Merry Christmas
Do you hear what I hear?
My Friend Mara and I have been creating a Christmas card together for many years. We collaborate on the theme, and Mara acts it out for me to photograph. Usually the ideas bubble up out of Mara’s highly entertaining unconscious, but this year we got our inspiration from a popular political figure - guess who!
Unfortunately we can’t divulge the identity of the dead body, although many people have expressed their theories as to who it might be.
New York Tyrant Cover Shoot
A few months ago, Chris March (brilliant designer from Project Runway Season 4) sent me a note asking if I’d be interested in doing a cover shoot of him for a literary magazine, New York Tyrant. I suggested a trade - I would do the cover shot if he’d come back to my place and do a quick portrait for me.
Chris put me in touch with Tyrant’s editor, GianCarlo Di Trapano, and we set up a date. As soon as I heard his concept I knew it would be a total blast. He wanted to have Chris in a bear suit sitting on the steps of the New York Public Library. How did he know that I’m a huge bear fan? The human kind, of course!
We did the library shots with GianCarlo lurking in the background wearing a fabulous pig mask. Then we went back to my place where Chris agreed to put the bear suit back on, and GianCarlo volunteered to take off his suit and put on the bear head. This was one of those days when I just love my life!!!
WHAT’S WITH CALIFORNIA?
I felt so proud to be an American on the night of November 5th when we elected Barack Obama as our president.
And so ashamed the next day when California voters outlawed same-sex marriage. In the wake of such an enormous step forward for our country and the world, that step backward for gay people seemed all the more small-minded, petty, and spiteful.
Do people really think that the love between beautiful people like my friends Matt and Angelo is going to hurt them somehow? I just don’t get it.
THANKS TO THE SEX CARNIVAL
What fabulous friends I have!
I had been trying to carve out some time to figure out how to use this blog when along came my friend Viviane. She’s a famous sex blogger - www.thesexcarnival.com - and she offered to help me get this thing started.
She gave me all kinds of tips, installed my rss feedburner feed, added some other stuff - and now I’m trying to see if I can understand my notes. YIKES! This is not as easy as it looks.
But in the meantime, I thought I’d post a carnivalesque image in Viviane’s honor. It’s from Dark Odyssey’s Summer Camp, an event that Viviane and I both love. I took the picture on a beautiful balmy night around midnight, when everybody was down at the bonfire, beating drums and dancing and spinning fire pois.
WELCOME TO MY BLOG
The house where I grew up in Alaska, perilously close to the evil empire of Putin
Actually, I’m setting up this blog to tell you the little stories behind my photographic adventures, and I’m sure I’ll have lots to tell in the upcoming months - after I figure out how to work it!
But in the meantime, a Czech guy named Rick recently sent me this note. Aside from being funny, it’s so appropriate to the times that I can’t resist sharing it:
Dear Barbara,
What a surprise I got when I was googling to find ways to spell the name Barbara and there you were right at the top of the list. Ironically Barbara Bush came second. Love the work and may even buy a book or two, though living in the former Eastern Bloc money is tight, though thankfully that moron Bush has so screwed your economy it makes dollar based goods pretty cheap for us now.
I hope you will beat down the CDA [he didn't realize we had already lost it], it seems so typically US to have cutting edge photographers like yourself and then crazy bible belt folk believing the Bible so literally. Something we Europeans will probably never understand. Why you managed to get rid of your 42nd pres because he spilt some spunk on a young girl’s dress, here in the Czech Republic the President has openly admitted to having a girlfirend and a Lovechild!!!! and no one really cares that much.
In fact so much so that the prime minister went and did the same thing to boost his popularity ratings.
Anyway all the best and sorry about the spelling. [I corrected the spelling]
Rick
