is something that was forgotten by many Americans prior to the financial collapse."  This was true for me and 2012 was a great reminder of the changes.

I am going to briefly describe the good, the bad, and the changes I experienced in 2012.  One overall influence was Las Vegas.  You will see my new part-time city as a reoccurring theme through the year.

The good.

I got to meet up with blogger buddy Terrell in Las Vegas a number of times, once as recently as this week.  On top of being deep in the local Las Vegas photography world (he is a local legend with the old timers - I learned of an interesting story of him and park ranger), he is a genuinely nice and true guy.  I hope we get to collaborate in the future.

I got to know my new sister city better by spending the equivalent of a month total time here in 2012.  I initially had a crush or infatuation with it.  It turned into a steamy affair quickly.  I am now in the growing in love with it, while starting to see the warts in the relationship.  Sometimes it is the flaws that are most attractive.  During that time, I got to meet three lovely ladies who modelled for me.  Thanks to Gabbi, Fae, and Jolene for blessing me with your beauty.   You will see a few fresh photos of those beauties below.

Starting in January, I included alternative processes into my art.  These included cyanotypes, van Dykes, digital negative to chemical paper printing, gel transfers, Polaroids, toy cameras, assemblage, collage, and multiple other fun techniques.   I am pushing my art into areas I've never considered before.

Below is a small portion of my "I objectify women..." series, where I used discarded packaging as surfaces to affix my photos of women I have taken over the year.  It was a very personal series for me as I know I am part of the objectification of women.  I am going to take higher quality photos of these pieces and present them here.

IOW - 123112 - Photo by Jackie Pruitt

In October my family gathered to celebrate my parents' 50th anniversary with 100 of their friends.

In the last three months I got my work into four shows.  That was great exposure.  On the downside, a woman called asking to buy one and balked at the price.  She needs to learn there is a difference between a fine art print and a photo calendar.  Let us see her get an original Ansel Adams for the price of the cheap copy she could get at a book store.

I went to England and Switzerland for work in May.  While the working situation was good, the trip was pleasant, and not much more.

In February, I worked again with the great Candace Nirvana.  This September and October I worked with Tiana and Rain deGrey.  I hope to work with all of them again in 2013.

I am helping a friend start her blog.  I am also starting a new blog with an old friend.  More news on that in the 2013.

The bad.

My health is slowly deteriorating.  It is starting to get noticeable.  Sadly, the cause is purely self induced.  I need to get in better shape and take care of my self before I pass the point of no return.

My relationships with my family are drying out.  I am starting to realize that there is a reason my friends are close, we chose each other.  As my relationships with my family age, they contain less commonalities or areas for us to be close again.  I don't know which is more sad, the fading relationships or that I am not as bothered as I probably should be by the situation.

A close friend of mine died within a week after visiting us in Las Vegas.  LV had nothing to do with it. That was just a month ago and still feels raw.

The changes and the neutral.  

My wife and separated due to her starting a tenure-track position in Las Vegas.  We see each other a couple of times a month.  I am proud of her getting the position.

It is interesting being quasi-single again.  I have a home in California all to myself.  I find I spend almost all my time in my home-office, bedroom, or kitchen.  The rest of the home stays dark.  This time alone makes the times when we are together both fun and difficult.  It is hard to go from single to instantly together again.  On a positive side, I have more time than ever to work on art.

I want to thank my blog friends - Carla, Terrell, C.D., D.L. Wood, Joe, and many others (sorry if I didn't include you.)  You continue to inspire me to create and write more.

I will be back in 2013.  There is much more art to create, life to live, sex to be had, and just general life stuff.  Happy New Year and Ciao.

Some new stuff.

Candace Nirvana - 123112

Fae DeCay - 123112

Gabbi- 123112

Jolene- 123112

Rain- 123112

A little party music for dancing into the new year.  I really like a quality remake like this.

Lady Justice decides...

Judgement on the roads of indulgence I choose to travel down - 071312

I am currently working on a few art series of photos and collages.  The first is on my objectification of women (more on that at a later time).  The second concerns the justice that is coming upon me, my gender, my race, and all of humanity in the next half century as epitomized by Lady Justice. 

I visited Dublin Ireland in July 2006.  One of the interesting things I saw was their statue of Lady Justice (see photo at this link).   What do you notice is different about her?  No blindfold.  I guess justice is not blind in Ireland.  She got me thinking about that iconic statue that is present in so many cities, states and countries.

Lady Justice - Las Vegas - 0717

Last year we discovered the Lady Justice statue in Las Vegas.  To be fair, she isn't in the courthouse, but at a law office building near the courthouse.  I love how her sword is almost as tall as she is.  You can't tell from the photo, but I would guess she is about the height of the average woman.  As for the pose and extreme drama of her stance, I will let you make your own observations.

After seeing the Las Vegas Lady Justice, and all the other Lady Justice statues I've looked at,  I am starting a series on how justice will pass judgement on the sins of the list I mentioned above - me, my actions, my gender, my race, my sexuality and sexual decisions, my transgressions,  my country, and all of humanity.  In this new series I plan to have different models play the role of Lady Justice.  She doesn't always have to bare a breast, be a woman, or be blind folded.   The Lady Justice must though be passing judgement on something I feel must be brought to trial.

I believe all of the personal, group and humanity areas that I listed above are going to be judged soon for what we have done.  Beyond my personal things, someone will have answer for the transgressions against women, other races, differing sexual orientations, religions, cultures, economies (the creation and treatment of the poor), and earth as an environment.  These can be as personal as my decisions, choices to as grand and global as genocide, oppression, environmental destruction and war. 

The top photo is my first such attempt at capturing Lady Justice in judgement of me and my personal decisions and choices I made.  It isn't finished, but I am liking the mood.  Special thanks to Fae for giving me the perfect expression I needed for this image.  Any feedback is appreciated.  You can click on the image for a larger view of it.

As for judging - here how one man judged and sentenced Lady Justice.  Back in 2002, Attorney General John Ashcroft was offended by the Lady Justice statue he had to see at the Justice Department that dared to have an exposed breast.  He had her covered up.

Fae

Fae - 07012

Fae was the second model I worked with in Las Vegas.  She is a true gem to create with.  Her energy and spirit shows in her work.  She has fun modeling and I got a lot of good stuff to work with from our two sessions.  I have a collage of her I will share in a few posts that is part of a growing theme I am exploring on Justice and Lady Justice.

Fae and I created a number of images using the natural light in the living room.  We also used the LCD projector.  Once again, she is another model who loved experimenting using the LCD with me.  Until now I only used my my own images to project on the models.  I have used a Dali painting, but all photos were mine.  I used one for a couple of those shots,  Robert Frank's famous Highway 95 and appropriated it with Fae and another model.  I am still trying to find my boundaries with appropriation.  Barbed wire and others are my source images.

To all photographers visiting LV, Fae D-Cay is a golden model to work with.  She will make you smile and give you the magic to help you create art.

Fae2 - 070112

Fae and Robert Frank (color) - 070112

Fae and Robert Frank (BW) - 070112