Happy April Fool's Day

Here's Alkemie Jane, fooling around on a recent shoot...

Looks like the Erotic Review voting is in overtime, so if you feel like offering your opinion on a bunch of photos, go for it.

Glass is a liquid

One interesting feature of the new studio space is the very old glass in a lot of the windows... depending how light shines through, it looks as if it's raining on the glass, sort of like the famous shot of Robert Blake towards the end of "In Cold Blood."

The first shot here is newcomer Ilene, and the others are returning favorite, Angie.

Demon Pass

Still a few more voting days on the Erotic Review Readers' Choice selection, so if you haven't stopped by to check it out, go ahead and spend a few minutes perusing the entries and expressing your opinion.

Here's Isabel from last fall sometime... time sure flies!

R.I.P. Jim Marshall

One of the premier "old school" music photographers, Jim Marshall, passed away today. Jim made iconic images of virtually every musician who would be considered a legend today. Hendrix, Dylan, the Beatles, Janis, Coltrane, Miles, and the list goes on and on. He'd just released a new book with Timothy White, Match Prints, where the two photographers chose complimentary images from their portfolios for an exercise in compare and contrast. This image here is the Allman Brothers Band, used as the cover for their definitive live album, "Live at the Fillmore." (I knew a guy a few years ago who would listen to this entire double album about 3 or 4 times a week.)

Back when I was in college and for a while afterwards, I was pretty heavily into photographing live bands, and when possible, the performers in their offstage moments, too. A few were published here and there, but it was mainly for me. It was pretty challenging then, shooting film, and dealing with processing and printing. And I think NOT having the instant feedback of being able to look at an LCD screen with the image and a histogram and all that -- it just forced me to trust that I knew what I was doing, and concentrate on being in the moment of the performance waiting for the visual that would define the whole evening. I remember somehow getting a camera into an Elvis Costello concert and fighting my way down near the stage to shoot a roll, only to have the camera jam, and my only option was to open up the camera and tear out the film so I could clear the jam and continue shooting. THAT one broke my heart.

Concerts are also tricky because you're totally at the mercy of the light man, the crowd, the bouncers, the venue, etc. to try to have enough light to work with, and get a decent position to capture something, without being in everyone's way or disrupting the show. But it's all part of the challenge that made it so much fun. I'd like to get back into working with musicians again, but maybe more on a portraiture basis -- something about stage presence and charisma of a performer frequently makes for wonderful portraits. Just look at Jim Marshall's work...

Up or down vote...

If you're as burned out as I am on the whole "Health Care Reform" business (or even if you're not), here's a chance to make YOUR vote count. The Erotic Review "Reader's Prize" voting for 2010 is currently underway, so why not pay a visit to the site and score some of the images there. Click the link in the middle of the page to launch a slide show, then to vote, just press a number between 1 and 9 on your keyboard (9 being best), and in a few seconds the next image will automagically load. Not to bias your thinking, I won't tell you which ones are mine, or which belong to friends of mine -- just check them out, and vote high for the ones you like. Website says voting ends March 31.

I was fortunate enough to win this prize last year, and it would be great to finish in the money again this year. I'd love to finish in the top 5 among the Judge's Prize voting this year, so cross your fingers, please.

And as the Bartles & Jaymes guys used to say, "Thank you for your support."

"Lonely days are gone, I'm a-going home..."

Was saddened to hear about the passing of Alex Chilton today at age 59, apparently of a heart attack. Alex sang the ginormous 60s hit "The Letter" when he was just 16 years old with The Box Tops, and later continued to be almost famous in the band Big Star, and as a solo performer, as well as a record producer. While he didn't have a lot of commercial success after The Box Tops, his influence on other musicians is possibly in the same ballpark as that of The Velvet Underground, and Big Star's "#1 Record" was a fixture on many critic's "best of" lists for years. He did enjoy an unexpected payday when his song "Down the Street" was chosen to be the theme song for "That 70's Show" (as performed by Cheap Trick), and also the Bangles had a minor hit with his song "September Gurls" so I'm sure those helped provide him some financial security along the way. The Replacements even wrote a song about him... (read Westerberg's NYT obit)

I did get to see him play a solo show in Cincinnati a few years back, and talked briefly with him afterwards. He was really a gracious guy, and will be greatly missed.

Two more Dirty Days

If you missed the Dirty Show's "Big Opening" weekend (to borrow a joke from Elvira), you can still make plans to attend either this Friday or Saturday evening. I'll probably be around some on Saturday evening, but my work will be hangin' around both nights. A framed print of this shot of Sophie King (as in "she's Sophie King cool"... clever, eh?) sold last weekend, so thanks to the mystery buyer. Two more framed prints remain, along with many affordable "loose prints" so be sure to stop by and check it all out. Last Saturday night the place was filled to capacity, so get there early!

Don't know whether to blog or wind my watch...

Just feeling sort of crazy busy lately, partly due to the move, partly due to ramping up my shooting (and therefore, editing) lately, lots of driving, not enough sleeping, and various other fallout from procrastination. Lots of good stuff in there as well, such as preparing for this weekend's Dirty Show where I'll have three pieces on the wall, and a lot of work in the museum store -- there's even special pricing on selected prints... just $20 for a signed 11x14, so how can you go wrong?

So as the end of a long day approaches, where a few things got done, but not nearly enough, I figured I'd just check in and share a photo. This is MsPoisoness from a shoot well before the deluge of snow. I didn't notice the landlord walking up behind her while I was taking these shots, but he didn't say a word... maybe he didn't even see her, or maybe after years of dealing with photographers, a nude woman on a loading dock doesn't even faze him.

Au revoir grimy dungeon

Well, the windowless "grimy dungeon" has joined the list of my "former" studio locations, and now onto location #5. Still in the same "complex" but this new space has some nice windows, distressed wood floors, an eventual "seamless" wall, and other civilized elements. And I'm hoping there won't be the constant shower of black dust from the ceiling, nor a constant barrage of bad music spilling through the wall that characterized the dungeon. Despite all that, it did have its photogenic appeal for my type of work... the shot above is NinaD from one of the handful of shoots I did in the space.

I will be sharing the new space with Dave Levingston, who you may know from his blog, or may even know in real life. (Congrats to Dave for his appearance in the new issue of Carrie Leigh Nude magazine, along with receiving their first Arts for Humanity award.) Dave's moved out of the studio he's occupied for about 10 years, so it should be something a fresh start for both of us.

Thanks to Tia and Ron for their help moving my stuff over to the new space. too.

"If you really want to hear about it..."

Writer J.D. Salin5er passed away on Wednesday at the ripe old age of 91. Known almost as widely for his reclusiveness as his sole published novel, A Cat¢her in the Rye, he's one of the most polarizing authors of the 20th century, with many people either adoring his work or reviling it. (For the record, I'm a fan.)

As with anyone, I think think there are lessons to be learned from his work, as well as his life... I shall be considering some of those in the days ahead, provided I don't get caught up in other distractions as I'm prone to do.

Time had an interesting obit on him, which included a few cogent quotes from his writing. One of which was from his story "Fr@nny", but I won't repeat it here.

From everything I've read, he had his share of problems. To paraphrase Chuck Kl0sterman, "Not all crazy people are geniuses, but pretty much all geniuses are at least a little bit crazy." But maybe he was one of the last to actually want to be an artist without being a celebrity. Or maybe he saw what celebrity did to writers like Fitzger@ld and Hemingw@y.

The nature of life, the nature of work, the nature of art, the nature of people... does anyone get it all figured out?

(And if you're wondering about the odd spellings, I guess I just don't want this page coming up when some kid is Googling to write a goddam book report or something.)

Award Season

The nominees and winners for the "Black and White Spider Awards" were announced yesterday, and my shot of Katy was chosen as a nominee in the nude/amateur category. Thanks Katy, and congratulations to the other nominees and winners.

I entered the French PHOTO magazine "Concours" again this year... they posted the results of the first and second "cut" of the judging. I presume the first two cuts cull out the "not even close" stuff and determine what the actual judges choose from. Two of my images of Mina made the second cut, but the magazine was just published, and reports from Europe indicate that neither of those were printed in the issue. Well, maybe next year. If you're interested in seeing all my entries, go to the contest page and do a search for "Mitchell." This shot, and the one entitled "Menaced" made the second cut. I should see a copy of the magazine in a week or two to see what images actually made it in, but congratulations to those who were published, and of course, thanks to Mina.

I'm preparing three pieces to hang at this year's Dirty Show 11 in Detroit next month, and more images to be available in the "museum store." The show opens February 12-14, then is open again February 19-20, so if you're in the area, be sure to come join the party.

For those wondering about the lack of blog posts recently, I've been occupied with various other matters. Hopefully, I'll be back to posting at least somewhat more regularly soon. Thanks to those of you who have kept checking in and encouraging me to post more.

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Happy Thanksgiving...

Hope you all have a lovely Thanksgiving Day, whatever form it takes. And don't forget "Buy Nothing Day" on Friday! (See post below.)

This is Angie, who will be on the front lines of retail at a nearby mall, and a reminder that if you DO venture into the stores, go easy on the sales staff -- they've probably been there since the early morning hours, are doing the best they can to take care of everyone, and probably don't have the power to bend the rules for you. Or as Dalton in Roadhouse taught us, "be nice until it's time to not be nice."

Buy Nothing Day

Well, as "Black Friday" approaches yet again, I'll once again mention that November 27 is "Buy Nothing Day" as well. There's a movement to de-emphasize our roles as "consumers" and return to being "people" and not taking part in the spending frenzy of "Black Friday" is a big part of that. Of course, with the economy in the shape it's in, buying something to help retailers and producers get out of the red and into the black seems vaguely patriotic, as the breathless reports of sales and "consumer confidence" will set the tone for the rest of the holiday season, and the economic attitude for the year ahead. It's like a Hollywood blockbuster... if it doesn't have a massive "opening weekend" then it's considered a failure. So, I guess decide for yourself: resist the urge to be defined by how much you spend, or be part of jumpstarting the economy.

A new book takes it a step further... Scroogenomics by Joel Waldfogel proposes that people stop purchasing holiday gifts, or gifts of any kind, because in general, people don't value gifts as much as it costs the giver to purchase them. Only about 25% as much as was spent. So if two friends each buy $100 gifts for the other, chances are, they'll value what they received at about $25, whereas if they'd spent that money on themselves, they would each value what they bought at $100, or possibly more. Little kids get hooked on ripping open packages, and like getting toys and such, so you have a fighting chance that they'll value what you buy them. But teens to adults to seniors, not so much. Many people already have way too much stuff as it is. This makes a lot of sense to me, actually, as being one who's tough to buy for -- to the point of feeling guilty if I get a gift that I don't like, but that the giver obviously spent a good deal of money to buy.

Waldfogel suggests buying gift cards instead of actual gifts, but that's not guaranteed either. A comedian (I can't recall) said something like "a gift card isn't a gift -- it's an errand. You're telling that person to go the the store you choose, and spend time finding something they want because you were too lazy to do it yourself." Plus, the recipient usually can't find something for exactly $25, so they either leave money on the card, or have to spend a little of their own on the purchase.

So, maybe the answer is to give the gift of yourself. Rather than spending time and money buying some "gift item" and shipping it off to a friend, sit down and write them an actual letter, or make plans to get together, or make a commitment to yourself that you'll talk on the phone with them more regularly. It could really be the gift that keeps on giving.

The shot is the gifted Hayley, from about 2 years ago. Sounds like she may be getting back into modeling once again!

Dock Ellis Dee

An urban legend from my youth that turned out to be true. Swiped from Chase Lisbon's blog... featuring guest blogger Katie West.