You can still order online for $13.95 postpaid and I'm assured you'll get yours soon. It's generally available at Barnes & Noble stores, either with the art, photography or gentlemen's magazines, and while it's out here, it may not be everywhere just yet.
A number of my shots will be included in the upcoming Spring issue of Carrie Leigh's NUDE Magazine. My images were all made in abandoned spaces around Detroit, and are featured alongside an interview with Detroitblogger John, discussing the situation in Detroit. (And despite the headline, I received no bailout dollars for this project.) That's Spilt Sugar, taken at Michigan Central Station from the preview page, but I'm still waiting to see a copy myself, so I don't quite know which other models are included. More on that as it develops.You can order online for $13.95 postpaid. It's generally available at Barnes & Noble stores, either with the photography magazines or the gentlemen's magazines, and should be out soon. (Update: Website indicates it will ship June 5 and be in stores June 15.)
Thanks to the team at Carrie Leigh, all the intrepid models, and the team of Dan S. and Silke for their urban sherpa skills.
Tonight is "First Friday" -- the monthly night where the art galleries and such stay open late and folks congregate in the artistic "pockets" of town to look at art and things, maybe sip some wine or nosh on finger foods. Will probably head down and see what's going on. May bump into Dave L and his entourage while I'm down there, and who knows who else?
This shot is Spilt Sugar, before the stuff piled in the old entranceway was re-arranged...
Was just a little bit floored to see the news that my shot of Spilt Sugar won the Reader's Prize in the Erotic Review Photographer of the Year contest. With over 400,000 votes cast, my thanks to all of you who took the time to support me in the voting! Congratulations to Frédéric Fontenoy for winning the judge's prize, and to all the other winners.
Special thanks to Spilt Sugar for being such an expressive model, and for not being afraid to be a little risqué for the shot. She's an excellent photographer in her own right as well... check out her blog here. Wish I could karaoke with you this weekend!
I managed to be a runner-up in last year's Reader's Choice voting, so I'm excited to have improved upon that this time. This is especially welcome news after a couple recent disappointments. I do think I'll have more good news to share soon (fingers crossed) so stay tuned!
Just read this report that 9 out of 20 samples of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) contained mercury. Mercury. Yet another reason the HFCS is a major health hazard and should probably be outlawed or extremely restricted. I paid a visit to my friend Steve who's originally from England, and he mentioned that HFCS is banned in England for food products... this was relevant because he offered me a bottle of Coca-Cola from Mexico, made with real sugar the way it used to be here, and the way it's made in most of the world. Hard to believe we've reached the point where a sugar-filled soda is considered the HEALTHY alternative.
But why do we use HFCS so much here in the US? Because way too much of the economy is tied up in corn, and the corn lobbyists seem to have a death grip on the government. Corn growers are subsidized and price supported and now for some reason we're using corn to make ethanol (instead of using something more efficient, like sugar beets). Is it just so Presidential aspirants have the favor of corn growers when the Iowa caucuses roll around every 4 years? Why corn? Are American farmers too stupid to grow something else? Our corn industry is even causing problems in other countries, like Mexico, where local farmers can't compete with the prices of imported subsidized US corn, spreading poverty and hunger there, too.
Corn has its place, but for some reason, it's everywhere. Most livestock are fed corn in massive quantities, rather than grass or other feeds that their digestive systems are designed for. So, corn is even messing with meat products, and by extension, humans who eat meat (or other products with HFCS). And humans aren't designed to digest so much corn either. HFCS is the cheapest sweetener, so it's now in everything from breads to snacks to sauces to ketchup. A huge percentage of processed or semi-prepared foods, especially inexpensive foods that more and more people are resorting to as the economy collapses. 
On a brighter note, as Tia mentioned on her blog, I received the prints that I'll have for sale at Dirty Show, and I was quite pleased with how they turned out. Doubly pleased in that it means that my monitor appears to be properly calibrated to my lab, so I'll be able to relax a bit that I'm on the right track now at least as far as that's concerned.
So, if you're planning to be at Dirty Show, be sure to stop by the "museum store" and look for my prints (including the lovely Spilt Sugar here) to see how spiffy they turned out. Feel free to buy a few, too.
There I go, embedding video again. This is a gem that I saw on "Liquid Television" back in the day, searched for it for years, and through the magic of YouTube, it's available now... you can read what you want into it. Civilization? 
Here's Spilt Sugar from a studio shoot a while back... hope to work with her again sooner rather than later, if she's not too busy kicking ass as a photographer.
One of the earliest albums I remember geeking out on was "Marquee Moon" by Television, a NYC band, a little like early Talking Heads, but with a more jazzy noir take on the world, and a unique guitar sound propelled by two hotshot guitarists, Tom Verlaine and Richard Lloyd. Roughly 30 years after Television first rocked my world, Richard Lloyd came to Dayton to play the humble Canal Street Tavern. Television's drummer Billy Ficca was there, along with Keith Hartel on bass and attempted back-up vocals. After bickering with the sound man, Lloyd started off with an old song he'd written for Chris Stamey, then "Friction" from the first Television album, then most of the evening was a mix of his solo stuff and a lot of Hendrix covers from a forthcoming album he's doing. 
Honestly, Lloyd seemed off his game quite a bit. He looked like he just rolled out of bed, had trouble remembering lyrics, couldn't quite keep up with himself on guitar sometimes, and just acted like he really didn't feel like being there, but it was the best gig they could find between two real shows. I'd say he was drunk, but I didn't see him drink anything the whole time on stage.
It's funny, most of the bands I once considered to be crucial are being relegated to nostalgia acts almost. Another sign of my advancing years. I guess. I pretty much had this reaction when I saw Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan last year...
On the monitor front, I'm feeling a little bit better about it in that I threw the fancy Spyder calibration gizmo out the window and went back to a more visual calibration. There are things I KNOW are grey, so just getting there is half the battle. I'm still concerned as I find more shots where areas I thought were falling off into shadow actually aren't, so still some steps to go. Any advice on this, please speak up. I'm considering giving up on this Samsung and getting an Apple display after all before all the ones with the matte screen are gone. 
Somehow I like this better than Puffy's "Vote or Die" initiative...
Register online to vote or in Ohio, you can register and vote the SAME DAY until October 6 ...find your polling place here.
The good news: I just heard that "Five Plane" McCain is shutting down his campaign in Michigan -- guess he's giving up there! The bad news: I'm guessing those resources will be redirected to Ohio. (Refer to yesterday's entry, below.)
The shot is Spilt Sugar, coincidentally, from Michigan!
A few more with the charming and talented Spilt Sugar, who is earning as many accolades as a photographer as she does modeling. I sometimes wonder why these talented "modelographers" consent to shoot with regular old photographers like me, when they could do as well or better on their own. I guess it's to get a different perspective, or maybe there's something to be learned from everyone.
Obviously, she did a great job modeling for me, and it was a great honor to work with her. I hope to again soon.
A couple from my introductory shoot with Spilt Sugar, another excellent Detroit area model. A total blast to shoot with, I'm looking forward to a return engagement in a couple weeks. It'll be sweet!
My work appears in the new collection The Mammoth Book of The New Erotic Photography, which collects work by 75 photographers from around the world. Edited by Maxim Jakubowski.
Available online now!Congrats to Chas Ray Krider for landing the cover with his shot of Trishii.
uncompensated link
