The Polaroid SX-70

What’s New With Linda Rockstack

What’s new is sad today. Linda Rockstack made some very classy choices in her career. She made an album with The Nelson Riddle Orchestra. “What’s New,” is from that great album and it has always blown me away sonically. I listen to it sometimes before I DJ, like a soundcheck, but only if the sound system is really, really good. That’s a voice. It’s like a relaxed but invisible control that she has…she’s one of our great vocalists.

I call her Linda “Rockstack” for the same reason that I call Barbara Stanwyck Barbara “Stunwhack”…That’s her name.

BUT: Linda Rockstack is also a place. It is an earth energy power point and vortexical intersection of energies that allows visitors access to it’s healing powers via instantaneous mental realizations. There is no charge for admission to “The Stack” and smoking is allowed there (weather permitting.) It is known to some in the High Mojave and I have been rejuvenated there many times. This is a special place. It was my esteemed honor and great pleasure to partially renovate this magical site and when I am in the hood I help out by re-stacking stacks. All of the rocks you see here were balanced by me around the year 2000. Currently this powerful beauty point is under the management of very responsible and understanding land owners who share the ability to recognize it’s importance to the world and therefore aim preserve it. I have taken many, many pictures there over the years but these Polaroids seem to capture a naturally sad kind of beauty – like the news of a great singer silenced by an ailment.

Linda Rockstack, USA – 2000

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Stuff from all over

20130810-012524.jpgEvery room has a balcony pool.

20130810-013055.jpgJustice for Trayvon!!!

20130810-013748.jpgKenny’s t-shirt design for a promotion in Las Vegas.

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20130810-014216.jpgTime is an asterisk. Amy Schapiro in Coney Island by me.

20130810-014703.jpgRisa by me. 2013

20130810-014818.jpgBillyBeyond.com. Call now. Operators are standing by.

And How

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Jeffrey. Mini Ha Ha tribe. 2012

Chris Tucker

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There’s a lot of very beautiful things in Oklahoma. Chris is one of them.

Alex as Buddha

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…of course a lot of people would say “The Buddha,” and in Queens they’d say “Da Buddha,” but I’m just going to leave it at “Alex as Buddha.”

But aren’t we all as Buddha? Depends on what you believe I guess.

COMING SOON – “Jesus of Uruguay”

New York 1939

This footage was was originally captured on 16 mm Kodachrome film. Thanks to Randy for finding it.

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Billy Beyond by David LaChapelle – 1985

Instant Photography Fans

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Edward Curtis

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This is a good photography book, but there aren’t many pictures in it.

 

Steve McCurry’s Blog

SteveMcCurry indonesia-10001nf6 iraq-100231 _2SM9200; Omo Valley, Ethiopia, 08/2012; A Kara woman in the Omo Valley.

Shooting Airplanes

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The concept is simple: shoot the individual planes flying across a pure blue sky, then chroma key the blue out as if it’s a green or blue screen leaving only the plane behind. Then put them all together on a video timeline. I did some tests and discovered that it didn’t work well if there were trees in the edges of the frame so scouting good locations took the most time. I watched the weather for a cloudless day then sat in a park and shot every plane that flew over. I locked the camera (Canon 7D with a EF-S 17-55 f/2.8) on a tripod and shot the planes with 1080p video at 24fps with an exposure I’d tested the day before (50/s, f/13, ISO 100) that would keep the sky deep blue with no blowout for a good chroma key.

To give the video a sense of temporal change as the planes fly by I did an 8 hour time-lapse under a bridge nearby shot at the same angle and composited it over the planes. Without it there’s no sense of time passing. I used an intervalometer to shoot about 800 images with the same exposure as the video. Once I had it posted as a regular video clip, I keyed the sky out of it as well. I put everything together in Adobe Premiere, which challenged my system since I needed 40 video tracks to stack all the airplane clips together. The last piece was to put a new sky back in — a still image with depth and clouds that’s panned using key frames in Premiere.

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The Unofficial Steven Meisel Archive

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Marisa Berenson – A Life In Pictures

GIFT IT.

Edited by Steven Meisel. ( sound effect of something huge dropping )

Oooh, yeah…I can see that. Very frizzy, yeah. Orlando could fix that. Do want me to call him for you?

Eyes, green.

Four covers, seven eyes.

Jeanloup Sieff captured M. B. here. J.S. is a personal favorite of mine. Click Marisa and browse his website. Inspiration follows shortly.

Ok, so… A while back, I was graciously invited to a delicious dinner at the home of Donna D’Cruz and Tom Silverman – both of whom resonate very highly on the frequency of goodness – and who should be the surprise guest but Marisa Berenson herself? Immediately I filed my excitement for later and sat down next to her where I remained for the evening. She talks often about energies and invisible attractions. We had one going in about thirty seconds. I didn’t know that Elsa Schiaparelli was her grandmother. Oops. She informed me. Ok, so now I know.

The conversation with Marisa was easy but not routine. We share many interests and oddly, experiences. She is sharp as a tack and as genuine as a flawless D ideal cut diamond. She sparkles. Her magic is real. Realizing that re-affirmed so many wonderful things about being here, being an artist, being concerned with beauty…well…the list of sparks she lit within my creative mind that night is a very long one, indeed.

A muse. Amusing. Uncanningly radiant… and real.

whoa. Face! Shutting down the category.

Told.

Yesterday,

…when Anne was young.

So many chewed up frisbees,

Waiting to be flung.

Waiting for Wednesday

Wednesday’s party is the talk of the town. Corey is calling it a “grande homage,” and expects it to be a “photo orgy.” I’m trying to remain calm. Meanwhile the pre-fete homage continues here with James in an out-take from some of my work.

Jeffrey Fulvimari’s Music

Check out his page on Soundcloud!

These images are from our first shoot. Yesterday we had another great day of shooting and the result will be even more ground breaking looks. Stay Tuned.