speechless

Whoaaaa. Weird. YES! And so concludes my bizarrely excited outburst over this series of ventriloquist photos over on Buzzfeed.

stairtown

As just recently mentioned, I have been doing a little sightseeing lately. Yesterday when I was near Lockhart I saw a sign pointing towards a town called Stairtown. For some reason the name of this place swiftly drew me in and I thought it was a good excuse to quickly change direction. I went down a side road to a side road and after passing an out-of-nowhere forest of oil pumps I hit what is best described as five inhabited houses and four abandoned houses. True to my nature I succumbed to the allure of a seemingly failed economy and the mysterious state of paralyzed structures. After some snooping I left with these thoughts:

1) Why do people sometimes leave everything IN their home when they leave their home? The outside of the homes read "disaster" but the things left in and around them said "we were abducted by aliens with no warning". I am fascinated to no end with this phenomena.

2) Who can possibly live next to an oil pump EVER? The smell was one of the most disgusting scents ever to shake hands with my nose and definitely overstayed its welcome, even hours after leaving its origins.

3) People can be disgusting. I firmly believe that half of the discarded items of the world are living on the hidden streets and fields of rural America.

4) I am afraid of black trash bags full of the unknown. After seeing probably one too many horror movies I'm convinced that body parts live in these scary guys.

5) I get the heebeegeebees ways too easily. My body locks up and gets all prickly any time I start poking around deserted places. I fear any minute that someone will jump out and accost me.

jpg mag r.i.p.

If you follow my blog then I'm sure you know that I am a longtime fan, follower, and contributor to the JPG Magazine website. I also just recently acquired a few back issues of its printed counterpart. So when I read the news last night that the whole shebang is folding (site included) I was surprised and saddened. I definitely did not see that coming and also did not expect things to unravel so quickly, as they will be pulling the plug in a matter of days.

I am truly going to miss JPG. It's been a constant source of inspiration, a great community of photographers with a range of talent and ideas, and a terrific way to motivate me. I seriously credit JPG with helping to reenergize my passion for photography in a time in my life that I needed a creative kick in the ass. Thanks to everyone that befriended me, left comments, voted for my submissions or without even knowing it encouraged me with their own work.

I know that are a ton of other outlets and avenues still out there for the photographers of the world but I truly think this is a considerable loss. You can read more about this sudden development here.

photographer's eviction

Legendary photographer Editta Sherman is being forced to leave her New York loft of 58 years, along with other residents. She by the way is 96 years old. Now I'm not sure how rent control works, and do understand that Carnegie Hall (where she lives above) would like to expand, but ejecting someone after inhabiting a place for over half a century just seems wrong. Happy Holidays Editta.

[ Editta's Myspace ]
[ CNN Story ]
[ photo by Bebeto Matthews ]

a day at the farm {snake}

(photo by recovering lazyholic)

Yesterday on the home from seeing the Our Body exhibit at the Witte in San Antonio my boyfriend and I decided that it might be a fun pit stop to go to the good 'ole Snake Farm. I love animals, I love kitschy highway-side attractions, so why not. I can safely add this "farm" to the list of things to never do again. This place conjures not so much warm fuzzy animal adoration, rather sadness, sympathy and anger. Do you have to be well-backed or loaded to give a crap about the animal kingdom? You shouldn't. These guys need to try harder or just pack it up. I won't get into details, but unless you want a healthy dose of depression in your life, stay away.