Rock Photography

Just came across a site where people were talking about how some of Forrest's and my photos of Gen from the Genitorturers on BlueBlood.net at http://www.blueblood.net/bb_97.html were some of the best they had ever seen done of her. We originally were shooting them partly for magazine cover, only a certain company with the initials HT was cranky about it and didn't want to credit who the cover hottie was on the cover. It didn't help that the magazine's designer photoshopped Jesus suffering on a cross in the background of our photo. It also didn't help that the publisher sent the cover to said christian company for approval at Eastertime.

Over the years, I've shot members of bigger bands (Red Hot Chili Peppers, Korn, Manson, etc.) but Blue Blood was the first US magazine to put The Genitorturers on the cover. And we had seen them a lot over the years and I liked them as people and I liked their band and I liked their shows. So I felt invested in that relationship and that shoot. Not that Gen was horrible or anything, but I really went to bat for her and it ended up being a real problem that I insisted she be properly credited with our photo. She was pretty upset at the time and I promised her that her photo would not appear without her name and her band's name. Most photographers would have just let the magazine do whatever it wanted and later said they had no control over what the magazine did, no matter what they promised. My word means something though. The photos from that shoot have only appeared where we could credit her, so I kept my word, but it took a lot out of me. If someone went to bat for me like that, I would probably send them a fruit basket or a rare Blue Blood back issue or something.

The whole thing was kind of a nail in the coffin of doing rock photography for me. I was initially thinking of doing another one of the Blue Blood girls for the cover of this particular publication, but, when I saw Gen was coming through LA, I thought it would be fun to shoot her again and get her on the cover instead. Forrest and I had already shot Szandora, Yolanda, Batty, and Fetus de Milo for the cover of this mag. Yes, they photoshopped out Yolanda and Fetus' facial piercings to please HT, but shooting those covers was a lot more fun.

Seeing people I don't know on the net getting excited about the shots Forrest and I did of Gen made me think about some of what I like creatively about rock photography. Mostly we enjoy shooting people with intense personalities and the rock world has a lot of those.

I'm feeling pretty positive these days. I like that I have cut down on some things to reduce drama, but I don't want to throw the baby out with the bathwater, just because there are people who would like to make cool things a pain.

Should I go back to doing more rock photography?

Wow, small world

Someone on the Blue Blood boards just private messaged me a link to a photographer's site so I could check out a very young (very hot) pic of someone else who posts there. The photographer whose site it is was very accomplished and shot for tons of rock mags in the heyday of the Sunset Strip. So I click around and, fuck a duck, I see that she shot a calendar of the hottest guys in the rock scene in Los Angeles, according to a panel of scene chicks.

One of the months was totally the first guy I picked up in Los Angeles. I failed to get naked with him when we hung out because his friends turned me off and then I left his info in a friend's car and the friend's car got impounded and I never did talk to him again. He got me to eat Fatburger with stuff on it, even though I normally eat my cheeseburgers plain and he wore an inscribed bracelet from a girl he loved back home. His hair was whiter when I met him than in the photo and I thought he was the hottest guy I met in LA. I would have thought of a cure for cancer, but I remembered these details about a guy I saw twice instead. How bizarre.

Relaunching BlueBlood.net has really pulled a lot of blasts from the past out for me. Both people I've gotten back in touch with and past lives I've been reminded of.

I was going to do a post about how the dicks mailbombing us managed to annihilate most of my email from 2003 and 2004 today. And about the headaches adding more servers to our hosting to handle all the new visitors and more active return visitors on our sites. And the crazy guy who keeps yelling in the street outside where I live. And how I threw my neck out again twisting around in a nightmare while trying to stay asleep during his screaming.

But really, all that was just washed away. I love that, although the new BlueBlood.net has been bringing up a lot of old wounds, it is also bringing to the front of my mind all the reasons that I got into doing what I do. How I loved the pageantry and the individuality and the passion and the intensity. I've been thinking that I am disenchanted because overly dramatic pixels on the internet claim the same names as subcultures I have passed through, but really I just need to create a place online for the people who care about the things I care about. The rest really doesn't matter much.

I will not abandon my community because of a few interlopers who want to call themselves by the same names as things much greater than they are. I took the path less travelled on purpose. I fought to have a life less ordinary.

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Passion Fruit Mousse

I'm going to go get gourmet pastry.

I Feel Yucky


Nothing is particularly wrong. I'm really pleased with the way my creative energies are being directed. Excited about the Fall. Loving the Blue Blood boards. Eaten yummy food recently. Yeah, my ankle is still jacked up and, along with some other health thangs, that is impeding my ability to excersize. But picking up heavy things and putting them down again is hardly my reason for being. Tried to watch comic Ron White on TiVo, but he just wasn't funny enough. Partly he was reusing material that was funny the first time, but lost something in repetition. Having hot and cold flashes and should probably go to the doctor again, but if it hasn't been fixed with the first gajillion dollars in medical bills, not sure the next time will be the charm. Probably partly just this weird murderous PMS I seem to have acquired, but I'm sick of it. Sick of being under the weather when I've got work to do. Maybe the Blue Blood relaunch is part of where I'm feeling bad. It is going really well, but it is a little like picking scabs off a wound I thought the scars were long-healed on. Hmmm, fever seems to be subsiding. Maybe I will eat some leftover BBQ and try TiVo again.

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Comic Con 2004

So I'm recovered enough from Comic Con to write about it on BlueBlood.net. My hotel was fucking awesome.

I got to share a few buckets of shrimp with Forrest and got to commando photograph him being "sassed" by our waitress.

I got to run into my old housemate Colin. Who is fucking responsible for me reading comics in the first place.

And Coredumper showed me a good time.

And I got to have a three-way with Forrest and Steve.

The convention itself was a lot like a big store which charges admission. The Sam's Club of comics, if you will. But I had a blast. If you wish to read all about it in detail, just click.

Yay I Got the New Marquis In!

Yay, I got the new Marquis in finally. It took weeks from when they sent me mags for them to come in. Local LA folks, I'll give you yours in person. Out of town people, please send me your current mailing address here. I don't like to send $20 magazines to unconfirmed addresses. Thanks.

I'm especially pleased with the Jonno, Szandora, and Genesis LaVey stuff in this edition. It is always nice to be able to do coverage on the people who are extra good to me and really deserve it.














Wow, this means Forrest Black and I have had many pages of our work published in all but one issue of Marquis over the last three plus years. And we are some of the only American photographers to have shot a cover for them. I think the only others are Steve Diet Goedde and Sean McCall who shoots for the SpookyCash sites Space Girls and Vampire Sex. Whoo-hoo!

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A Lot of People Sure Have Had Problems with Pay Pal Lately


So apparently a certain competitive site reported my PayPal account even though I was not using it to sell anything adult.
PayPal just told me that they decided to close my account, even though I was not in violation, because someone could "miscontrue" my intentions and think that perhaps I would sell something adult. Even though my TOS clearly state that I comply with PayPal TOS and do not accept PayPal for adult advertisements.
I don't really care about Pay Pal for accepting payments. Heck I lost thousands of dollars when they closed my business account. I accept Visa and MasterCard and pay by check and even Far East cards without them. But it is making me crazy having my personal account shut down because a lot of other people accept payment through PayPal.
Which services do other people like to get payments with?