Beanie Cap Guy

Congratulations California...

There are moments when I wonder why I do this blogging thing. And then there are moments when I feel like it's one of the best things I've ever done for myself. There are those who will visit here and feel like they've just come upon one of the most self-absorbed people on the planet. And there are those who will read a little and look at some of the pictures and totally get what's going on. And there are those who won't get it at all and still keep coming back because they're thinking that at some point they're going to get where all of this is going. Well, if you haven't gotten it yet, let me help you out a little.

I've been feeling life intensely ever since I can remember. I was born with the doors and windows all open - everything comes in all the time all at once and man oh man does it get crazy here inside me sometimes. I create things because it gives all of this energy moving in me and through me, somewhere to go. I write because I'm trying to figure out who I am. My life is often chaotic and I'm constantly trying to figure out how to make it simpler, which feels most of the time like an exercise in futility.

Imagine...

The Real Me [with caveats]

First mate Paolo on one of my sailboat trips through the Greek Islands asked if he could play with my camera for a few minutes while we were having a beer at a little cantina on the island of AntiPaxos. I don't usually let people play with or take pictures with my cameras but he didn't so much ask as he just took it out of my hands saying, "Fammi vedere un attimo."  Let me see that a minute...

Notes on this picture of me that Paolo took:

I don't have a grey beard. It's the zinc in the sunscreen.

That's my natural hair color and those are my natural curls.

I'm glad my legs were together, aren't you?

I cannot even remotely imagine my body anymore without my tattoos. I used to sit or position my legs so that it didn't look like I was trying to show off my tatts. Now I don't care - I sit the way I'm most comfortable and if the tatts show they show and if they don't they don't. That's how I know my ink and I have become one.

This Is Where I Grew Up...

This is the view from a bridge in Rome called Ponte Umberto that spans the Tiber River in front of the Justice Palace. For almost fifty years now I've stood at this same spot looking due west towards St. Peter's across the ancient Bridge of Sant-Angelo in front of the Castle of Sant'Angelo and wowed at the grandeur of it all. When I was a kid those buildings were all blackened from soot, exhaust and the grime of ages. Imagine my surprise when they started cleaning everything up for the 2000 Jubilee and all of these beautiful white buildings started appearing!

The bridge you see in the foreground, Ponte Sant'Angelo, is open to foot traffic only now. Ditto for Ponte Milvio which is the oldest standing bridge over the Tiber. When I was a kid in the sixties both of those bridges were still open to cars even though they were never built for that kind of weight and wear.

Rome is looking pretty wonderful these days and the city is trying hard to get rid of as much automobile traffic in its historic district as possible. Florence did a good job of getting rid of most of the cars in its historic district but I think Rome is going to have a harder time of it. She's three thousand years old - her roots go deep both literally and figuratively. Change doesn't usually come easily or quickly for her.

I started taking people on tours of Rome when I was about nine. Seems kind of crazy to me now but at the time it was absolutely no big deal because I knew the city like the back of my hand and it was fun to show people the sights. I wonder if Americans will travel there this summer as much as they usually do since the dollar is so weak against the euro.

Still One Of My Favorites...

I took this picture of a father and his sons at the Tivoli Gardens east of Rome in the summer of '06. It remains, out of the tens of thousands of pictures I've taken over the past many decades, one of my favorites. Can you guess why? If you're the one with the answer that most closely matches what's in my heart I'll send you a Pussy Cap.

The rest of the pictures from that particular visit to Villa d'Este are here.

It's In The Eyes...

When I shoot closeups of people my focus is on the eyelashes; it's virtually impossible for me to focus anywhere else on a person's face. My lenses all know the routine and can practically do it themselves. I sometimes have to remind myself though, to turn the autofocus off when I'm using my digital cam. It's innacurate and it's lazy making and it betrays the style that I've invested most of my life developing.

If a person's eyelashes aren't in focus in a closeup I basically consider the picture a tosser. If I'm shooting fast or my eyes are tired it happens. 

Frog & Snake...

When Steve's pond was first filled with water and a couple of waterlilies I bought him an iron frog and an iron snake as pondwarming presents. They found a lovely home on the sunning rock that was originally intended for the turtles.

In the beginning one of the turtles took a particular interest in the very non-responsive Mr. Frog...

When Mr. Frog refused to have anything to do with them the turtles turned their attention to the koi and started eating them. Buh bye turtles. A year later both Mr. Frog and Mr. Snake have maintained their comfortable homes on the turtle-free sunning rock which has developed a patina of algae under its covering of crystal clear pond water.

Mr. Frog and Mr. Snake are clickable of course and welcome your comments. 

Awww.....

Rethinking Nudity...

Most of you know by now that I've been photographing nudes for most of the 25 years that I've been shooting professionally. I love the naked human body - I love mine and I love those of others. It's a fascination that started very young and extends way beyond the parameters of sex and/or sensual desire. I've tried explaining it over the years and always feel a little frustrated that I can't quite put into words what it is that I like so much about naked bodies. So these days I mostly let the images speak for themselves.

Starting somewhere in the early to mid eighties there was a renaissance of sorts where nude photographic images are concerned. Nowhere was that more obvious than in the photographs of naked or nearly naked men. Women's bodies had already been explored in depth through countless photographer's eyes and offered to the public vis-a-vis magazines like Playboy and Hustler. But the naked male remained something of a taboo here in the States until photographers like Bruce Weber and Herb Ritts started introducing us to unabashedly erotic images of men. The floodgates opened and pretty much overnight our world became awash with men in various states of undress. Where women's bodies had been used almost exclusively to sell, now men's bodies were being added to the mix. And guess what? It worked.

The Secret World of Yarn...

For several years now I've been combining two of my great passions into the Pussy Cap adventure: photography and crocheting. Somewhere a few years ago I started playing around with doing closeups of some of my beanies and what I saw happening intrigued me enough to keep doing it. Some of the pix have been posted on the Pussy Cap website but there's lots more on my hard drive that haven't seen the light of day yet. Here are a couple of new ones. To get the full effect you prolly outta click 'em...

Shirley Q. Liquor...

Some are loving her and others hating on her. Prolly no middle of the road here. I'm still laughing my ass off. So sue me, she's hysterical. Don't watch this unless you're somewhere that it don't matter if you laugh out loud.

In case you didn't figure it out, Shirley is a white boy in black face.

Clock Vine...

Clock Vine or Thunbergia puts on a spring and summer show that's unlike anything else in most gardens. The vine, which can also be effectively used as a groundcover, is usually covered with these brilliant orange blossoms that can be seen clear from the back forty. The vine pictured here, which is growing in part-shade, is just getting started with its spring bloom. Grown in full-sun it will completely cover itself in blooms. I planted this one about eight months ago from a little one gallon plant. It sat quietly for a few months trying to decide if it liked its new surroundings or not. But once it decided to take off, zoom zoom!

Thunbergia is one of my favorites because it's easy to grow, puts on a great show and the blooms are just such happy little fellers.

Diana Dennis...

Years ago I worked with Diana Dennis, a dancer turned professional body-builder. I have thousands of pictures of her that we created together and as is often the case I've forgotten about a lot of them. In my journeys through my archives I often come across images that I forgot I had - some of them worth scanning and others just fun to look at and remember their origins. After the jump are a couple of images of Diana that I actually quite like and have decided to add to my online portfolio. Since they're full-frontal nudes I'm keeping them off the front page of the blog and letting you make the choice as to whether to look at them or not. They're all clickable if you wish to see them larger.

A Year In The Life Of A Pond...

The koi & lily pond I created for Steve Benson is a year old this month. It's been fascinating to watch its evolution and to feel the satisfaction that comes from having done something that came together so nicely and is so much a part of the earth. Here's a pictorial as we follow a year in the life of a pond...

February '07

March '07...

Between A Rock And A Hard Spot...

I think I know how Mr. Frog feels sitting all day between his rock and a hard spot. A few weeks ago I sent a general email message out to everybody on my various lists and asked them not to forward mass forwarded messages onto me anymore. And now I'm in the dog house with people I actually like a lot and care for who were incensed that I'd make such a request.

I have several different emails and each of them serves a specific purpose in the scheme of things. I'm in communication with a lot of people all over the country and for that matter, all over the planet. Forwarded cutesy messages with blinking bunnies and baskets of adorable golden retriever puppies come at me sometimes by the dozens. I long since stopped reading them but every once in awhile when I make the mistake of caving in I find an admonition at the end of it to forward it onto 12 people and if I do I'll have 12 years of good luck or something extra special will come my way in 15 minutes.

grrrrrrr.....