Reflection

via all the mountains

"I needed five minutes to sit and think.
Reflection...should be well-timed rather than time consuming."
-The Historian, by Elizabeth Kostova

It could be worse...

Tomorrow could be the last day of your blessed life.
You should take a moment to reflect on just how lucky you are to be alive.
And how precious your life is.
You can do so much.

"Only a life lived for others is worth living."
Albert Einstein

You can only gain from having a positive frame of mind.
So go out tomorrow and enjoy every little moment.
Lend those helping hands everywhere you go.
Open a door. Share a smile. Give a compliment. Say I love you.
They are free and could make someone's day.

Goodnight cosmos. I love you.
BIG KISS little kiss hug hug hug hug hug kiss BIG HUG hug kiss
V

imnotaphotographer

I'm Not a Photographer

Photographers carry around big cameras, big lights, big flash contraptions and little meters, they talk about film stock, ISO's, F stops and capturing the perfect light right before dusk.

Photographers creep through neighborhoods of poor people looking for interesting poverty related things to "capture" in black and white or muted color.

Photographers spend lots of time in cramped dark rooms with red lights and chemicals that smell like egg farts.

Photographers get in heated exchanges about the direction Leica is headed or that one camera maker that sounds all german, hasselhoff?

Photographers have lots of lenses that they will tell you about whether you ask them or not, like the one that can see an ass hair on a mosquito or the remarkably "bright" one that can photograph the pope's underwear tag from a tower in hell.

Photographers say "glass" a lot, "Thats a nice piece of glass you got there Danny." which would be funny if it was a joke. No it wouldn't.

Photographers show you shoes hanging on wires, pink boxes in the green weeds, little black girls with blue eyes and nuns sitting under billboards of naked men.

Photographers have all kinds of cameras, most of them are rare and vintage but they love to remind you that their absolute favorite cameras are crappy plastic cameras they found at the thrift store for 25 cents.

Photographers LOVE Polaroid because you can take a picture of absolutely ANYTHING with a Polaroid and it will look like you got your BFA.

Photographers know the names of every other photographer who ever lived and they can tell you exactly who took the first picture of an old barn door or a naked girl on a sofa.

Photographers talk about how little they use photoshop IF AT ALL, and even then it's only to "adjust some curves" or "make the blacks a little more black."

Photographers make use of make up artists, hairdressers, location scouts and stylists which is way way WAY different than photoshopping out zits and wrinkles.

Photographers freeze moments to show the REALITY. They love that word, "reality" also they like to say "RAW" a lot.

Photographers have websites with big black or red sans serif fonts on white backgrounds.

Photographers put their client list at the bottom of the side bar where it looks like they don't really care about it but just in case you didn't like their photographs you can see who did.

Photographers list their accomplishments in a timeline so just in case you didn't like their photographs you can see who did. Wait, did I just say that?

Photographers have strong opinions about Terry Richardson.

Photographers get upset about cropping.

Photographers like the anticipation, surprise, expense, delay, grain, smell, challenge, discipline, texture, and overall unpredictable "magic" of analog, soo opposite of effing digital.

Photographers use the word amateur to describe most other photographers.

Photographers miss the good old days when photography was expensive and out of reach to amateurs.

Photographers blame the lab a lot.

Photographers go to school to study photography because you can't tell if a photo is good just by looking at it.

Photographers whisper cutting edge poetic gems like "digital has no soul."

Photographers only really like 2 or 3 other photographers, the one's whose photographs most resemble their own and they like to keep those books right out on the coffee table where everyone can see them.

Photographers think all commentary about photography and photographers is likely directed at them.

So yeah, I don't give a stumbling poop about any of that stuff.

I'm not a photographer.

Now Parker:

Parker - Distracting a Turtle From Making His Way to a Tray of Sandwiches While The Turtle Seems More Interested In a Book Called "Publish It Yourself Handbook". Decent Jump Though

That's all for now.
Don't get caught YouMightBeARedneck-ing everything in sight.
Your Local Heretic,
Snacking On Your Guts McGillicutty

I have been thinking about kittens since 4:30 AM
25 people pooping on parties

All of the above was copied from threequestionmarks.com

Shevaun told me of this imnotaphotographer page.
This list cracks me up...and loosens the forehead stress lines :)
V

Beautiful sweet nothings

my beautiful girl,

you are asleep beside me, and despite the deep rumbles and grating gears of the passing vehicles on the highway outside our window, I feel so content, listening to your breathing, and the wind in the tall backyard tree, and now it is silent of all cars and trucks and roadnoise, and now it is nicer than it was before. with you I have learnt the most about myself, and consequently the world, and with you I am calmest, clearest, happiest, realest, warmest, and all other superlatives that could be used to describe just how right things are with you. I have said it a few times but I'm not sure I've ever truly been able to express just how much I appreciate you, your presence in my life, all of the things I have learnt from you both directly and indirectly. the world will change and change often, sometimes dramatically, but I know our love will always remain. we are the strongest of the strong, and I will never leave your side.

thank you for all that you have blessed me with. i am indebted to you.

yours for all time, and timelessness,
m

I'm still constantly in awe at this little creature named Nirrimi. This is from her blog, We Live Young. She is a constant inspiration, not just in her amazing photography but in her spirit. Adventurously free, life lovin spirit. Painted with words and light.
I hope it continues on even in the face of the great big commercial beast ahead of her.
And I hope there are more sweet nothings like these being shared in the world.
V

Earthlings....

F.Y.I.
"Latest official current world population estimate, for mid-year 2010, is estimated at 6,852,472,823. "
According to Matt Rosenburg.

Just wondering where we stood as I wonder if I'll ever stop being surprised at how many fantastic things I can find on the interweb a day.
I'm going to share some right now.
Peace
V

Artocracy in Tunisia

"Surprise might work with street art projects elsewhere, but the artists quickly realised dialogue is just as crucial to the artistic scene as it is to the political sphere in post-uprising Tunisia."
Read the entire article here.

This makes me proud to be an artist. I want to be there, helping to keep the spirit alive.
I close my eyes and send you some strength and love, Tunisia. Keep it coming.
V

Reason and Passion

And the priestess spoke again and said: Speak to us of Reason and Passion.

And he answered, saying:
Your soul is oftentimes a battlefield, upon which your reason and your judgment wage war against your passion and your appetite.

Would that I could be the peacemaker in your soul, that I might turn the discord and the rivalry of your elements into oneness and melody.

But how shall I, unless you yourselves be also the peacemakers, nay, the lovers of all your elements?

Your reason and your passion are the rudder and the sails of your seafaring soul.

If either your sails or your rudder be broken, you can but toss and drift, or else be held at a standstill in mid-seas.

For reason, ruling alone, is a force confining; and passion, unattended, is a flame that burns to its own destruction.

Therefore let your soul exalt your reason to the height of passion, that it may sing;

And let it direct your passion with reason, that your passion may live through its own daily resurrection, and like the phoenix rise above its own ashes.

I would have you consider your judgment and your appetite even as you would two loved guest in your house.

Surely you would not honour one guest above the other; for he who is more mindful of one loses the love and faith of both.

Among the hills, when you sit in the cool shade of the white poplars, sharing the peace and serenity of distant fields and meadows - then let your heart say in silence, "God rests in reason."

And when the storm comes, and the mighty wind shakes the forest, and thunder and lightning proclaim the majesty of the sky, - then let your heart say in awe, "God moves in passion."

And since you are a breath in God's sphere, and a leaf in God's forest, you too should rest in reason and move in passion.

The Prophet, Kahlil Gibran

New York is the place of opportunities...

I bought my ticket.
Paris to NYC via Iceland. I actually wasn't planning on buying my ticket last night. I was just scouting the prices and came across one so cheap that I had to buy it.
It's official. I'm flying out of Paris November 22nd.
In NYC I'm going to continue my scout with the eyes of a soon-to-be resident, meet up with some of my peeples and then head back to the Midwest to "get my poop in a group" as my offbeat father would say.
And now a little Ducksauce to get me pumped for the day.



bisous bisous bisous
V

Portrait of a French Girl

"Life beats down and crushes the soul. And Art reminds you that you have one." ~Stella Adlev
Many photos to come but I'm just so glad to have some that are not just tourist attractions.
Art from my heart. It rejoices to have some life again.
Meet Florie. Just say "enchante" for the moment.
There will be a more in depth conversation once the other photos are ready.
Makeup was expertly applied by CathyCat Widawska.
Thank you so much ladies. I had a wonderful morning.
bisous bisous V

JC is such a crack up

JC: Mommy, guess how much I love you.

Alysia: Mmmm, a million trillion bagillion?

JC: Dang it.

I'm editing images from before I left, giving my auntie a disk of memories. This photo of JC reminded me of this hilarious conversation from my last trip to Seattle. I chaperoned my two godchildren, JC and his older sister, Lily back to their mom, Alysia. In the car from the airport Alysia is asking them all about their trip. JC pulled out this classic.

BIG HUG BIG KISS hug kiss BIG HUG
V

You are going to be fine

Authored by

Alexander Ross Charchar

Generally I despise this kind of hallmark advice.

You know the sort, something that tries to evoke some sort of reaction as if it’s a revolutionary, deity-like discovery of thought, even though is is often closer to day-time television psychology.

But oh well, here it is:

You’re going to be fine.

I find my self compelled to say this, as it’s a big lesson I began to learn after I started my working life and I’m sure there are some people who are in that same position right now.

You’re going to be fine.

Honestly, totally fine. No problems. It’ll work out just dandy.

The ad that came back from the booking agency? Oh well, a mistake was made. So fix it.

Client didn’t catch a spelling error after six proofs, now there’s 25,000 flyers with ‘sperm train’ rather than ‘steam train’? Oh darn! Not your fault entirely, they missed the mistake in their text, not much you can do about that now.

Or maybe it was your fault? If so, own it. Say sorry, take a little verbal abuse, or financial, or physical—should you do work for ninjas, in which case accept the steaming hot dish of ass-whoopery—and accept what has happened. Nothing can be done.

And if you can make a change, if you can fix the problem, if you were only remotely to blame for whatever has gone wrong, jump in the middle of the problem and solve it. It’ll quiet down everyone and people will remember you as reliable, as someone to turn to, as a problem solver in shining armour, should you do it right.

Accept that things will go wrong. When it’s your fault, take the blame, fix it as best you can and apologise. Don’t let it happen again, but don’t beat yourself up over it.

Accept that there are going to be challenges, that you’ll need to do things you’ve never done, learn things you’ve never understood. But you’ll learn them. You’ll work hard at it and, as long as your didn’t promise the insane, you’ll get it done. And if you can’t, hire someone who can and relax.

Work hard, laugh, listen to music and enjoy what you are doing. Hunt for the silver lining.

Because at the end of the day, or week, or month, it’ll be gone. The problem will be a foul tasting memory at worse. At best, you learned something new from it. So why stress? You’ll be fine.

Pulled from Retin Art And discovered through A Photo Editor.

Wonderlust

"Maybe it must take a flight across the ocean, hundreds of dollars, strenuous luggage and the absence of your language to realize...it wasn't too bad before...you always have options.
Regrouping, I'm already looking for the next step. Maybe it's Ireland, maybe Scotland, maybe Slovakia, maybe England, maybe Antarctica, maybe Japan or maybe just maybe the United States. With options like those how does anyone every know?
Yesterday, I heard about an option called "WWOOFing". It's actually through the World Wide Organization for Organic Farming. There are farms that provide your room and board in exchange for manual labor on their organic farms. Total of 3 months....
...Ireland...redheads...redheads in Elite Chrome...redheads in Ireland in Elite Chrome...talk amongst yourselves...".
I wrote this on a scrap on the metro a couple weeks ago, after spending a particularly interesting night with some particularly interesting Californians mixed with some particularly interesting Frenchies following a rough welcome to France. Last week I thought I'd settled that repetition of options in my mind...yet, I'm still stuck in the spin cycle. I've had a couple good meet and greets and a look at the abundance of models and fashion neighbors...but this community hasn't reeled me in yet. I can only hope that the words of David Harms will ring true this time...
"Vanessa makes everything bigger and bigger and she goes crazy but it all works out in the end and everyone has a great time."
Let's hope so...
...and I haven't forgotten I still owe Dave a fancy lunch in Italy.

The LOUVRE

Such an iconic piece of humanity, it's odd to think how approachable it really is. How any human being on Earth is physically able to get to any place we all know. It all seems so far away when we learn about things, grand things, things we build up over time, and yet they are right there, only a plane ticket away.

And then there is history, time being the only barrier to that experience. The only thing we can't reach by plane, is the past. That is why we have art.
"Painting is just another way of keeping a diary."

-Pablo Picasso

And so I give you the Mona Lisa. A piece of history, a piece of time on display for the world, the whole of humanity to see. Awe-inspiring.



I think I may have found the spectacle of people running to see her more entertaining in the moment, than seeing her myself...still amazing though. And building in my wonder.



BIG HUG

"I'm late, I'm late...

...for a very important date. No time to say 'hello'. Goodbye. I'm late. I'm late. I'm late."

White Rabbit, Alice in Wonderland

These last two weeks have been a blur. I have lots of unfinished business, which i promise to tackle after this whirlwind in Ireland. I'm really behind on my trip to Seattle, Oklahoma, packing for Europe and now I'm here. Here, in the most wonderful place I have yet been...Ireland. I adore it! Germany was grand and I didn't see enough to do it justice but even off the plane I could smell the deep green of the lush Irish land and knew...this is where I belong. Jennifer is going to have a hard time pulling my mind to the allures of Paris with this place already occupying it. Funny thing is, Jen and I keep saying "this is just like...in seattle." Or "this reminds me of Portland." We aren't too far off in the northwest, just put some good-looking redheads with accents there and I'm set.
Photos coming soon. For the time being I leave you with this...
The irishman at the front desk of the Avalon House, the hostel we are staying in, was calling the passport office. He needed to get a passport for the next day as his was MIA and he had a very important stag weekend to get to in England. The call went as follows...

Passport operator: "Passport office."
Mr. Irish: "I need to know about an emergency passport."
Passport operator: "Can't be done."
Mr. Irish: "I thought you do it for family emergencies?"
Passport operator: "Are you dying?"
Mr. Irish: "We are all dying, mate. What's your point?"

We are all dying...so live it up. Get out. The world is a big place. Go say hello.
Kiss kiss hug hug BIG KISS little kiss BIG HUG
V

To succeed, we must fall in love...

"There is an intrinsic and basic problem in my life and career. It is a natural consequence of what I do, of who I am, and what I feel. You see, to be a photographer requires an openness and an ability to look deep into someone’s eyes, to regard them with care and affection, and to ultimately fall madly in love with them. There is some discrimination to this, but as I usually choose my subjects, for the most part, it is uncontrollable.

It begins with attraction, and ends with an intimate knowledge of their soul. It involves letting them speak to me, watching carefully, and finding their specialness.

With men, this seems not to be a problem. They quickly become like good friends and confidants. We are able to laugh together, and enjoy each other’s company, but for women (for me), this is a different matter.

I find myself pulled in, looking ever more closely, finding their strength, their delicacy, and their beauty. If they are willing to return the gaze, the game is afoot. In order to succeed, I must slowly disrobe my emotions. I must slowly unveil my feelings, and for the portrait to be successful, she must be willing to do the same. There is a far greater intimacy exposed, although not necessarily in the touch. There is a connection, an openness, an ability to reveal both of ourselves completely, with all our strengths and vulnerabilities. This is a very difficult thing to do, both for me, and for her. It is what distinguishes greatness from mediocrity. How far you are willing to emotionally travel is as important as your talent.

To succeed, we must fall in love, take the pictures, and then slowly take deep breaths, realizing who we are, and walk slowly away from the edge."

Rodney Smith, his blog The End Starts Here, May 4 2010, May I Feel, Said He

All images © Rodney Smith

Think Like A Tree

Think Like a Tree

Soak up the sun
Affirm life's magic
Be graceful in the wind
Stand tall after a storm
Feel refreshed after it rains
Grow strong without notice
Be prepared for each season
Provide shelter to strangers
Hang tough through a cold spell
Emerge renewed at the first signs of spring
Stay deeply rooted while reaching for the sky
Be still long enough to
hear your own leaves rustling.

Karen I. Shragg

When does one settle down?

My mom is a constant source of reflection. She helps me see the inside out and outside all the way in. With Europe quickly approaching, my sister to Afghanistan, Luna in limbo while my mom hovers between Oklahoma and Missouri, it really makes me put my relationships into perspective. How can one gypsy maintain so many deep relationships and fleeting addresses and still remain close? And how long is too long for a life like that? My grandpa asked my mother what could possibly be in Europe that makes a possible visit into a permanent move...my mom answered,
"I don't know and
you don't know and
she doesn't know but
the fact that she must go
is certain."

BIG HUG little kiss little hug BIG KISS BIG KISS

The Trio

"Wherever you are it is your friends who make your world."
William James

Beauty and the Books

"Vanessa, you are constipated.
You need to rid your bowels of that book. Then everything will flow free.
You'll be all good."
-My mom, one of the wisest people I know...and most ridiculous

Last May...over a year ago now, I had a show in LA. My first big solo show. Beauty and the Books, a nude series I shot in Arundel Bookstore in Seattle. It was quite an experience. The evidence is in the form of a book, a gold-embossed, fabric-covered box containing the images from the show and the accompanying poetry of Rex Wilder. Rex is a fantastically talented poet from LA. The collaboration was put together by Phil Bevis. Phil published the book. And due to my underestimation of the books success, I didn't print enough images to currently own a book of my own. Now I'm leaving in August for Paris and I want a copy to have in hand.
Who knew that so many would buy a $500 book?





I'm flying out to Seattle mid August and just hope that when I board the plane to Europe the book will be on board and this project will be at rest.

XOXO to Kelsi, Megan and Yulia my spectacular models and Dawn Tunnell the MUA with the muchness

Strength to Love

Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.

Martin Luther King, Jr., Strength to Love, 1963.