For reasons I’d rather not discuss publicly I was unable to post for a while. I wish to sincerely thank those of you who stuck by me. Supporting an artist pay his or her bills when they are unable to work is the very definition of being an art patron. Thank you!
I love sharing my work and I will do my best to catch up...
2022-04-25 09:47:59 +0000 UTC View Post
Sometimes I meet a model who is so creative and so good with the camera I give her carte blanche. I let her know she can show up whenever she wants and I will come up with something fun for us to shoot.
Karina was one of those. She was a college student when I met her and she had time on her hands. She enjoyed creating ...
2022-01-28 07:53:00 +0000 UTC View Post
In the clear dawn, before the east was red,
Before the rose had torn her veil in two,
A nightingale through Hafiz’ garden flew,
Stayed but to fill its song with tears, and fled.
– words from a sweet Hafiz poem, translated by the remarkable adventurer, Gertrude Bell in 1897
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Many of us ...
2022-01-24 10:30:12 +0000 UTC View Post
My life is not dated by years--
There are moments which act as plough;
And there is not a furrow appears
But is deep in my soul as my brow.
Let the young and the brilliant aspire
To sing what I gaze on in vain;
For sorrow has torn from my lyre
The string which was worthy the strain.
– Lord ...
2022-01-24 10:27:29 +0000 UTC View Post
When the sky overhead is blue,
Balmy, scented winds will after
Us, adown the valley blow
Haunting echoes of our laughter.
So we’ll walk the Way-of-Life,
You and I, Love, both together,
Storm or sunshine, happy we
If be foul or fair the weather.
– from a poem by Carrie Williams Clifford (1...
2022-01-24 10:24:04 +0000 UTC View Post
Never forget who you are
Little star
Shining brighter than all the stars in the sky
Never forget how to dream
Butterfly
Never forget where you come from
From love
– Lyrics by Madonna and Rick Nowels, 1998
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PHOTO: The reach of social media has turned the whole world into a small ...
2022-01-24 10:19:48 +0000 UTC View Post
“Dance is the hidden language of the soul.” ― Martha Graham
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PHOTO: My life has been blessed by the many amazing dancers and yogis who have come to my studio, allowing my camera to capture their grace and form.
These photos are from my first session with one of my favorite dancers, Angelica,...
2022-01-24 10:08:49 +0000 UTC View Post
The new years come, the old years go,
We know we dream, we dream we know.
We rise up laughing with the light,
We lie down weeping with the night.
We hug the world until it stings,
We curse it then and sigh for wings.
We live, we love, we woo, we wed,
We wreathe our brides, we sheet our dead.
She was a Phantom of delight
When first she gleam'd upon my sight;
Her eyes as stars of twilight fair;
Like twilight's, too, her dusky hair;
A dancing shape, an image gay,
To haunt, to startle, and waylay.
And yet a Spirit still, and bright
With something of an angel light.
– from a po...
2021-12-31 13:57:50 +0000 UTC View Post
In the desert a fountain is springing,
In the wide waste there still is a tree,
And a bird in the solitude singing,
Which speaks to my spirit of thee.
–– Lord Byron (1788–1824)
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PHOTO: Julina is a delightful traveling model who visited my studio whenever she swung through ...
It was supposed to be a business meeting about a publishing project. But when Stacey walked in with hunched shoulders and a glum look, I said, “Tough day?” She nodded as she slumped onto my fuzzy sofa.
Stacey wasn’t a model. We had met only once before at a talk given by her boss at a photography event. We had cha...
2021-12-31 13:49:44 +0000 UTC View Post
Bring me all of your dreams,
You dreamer,
Bring me all your
Heart melodies
That I may wrap them
In a blue cloud-cloth
Away from the too-rough fingers
Of the world.
–– “The Dream Keeper” by Langston Hughes (1932)
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PHOTO: Even a bit of mesh can turn into a luminous ...
The fountains mingle with the river
And the rivers with the ocean
The winds of heaven mix for ever
With a sweet emotion;
Nothing in the world is single
All things by a law divine
In one another’s being mingle
Why not I with thine?
–– from “Love’s Philosophy” by Percy Bysshe Shelle...
2021-12-31 13:45:32 +0000 UTC View Post
When the first star with brilliance bright,
Gleams lonely o’er the arch of night;
When the bright moon dispels the gloom,
And various are the stars that bloom,
And brighten as the sun at noon,
Forget me not.
– from a poem by Ann Plato (c. 1824 – unknown)
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PHOTO: Sendin...
2021-12-31 13:43:16 +0000 UTC View Post
Thou wast that all to me love
For which my soul did pine
A green isle in the sea love
A fountain and a shrine
And all my days are trances
And all my nightly dreams
Are where thy grey eye glances
And where thy footstep gleams
– from a poem by Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849)
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Hung with the sunset’s fringe of gold;
Now strangely clear thine image grows,
And olden memories
Are startled from their long repose
Like shadows on the silent snows
When suddenly the night-wind blows
Where quiet moonlight ties.
Like music heard in dreams,
Like strains of harps unknown,
Of bird...
Last eve in dreams, I saw thee stand,
Like queenly nymphs from Fairy-land—
Enchantress of the flowery wand,
Most beauteous Isadore!
Thy classic brow, like lilies white
And pale as the Imperial Night
Upon her throne, with stars bedight,
Enthralled my soul to thee!
– from a poem by Edgar Al...
2021-12-07 07:08:10 +0000 UTC View Post
You, Venus-like face
radiant as the moon
Roses lean in
begging for your lovely color,
what need do you have of rose wine?
In your depths is the ocean infinite,
what will you do with some drops of dew?
You who are existence entire,
why do you seek oblivion?
– Rumi (Mathnavi V: 3563-3590) 2021-12-07 07:06:09 +0000 UTC View Post
The longer I live and the more I see
Of the struggle of souls towards the heights above,
The stronger this truth comes home to me
That the Universe rests on the shoulders of love,
– from a poem by Ella Wheeler Wilcox (1850–1919)
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PHOTO: Caley and Kate were roommates in Venice ...
2021-12-07 07:03:46 +0000 UTC View Post
And when the spotlight comes your way
as it will eventually
rise up to the occasion
rise up and shine
you are perfect as you are
you were born a star
– Pardesi Pyara
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PHOTO: Alice is a superb dancer from NY. These images are from a shoot we did some years ago when she was vis...
Flow like water
with humility and softness
When you have the strength
to carve mountains into canyons
there is no need to proclaim your might
The world knows
–– Pardesi Pyara
2021-11-26 04:46:15 +0000 UTC View Post
When over my life’s way there falls the blight
Of sunless days, and nights of starless skies;
Enough for me, the calm and steadfast light
That softly shines within your loving eyes.
The world, for me, and all the world can hold
Is circled by your arms; for me there lies,
Within the lights and shadows of...
It is a day for being thankful and I am deeply grateful that my dear friend Crystal is still here with us.
Still in her twenties, she was diagnosed with aggressive stage three breast cancer earlier this year. Like a Phoenix rising out of the fire, after months of chemo and a double mastectomy she is finally cancer free....
2021-11-26 04:42:54 +0000 UTC View Post
The ideals of beauty have changed over time, with the pendulum swinging from skinny to curvy and back.
The US first became obsessed with waiflike thinness a hundred years ago during the 1920s. The “flapper” was a slender woman with a boy like straight figure.
Some women even went so far as to tightly ban...
2021-11-22 08:50:31 +0000 UTC View Post
There is a vale which none hath seen,
Where foot of man has never been,
There love is warm, and youth is young,
And poetry is yet unsung.
And ever, if you hearken well,
You still may hear its vesper bell,
And tread of high-souled women go by,
Their thoughts conversing with the sky.
– fr...
2021-11-22 08:45:49 +0000 UTC View Post
And a kindred nature,
Proclaim us to be mates,
Exposed to equal fates
Eternally;
And each may other help, and service do,
Drawing Love's bands more tight,
Service she ne'er shall rue
While one and one make two,
And two are one;
In such case only doth woman fully prove
Fully as woman can do,...
In yoga a Wide-Legged Forward Bend (Prasarita Padottanasana) is an easy beginner pose, which helps to increase flexibility. Adding a twist to each side makes it a more intense stretch.
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PHOTO: Nelli was traveling by van and made a stop in LA. We had met earlier at an art show where my nudes we hanging, and she wante...
Good timber does not grow with ease,
The stronger wind, the stronger trees,
The further sky, the greater length,
The more the storm, the more the strength.
By sun and cold, by rain and snow,
In trees and women good timbers grow.
Where thickest lies the forest growth
We find the matriarchs of both.
W...
See how the roses burn!
Bring wine to quench the fire!
Alas! the flames come up with us,—
We perish with desire.
–– Hafez (Persian poet, 1315 - 1390)
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PHOTO: Amanda Lyn visited me in Los Angeles some years ago. Between sightseeing we managed to get a couple of shoots in. I loved show...
2021-11-22 08:33:23 +0000 UTC View Post
When I find myself pulled
towards bitter recriminations
turn to the light of self reflection
to soften my judgement
When trying times overwhelm
Look for the light of compassion
to illuminate my dark folds
When the path forward has become murky
turn towards the light of empathy
to find my f...
