Prophets

i visit islands

where time doesn’t exist.

seven months is a hundred lifetimes

and syllables forming sounds like “twenty years”

rain without meaning.

where misfits are prophets

with eyes like solar flares

that speak in urban slang.

where prophets who wear mostly ironed

blue Puerto Rico t-shirts.

live with God-sized holes.

Orion’s pose

This is one of my favorite images of all time. I was playing around with a really old, really cool camera that made everything look awesome. Including bookshelves. Separately, I had a new digital camera and was taking pictures of my daughters. I loved Orion’s pose (originally shot on a sofa) and the simplicity and weightiness of children’s books. So I put the 2 together.

Elvis

I love my job. I love the challenges I’m presented with daily. This challenge in particular was ridiculous. A local church was hiring an Elvis impersonator to come help with some type of charity event and our agency was going to help design some posters to help advertise the event. So I was presented with the following 2 images and asked if I could make it look like Elvis was one of the Saintly statues on the side of this church.

I said I could do it. But…I didn’t really think I could do it.

There were so many issues, not the least of which was the fact that the only picture of an elvis statue we had was almost in complete darkness. there was lighting, coloring, textures, blah, blah,blah. etc. Even removing the existing saint to create a space for Elvis was a pain.

Here’s what I ended up with:

It was a challenge, but it was also a lot of fun.

larger version:

http://img215.imageshack.us/img215/2863/elvis1200pxchurch01as4.jpg

Muse

This was the final image I created for a contest I didn’t win.

I love it…but in retrospect…I’m not a huge fan of the color scheme. It’s a little bright. And primary.

I think I like the muted version (at the top of the page) better.

here’s a larger version:

http://img521.imageshack.us/my.php?image=muse03mp4.jpg

Apollo’s House

This was the 3rd piece I entered in that photoshop contest. The idea was rooted in the Greek story of Apollo and Daphne which is why the trees are women. I can’t really explain the escalator other than I thought it would be pretty pimp for a treehouse. Especially a God’s treehouse.

I think this piece was pretty well done technically and there are aspects that I like about it a lot, but I don’t love this one as much as some of the other things I’ve done. Anyway…

 

For a larger image go here:

http://img221.imageshack.us/my.php?image=apolloshouse02bhj7.jpg

Surrender Dorothy

Recently, I entered a photoshop contest.

Each week we were given 5 random images

to manipulate in any way we wanted, this was one of the images I entered.

I really like how this one turned out and I think the idea was cool.

The smoking red slippers make me smile.

For a hi-res looksie:

http://img522.imageshack.us/my.php?image=surrenderdorothylokb7.jpg

currents

a little bit of hope.

a little bit of laughter.

usually not for me.

I’ll just hang with my albatross,

with shoes about to drop.

I’ll just sit here and anchor

against storms.

a sociopath’s gift for smiling when others do.

I’ll breathe later

when it’s safe

and no one’s looking

and the chatter stills

and the tide goes out

and i drift

on gypsy currents.

Go To Sleep (Little Man Being Erased)

Rag and Bone men went house to house collecting rags (to be sold and made into fabric) and bones (sold and made into glue.) For years, this has not really meant anything to me.
Lately, though, these lyrics have taken on a more personal meaning. Rag and bone men, loonies, monsters…they’re all a little more weird and subtle and real to me than they were a couple of years ago.

Giving pieces of myself away in exchange for something of no worth; being erased…it’s a dark prospect.

“Something for the rag and bone man
“Over my dead body”
Something big is gonna happen
“Over my dead body”

Someone’s son or someone’s daughter
“Over my dead body”
This is how I end up getting sucked in
“Over my dead body”

I’m gonna go to sleep
Let this wash all over me

We don’t really want a monster taking over
“Tiptoe round tie him down”
We don’t want the loonies taking over
“Tiptoe round tie them down”

May pretty horses
Come to you
As you sleep
I’m gonna go to sleep
Let this wash
All over me”

 

lyrics by Radiohead

Abstinence smells like Ramen Noodles

More specifically, the smell of Ramen noodles

could be mistaken for the smell of abstinence.

I dreamt that last night.

I don’t know what it means,

but I’m sure it’s a universal truth.

dogs and wine bottles

laying down.

a compost heap.

waiting to break up

or break down

over the next thirty or forty years.

sunlight amplifies,

green, through empty bottles

in air that turns

and smells like wet dogs.