quiet

©Yoram Roth

NYC

the orchestrated flow of sound

gently fills the air

as all the night owls 

close their eyes

the world is quick to fall asleep

inconsequential dissonance breaking up the quiet

so we wait for dawn

another day

when all the noise will go

away

lost not found

©Chip Willis

a card full of memories
swallowed by the abyss of the erasure
lost but only slightly faded

covered in dirt and riddled with chills
she waits to find it all

an impossible mission
dauntingly forgettable
never mind the unended-ness

she gallops off into the darkness
with determined hope
and realistic fear

finally

I've been focusing fully on my other "self" lately, shooting lots of pretty pictures of munchkins, hot chicks and commercial jobs.  In the midst, I have bordered on ignoring the model me that is currently featured in Carrie Leigh's NUDE.  8 pg spread with work from some of my favorites, Vernon Trent, Dave Aharonian, April-Lea Hutchinson to name a few.   The article's not bad either.  To quote a friend "I learned some new things about you."  Lots of questions answered...

A fantastic art publication that seems to be published quarterly but missed its mark for this issue.  Nonetheless, its available now.  Seemingly only through the website, so its my duty to post it here!  

Go here for your Current Issue of NUDE  Get one, you'll like it.  Get two and ill sign it :)

on the road

©CNirvana

Finished it.  

the book.  this leg of the journey. 

heading home.

for a day, maybe two.

alone in another hotel room, i entertain myself...

last sleep

© April-Lea

'you're pretty in the dark' is all i can muster

as i watch you sleeping peacefully

and the light of day creeps in to break our silence

i can't sleep again

my head hurts from all the circles 

i've been running

in my dreams

my eyes water as my head throbs

with the weight of this lovestruck hangover 

often too much to bear

the wishing wanting waiting worried

that I may miss you more than most 

is what weighs heaviest on my 

burdened soul

sighing, in the breathless air

just to feel you breathe again, 

your wind on my cheek 

and breeze in my hair

longing to be wrapped within the strength of your arms

whisper in your ear

as you hold me tight enough to let me fall asleep

what i really miss

another day

©Malcolm Grant

in the mix of monotony and variety that my life has become to be, sometimes i have a shoot that consists of a few consecutive minutes.  these minutes compound, mixed with friendly banter, humorous interaction and often pure delight in the connection with the photographer and congeal into a sequential hour.  and by the end of that hour its time to have a beer.

sometimes those few moments are just enough.  to date, my shortest shoots with some of my favorite people have produced the greatest results.  here are a few from an hour of one of my last days in sydney.  i left my heart there.  ill be back soon

more soon from another shoot with my good friend, zoe wiseman... about 30 minutes of our lives completed, finished with an equally satisfying massage.  yeah my life is that great. be jealous.

don't worry

© Cameron Attree

brisbane, QLD

i've made it through.  brisbane didn't swallow me nor any of my friends.  it didn't even rain.
i am lucky, warm and dry, for as long as i can.
living life as a tourist in western australia this week then heading back to where i may stay.
ill be home eventually, when i find my way.

some people weren't as lucky as i am.  to help those desperately in need that have lost please donate to the efforts.  a little can go a long way.  they are cleaning up slowly but the damage is harsh.

http://www.qld.gov.au/floods/donate.html

every bit is appreciated.

these are the days of our lives

© Justin Lane

sitting in the corner of the brown plaid couch, cuddling with the pillows next to great grandma as little sister sucks her thumb and kneads the turkey flesh of grammy hanner's under arm.   she doesn't mind as her conscious and unconscious mind envelopes the escapades of "days of our lives", slowly progressing through the mediocre, yet some how hard to follow story line of the make believe characters who's lives seem to be never ending, full of drama, ecstasy and disappointment with no resolution until the demise of the character they play, which somehow surpasses normal lifespan or imagination by leaps and bounds.  as i watch and let my mind wander off to my lonely paper dolls with their own far more interesting stories or the pile of pine needles right outside the back door that's left waiting, screaming for my little body to dive right in, i wonder what life would be like in the journey of the make believe.  in this life thats created merely for afternoon entertainment, for those that can bare to watch it, live by it and project their dreams and fascinations in to it, we let our lives trickle away with the mindless drama that ensues between the commercials.


never taking those days seriously but treasuring the memories of wasting time with people that no longer have that opportunity, i pause to wait patiently as the hourglass flips over again for the millionth time in this life.    "Like sands through the hourglass, so are the days of our lives."  sitting here, working hard or hardly working as the line between the former and the latter blur i listen...


"And the young man looked straight forward.
And he heard the other passengers speaking of other things,
or they were reading or trying to sleep.
And they hadn't noticed the magic.
And the young man put his head to one side,
closed his eyes, and pretended to sleep.

There was nothing else to do,
just to listen to the sound of the engine,
and the sound of the tires
in the snow"


Tom Waits- Nirvana

flattered

©Zoe Wiseman
mission, beach, QLD, from Fiat Lux~zoes newest book

on the streets of manhattan today, walking aimlessly to catch the $10 bus, i saw an old friend.  an old flame, who i haven't seen purposefully for years.  in the middle of manhattan we meet, chat under the broken umbrella, share niceties and part ways.  i smile when he says "you look great", dripping wet and covered in my NYC way.   "You have a certain glow." he says,  a phrase thats been repeated often recently.  a relative stranger i met in LA last week acknowledged the same.  As we sat watching the sunset sipping from the $100 bottle of wine he turns to me and says, "you sit here in your appropriately tattered jeans and old navy t-shirt and no make-up and are by far the most radiant woman here".  goes to show, money doesn't make you beautiful.  its something on the inside, something more valuable than dollars or the bottom line.  is it something you can fake?  trick yourself in to believing happy just by smiling deeply on the inside?  one may never know. in the meantime...

im enjoying the changes i've created and looking forward to the subtleties that follow.

color

©Red~

can you look at a picture and create the story?
  what does it say?
can you read between the lines to see what's really there?
  are you sure?
can you skip the good parts just to get to the ending?
  would you?
can you dream in black in white or only in color?
  what was the question again?

soothe

©JMG

snow day, can't runaway

trapped in the mountains of mess and slush 

sometimes all it takes is the right song to make it all ok

"i'll miss you
i don't wish you hurt
i forgive you
i don't wish you away,
away, away"

Soothe- Smashing Pumpkins

sleeping dreams

© PMV

and in the wake of the darkness
the lack of sleep overwhelms
as this empty void beside me grows

attempting to fill the gapping wound
gently removed with the dull blade
found on the end of the table

can you see me now with your closed eyes bleeding?
through this painful sleep
we shall awake on the other side
rested

little monsters

"one day you will have to go
you'll have to learn to live alone


i can't hold your hand anymore
i can't always kiss you better"


from one of my favorite albums "5:55" by charlotte gainsbourg


...and it keeps getting better the farther away i get.

confirmation

©Chris Meredith

"Everything is different now
Don't get on that plane.
Why don't you just stay with me forever"

another day, another airport
another destination, another bed.
she laughs at the monotony of the adventure.

same is different now, some how.  something missing, something big and something oh so small. someday perhaps.

wandering the halls of this port, watching the people.  suits and ties, moms and strollers, wanderers, rushers, day dreamers.  i often wonder what the lives of the other travelera consist of.  making up stories of what I think they might be.  you can't know a person just by looking at them.  assumptions are often wrong and farfetched at best.  those that you do get to know though, really know and connect with are harder to let go of.

saying goodbye has never been easy for me yet somehow i do it almost daily.  letting this person in, reconnecting with that one, sacrificing for the other one. giver, helper, counselor, listener, mom without the baby.   i want everyone to be happy often at the sacrifice of my own.  


karma points...  check please, this one's on me.

hold on to yourself

©Simon Gentry

"I'm so far away from you
Pacing up and down my room"

whirlwind days spent in the city that holds my heart.  one of a select few that i could actually feel settled in given the chance. you feel like home, he says. 

safely in my house, i sit surrounded by my new found kitties getting acclamated to the scent of their new home.  another day, another life changing adventure.  it really only takes a second, a sentence, an eye opening realization to change your future. pay attention or the truth may pass you by.

i spent numerous hours with a woman that has more knowledge, experience, Life in her back pocket than anyone i know. and she is happy.  not like the word that you read in the dictionary but like the idea that you long to experience for at least that one moment because it may be the only one you get.  she has witnessed, counseled and eradicated immense pain and tragedy in her life and the lives of those that she chooses to surround herself with.  it is a choice when you let someone in to your life, she says.  i believe her.  it is more of a punctuation if you allow them to stay.  

the delicate balance of how you fit with him or her is always a challenge, an often endless question.  some combinations are easier than others. some are work, is it really worth it?   the ones that really count cant be explained or defined or let go of.  like two hands holding, things just fit... and sometimes the fingers slip.  but before two, there must be one. 

"You know one day I'll come back and I'd hold on to yourself
To yourself, I'd hold on to yourself"

guest

© Mickle Design Werks

invitation extended 
to the special tea party
table set for 4
1,2,3 plus me


want to be bad
need to be good
the tea tastes bitter despite its sweet smell
as the sipping warms, the flavor grows


basking in the glow of the attendees
we participate in the back and forth banter
to know you is to love you, she says

i missed the sunrise again
for fear of leaving the fluff
the happy hole of darkness
satisfying eternally
full or empty


softness suffocates gently 
the blindfolded beauty, escape the revealry
with the sound of silence deafening 

this too shall pass

©Brian Sullivan

bittersweet softness of girl like wonder
contradiction of the nearby other
complications creating curves that 
follow oh so sweetly the taste of taunting


he who wanders through the thickness
mixed with pondered indifference
listening silently to the gentle breath
of her who wishes they'd never met


crisscross circled swirling
swerved into the middle of nowhere
yet again, always and forever


fevered hotness, equally cold
chilled deeply til the burn aches sweetly
twisted pain alleviating the numbness
next time will be better
i promise

old is new

© Ed Campion

dingy basement, full of treasures

stolen memories neatly bound

in dirty boxes, covered in burnt fairytales

cleaning, sorting, sifting

piles of this and those

once forgotten newly found

beneath the layers of old

that which once was

is quite new again

thought lost found

the light trickles in

tickling the dusty remnants of

all thats left behind

wash, rinse, repeat

the end

©Audie Cleveland

This is the end
Beautiful friend
This is the end
My only friend, the end
It hurts to set you free
But you'll never follow me
The end of laughter and soft lies
The end of nights we tried to die
This is the end

--Jim Morrison

...on to new beginnings

blue moon

©CNirvana

and her moon

2010 is almost upon us and as the year comes to its end the moon becomes blue. second full moon of the month and the first on NYE since 1990. life is changing, as it does. things keep moving because stopping isn't an option. and as the end of a decade comes to a close, the voice of the "King" sings...

"Blue moon,
You saw me standing alone,
Without a dream in my heart,
Without a love of my own.

Blue moon,
You knew just what I was there for.
You heard me saying a pray for

Someone I really could care for."

sometimes you catch the right moment and everything becomes new again...