Los Angeles Noir (PICS)

These palm trees and city lights, under a menacing sky, are the view from my balcony in Hollywood right now. This shot only begins to show the roiling black clouds, like a powerful wizard is about to do something unusual to Los Angeles. Went hiking earlier today with Forrest Black and got totally soaked. The park was so empty and beautiful. There was one rugged soul out there with a camera on tripod trying to shoot the fog. And one woman in really nice boots, not shoes for walking in mud at all, much better suited for neon-lit and preferably not rain-soaked streets. My own personal, delightfully damp Los Angeles noir.

Fedora Soft Mohawk (PICS)

For the past two years, Fedora has been tripping around the country, shooting pictures and having pictures shot of her. On one of her jaunts through Los Angeles, Forrest Black and I had the pleasure of shooting this fun series with her. I feel like this shoot really shows off both her playful fun personality and her impressive flexibility. Whole series in the Blue Blood VIP or Barely Evil!

You better BELIEVE I am not filling out the census form

You better BELIEVE I am not filling out the census form

by Amelia G : May 4th, 2010

I am registered to vote and I have a drivers license, but I have not received a census form in the mail. Instead, a man buzzed my security system yesterday, gave me his name, said he was from the census, and asked to enter my home. I hung up. So he buzzed again repeatedly. Eventually, he figured out some other way of getting into my security building and started banging on my door for an extended time period. I had to wait for him to go away, so I could go buy an organic onion to complete a recipe I was cooking. From the help wanted signs posted around Los Angeles, I believe the government is paying $17 an hour to have unwelcome strangers knock on my door. I think a 44 cent stamp would be a way more economically responsible way to get me to not fill out the census form. And don’t even get me started on how, if we can file taxes electronically, it ought to be feasible, cheaper, and more effective to use an online system to count everyone.

Why don’t I give my data to the census? The first time I was ever asked to fill out a census form was when I was living in a townhouse with 13 punk rockers. I was afraid . . .

( Read more )

Riddle: Why would you shoot the same militia outfit indoors, if already shot outdoors? (PICS)

Riddle: Why would you shoot the same militia outfit indoors, if already shot outdoors?

Answer: To make it less conspicuous to fuck the shotgun.

Fun fact to know and share: Los Angeles has a better fleet of helicopters than any other American city.

Riddle: Why would you shoot the same militia outfit indoors, if already shot outdoors? (PICS)

Riddle: Why would you shoot the same militia outfit indoors, if already shot outdoors?

Answer: To make it less conspicuous to fuck the shotgun.

Fun fact to know and share: Los Angeles has a better fleet of helicopters than any other American city.

Rooftop Militia (PICS)

I hear Los Angeles has more helicopters than any other American city. I certainly hear the helicopters in Hollywood pretty often. Yet nobody has ever said anything to me about having naked militia on my roof. So Forrest Black and I have shot more than a few of these like this one with Scar 13 for Blue Blood.

Rooftop Militia (PICS)

I hear Los Angeles has more helicopters than any other American city. I certainly hear the helicopters in Hollywood pretty often. Yet nobody has ever said anything to me about having naked militia on my roof. So Forrest Black and I have shot more than a few of these like this one with Scar 13 for Blue Blood.

Raven Sutherland Models Design by Yolanda (PICS)

I have a fondness for shooting people who do more than just model. Although, of course, being a great conversationalist or whatever doesn't mean the camera will love a person. It made it extra cool that Yolanda, whose 29th Blue Blood VIP set recently posted, designed the dress for Raven Sutherland to take off in her lucky 13th Blue Blood VIP appearance. forrestblack and I shot this set of Raven, but she has been photographed for Blue Blood by a bunch of photographers, including Chad Michael Ward, and in multiple cities. Forrest Black and I have shot Raven in both New Orleans and Los Angeles. I haven't been to New Orleans in far too long, now that I think about it.

Raven Sutherland Models Design by Yolanda (PICS)

I have a fondness for shooting people who do more than just model. Although, of course, being a great conversationalist or whatever doesn't mean the camera will love a person. It made it extra cool that Yolanda, whose 29th Blue Blood VIP set recently posted, designed the dress for Raven Sutherland to take off in her lucky 13th Blue Blood VIP appearance. forrestblack and I shot this set of Raven, but she has been photographed for Blue Blood by a bunch of photographers, including Chad Michael Ward, and in multiple cities. Forrest Black and I have shot Raven in both New Orleans and Los Angeles. I haven't been to New Orleans in far too long, now that I think about it.

Blue Blood SpookyCash Graphics Job Openings

We are looking for two more part time graphics people in the Los Angeles area. These are not on-site positions, but candidates who can conveniently attend in-person meetings in Hollywood, California are strongly preferred. You must have an internet connection, your own workstation with Photoshop, and your computer must be able to read compact flash cards or smart cards from cameras or USB hard drives. You will use company-provided compact flash media, smart cards, and/or USB hard drives.

Entry Level Graphics Production

Publication or Company: Blue Blood
Industry: Photography, Magazine Publishing, Newsletters, Online/New Media
Benefits: permissive dress code, flex time, mostly telecommuting, guest list, swag
Job Duration: Part Time
Job Location: Los Angeles, CA USA

Job Requirements:

Blue Blood, the OG trade mag of cool, has an exciting opportunity for an intelligent, computer-savvy individual with artistic aesthetics. Blue Blood's company culture has exacting standards for quality and performance and is perfect for the individual who enjoys excelling. Workdays regularly start at noon and the dress code allows and even encourages creative hairstyles and modes of dress. Any on-site production will be from a working location in the vibrant heart of Hollywood, walking distance from coffeehouses and restaurants.

Graphics staff is primarily responsible for processing photographs for both web and print publications. The successful applicant will have comprehension of gothic, punk, body modification, and similar aesthetic sensibilities, as well as a good sense of human proportions. The position requires an individual who is comfortable with adult material without possessing a crude sensibility.

This position requires proficiency in Photoshop for both web sized and gallery print level touch-ups, including standard tools such as clone, sharpen, blur, layers, formats, liquefy, and cropping. Moderate retouching portfolio preferred, but a test can be provided to substitute for portfolio. Web layout skills, including banner design and slicing graphics and animations/mouseovers in Imageready, a plus. Film scanning, Flash, FTP and basic HTML skills also a plus but not required. Ability to use AIM or ICQ or other instant messenger a plus. Use of AIM or ICQ required; training available.

Although Photoshop skills and artistic aptitude are musts, prior professional experience is not required. Some training available for the right applicant. Flexibility of hours lends itself to scheduling around a college class schedule.

About Our Company: Blue Blood is a lifestyle content production, packaging, and publishing company founded by Amelia G in 1992. Blue Blood began as a pioneering magazine dedicated to showcasing the beauty, sensuality, and coolness of the emerging eclectic underground populated by gothic, punk, fandom, and pre-internet cyberculture. The magazine quickly rose to the largest circulation in its niche. In addition to sponsoring numerous successful events, Blue Blood very successfully transitioned to the web. Both the print and digital incarnations of Blue Blood have received press in diverse venues, ranging from HBO and FOX to MTV and Playboy to Penthouse and Marquis to the New York Times and the Hong Kong Sun. Among Blue Blood’s various enterprises are a variety of entertainment publications in both print and digital media, innovation in content-packaging, and the SpookyCash affiliate program, as well as the Blue Blood Boutique, which purveys a signature line of apparel and accessories. Blue Blood continues to set industry standards for innovation and quality.

Contact: Blue Blood
Email Address submit@blueblood.net
8033 Sunset Blvd #4500
West Hollywood CA 90046 USA

Special Instructions: A formal resume is not required, but a skills inventory and pertinent background, including any relevant hobbies, is. A basic Photoshop test will be given to applicants who pass the initial round of selection. Candidates who successfully complete the test will be invited to interview for the position.

Ashes En Pointe

Los Angeles is covered in ash. Where I am in Hollywood, it is at least a fine layer of ash, as opposed to say a raging inferno or one of the areas where it will costs residents thousands of dollars to clean the ash out of their carpets and ventilation systems. Unfortunately I am kind of a delicate flower when it comes to physical adversity and, even running an air cleaner 24/7, my eyes and throat have been burning all week and I've felt sick for days.

Getting ready to post the images forrestblack and I shot during Vampire-Con at Vampirella's Ball. I need to write a short article to accompany the photography, although I'll have more coverage of the event on video later, so I don't need to do the full report with this. I think it is awesome that professional event planners put together what I consider more of a proper fandom event in Los Angeles and that they did it on a topic so near and dear to my heart -- vampires.

It is probably mostly just the normal biological response I'm having to the endless fires in Southern California, but I keep thinking about the parts which were difficult. I mean, a lot of what I do is really hard. Not like it might be tough for someone else to do, but like it is really a challenge for me personally. I just like to take challenges as head-on as possible. Always have.

I mostly enjoy this. Today I am just feeling a little bit like a ballerina with bleeding toes. But having our city covered in ash is probably supposed to make all Angelenos gothic.

"However, this was before Inigo's wound reopened; and Westley relapsed again; and Fezzik took the wrong turn; and Buttercup's horse threw a shoe. And the night behind them was filled with the crescendoing sound of pursuit." --William Goldman, The Princess Bride: S. Morgenstern's Classic Tale of True Love and High Adventure; The "Good Parts" Version