Monday, October 27, 2008

Three photos of the day: Subtle Editorial Erotic Fashion



Model: Miss B., Film: Ilford B/W 400, Style: Editorial Erotic Fashion
Pantie: Frederick's of Hollywood
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********
*
"On a cold day in April of 1984, a man named Winston Smith returns to his home, a dilapidated apartment building called Victory Mansions. Thin, frail, and thirty-nine years old, it is painful for him to trudge up the stairs because he has a varicose ulcer above his right ankle. The elevator is always out of service so he does not try to use it. As he climbs the staircase, he is greeted on each landing by a poster depicting an enormous face, underscored by the words “BIG BROTHER IS WATCHING YOU.”
.
Winston is an insignificant official in the Party, the totalitarian political regime that rules all of Airstrip One—the land that used to be called England—as part of the larger state of Oceania.
Though Winston is technically a member of the ruling class, his life is still under the Party's oppressive political control. In his apartment, an instrument called a telescreen—which is always on, spouting propaganda, and through which the Thought Police are known to monitor the actions of citizens—shows a dreary report about pig iron. Winston keeps his back to the screen. From his window he sees the Ministry of Truth, where he works as a propaganda officer altering historical records to match the Party's official version of past events. Winston thinks about the other Ministries that exist as part of the Party's governmental apparatus: the Ministry of Peace, which wages war; the Ministry of Plenty, which plans economic shortages; and the dreaded Ministry of Love, the center of the Inner Party's loathsome activities.


WAR IS PEACE
FREEDOM IS SLAVERY
IGNORANCE IS STRENGTH



From a drawer in a little alcove hidden from the telescreen, Winston pulls out a small diary he recently purchased. He found the diary in a secondhand store in the proletarian district, where the very poor live relatively unimpeded by Party monitoring. The proles, as they are called, are so impoverished and insignificant that the Party does not consider them a threat to its power. Winston begins to write in his diary, although he realizes that this constitutes an act of rebellion against the Party. He describes the films he watched the night before. He thinks about his lust and hatred for a dark-haired girl who works in the Fiction Department at the Ministry of Truth, and about an important Inner Party member named O'Brien—a man he is sure is an enemy of the Party. Winston remembers the moment before that day's Two Minutes Hate, an assembly during which Party orators whip the populace into a frenzy of hatred against the enemies of Oceania. Just before the Hate began, Winston knew he hated Big Brother, and saw the same loathing in O'Brien's eyes.



Winston looks down and realizes that he has written “DOWN WITH BIG BROTHER” over and over again in his diary. He has committed thoughtcrime—the most unpardonable crime—and he knows that the Thought Police will seize him sooner or later. Just then, there is a knock at the door."



Chapter one - 1984 - George Orwell




Cheers

Wolf189
http://www.wolf189.com/
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Saturday, October 25, 2008

Three photos of the day: Inferno & Minimalism in Fashion Photography







Model: Tania, Films: Ilford & Kodak B/W 400, Style: Editorial Fashion Portraits
Bra and Pantie: Victoria's Secret





There are various ways to approach minimalism in fashion photography .
The minimalism could be embraced and exhibited in the aesthetics, or in expressions and mood/story or as a combination of both of these major elements.


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"Through me the way is to the city dolent;
Through me the way is to eternal dole;
Through me the way among the people lost.
***
Justice incited my sublime Creator;
Created me divine Omnipotence,
The highest Wisdom and the primal Love.
***
Before me there were no created things,
Only eterne, and I eternal last.
All hope abandon, ye who enter in!"
***
These words in sombre colour I beheld
Written upon the summit of a gate;
Whence I: "Their sense is, Master, hard to me!"
***
And he to me, as one experienced:
"Here all suspicion needs must be abandoned,
All cowardice must needs be here extinct.
***
We to the place have come, where I have told thee
Thou shalt behold the people dolorous
Who have foregone the good of intellect."
***
And after he had laid his hand on mine
With joyful mien, whence I was comforted,
He led me in among the secret things.
***
There sighs, complaints, and ululations loud
Resounded through the air without a star,
Whence I, at the beginning, wept thereat.
***
Languages diverse, horrible dialects,
Accents of anger, words of agony,
And voices high and hoarse, with sound of hands,
***
Made up a tumult that goes whirling on
For ever in that air for ever black,
Even as the sand doth, when the whirlwind breathes.
***
And I, who had my head with horror bound,
Said: "Master, what is this which now I hear?
What folk is this, which seems by pain so vanquished?"
***
And he to me: "This miserable mode
Maintain the melancholy souls of those
Who lived withouten infamy or praise.
***
Commingled are they with that caitiff choir
Of Angels, who have not rebellious been,
Nor faithful were to God, but were for self.
***
The heavens expelled them, not to be less fair;
Nor them the nethermore abyss receives,
For glory none the damned would have from them."
***
And I: "O Master, what so grievous is
To these, that maketh them lament so sore?"
He answered: "I will tell thee very briefly.
***
These have no longer any hope of death;
And this blind life of theirs is so debased,
They envious are of every other fate.
***
No fame of them the world permits to be;
Misericord and Justice both disdain them.
Let us not speak of them, but look, and pass."
***
And I, who looked again, beheld a banner,
Which, whirling round, ran on so rapidly,
That of all pause it seemed to me indignant;
***
And after it there came so long a train
Of people, that I ne'er would have believed
That ever Death so many had undone.
***
When some among them I had recognised,
I looked, and I beheld the shade of him
Who made through cowardice the great refusal.
***
Forthwith I comprehended, and was certain,
That this the sect was of the caitiff wretches
Hateful to God and to his enemies.
***
These miscreants, who never were alive,
Were naked, and were stung exceedingly
By gadflies and by hornets that were there.
***
These did their faces irrigate with blood,
Which, with their tears commingled, at their feet
By the disgusting worms was gathered up.
***
And when to gazing farther I betook me.
People I saw on a great river's bank;
Whence said I: "Master, now vouchsafe to me,
***
That I may know who these are, and what law
Makes them appear so ready to pass over,
As I discern athwart the dusky light."
***
And he to me: "These things shall all be known
To thee, as soon as we our footsteps stay
Upon the dismal shore of Acheron."
***
Then with mine eyes ashamed and downward cast,
Fearing my words might irksome be to him,
From speech refrained I till we reached the river.
***
And lo! towards us coming in a boat
An old man, hoary with the hair of eld,
Crying: "Woe unto you, ye souls depraved!
***
Hope nevermore to look upon the heavens;
I come to lead you to the other shore,
To the eternal shades in heat and frost.
***
And thou, that yonder standest, living soul,
Withdraw thee from these people, who are dead!"
But when he saw that I did not withdraw,
***
He said: "By other ways, by other ports
Thou to the shore shalt come, not here, for passage;
A lighter vessel needs must carry thee."
***
And unto him the Guide: "Vex thee not,
Charon; It is so willed there where is power to do
That which is willed; and farther question not."
***
Thereat were quieted the fleecy cheeks
Of him the ferryman of the livid fen,
Who round about his eyes had wheels of flame.
***
But all those souls who weary were and naked
Their colour changed and gnashed their teeth together,
As soon as they had heard those cruel words.
***
God they blasphemed and their progenitors,
The human race, the place, the time, the seed
Of their engendering and of their birth!
***
Thereafter all together they drew back,
Bitterly weeping, to the accursed shore,
Which waiteth every man who fears not God.
***
Charon the demon, with the eyes of glede,
Beckoning to them, collects them all together,
Beats with his oar whoever lags behind.
***
As in the autumn-time the leaves fall off,
First one and then another, till the branch
Unto the earth surrenders all its spoils;
***
In similar wise the evil seed of Adam
Throw themselves from that margin one by one,
At signals, as a bird unto its lure.
***
So they depart across the dusky wave,
And ere upon the other side they land,
Again on this side a new troop assembles.
***
"My son," the courteous Master said to me,
"All those who perish in the wrath of God
Here meet together out of every land;
***
And ready are they to pass o'er the river,
Because celestial Justice spurs them on,
So that their fear is turned into desire.
***
This way there never passes a good soul;
And hence if Charon doth complain of thee,
Well mayst thou know now what his speech imports."
***
This being finished, all the dusk champaign
Trembled so violently, that of that terror
The recollection bathes me still with sweat.
***
The land of tears gave forth a blast of wind,
And fulminated a vermilion light,
Which overmastered in me every sense,
***
And as a man whom sleep hath seized I fell.


Inferno: Canto III - The Divine Comedy - Dante Alighieri







Cheers

Wolf189
http://www.wolf189.com/
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Sunday, October 19, 2008

Three photos of the day: Editorial Fashion Story




Model: Miss Z., Film: Cross processed Fuji 100 slides, Style: Editorial Fashion


These shots are part of a rather large photo series mostly concentrated on modern editorial fashion style and portrait photography.


The aesthetics of the images varies from each other (based on the light, films/slides which were used etc.), however the compositions, concepts, moods and sensibilities of photos stay rather close to each other.


*********************************************************************
.
.
.
"Black Hole"
.
.
.
I must be dead
since stars above my head
whispering something about their connection
not only to each other
but to me
as well
.
unless it's just another black hole
imitating sky
under a happy blanket
.
.
.


Cheers

Wolf189



Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Saturday, October 18, 2008

Three photos of the day: Romeo and Juliet



Model: Chrys B., Films: Kodak B/W 400, Fuji color 400, Ilford B/W 400
Style of photographs: Editorial Fashion Portraits
.
.
.
Two households, both alike in dignity,
In fair Verona, where we lay our scene,
From ancient grudge break to new mutiny,
Where civil blood makes civil hands unclean.
From forth the fatal loins of these two foes
A pair of star-cross'd lovers take their life;
Whole misadventured piteous overthrows
Do with their death bury their parents' strife.
The fearful passage of their death-mark'd love,
And the continuance of their parents' rage,
Which, but their children's end, nought could remove,
Is now the two hours' traffic of our stage;
The which if you with patient ears attend,
What here shall miss, our toil shall strive to mend.
.
Prologue - Romeo and Juliet - William Shakespeare
.
.
.
Cheers
.
Wolf189
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Three photos of the day: A Grave



Model: Miss A., Films: Ilford B/W 400, Fuji pro color 160, Styles: Editorial Fashion Portraits
Corset: Agent Provocateur



A Grave



Man looking into the sea,
taking the view from those who have as much right to it as you have to it yourself,
it is human nature to stand in the middle of a thing,
but you cannot stand in the middle of this;
the sea has nothing to give but a well excavated grave.
The firs stand in a procession, each with an emerald turkey foot at the top,
reserved as their contours, saying nothing;
repression, however, is not the most obvious characteristic of the sea;
the sea is a collector, quick to return a rapacious look.
There are others besides you who have worn that look -
whose expression is no longer a protest; the fish no longer investigate them
for their bones have not lasted:
men lower nets, unconscious of the fact that they are desecrating a grave,
and row quickly away - the blades of the oars
moving together like the feet of water-spiders as if there were no such thing as death.
The wrinkles progress among themselves in a phalanx - beautiful under networks of foam,
and fade breathlessly while the sea rustles in and out of the seaweed;
the birds swim throught the air at top speed, emitting cat-calls as heretofore-
the tortoise-shell scourges about the feet of the cliffs, in motion beneath them;
and the ocean, under the pulstion of lighthouses and noise of bell-bouys,
advances as usual, looking as if it were not that ocean in which dropped things are bound to sink-
in which if they turn and twist, it is neither with volition nor consciousness.





----Marianne Moore (1887 - 1972)







Cheers




Wolf189


Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City



Friday, October 10, 2008

carrie leigh's NUDE magazine fall 2008



Models: Katisha, Kristin & Tanya Films: Kodak B/W 400 & Ilford B/W 400

Carrie Leigh's NUDE magazine ( fall issue ) in out and you can find it in various book stores.

My work also has been exhibited in the magazine (as seen above) along side to Francois Benveniste, Francis Keating, Chip Willis and others.

This issue also includes an interview with Robert Wuhl.

http://www.carrieleigh.com/Nabout.html

Cheers

Wolf189
http://www.wolf189.com/
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Sunday, October 5, 2008

Three photos of the day: Vote



Model: May, Films: Fuji Pro 160


Well perhaps 3 sets of photos of the day and not 3 individual ones....the aesthetics are closer to snap shots with harsh shadows in the second set while the compositions are on the classic sides but then the moments and poses are a bit over the top in all three sets on purpose. I tend to call these types of shots as "modern editorial fashion portraits" and I always try to do a few of them in each session.


No major digital manipulations and crops has been on the shots as usual.


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Regarding Voting:


By now, the US citizens, either have developed an opinion regarding US Presidential candidates or they are on the fence about it.


My suggestion: If you have chosen your candidate, then make sure that you are registered and you can vote. You can refine your decision up to the day of election of course.


If you still haven't decided who would you like better, you still need to be registered so you can vote when you have made that decision.


Bottom line is if you can vote, you need to vote...it is your right and your duty.


Notable topics that you can make your decision based on it: (just a personal opinion of course)



1. Economy:

The US economy is ill and it is affecting everybody not only in this country but also around the world. The solution is not printing notes or borrowing more money from foreign countries. The solution is to rebuild the small businesses, support local job markets and productions and give a major face life to the credit industry...and to create jobs, have better plans for retirees and support the middle class.

The exotic ways of lending, borrowing and simply playing with money and stocks is one of the ways that small percentage of people made lots of money which was destined to hurt the economy sooner or later. Simple is good...a simple contract for getting a house loan instead of 40 pages of fine prints. Simple but solid lending and trading regulations that could be tracked easily instead of many middle men (banks and institutions) making money for transferring and transforming the funds.

A credit and collection industry that consider people (mildly at least) instead of just lenders and greed.


2. Health Insurance:

The cost of medication and health insurance is ridiculously high in the USA even if people were not in the middle of a financial crisis. A tax break to shop for health insurance would be like getting a bowl of water to fight a burning house. The water would evaporate with little or no effects.

The solution is to cut down the costs, paper works and middle men. Again simple is good. There is no reason the medications should cost few folds higher in this country than many other countries around the world. These additional ballooned costs of health insurance and medical care affecting every aspect of this society including economy and quality of life.



3. War:

Did the USA go to the war for the right reasons? No.

Have the current government handled this "wrong" war in the best way possible? No.

Does the current government have a solid plan for exiting the war? No.

Are the tremendous human and financial sacrifices made, has had a great positive effect on the US citizens' and Iraqi people's lives? No.

Has this war weaken the terrorists around the world? No.

Does the USA has gained more respect around the glob because of this war? No.

(If we were pure greedy evils) Has this war brought some major financial benefits to the US job market which can get trickled down to other segments of economy? No.

Does continuing this war in this extend makes USA a safer country? No.

Does the government have a solid plan and budget for thousands of the emotionally and physically hurt soldiers who are coming back from this war? No.

Does the USA needs to stay in this wrong war which is hurting the country on various levels? No.

Does this wrong war going to help the USA's position in the middle east and specially with its dynamic with IRAN? No.

Does this war going to benefit the future generations? No.



"4,168 US Soldiers Killed, 30,634 Seriously Wounded (as of Sept 17 2008)

Spent & Approved War-Spending - About $600 billion of US taxpayers' funds.

In June 2008, President Bush signed a bill approving about 200 billion more for 2008, which brings the cumulative total to close to $800 billion.

U.S. Monthly Spending in Iraq - $12 billion in 2008

U.S. Spending per Second - $5,000 in 2008

US Troops with Serious Mental Health Problems - 30% of US troops develop serious mental health problems within 3 to 4 months of returning home

Iraq Body Count: Documented civilian deaths violence: 88,037-96,106 "




4. Education:

The very high costs of higher education and the flimsy state of basic education is something to keep in mind. Kids who are going to schools now, are the people who will run the country in a short decade or so.

5. Pollution:

If we continue to hurt our own environment the way are doing now, the future generations will be dealing with a rather grim situation.

6. Energy:

There are more than few reasons to search for alternate sources of energy...from the high costs oil to independence from foreign providers to finding cleaner sources of energy to creating many new jobs in these new endeavours.

7. Food industry:

Hormones, antibiotic flavored meat and poultry, corn syrups etc. etc. Why the quality of food in the USA has gone so low while the rate of cancer patients has gone so high? Why people need to consume much more food and calories to get satisfied? The quality of life in the USA has gone lower during the recent years ... higher rate of obesity, depression and stress which you can detect even in children now.

8. Immigration:

Immigration is and has been one of the major reasons that has made this country unique in many different ways. It is part of the core of this nation, its history and culture. There is a need to sort the matter in a positive and productive way.

9. Poverty:

Many people talk and pretend to care about the middle class, but no body is talking about the growing numbers of the poor people. Many of these people were middle class themselves not so long ago. While the middle class is shrinking rapidly it is the population of poor which is growing much faster than rich.

"In 2006 the poverty rate for minors in the United States was the highest in the industrialized world, with 21.9% of all minors and 30% of African American minors living below the poverty threshold." (http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/webfeatures_snapshots_20060719 )


10. Freedom and fear:

To rule and misdirect people, some governments use the fear tactics.

Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself”: FDR’s First Inaugural Address

Many people willingly sacrifice their rights and freedom because of a fictional or overly exaggerated fear.

The top 10 causes of death in the USA during 2001 (the year of terrorist attack on twin towers)were:

1. Diseases of Heart 700,141

2. Malignant Neoplasms 553,768

3. Cerebrovascular diseases 163,538

4. Chronic lower respiratory diseases 123,013

5. Accidents 101,537

6. Diabetes Mellitus 71,372

7. Influenza and pneumonia 62,032

8. Alzheimer's disease 53,852

9. Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome 39,480

10. Septicemia 32,238

http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nvsr/nvsr52/nvsr52_09.pdf

There is no escape from death. Accept it... " You are going to die. ".

It is the quality of life that matters and all the little things... all the small daily happiness.

How we use our lives and energy...how we can help others and ourselves (when we can and if we can)....that is what matters the most.

Cause of Death Lifetime Odds for the average American:

Heart Disease odds: 1-in-5

Cancer odds: 1-in-7

Stroke odds: 1-in-23

Accidental Injury odds: 1-in-36

Motor Vehicle Accident odds: 1-in-100

Intentional Self-harm (suicide) odds: 1-in-121

Falling Down odds: 1-in-246

Assault by Firearm odds: 1-in-325

Fire or Smoke odds: 1-in-1,116

Natural Forces odds: 1-in-3,357

Electrocution (accidental) odds: 1-in-5,000

Drowning odds: 1-in-8,942

Air Travel Accident odds: 1-in-20,000

Flood odds: 1-in-30,000

Legal Execution odds: 1-in-58,618

Tornado odds: 1-in-60,000

Lightning Strike odds: 1-in-83,930

Snake, Bee or other Venomous Bite or Sting odds: 1-in-100,000

Earthquake odds: 1-in-131,890

Dog Attack odds: 1-in-147,717

Asteroid or Meteor Impact odds: 1-in-500,000

Fireworks Discharge odds: 1-in-615,488

( http://www.popculturemadness.com/Trivia/Bits/Death-Odds.html )



VOTE




Cheers

Wolf189

http://www.wolf189.com/

Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Three photos of the day: Python



Model: Miss B., Films: Ilford B/W 400, Kodak B/W 400, Fuji color 160

I like including animals in photographs when it's possible.

The fact that animals are usually unpredictable, adds an element of danger, realism (and surrealism at the same time) and urgency to photographs, which I am always looking for to capture.

It specially works nicely in fashion and editorial portraits. I'll post other examples in near future.

Cheers

Wolf189
Los Angeles, Las Vegas, Phoenix, New York City