Jolene Hexx and faded memories

Jolene 072012

 Kodachrome - Paul Simon

If you took all the girls I knew
When I was single
And brought them all together for one night
I know they'd never match
My sweet imagination...

I worked with Jolene Hexx in late May while in Las Vegas.  She is a local that has great professionalism and is a very high quality model and person to work with.  Her energy worked so well with the mood and feel of what I wanted. I highly recommend her to all the photographers in Las Vegas.

We had two major themes to our photo shoot.  The first was using the couch for quiet time.  The second was using an LCD projector.  Jolene rocked both themes and I am wanting to work with her again.  For today, I want to share some of the couch series.

Jolene - 072012

For these images, I wanted a vintage feel and used a post production "cross processing" technique to give them a feel that is more like a faded memory of mine than truly capturing the details of the complete moment.

I always think back on those key memories and  notice certain elements gain emphasis while other details fade away.  Some of these memories have faded to just certain elements.  The scent in the air, the music we listened to, the wind on my face, the curve of a hip or the sigh softly released in a quiet sensual moment.

I wish my memory for emotionally important moments in my life weren't fading like this.  I have so many useless bits of knowledge that I would gladly give up to keep these memories whole.  I guess though that it is better to remember the essence of them than nothing at all.  

Thanks to Jolene and her beauty and energy she brought to the session.  I look forward to sharing more with you soon.

I have a question for you.  Which do you prefer of the last two?  I love how her hand is touching her face in the one with her eyes closed and I love how beautiful her eyes and lips are in the bottom one.  

Jolene  - 072012

Jolene A - 072012

Jolene B- 072012

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

Theft

ESB - 062912

Raise your hand if your photos have been stolen and used by others for their gain.  Me too.  Below is a link to tumblr website that is trying to expose those thieves.

http://stopstealingphotos.tumblr.com/

I have mixed feelings about appropriating art and changing it around like Warhol did.  I think it is justified if done right, but what the above site exposes are pure thieves calling stolen images as their own.

Gabbi

Gabbi - 062312

Gabbi is the first model I photographed in Las Vegas and was a joy to work with.  She has an enthusiasm for modeling that exudes beauty and a deep sultry energy that simmers with sexiness, even in quiet moments.  I appreciated her patience as I set up and tore down areas to work in and for going with my ideas as she integrated her own magic into them.

Gabbi - 062312

Here are few photos from the session.  I am also using many of the images we created in photo collages, my new frontier.

Thanks Gabi!  I hope we work together again.

Gabbi - 062312

Las Vegas

Vegas Collage 061612 (click for larger view)

I could write pages about why I am falling in love with world's greatest city of simulacrum.  With that statement though, I've already given the city a disservice.  My parents hate Las Vegas without having visited.  I think they hate one street in the city, to be honest.  Las Vegas Blvd (the Strip) represents so many things they hate.

For me, the Strip is a place to view humanity, the simulacrum and the efforts to maintain it, and millions of individual stories.  On one end is the airport and Mandalay Bay and the other end of the Strip ends at the Fremont Experience*.

Late last year I bought a second home in Las Vegas.  The price was good, the location very convenient and the home in good shape.  Since then, it has become my "urban cabin".  I truly relax there, find inspiration in the people, architecture and natural beauty surrounding it.

The digital collage at the top is part of an assemblage I made in honor of my oasis in the asphalt.  The assemblage is a metal book safe that I painted, glued the collage above on the back wall of it and wired LED lights around it to illuminate it.  I glued some sand around it and added some other bits to add to it.

For me, much of Las Vegas involves lots of driving.  Almost all the roads are perpendicular, very wide, 45mph, and go toward the 4 cardinals.  **They hook into a series of highways and interstates that wrap around the city, with the I15  coming from LA and going up to the US/Canada border in Montana bisecting the city. That is why I put the map on it.

One night, we were waiting for our car to be brought up from valet***.  There were two young couples all dressed up to go out and hit the clubs, waiting for their ride, .  One guy says, "Let's ask them. "  He came over and asked, "Hey, they should replace the 'What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas' with "Vegas- the back is the front'.".  We thought it was probably too deep, contextual, and vague, but clever.  Since buying a place there, I never enter the city through the front.  I always go to my urban cabin and poke around the backside of this great city.

*Las Vegas Blvd goes for miles north beyond Fremont St, but that is the stretch known as the Strip.
**Big tip 1.  Unless you want to get stuck in traffic and see tons of lights, avoid driving on the Strip.  There are multiple roads and I15 that run parallel to it.  Take one of them and take the closest cross street to get to the place you want.  
***Big tip 2.  If you are driving to one of the big casino resorts, check your car into valet parking.  It is a free service and will cost you a few bucks in tip.  Your car will be parked in a shades spot (remember, it can get above 110).  It is fast, efficient, and worth it.

I'm kind of in a Beatles mood and am really missing George.  This video is fascinating.  They are just dicking around, having fun.  Damn.  There is a huge void.

What's up, Karl?

Moon - Van dyke process - Cotton Rag

"What's up, Karl?"

"What's up Karl?"

The importance of a comma.

You wouldn't know this by tracking this blog, but I really enjoy writing for it.  Sadly, I've been busy with other life things and let this exercise and discipline slide by the side.  While not producing anything here in a while, I've worked a great bit on my art and life.

The life bit - it continues to move on.  Work is busy.  I went the UK and Basel, Switzerland for two weeks.  I traveled to my second home in Las Vegas a number of times.  I contacted and am planning collaborative efforts with a few photographer friends.

The art bit - big changes.  I completed an alternative processes class where we made photograms, cyanotypes, Polaroid, Van dykes, gel transfers, assemblage, collage (digital and analog), toy cameras (Holgas and Dianas), tin types, and many other cool techniques.  Some of them worked for me, others didn't.  The big discovery though was my need to get away from just taking a picture, editing and enhancing it and calling it done when I printed it and put it in a frame.  There are so many great ways to present my art.  I am really getting into creating digital collages based on themes.  Why can't I put words directly on the art?  Now if I want to, I do.

Another big learning lesson was that it is so easy to create reproducible art in photography - just make another print.  Somehow I found comfort in knowing I could always make another print.  For many of these alternative processes, I only get one piece and no more like it.  This gave me an appreciation for marble sculptors, painters, and other single-item creators in the art world.  By knowing there is only one piece like this in the world, it feels more powerful and special.

For my final project, I chose a theme and created 5 pieces using different alternative techniques.  The theme was on objectification of women and caused a good bit of debate during the class critique.  I loved that.  You will see more on that in a special post.  

I also worked with four nude models in the past few months.  Each was completely different and brought her own unique gifts as muse and model to the shoot.  You will see some of those pieces in upcoming posts as I write about each shoot.

Now it is time to focus again on getting my business going.  All this creation is fun, but I need to get going on planning and implementing the next stage in my life.  I am slowly setting up work in the SF Bay Area.  I am also trying to set up work in my second home, Las Vegas.  I will write more about LV in the future.

One thing I will write about Las Vegas now is that I've had the pleasure of catching up with Terrel from Photo Anthems.  Last Sunday, we went out for a drive in the country scouting locations.  I enjoy talking with him about art, photography, life, women, Las Vegas, family, and all other things in between. 

I am also in contact with a good friend and artistic creative both behind and in front of the camera.  She and I went to high school together.  Once her life settles down from moving back to the US with her family, we are planning to do some big collaborations.

Its been a great Spring.  My artistic energy is pushing me and I am pushing myself to create stuff I never imagined before.  I look forward to sharing in the future.

Up top is a scan of my Van dyke print of Moon.  Below is my cyanotype.  Both are created using a light sensitive emulsion spread onto paper.  After laying a large negative on top of it (created in phototshop, but any film negative would work) similar to a contact print, I left them out in the sun for 5-10 minutes.  After processing them, voila.  I love analog art.  I prefer the Van dyke of Moon much more, but I loved learning both methods.

Moon  - Cyanotype - Cotton Rag

I love this song and nobody sang it like Janis.

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