In a recent story I wrote about my love of the human body and photographing the up close, detailed shots of body parts. I call them anatomical landscapes -- sometimes they are so up close, so detailed, that the viewer has to stare at them, trying to figure out what they are; othertimes, you can see what they are.
You just have to look at the photos and the body parts with a new eye.
It's not about sexuality or laciviousness - it's only about the body, the muscle, the skin, the shape, the curve, the texture. It's only about art. God's art, the body's art, the individual's art, the photographer's art.
Art can be found everywhere. Anywhere. It is wherever a person looks for it and finds it. It is in the light AND the shadow. It is in the yin and the yang.
Curves and landscapes can be found all over the body - in the simplest of places; places you wouldn't even think to look.
There is masculinity and femininity in each of us; it's fun to find where they live on each body. And the light and the shadow can be caught on either black and white or colour film.
The saga continues. Each time Facebook bounces me, I feel like it is my duty to put my artwork on the net, somehow. Usually, my blog seems to be the best place for it. After all, it is MY blog. I guess these anatomical landscapes are the pics that did it this time. Personally, I don't find the human body offensive or racy. I think it is beautiful and I say, with no modesty at all, that when I am photographing it, the human body is CERTAINLY beautiful!
I really like the term 'anatomical landscapes'. It is what I see when I look at the body - both as a photographer and as a fitness fanatic.
Is there anything, after all, unseemly about this photo of a beautiful pregnant woman and her doting husband? Not to these eyes. Not to many eyes, I imagine.
As a photographer and as a gay male, I don't find anything EVER offensive about a man without his shirt...
Artistically speaking... do you know what you are looking at?
What I love about the anatomical landscapes is how, if I do my job right, the viewer has to (sometimes) really LOOK to see what they are seeing. It requires some thought, some work. I like work.
In my life I have been asked to do this kind of shot (below) for a LOT of women. You should see them. They're beautiful.
Here we have another of my landscapes. When shooting the body it is ALL about shooting the shadow.
Maybe the man below is the latest photo to get me censored from Facebook. I don't see any more in this picture, though, than I do when I see peoples' photos of their weekends on Fire Island..
Do you see it?
This man seen below is not only wearing his trousers -- he has on a hat!
It's a nice body but it is, after all, just a nice body. For me, this body shot is all about the face.
Below is one of my favourite of the lanscapes! Looks like something you would ski on, no?
You can't even tell if he is naked, can you? He could have on undies that the viewer doesn't see.. It is all about the suggestion. Suggest everything but withould everything.
This man is wearing his blue jeans. Nothing wrong with a man in his blue jeans and no shirt, is there? If there is, I'm in trouble. I walk around all the time dressed like this.
I am so jealous of this woman. Aren't you jealous of this woman?
My Musical Theater Voyage of Discovery; The Jerry Herman Files -- Milk and Honey; Miss Spectacular; Mrs Santa Claus
It has been difficult for me to wrap up my little series of blogs about Jerry Herman because the two Broadway musicals that are left for me to write about are MILK AND HONEY and the concept album of MISS SPECTACULAR, which has never been produced on Broadway. The reason I haven’t been able to finish this little process is because I have only ever listened to each of these cds once. Each. I will listen to them again – but I only recently picked up the copies of them that I have and played them. I really liked both of these cds! I never bothered to learn about Milk and Honey, though I had heard the songs Shalom and Milk and Honey on the Tony awards or in Jerry Herman reviews. This show just slipped by me… So I imported it into my Ipod and listened to it on the treadmill at the gym and was delightfully caught up in it! The songs are charming and clever, pretty and melodic; and the performances were very good! So, much to my surprise, I didn’t find myself really interested in making any deletions. I know I will play it again.
MISS SPECTACULAR is a concept album and I don’t know the exact history of the show, whether it has been produced or not; nothing, really. I just got a copy of the cd from a friend and put it into my Ipod and played it and found it delightful. Pat, sitting in the other room, called out to me “Is that a new Jerry Herman musical?” He could just tell by the way the score is written and performed. This cd has some of the best voices you’ll ever find in musical theater – Debbie Gravitte, Michael Feinstein, Christine Baranski, Faith Prince, Steve Lawrence and the one and only Karen Morrow. These voices, alone, make owning this cd a must – but it turns out that the songs are all as great as I would have thought they would be! Yay!
Finally, I would like to touch upon the movie soundtrack to MRS SANTA CLAUS. It’s a Christmas movie with a score by Jerry Herman in which Angela Lansbury plays the title role. Now. You KNOW I have the dvd and the cd and that I watch the movie and listen to the album, don’t you? I think it is lovely, it’s charming. It’s the kind of holiday movie that, I am sure, touched some pre-teen gay boy and made him fall in love with musicals, just the same way Hello, Dolly did to me. I am a big supporter of Mrs Santa Claus and I am looking forward to (a lot) watching it this holiday season.
I have been wanting to write a story about Jerry Herman for awhile .. I think it’s time. I feel a blog coming on.
The Picture Down The Hall: The Tony Awards Album 5
Marissa ACTUALLY managed to scoop up all the Tonys for herself! It is an impossible feat - but if a person has enough determination, anything is possible.
Jeremy is a superhero who can look through Tony.
When Aaron and Shannon visited from Florida, Pat and the Tonys tour guided them around the city, Pat and the Tonys being native New Yorkers...
Mary-Margaret and Scott needed each others' assistance to get ahold of all the Tonys -- and, even then, one of the Tonys had to balance on MM's knees!
Tony isn't greedy. He is happy with one Tony and one Tallulah.
Like all good couples, Anthony and Dominick know how to share: one Tony apiece is enough.
I eat a lot of sweet potatoes. They are delish and they are complex carbohydrates – that means they will give you fuel without making you fat. I eat them in the fall and winter when my trainer and I are bulking me up, building me more muscle. You should google search the difference between simple carbohydrates and complex carbohydrates to fully understand why one type is good for you and the other isn’t. Talk to a nutritionist or a doctor or read up on it, ok?
Here’s the thing about sweet potatoes and yams (google that, too, to learn the difference between them). I double wrap them in tin foil and I bake them until they are soft to the touch. Really soft and gushy, ok? I don’t like them when they are on the harder side – when they have been baked so long that they become soft and gushy, they carmelize and make natural sugars. Most people have to put a lot of junk on their sweet potatoes/yams. Butter. Sugar. Brown Sugar. Marshmallows. Bullshit. No, not on the food. That’s what I think about ruining the taste of a good sweet potato with all that other stuff. Bullshit. If you bake these root vegetables to the point of being really soft, the point where they actually do make their own natural sugars, you can eat them warm from the oven and be HAPPY. You can pre bake them and put them in the fridge and re heat them or just grab them and eat them cold. I love them like that. I put them, wrapped, in the fridge and when I need a fast snack or some fast fuel or something sweet, I grab one, unwrap it and eat it (sometimes with a fork, sometimes with my fingers) and they are delicious cold.
In the video I show you a way that Pat and I do it, on occasion, for a treat.
Take the potato (whether freshly baked or out of the fridge), slice it, throw in a small handful of jumbo flame raisins (my favourites but you can use Thompson if you want) a sprinkle of cinnamon, a drizzle of honey ONLY a drizzle and then close it back up and zap it in the microwave for a few seconds. It heats up the honey and raisins and makes them juicy and tender. It’s REALLY yummy. Pat and I only do this now and then, though; it’s a lot of sugar.
Another thing we do is to take a non stick skillet and heat up some walnut oil or peanut oil and when it is hot, toss some pecans in it. After about a minute of warming the nuts through, I drizzle on a small drizzle of honey and after 30 seconds, empty the pan onto the baked sweet potato. Also delish.
It’s autumn. It’s cold. You can eat these without guilt.
I'm simple and complex. My friends seem to like me and strangers either want to get to know me or cannot get away from me fast enough. I think I am kind, though not always outgoing. I think I am friendly, though sometimes aloof. I am a mass of contradiction and, to quote Katharine Hepburn: "stone cold sober, I find myself absolutely fascinating." At my core is this: I love hard, I believe faithfully, I embrace honesty and if I am in your corner, you will never have a greater ally. PS. I have been espoused to the same amazing man for 20 years and, no, we are not monogamous. That's part of what keeps us so strong together. Ask me anything.
PLEASE NOTE: I discuss everything in this blog from show biz to health and fitness; from spirituality to sexuality. This is a blog for ADULTS and people with OPEN MINDS.
Those Tonys sure know how to make Hansrobyn and David laugh.
Dana shows her best winner's smile for the camera.
Those Tonys sure know how to make Hansrobyn and David laugh.
Dana shows her best winner's smile for the camera.
