Contemplating Hope

1. I'm currently selling my work. If anything particular shot, any model, or any set interests you, please email me at farenell.photography@gmail.com.

Just tell me what interests you & I'll see what I can do. I try to work within people's budgets but I'm also not going to like give them away for pennies on the US dollar.

2. The model put herself on my radar by sending me a message, "I was a girl who always said she'd never do nudes but after seeing your work, I'm might have to reconsider."

Sounds like a good intro to me!

We set up a shoot & made it happen soon thereafter. And as Rick said to Louie at the end of Casablanca, it was the "start of a beautiful friendship."

Kiss in Waiting with Benny & Moni

1. I'm currently selling my work. If anything interests you, don't hesitate in email me at farenell.photography@gmail.com.

Just tell me what pics or sets interest you, I'll see what I can do. I try to work within people's budgets but I'm also not going to like give them away. 


2. The story behind the "Kiss in Waiting."

The models are Benny & Monique. They were based out of Rochester at the time & were also involved.

There was a creative phase where I didn't want to be known by any one-shot. I felt it was to limiting to say nothing about having my creative interest in being all over the place.

During one of my visits to Western NY, I met up with Benny & a bunch of his friends & I would also be introduced as "the guy who shot 'Kiss in Waiting'." Their eyes would immediately light up with interest & they'd nod & smile.

The lesson being that there are certainly worse things in this world than being known for an iconic shot.

Columbia the Muse

1. As a lark when I was getting my Bachelors, I posted a flier looking for models. It went vaguely something like-

 

Wanted Photo Muse

Benefits:

1. Copies of the Pictures
2. Inspiration for the Arts
3. Fun Story to Tell your Grandkids when You're Old & Grey
4. Everlasting Glory.

I wasn't expecting much of any response but as happens so much in life, the model found me which led to the start of an exquisite work relationship. It was creatively hot & heavy & petered out once we went our separate ways. But man, was it memorable!

This shot below was a source of several different media variations, one was pastels & another was mixed media. I wish still had any of my collegiate (nonphotography) portfolio but they didn't survive several moves. Such is life.

2. I'm currently selling my work. If anything interests you, don't hesitate in emailing me at farenell.photography@gmail.com. 

Just tell me what pics or sets interest you, I'll see what I can do. I try to work within people's budgets but I'm also not going to like give them away.

Carly O'Neil NYC

I have an (arguably) bad habit of when engaged in a compelling conversation, I completely lose all track of time.

My shoot with Carly Erin O'Neil in her NYC apartment went something like chat for 20 minutes, shoot some, chat for 30, shoot a little more, chat for undisclosed amount of time & discovered we'd reach the limit of our previously agreed upon time frame. She's simply one of those creatively mesmerizing individuals that captures my imagination.

I'm sure I easily could have shot more but that'd simply mean more pictures I'd have to edit...& I absolutely HATE editing. LOL

From what she told me, the shoot was emotionally significant because this was her first "real" shoot back from a trauma-induced professional hiatus. For those who know her, its not exactly a state secret but I'll leave the rest of the story to her if she so chooses.

Here's one of the shots from that shoot.

Bye Bye Tumblr, Hello again Blogspot

I was willing to give Tumblr's new policy guidelines a try but today, I've gotten a notice that several of my photos violate their new standards. Including this "highly offensive" shot of two actresses enjoying a tender moment shown below.

I could appeal but since half that gallery would no longer meet their new standards, its simply no longer worth my time continuing to update. I still fully expect to lurk (because where else am I going to get my daily Star Wars fix)...but like, yeah, I'm pretty sure I'm done with Tumblr.

All that being said, I've decided to restart my blogger. I never actually left, I simply stopped posting mainly because it took an astonishly great deal of effort to muster outrage (faux or otherwise) about the controversy of the day. This is not to say that I don't care, I don't consider myself a gifted writer & have always had trouble articulating what I'm thinking into words. Nor is it really helped that I rush to publish things without a decent edit. :o)

I have no idea as to what form the latest incarnation this blog will take but I have a psychological need to showcase my work for the public even if no one reads it.

Why People are Rioting in Ferguson

Would you like to know why people are rioting in Ferguson? Hint: Its not because a black kid was murdered by a cop. Hint 2: Nor is it because an uppity black kid attacked a cop.

The black & minority community has tried to do things the nonviolent way. The system all down the line has failed them.

I encourage you to read up on the Kerner Commission report that investigated the LA/Chicago/Newark race riots of the 1960s & what it found & suggested. Its findings still pretty much hold up today.

I also encourage you to read Michelle Alexander's "the New Jim Crow" where it illustrates how the War on Drugs & their criminal justice enablers have legally & systematically reinforced a caste system, one for affluent America (usually suburban white) and one that's not (rural whites as a well as urban Blacks & Latinos).

I encourage you to read/listen to NCPR's Brian Mann's work on the 40th anniversary of the Rockefeller Drug Laws in how its passage & the rise of the Prison Industrial complex has become jobs program for ultra rural America. Not only that, locking people up became a socially acceptable cure for society's ills instead of addressing those root problems. You can probably find more elsewhere but this is a good hyperlink as a start.

I encourage you to read Shelby County V Holder & the twisted logic the Supreme Court used to strike down parts of the Voting Rights Act; its implication was almost immediate because FL, Ohio, Wisconsin, Texas, SC, PA to name a few passed laws restricting voting elligibility provisions for voters & rolled back the windows a person can vote.

The rioting is the result in the sand of the Black community saying no more to the status quo. Those in power have made it a fight to the death, if that's the way they want it than so be it. Because, as they see it, the world the status quo wants is one that black community thinks isn't one worth living.

Mass Shooting Emotional Fatigue

I was visiting my mother recently. She asked me if I'd heard about Seattle. I'd like to think I'm a pretty well informed individual but told her that no, I have not & asked what happened. She went on to describe what happened on 5 June at Seattle Pacific University.

All I could do in response was shrug my shoulders. My mother seemed offend & rightfully so. I call it mass-shooting emotional fatigue, also known as apathy.

I have already registered my emotional outrage back in January 2013 in my blog entry, "Talking Gun Sense" which addressed the Newtown, CT incident where 20+ children under the age of 12 (if not younger) were massacred in their elementary school.

The Seattle Pacific incident comes less than 2 weeks after an Isla Vista shooting in California where a perpatrator specifically targeted women. In the CA case, the media passed him off as being "sexually frustrated." I call bullshit. If he had targeted Jews or African-Americans or Gays/Lesbians, we'd call it for what it is, a hate crime or just straight-up misogny. Instead it gets passed off as something considerably less dire.

Nor does this factor in his VERY long track record of YouTube rants (going back at least 4 years) laying out his motive, nor the 140-page manifesto he sent to police the day of. That is premediated. This isn't the work of a person who is mentally ill & just "snaps". The guy's a sociopath. He knows very well what the difference is between right & wrong, he just doesn't give a damn.

If we're not going to address (in my opinion) the real issue, peoples entitlement & inability to solve their problems in an adult manner, we're left with frittering around the edges. In this case, the mental health aspect & indentifying the perpatrators before they commit their carnage. But since we're either unwilling or unable to address the mental health aspect, we're left with narrowing the edges in what we can address, in this case, HOW they commit their violence (95% of the time using firearms). But since, god forbid, we can't even address that because person's 2nd amendment rights are more important than another person's Right to Life, Liberty, & an opportunity to Pursue Their Own Happiness, we're left with the status quo. The status quo means we're going to see more of these horrific acts & in greater frequency. The end result of which is that we grow tolerate to the violence, bullshit that we've "always lived in a violent society", or simply become indifferent to peoples suffering.

Indifference is what effects me. I'm ashamed to say it but its the truth.

Gun ownership is a right but its ALSO a priveledge. If gun owners & those who support them aren't willing to step up & police themselves & keep these weapons out of individuals who really shouldn't be handling them (particularly if they are a clear & present danger to others), I guarantee you either Uncle Sam or the States will. In which case, they'll be addressing it on the grounds of a public health & safety issue.

If precedent in other nongun related incidents is any indication, the Courts have been generally more receptive in government stepping in. Thanks to Oklahoma City & Timothy McVeigh, you can't buy X-amount of fertilizer at any one time without getting a knock on your door by the FBI. Thanks to Triangle Shirt Factory, you can't chain the doors closed in a workplace while operations are going on. Thanks to auto regulations, you can't drive without a seatbelt without getting pulled over & ticketed.


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In other news...
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This here is Bree. We mutually have called this the "Slutty Minnie" set.