“Pin-up Girls, Coney Island, Brooklyn” by Valery Rizzo
Website: Valery Rizzo
Monthly Archive for December, 2008
[slidepress gallery=’patricialaydorsey_fallingintoplace’]
Hover over the image for navigation and full screen controls
ESSAY CONTAINS EXPLICIT CONTENT
Patricia Lay-Dorsey
Falling Into Place
Self portraits are strange animals. For most photographers being at the wrong end of the lens is not our first choice. Besides wasn’t it Narcissus who was so mesmerized by his own reflection in the pond that he forgot to eat and pined away and died? Too much self-absorption can be dangerous.
But there can come a time when the only person who can tell your story is yourself.
That’s where I was when I started this self portrait project six months ago. I call this essay “Falling Into Place” because, in some strange way, I feel this IS my place, to see the world waist-high rather than face-to-face. Besides, it all started with a fall, a knee-buckling ankle-spraining fall onto an unyielding sidewalk one cold January day.
After the fifth unexplained fall in six months, I saw a neurologist who put me through a series of tests. Two months later he gave me a “75% certain” diagnosis of chronic progressive multiple sclerosis. Within the year he’d changed it to 100%.
Twenty years later I wonder who I’d be and what I’d be doing were it not for this unexpected assault on my body. I’m not going to say I’m glad it happened. Sure I’d love to be able to run another marathon, or bike another 200-mile weekend tour, or even open a flip-top can by myself. It’s a real pain to take a half hour to change into my swimsuit, to wet my dress because I couldn’t make it to the toilet in time, to ask for help opening every door that pulls rather than pushes. And more. Much more. Being disabled can really suck.
And it can teach too. Patience, humility, determination, even gratitude. How much I appreciate small things like being able to pick up my camera’s memory card when I drop it (again and again) on the floor. How proud I was last August when I drove by myself the 1300 miles to and from New York City. How pleased I am that my claw-like fingers can still hit the shutter release button.
So much of what I show in these portraits is private, the side of my life that no one sees. Until now, that is. And the strange thing about opening my bedroom, my bathroom, my nakedness to view is that my former sense of shame and embarrassment is gone.
I now see my life as a disabled woman is normal in its own way.
-Patricia Lay-Dorsey
[kml_flashembed fversion=”9.0.0″ movie=”https://www.burnmagazine.org/ssp_swf/burn-ssp-numbers-800×557-panos.swf” useexpressinstall=”true” publishmethod=”dynamic” width=”800″ height=”557″ allowfullscreen=”true”]
[/kml_flashembed]
Panos Skoulidas
Sunblock, Botox and Detox
“Jim Morrison” himself once told me:
“…there is no way in hell you can go CLOSE to the flame and not get burned…
go close, closer, get BURNED feel the pain, feel the devil breathing on your neck…
pay your dues… ”
That was the thought that kept me sane while i was sweating at the back seat of that police car… those words kept my brain in order when i was struggling with those handcuffs… The “either my wrist is too big or the cuffs too tight” thought wasn’t really helping me at all…
Go CLOSE, “if you hands are free, you ain’t close enough”, i thought and then i passed out….
It took me a while, quite a few visits to Venice Beach to realize that there is more than the eye can see…
There is the MORNING, welcoming Venice Beach, rollerblades, beautiful one speed beach bicycles, hot girls with bikinis, studs with their ipods strapped on their bare arm… tourists, kids, little dogs, big dogs, INNOCENCE….
As the sun dives into the pacific, as the noon passes quickly, there is another
“cast” waking up, slowly… the “unfortunate”, the drunks, the homeless, THE UNSTABLE…. you can hear the beer pouring & smell the “mary-jane” burning…
SUNSET comes, the vampires now are really up…
the FREAK SHOW begins…
The TRANSITION from light to darkness comes through the Venice Sunset.. the golden lights,
the MAGIC begins…
The “innocent families” are heading home… Another beautiful day in the Beach is over…
Over ??????… Hmmm , i dont think so…
When the darkness comes, a whole another Venice wakes up…
Sirens, handcuffs, pain, suffering, BLOOD…. lot’s of blood…
Ladies & Gentlemen,
Welcome to Venice Beach… to my venice world….
relax, enjoy and remember : ” …if you don’t feel the pain, you ain’t CLOSE enough….”
ok, next Corona on me !!!
peace
panos skoulidas
Bangkok, November 28, 2008:
Nat , 22, a prostitute and single mother, poses in a short-time hotel.
Website: Katharina Hesse
[kml_flashembed fversion=”9.0.0″ movie=”https://www.burnmagazine.org/ssp_swf/burn-ssp-numbers-800×557-angelo.swf” useexpressinstall=”true” publishmethod=”dynamic” width=”800″ height=”557″ allowfullscreen=”true”]
[/kml_flashembed]
Angelo Guarracino
Quizas Mañana
This is the first chapter of my long term project called “Maybe Tomorrow”.
The project aims to reflect upon the perception man has of his own future in relation to his life on Earth, but mostly in relation to the idea of a possible life after death.
In this manner, I’ve tried to find all the elements that create not only a visual continuity but mostly a conceptual continuity with very strong symbols and cultural references. I have, thus created a link with the theme of hope and the theme of doubt and fear, for the weight of life and death.
Walking through the streets of Oaxaca or its countryside, I felt a strange emotion in seeing the moments of daily life of “campesinos”, artisans, workers, old and young people. There was an incredible power, nearly like that of magic, to their faces. In spite of the heavy work, there was a serenity and a limpid hope in their eyes.
I immediately understood that that was what i really wanted to represent with my photography. I also understood that I did not want to give answers in a journalistic manner, but would alternatively try to create questions.
I simply wanted to catch that innate suffering every man has because of being human, one who lives with a conscience in his own existence on Earth. At the same time, by living this life with effort and sacrifice, he can hope for a new life, perhaps not today, “maybe tomorrow”, maybe after the death.
Angelo Guarracino
Anton Kusters
Sugar
This is a story about Birgit, a six year old sweet kiddo. She’s been diagnosed with diabetes about a year ago. Incurable. This story is about how, through her, I myself am being confronted with the fact that her illness is much more of an issue to me than it is to her. She taught me a lesson there… The things that are on top of a kid’s list, should in fact be on top of anyone’s list:
Life is about playing with friends and family and having fun as much as you possibly can…
These intimate, close images, are freeze-frames out of her daily life. Random. Lots of different moments. Almost no visual context. Bare essentials. More about feeling the moment than looking at the moment.
There is no beginning and no end. A collection without order. You’ll recognise inside, outside, darkness, light, a bike, a bed or even a beach. But they are all irrelevant…
Just try to hear the laughter, hear the playing… Remember your own childhood… Feel like you’re there up close with her, her brother and her sister. Sometimes she will notice you and say hi. Sometimes she will play and laugh with you until her stomach aches. Sometimes you feel like you need to let her be, dreaming.
She stares into the sea.
– Anton Kusters, December 2008
—
Related links
Turkish style bath party in Budapest, Hungary…
photographer Gyula Sopronyi writes:
It’s a taking place in a bath from Turkish-ages, call Rudas-
thermal bath, and the name of event is Cinetrip. The most important feature of
this happening is the following: young people occupy historical territories for
themselves, lots of dj-s mix transcendent-music during the night, while the
mass is dancing in swimming dresses, under colorful, lightened arches. Those
who get slow in the stream are fascinated by Turkish music and dancers. Taking
photos of faces and figures getting long in lights of Cinetrip – which is
mentioned as a hungaricum in partyculture nowdays – a special, local
subculture, an underground community gathering together strictly for one night.
The twilight ashes together all externals – conquering, and making similar to space
remaining from past…..Date: 2008
my favorite holiday card by one of my favorite humorists..
self-portrait by Elliott “I hate Photoshop” Erwitt
Recent Comments