Two for Tuesday: Gerber Eyes

Two for Tuesday, times 2. I just can't decide between color or black and white, but I'm leaning toward the black and white.

Thanks to Kiki for coming into town and for being up for a little reshoot of this floral arrangement. We first made this image (and came close to getting it right) one hot day last summer...or maybe the summer before. Honestly, I can't keep track of time that well anymore. I live in the realm I call the three-plus years. Whenever I want to say something happened two years ago or five or ten, I always add three more years, knowing that my inner calculator is a wonky worn-out contraption prone to underestimating.

What I like about this twosome is that one Gerber daisy fraying at the bottom of the right eye. The imperfection adds interest and texture. Wish I could feel that way about my own imperfections. Imagine how it would feel if they were seen as a lovely and inevitable disturbance, an interesting part of being human.

Beginning of Summer

Almost in.
The breath before the dive under.

Not Forbidden

Getting inspired by my summer series and by this quote from Jeannette Winterson: The artist is an imaginer. The artist imagines the forbidden because to her it is not forbidden. 

Two for Tuesday: Namaste

Sharing the practice of yoga is a bond I can relate to. Yoga is about the only thing in life I'm slightly evangelical about - I really do believe it can help save the world, one body at a time.  So when I saw this twosome walking in Brooklyn one winter day, I ran to catch a photo of them with their colorful green and periwinkle mats that, to me, looked like rolled up tubes of happiness.

This couple is doubly twinned if you look down at their boots -- both worn over jeans, both featuring cool upper straps (also doubles). I don't know what you think, but they seem on their way to yoga, not from, but maybe for people in a city such as New York every walk has the air of all business.

Hope your practice, in whatever form, keeps you beginning again and again. It's said that a beginners mind sees many options whereas an experts sees very few.

Namaste.

Two for Tuesday: Punkadelic

Street corner conversation never looked so festive or so colorful, especially when you consider that this Doc Martin wearing twosome consists of two guys. Not only do I love Mister Captivating himself with his Betty Boop purse, kilt, fishnets, and decoupaged helmet, but I love the amused smile on Mister Muttonchops.

At first glance you could think it's a moment where directions are being explained. The man's outstretched arm seems to be part of the phrase at the top of the hill you turn right, but not when you look more closely at their facial expressions. There's too much emphasis and charm on either side of this dialogue to be about getting from point A to point B. If I had to guess what the man with the coffee cup is saying it'd be more along the lines of And I told him there's no way you can live here anymore with your shitty musical taste and poorly behaved ferrets.

Anyway...it didn't occur to me until now how fitting it is to feature this twosome after last week's American flags, flags that portended the depressing passage of Amendment One in North Carolina's primary election.

This photograph comes from Vancouver, the beautiful and progressive Canadian city on the left coast, where I plan to move if the US sinks more deeply into a cesspool of intolerance, cruelty, and greed. My Vancouver friends think I should start a small company up there now so I can begin planning a solid exit strategy to British Columbia. I'm afraid they're probably right. Maybe my company should sell Betty Boop purses...

Southern Beauty

It's the end of the an ugly week in North Carolina. You know it's rough when your own governor says we look like Mississippi.

That's an insult of the first order, and well earned too since Tuesday's election when 16 percent of the voters showed up at the polls and 60 percent of 'em voted for Amendment One. The amendment outlaws common law unions and nailed more nails into the coffin of gay marriage. Ugly politics matched by ugly so-called Christianity.

But still, there is beauty in these parts. I see it all the time.

For example, this doorknob I discovered yesterday during a trip to the mountains. The cobwebs are a little hymn softly hummed.

And this lovely installation piece found in the back of the house.

Two for Tuesday: Election Day

A twosome of American flags seems perfect for this nerve wracking election day in my home state of North Carolina. It's what the folks of Mayberry would call a real humdinger. Amendment One, the erroneously named "gay marriage" amendment, is on the ballot and all I can say right now is this: if it isn't defeated, the dark forces have officially taken over.

Right now, I relate to the toy fire truck parked on the windowsill in this photograph - I want to remain innocent and feel sweet about this country of ours. But if this nefarious legislation passes, my feeling of defeat will enter into the black chamber of despair.

Levitation No. 1

The work is lifting off lately and I am happy to say that. Four times now I've visited the same incredible porch, working with the same expressive woman who is up for anything. You can't get much for up that this shot, you know?

This image is everyday magic. No photoshop nothin. Just a little crop and a whole lot of juju.

Feeling lighter never looked so good to me.

From Milan Kundera's novel, The Unbearable Lightness of Being:
So which one is better - lightness or weight?
Parmenides, a philosopher in the sixth century BC, considered this question and decided that lightness was better.

Two for Tuesday: Doubled Up

Last month I went to the beautiful Red Rocks amphitheater in Denver and became mesmerized by this woman and man sitting side by side. I just loved her sweaty shirt, the way she rested her arm on her husband's back, their general comfort and closeness. Their color combo also drew me in.

The funny thing about photographing this twosome was I kept hoping to get everyone else out of the frame. The amphitheater is a busy place with lots of people roaming and running, exercising up and down those seemingly endless set of stairs. Finally I gave up. I just took the shot, deciding to keep in the two little people sitting in the front row.

I'd realized that the twosome at the bottom were their children, but I hadn't appreciated how perfectly they mimicked their parents. Boy/ girl, pink shirt/striped shirt.

I wondered about this shot since it looks so geometric you'd think I planned it. Did my eye see it but my conscious mind didn't? Whatever the answer, I am grateful for the image, and grateful for my lovely friend Lindsay, who brought me to this wondrous place.