Every Day There Is Additional Proof That The Very Qualities We Have Historically Been Forced To Deny

Thinking of Alberto Vargas today.

Censored for Tumblr 17/12/2018.

Spent some time with Shelbie Dimond in Paris last year. She told me great stories about her past life and how she’s always rolling the dice. You can find her on insta as @spookieshelbie where she sells her darkroom prints, Polaroids, books, and takes commissions.

Judy had moved to NY only a week before we met.  I remember her beautiful long straight jet black hair, and finding out she was Mexican.  I showed a friend some pics of her and he fell in love not knowing a thing about her.

Madia in Milan. She opened her door nude, and had another photographer in the room packing up his gear. She ripped a bong while I loaded Polaroid. Her flesh pulling her in the opposite direction as she moved. Cutting through all that smoke was her beautiful face.

Censored for Tumblr 17/12/2018

I found her on tumblr where she was posting the most incredible self portraits.  I asked to take her picture and this is the first frame we took… such a beauty.

“[Beauty as a form of power] is always conceived in relation to men; it is not the power to do but the power to attract. It is a power that negates itself. For this power is not one that can be chosen freely—at least, not by women—or renounced without social censure.”

- Susan Sontag, A Woman’s Beauty: Put-Down or Power Source?

I’ll start things off with Tessa at her home in London. She had the most incredible wardrobe full of latex, roleplay outfits, cabinets of medical devices, and original art from her admirers. Censored for 17/12/2018.

I found Violetta online and she really was the beginning. She arrived in sweats, had a Philly accent, only ate pizza, and had no patience for making photos. That said, she was still my favorite. She reminded me of Patti Smith, was both feminine and masculine, had wild natural proportions, and made incredible images.

Made in remembrance of Trace Magazine’s issues of “Black Girls Rule”.

Nina had cuts and scars down her arms… but I pretended not to notice. Its the shadow side I find most beautiful.