Photo Shoot with Tony, NYC

After being back in NYC for a few days, and finally cleaning out the studio of all the junk that accumulated there while I away, I started shooting again today. My model was Tony (Antonio) Leonardo, who at 43, is a sexy, masculine, and very sweet Italian-American living in Hell's Kitchen.

Photo Shoot with Scott #2 - Abstract Nudes

As expected, I did a second shoot with Scott and once again I am extremely pleased with the results. As we began to explore at the end of our first shoot, I've come across a concept that I want to pursue further -- glass brick nudes. Everyone that I've shown these first series of images to has been very excited and positive in their feedback about the potential of this project. They have even gone as far as saying they would like a print to hang in their homes. I can see this becoming an extensive series and an unique exhibit. Expect to see more of this style of photo in the future as I shoot other models of varying body types/builds/ethnicities and hopefully even couples.

XTRA! Magazine

Happy to see that the portrait I did of Cijay Morgan here in Edmonton has finally appeared in the May issue of Xtra! published out of Toronto. This was my first shoot for the magazine and hopefully more work will come of it. Here's the photo that ran -- click on this link to see how it turned out and to read the full article.

Analyze this!

Here is but one of the many dreams that I had last night. I am in a tug-of-war with an almost full-grown lion or tiger (not quite sure which, or maybe it was both) cub over meat. What seemed to start off as just a large bone in the scramble to keep possession of it turned into a full roast-sized piece of meat by the time the lion/tiger finally won possession of it. I felt I couldn't challenge the animal any more because it was still "wild" even though I really did what to control it. But I also let it have that piece because I knew I had a full-side of beef size piece of meat put away where the lion/tiger couldn't get at it. Make any sense to you? It actually all makes sense to me. Scary huh.

I also had another dream where I was showing someone a very large tank (think aquarium only bigger) where sharks were hiding under/amidst the sea plantlife. I was using a wooden chair to show them how the sharks would attack, which a large one did, once you started poking around. I can't remember much more of this one so it doesn't make nearly as much sense to me.

There was also an elevator dream which ended with a short french woman and I running through a parkade to evade the other passengers who were in pursuit because we hadn't held the elevator for them. Well it was more complicated than that but you get the idea. Signficant factor the elevator was going down.

Anyway I'd be happy to hear anyone's idea what they think this all might mean or if you are into dream intrepretation at all I'd like to hear what all the images symbolize. Or maybe not.

Edmonton Queen

I attended the book signing of an old friend of mine, Darrin Hagen, who's book The Edmonton Queen has just been republished on its 10th Anniversary. Darrin delighted the crowd by reading from this and his other book, Tornado Magnet at Audrey's Books. The hilarious accounts of his drag persona, Gloria Hole, and the defunct gay club Flashback and all its tawdry characters took me back 20 years -- a time when I was first hitting the nightclubs here in Edmonton. Apart from being a talented drag queen, Darrin is a gifted storyteller and performer and I'm thrilled to see him having such success. I have countless personal memories of Gloria Hole: how she used to terrorize patrons when she bartended at Flashbacks; performing "This is My Life"; in her Star Trek catsuit serving jello shooters on the bus ride to one of my Hell parties; playing the accordian as a contestant on the live gameshow Panic; and just too many wondrful nights at the clubs to list. Thanx Darrin for being truly one-of-a-kind!

Photo Shoot with Scott

After years of talking about doing a shoot, Scott McLeod and I finally were finally able to do it today. Although this isn't the exact shoot I want to do with Scott -- we both want to do shoot outdoors -- I thought it would be good to get him in front of the camera and become comfortable with posing nude. As it turns out, Scott was very relaxed and consequently we got some remarkable images. The other wonderful thing about our session is that I discovered a new abstract concept that opens up a whole new series of photo shoots. Scott will be my first subject.

Figure study - legs

You'd Scream Too!

OK since I posted one of my favourites the other day, I'll add this one too since it has to qualify as one of my all-time faves. Thanx to Lady Bunny for turning me on to this one.

BOM CHICKA WAH WAH

I love this commercial! This is perhaps the funniest commercial I've seen on TV in a long time, made only funnier by trying to show someone who's never seen the advertisement what happens in it. C'mon you try those moves.

The New Hilton Hotel

Paris Hilton ... jail ... Paris Hilton in jail ... hehehe!
Her porn video from there should be quite interesting.
Bye Paris, enjoy your 45-day stay in your new Hilton Hotel and maybe think about whether there's anyone with as much money as you that could possibly be any dumber.

I Heart NY but ...

NEW YORK - New York City produces nearly 1 percent of the nation's greenhouse gas emissions — an amount that puts it on par with Ireland or Portugal — according to a city study.

The study, released Tuesday, was ordered by Mayor Michael Bloomberg to assess the city's progress in reducing its greenhouse gas emissions by 30 percent by 2030. It was conducted by the mayor's Office of Long-term Planning and Sustainability.

"You have to have a real baseline or we're just talking past each other as to what works and what doesn't work — we won't ever know whether we really made a difference," Bloomberg said.

The study found that the buildings, subways, buses, cars and decomposition of waste in America's most populous city produced a net emission of 58.3 million metric tons of greenhouse gases in 2005. The report said the city's emissions "are currently as much as those of Ireland or Portugal."

The U.S. total was 7.26 billion metric tons for that year.

Greenhouse gases, including carbon dioxide, methane and other gases, essentially trap energy from the sun, which warms the Earth's surface and lower atmosphere. Many scientists believe human activity that increases those gases is contributing to global warming.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, a United Nations network of 2,000 scientists, warned last week of possible catastrophic risks such as floods, disease, food shortages, species extinction and human suffering throughout the world.

The city has 2.7 percent of the country's population — 8.2 million of 300 million — and the average New York City resident contributes less than a third of the emissions generated by a typical American. This is largely due to the popularity of the city's mass transit system, which cuts down on car emissions, officials said.

The operation of the city's hundreds of thousands of buildings — which consume electricity, natural gas, fuel oil and steam — contribute 79 percent of the city's emissions total.

The study found that the city's focus on environmentally friendly initiatives — including alternative fuel vehicles, energy efficient traffic lights and green buildings — appears to have helped stabilize emissions rates in recent years.

"Each one of these things really does make a difference, and they add up," Bloomberg said.

Still, emissions were found to have increased by more than 8 percent between 1995 and 2005, the study found.

Bye Bye Ruby

Attended the final Edmonton performance of local drag queen extraordinaire, Ruby Slippah at the Roost tonight. As usual Ruby did not disappoint. Also leaving the city is her roommate Michael aka 'Pepper' Dore (included in the photo) who is heading to Toronto for film school. All I can say is words Ruby said herself "Look Out Toronto!"

In Memory of Richard "Dickie" Teha ........... (May 4, 1979 - March 4, 2007)

Dustin and I went to the funeral today of a very unique artist, a co-worker, and our pal, Richard "Dickie" Teha, who was truly one-of-a-kind! I'm posting this collection of photos that I took of him; working as a bartender at Woody's, appearing in the Christmas show at Buddys, and marching in the 2006 Gay Pride Parade as a reminder of what an absolutely great guy and crazy character he was. It is with profound sadness we say good-bye. You will missed Dickie - may God have lots of paints in heaven for you to dip your balls in.

In Memory of Leo Jackson

I received the call today from my parents, that my Dad's brother - Uncle Leo had died shortly after breakfast. In the past few weeks he had been quite ill but had managed to keep pulling through even the worst conditions. So it was still somewhat of a surprise. At 78, as he said himself just the day before he died, he had managed to outlive the age of his own father and joked with Dad about sticking around a few more years to outlive their mother's age (my grandmother died in our home at 81). When Mom & Dad brought him a coffee (decaffeinated - unbeknownst to him) and two old fashioned donuts in the hospital in Dawson Creek he told them "It was like money from home." Although I hadn't seen Leo in many years, I spoke to him frequently as he called Dad every morning and sometimes I was the one to pick up. He was hugely interested that I had begun to research the Jackson family tree and always wanted to know if I had discovered more. I have wonderful memories of both my Uncle Leo and my Aunt Laura, when they and their five kids (my cousins Anita, Teresa, Brenda, Guy and Blake) lived in Edmonton back in the 60s. Uncle Leo marks the last of my Dad's immediate family and he will be sorely missed and lovingly remembered. God's speed Uncle Leo.

Photo Shoot #2 with Jon

Photo Shoot with Rodrigo in Ajusco

Once again, Rodrigo and I made the long, hot trek out of Mexico City to shoot in Ajusco. As was the case last time, we once again had a very successful shoot and got remarkable images. I love shooting this man! He has a natural affinity to the camera, understands what the photographer is looking for, has incredible concentration and patience, and is as interested in creating provocative images as I am. How can you go wrong with a model like that! I could do an entire exhibit on Rodrigo himself. Hopefully one day I will.

Photo Shoot with Rulo

We Need to Talk About Kevin

Finally finished the novel, We Need to Talk About KEVIN by Lionel Shriver. My good friend, Jennifer, loaned it to me ages ago and said it was a must read. Now, I'm not sure if I should thank her or hit her. It was a very disturbing account of a ficticious high-school mass-murder, much like that of Columbine, except the story is told entirely from the point of view of Kevin's mother, in an endless series of letters to her estranged ex-husband. Initally a slow read (I'd read a chapter/letter and put it down), once I actually got into it, I couldn't really put it down. And truthfully, the further I got along -- especially the last 50 pages, the more I couldn't wait for it to finally end. But I have to say the final chapter and the final page caught me completely off-guard. I love that! Anyway, I'd recommend it to anyone. Not a fun read but a profound literary experience.

Trust, my next book, by one of my all-time favourite authors, Augusten Burrough's POSSIBLE SIDE EFFECTS is much, much lighter fare.

Jackson needs ...

OK this is hilarious, my good and twisted pal Daryn, sent me a chain email that what you do is type in your name followed by the word "needs" into whatever search engine you use and see what the first thing to come up is.

For Daryn it read (not a word of a lie - google it yourself):
Daryn needs something new because "He never got Viagra when we were dating!"

For me, it read (and I'll list the top three)
Jackson needs new priorities.
Jackson needs God!
Jackson needs to become a muslim.

I so wouldn't look good in a burka - well at least I don't think I would.

Anyway ... try it for yourself. I'd love to hear some of your results, leave them in comments if you want.

Photo Shoot with Otto - Queretaro, Mexico