A Woman In Berlin

I saw the movie "A Woman in Berlin" over the weekend and it left quite an impression on me. It's interesting because it is yet another aspect to this horrible war. It is based on a published diary that was written anonymously by a former journalist and photographer who was one of thousands of women raped in Berlin in the wake of the 1945 Red Army invasion. Anonyma was one of the few German women to report on the rapes and the ways in which the women succeeded in surviving, often by aligning themselves sexually with a "protector." The book was denounced and virtually banned upon its publication in Germany in 1959, five years after its appearance in an English translation, and its author, known only as "Anonyma," vowed it would only be republished after her death.

The director Max Färberböck does a good job of depicting bombed-out Berlin at that time and I think Nina Hoss who plays Anonyma does a wonderful job portraying the woman trying to survive under the given circumstances. I loved all the characters that are part of the movie, from the Russian major to the other occupants in the main building. Well acted and beautifully shot. Oh and you'll recognize a few actors from Tarantinos new movie "Inglorious Basterds".

I'm back

I'm back from Switzerland. What a beautiful country.

Few of my friends. I like how the alp cows all have names that the farmers actually use. I have to say being an alp cow is not a bad life.

Both images were taken on top of the "Sandhubel". It's one of my favorite places in the world.

Oh, hello.

Huntress

Model: Ms. Rosalinda
Make up: Mrs. Lauren Weber
Styling: Me

I might add some more pics later, I still have a bunch to look through. I would like to add that I'm very thankful to everybody who chooses to work with me. They all always work for free. Without their generosity I simply wouldn't be able to do what I love doing.

Huntress - Preview

Super great weekend. I got so see "District 9" which I loved. Sunday, finally a new shoot. I've been itching to do another shoot. This one I was especially excited about because I got to work with new people. Several years back I asked my good friend Rosalinda to sit for one of my portraits. She however didn't feel comfortable doing a photo shoot at the time. I dropped the matter after that and was quite surprised and excited when she came around this year and asked me to do a shoot. I knew she would photograph well, she's beautiful and has such interesting features. Then I was also super happy to have my co-worker Lauren on board for make up. She's a professionally trained make up artist and I knew she could handle whatever I threw at her. I therefore went with something more dramatic then usual. Heavy make up and feathers (subtle) for eye lashes. As always I did the accessorizing (but I did brainstorm with Rosalinda and she had some great elements that we added). I found some awesome strung feathers at a craft store that we used as a top and cuffs. The shoot went well. Lauren nailed the make up and although Rosalinda had never modeled before she did an awesome job. That girl has stamina, this was my longest shoot ever. Only problem was I kind of messed up on some of the pics. I didn't notice there was a slight lens flair in some of the shots. Oh well, can't have everything.

As for the set:
Fur Carpet: $15.-- (thank you Tuesday Morning, best crappy store ever)
Fabric Backdrop (Tuesday Morning)
Chest, boxes.... (Daffy's)
Birds, feathers (Michaels)
Rifle (toyarsenal)

Gallery updates

More 2009 goodness..... I got a piece into a group show at the TAG Gallery in Santa Monica, CA (first west coast show, yay). Check it out if you're in the area (end of August). Then The "Colors Of Life" group show is going to be on display at the Artspace in Richmond, VA in September. And in some more awesome news, one of the "Little Mermaid" images has won a place in the summer 2009 Women in Photography International competition (subject, children).

Octolicious

Water color paper with India Ink and Micron Pens

I will get back to photography shortly, I have a new shoot in the works. But I had some time over the weekend to draw. I forgot how much I love to draw.

...the subject matter?.... well duh it's a lady who's being seduced by an octopus. Or perhaps she's just dreaming, fantasizing about being devoured by an octopus.. hell you decide. I have my own story (which I shall not share).... you go make up your own.

Shaolin Temple

This is my last post on my China trip. I actually saw a few other things that were fascinating like the "temple of the white horse" supposedly the first Buddhist temple in China and the Longmen Grottoes (which are amazing! Thousands of Buddha carvings). But I decided to just finish up with my trip to the Shaolin Temple since for me that was the highlight.

The Shaolin temple is situated in the Henan Providence in Dengfeng. For most westerners the Shaolin Temple is best known for its association with Kung Fu. And a lot of Kung Fu is what you get to see should you have the pleasure to visit. The with the temple associated Kung Fu school is of an impressive size. The dormitories equal those of a university. It looked to me like most students were in their early teens. Their training is hard core, they train pretty much all day no matter what. Did I mention it was 100 degrees out? Most of these students do not go on to become Shaolin Monks, most will join the military, law enforcement or will start their own martial arts school. When I asked one of the students if he wanted to become a monk, he just shook his head quickly saying it was far too difficult. Which would explain why there are only 300 Shaolin Monks practicing in the temple. For the monks the martial arts training is for spiritual goals but it comes with other practical benefits such as better physical condition and self-defense. Shaolin is the most well-known Ch'an (Zen) school that incorporates martial training into its meditative regimen. I got to see a performance by the Shaolin monks and it was INSANE. Honestly it was unreal, it felt like they were ghosts, they moved so quickly and it looked like they were weightless. The Pagoda Forest was the other thing I enjoyed experiencing. It's where all the established Buddhist masters were buried. I was quite humbled walking through the resting place of these great masters.

There is so much awesome history surrounding the Shaolin monks. I loved hearing some of the stories and it gave me a whole new appreciation for meditation, something I've been trying to incorporate more into my daily life..... but damn, these guys meditated for hours at a time. Anyway I could talk about the Shaolin for hours... I will leave it with some images. I don't have a lot of pictures from inside the temple since you weren't allowed to photograph inside the buildings.

This statue greets you as you enter the Shaolin property.

Entrance to the actual Shaolin Temple.

Here you can read the history of the Shaolin... well if you speak chinese then you could read the history.

The Pagoda Forest, this is where all prominent monks are buried. The more stories the tomb has the more established the monk was, 7 is the highest a monk can achieve.

Dharma Hall of the Shaolin Kung Fu School.

Students beginning their afternoon outdoor training sessions.

shaolin students training

I just remembered something amusing and rather odd. As I was watching the students train a chinese family came up to me. The father asked me if I would hold their little girl (I'm guessing she was about 7 months old). I was at first totally confused. He then further exlained that he wanted to take a picture of me holding his baby!!! I was like WHAT? But then was kinda flattered and so I held this strangers baby while he and his wife took pictures (grandparents were simling in the background). Judging from the babies look, she was just as confused as I was. I wonder where that picture will end up. I'm still not totally sure why they wanted to do that LOL.

Actually, this was a different Kung Fu school. If you walk around that area you will see Kung Fu everywhere and no I'm not exaggerating. Besides the Shaolin school there are about 50 Kung Fu schools in that same area.

Shaolin monk meditating.