Jordan and Molly are engaged.  This is super news.

They fill me with joy when I am with them.

On an unseasonably warm December day, we took some photos to celebrate.

It’s all different the second time around.

I had so much to say about last year’s experience from Burning Man.

This year I don’t.

It was, unexpectedly, a roller coaster of emotions.  I have no idea why.

But it was what it was.

I was very happy to be part of a great community of people:

Tunnel of Love
and
Bloop

My photos from this year don’t catch the majesty or mystery of Burning man.

I am not thrilled with the results of my shutter finger.

But I am happy to have bagged some beautiful portraits of some beautiful people.

I hope to return next year.

And get mixed up in the beautiful insanity all over again.

-JoeySee

Sunrise.

The playa is cold but there is no wind.  The black shadow of ground level is illuminated by LED lights, glow sticks, and an occasional burst of flame.

Up above, the sky is all the colours of a rainbow dawn.  Black, dark and royal blue, fading effortlessly to white, yellow and orange.

The sounds of distant raves travel thru the dawn in the form of an electronic bass drum.

I am already covered in dust from head to toe, thanks to the welcome committee at the main entrance.

With my eyes and mind wide open, I hopped on my bike and rode off towards signs of life in the distance, with three amigos by my side.

Upon our arrival at the front gate, us Burning Man virgins
were instructed by a slovenly yet jolly beardless Santa to
roll around in the dust as a welcoming gesture.

I watched in silence as people danced to the sunrise, and as the
sun finally broke the horizon, everybody around me started
howling to the east.

And oh my what a woman she was.

The other sculptures were equally jaw dropping.

There was the Critical Tits bike parade…

Clodagh offered it to Mark because of his big smile.  He accepted
it immediately and returned it with a kiss.

They were a beautiful couple that I felt a deep connection to.

Grounded, real, mellow, open, and in love.

Bringing things to gift to other people is a great way
to meet others.  Glow necessities and lights for the
nite time are a must.  Dust and wind storms are
beautiful and slightly unnerving when you are lost
in white out conditions for more than a minute at a time.

Dust storms at nite are even more unnerving, especially
when you feel disoriented already from the constant parade
of light up characters and bursts of fire happening all around
you in the dark. It’s somewhat like a bad dream except that
you don’t really want to wake up from it.

You want to stay super hydrated during the day because
you’re out in the desert.  The problem with staying so well
hydrated is that you always have to pee.

Boys, if you’re thinking about going topless, I would
recommend a cape.

Girls, if you’re thinking about going topless, I would
recommend it.

“Thank you cape for protecting me from the sun.
And for making me look heroic in times of wind.”

This was a place to suspend reality and never go to sleep.

I asked myself the same question constantly during my
time on the Playa:

How many times can I fall in love in one day?

I was mesmerized and hypnotized again and again by
people from all over.  And a few beautiful souls stopped me
dead in my tracks.

So it was with the girl in white lace.

I was walking thru Center Camp during a thunderstorm
of drums.  As I moved forward, the crowd in front of me parted
slowly to reveal a dark featured woman free of all earthly bounds.
She moved her body like Athena – both in and out of rhythm -
and time stopped around her.

She moved with life and love.  She danced as if nobody was
watching, even though everybody was watching.  She smiled
like she was in constantly in love.

She was freedom.

And then she was gone.

That’s how it was with most of the supremely exotic and
mystical women I encountered over those few days.

I was observing a man who was lost in himself.  He was
either playing an instrument or reciting poetry or something
of the sort.  Down by his feet in the audience was a girl with
the most absorbed look on her face.  I couldn’t look away from
her.  The look on her face as she watched and listened to this
man wasn’t a look of wanting or desire.

She was saying with her expression, “I will have you, and I
will be at your mercy.”  It gave me chills and made my heart
pound silly against my rib cage.

There was the girl the nite the temple burned… Dancing
topless amongst the smoldering ashes.  I saw her thru
the blurry heat lines like a mirage in the desert.  Only I’m
quite sure she was real.

Her straight brown hair fell
to the middle of her back.  She had an impeccable shape
with the most beautiful breasts I’d ever laid eyes on…
and this being Burning Man, I’d  laid my eyes on a lot
of breasts those few days.  She danced with the spirit of a
Native American princess and the movement of a well versed
Moroccan belly dancer.

I was cemented to where I stood.  I was simultaneously
praying that she would disappear and cease teasing
my heart, as well as hoping she would never leave my sight.
When she finally put on her shirt, my beautiful misery
ended and I could feel the heat of the burning coals
once more on my face.

One late evening I walked into Center Camp, looking
for a friend.  Whatever my mission was when I was
outside the tent was immediately forgotten about
when I heard the harmonies of two a cappella female
voices onstage.

The song was “Over the Blue Ridge Mountains”.

The girls were called Rising Appalachia.

I had tears in my eyes as the girls’ voices soared
thru the mostly empty tent, out into the nite.  The
voice I heard was the voice I had always dreamed of
and loved.

True. Basic. Grounded. Emotional.

Breathy. Smooth. Raspy.

I was transported to a sonic paradise for 3 short songs.

And I was grateful.

At dawn on the last day, I walked to the middle of the
playa to photograph whatever caught my eye.  The cold
desert morning cut thru my thin layers of jackets and
when I started shivering, I turned west and headed back
to the closest semblance of life I could find.

I found a full on rave party still going strong in front
of a giant geodesic dome.  There were acrobats from Zen
Arts flying from chains, trapeze, pole dancing and more.

After a few minutes, there was a huge gathering on a
central platform where a crowd of about 300 strangers
decked out in costumes of every niche and variety you
could think of witnessed the wedding of an ecstatic couple.

I turned to leave the wedding and my eye was caught
once more by a woman side lit by the sunrise.

She was wearing the most magnificent flowing gown
and was hooping like the rivers flow down canyons.
Fluid, effortless, sensual and beautiful were here movements.

I instinctively dropped to one knee and started
photographing her.  I thought it a crime to be able to
capture only a millisecond of this beautiful routine she
was performing for herself in the light of the dawn.

As I snapped away, I caught her glancing at me once
or twice with a sly smile on her face.

My heart, naturally, fluttered.

This quick glance happened a few times, and when I
finally stood up, we walked toward each other.

Her name, she said, was Spiral.

She had been hoping that someone might come by
and photograph her performing in the gown she had
spent so long making herself.

She had the most genuine and contagious smile.

We exchanged emails and I sent her some of the
best photos I took of her.  She still uses them today.

It was an Exodus to remember.

The traffic controllers would let a certain number
of cars thru and then stop everyone for 45 minutes.

This was to allow traffic to clear the small towns and
to give the gas stations a small rest so there wouldn’t
be total gridlock in the middle of nowhere, Nevada.

It took us over 4 hours to leave.  But that was ok.

Mat and Whitney stayed with the car while I went exploring
down the endless line of stopped cars.

I spun around and saw Mark and Clodagh leaning
out the window of their rent-a-car waving and smiling
my way.  I ran along side their car until the traffic
stopped again and then gave them huge hugs.

They offered me a Heineken which I gladly accepted.

They told me that on Friday, while exploring the
beautiful canyon that was the 2010 temple, they
had gotten engaged.

To each other!

I was so thrilled to hear this news.  I reached into my
pocket and pulled out a heart rock that I found on the
ground after the temple burned.  I thought it a fitting
symbol of love and perseverance to offer them as a gift.

They were extremely thankful.  And I was extremely
grateful to have known them.  We’d known each other
for a total of maybe 2 hours at most, but our connection
felt like it was ocean deep.  So thru happily watered eyes
we said our goodbyes to each other.  Not knowing when
our paths may cross again.

This Oasis of Desire in the middle of the desert.

And everything was beautiful.

-JoeySee

P.S. – Click here for some extra miscellaneous Burning Man photos…

My man Reese and I rolled up to the Sawtooth Music Festival at 7pm on Friday evening.
Our hour long drive from Sun Valley was the same ol’ nothing but beautiful – north
on 75 up over Galena Summit, past Smiley Creek Cabin (home of the world’s best
milkshakes… or at least Idaho’s best milkshakes), rolled past Redfish Lake and
then a left at the Stanley turnoff.

We missed the first 3/4ths of the weekend, but we were determined to
enjoy ourselves to the fullest for the remainder of the party.  Our first task
was to find a camping spot.  This first task was made easy when, while
still sitting in Reese’s Honda Element, we were set upon by two
beautiful girls – Amy and Darcy – who are not lesbian sisters,
who immediately offered us swigs of Sweet Tea Vodka
and warned us not to leave the vicinity without setting up camp.

Now, denying one pretty girl might have been difficult, but denying
TWO pretty girls seemed downright impossible, if not just plain silly.
We found a cush spot a few cars away and set out to dance and see the music.

And then the rain came.

And the thunder and the lightning.

The rain drops were like cold tiny water balloons and they fell
like industrial sprinklers at a perfect 45 degree angle from the south.

The four of us took refuge in Reese’s Element and enjoyed the
half case of PBR that was conveniently located at our feet.  An acoustic
jam session ensued, full of steel strings, harmonicas and the always
essential tambourine.

Plus an orange glow stick axe, of course.

And then the sun came out.

Just in time to set.

And then when I didn’t think it would get any prettier, a rainbow appeared.

As did two other beautiful people, Mary and Cherene.

All at once, there was a rainbow to the east, a sunset to the west, and
sun-kissed mountain peaks to the south.  It was like we were all
Hobbits, marching away from Mordor for the last time.

Is that too much of a LOTR nerd reference?

I don’t think so.  A few people told me the same thing, and
we became instant friends.  (Obviously)

Nite fell upon us, as did the rain, later that evening.  We
resorted to more acoustic jam sessions and indulging in
our rapidly depleting stash of PBRs.  Mary and Cherene
helped restock us halfway thru the performance, and
we were eternally grateful.

The band known as Free Peoples were gypped of their set
that Saturday nite, and so for 2 hours late into the darkness,
they played next to the stage with only their amps and
one microphone to carry their sound thru the field.
They rokked my face off, and I’m pretty sure the fiddle
player melted the majority of the other 150+ audience
members faces as well.

And so it was that a faceless audience was rokked to
sleep that nite in front of the Sawtooth mountains
under the milky way.

And the next morning, we all awoke to a fog that
hadn’t been seen in months.

My man Timone and Tess drove me home the next day
while Reese went off on a kayaking adventure.

And then for good measure, I schooled Timone and Tess on
my new favourite phenomenon – Owling.
(You must see the bottom photo on that page – “Hawking”)

Though I think I may have to still work on my form a bit.

-JoeySee

After a long, hot, beautiful, action packed, dancing dominated, firework filled 4th of July weekend,
the McNees clan invited me to head out with them to Redfish Lake for the day.

I can think of very few ways to better end a great weekend, than by hanging out with super fun family and
friends by a fresh water lake on a sunny summer day, with jagged snow capped mountains as the backdrop.

What a great weekend…

Life Lesson #2: Definitely, don’t make this mistake twice in a row.

]]> http://joeysee.com/blog/2011/07/redfish-lake-and-the-mcnees-clan/feed/ 0 http://joeysee.com/blog/2011/07/redfish-lake-and-the-mcnees-clan/ http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/joeysee/~3/u8cULlIi4h4/ http://joeysee.com/blog/2011/06/timberstock-2011/#comments Tue, 21 Jun 2011 21:17:47 +0000 JoeySee http://joeysee.com/blog/?p=1829 NOTE: the images in this feed have been downsized or removed for copyright reasons. To see them in their unmodified state, please view the original post by clicking here.

Timberstock 2011.

4 years strong.

A fantastical weekend full of peace, love, rock ‘n’ roll and more.

Thank you Thank you Thank you to the Timber Lake crew.

See you again next year.

I was supposed to photograph Amanda and her friend Brad together in NYC.  They’re in a band.  They’re called Jack and Rose.

Brad couldn’t make it.

So I said, “Amanda.”

And she said, “What.”

I was like, “Let’s take some photos anyway.”

She was all, “OK.”

AND THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED:

Because Amanda effing Rokks.

-JoeySee

My wonderful friend Gewelz invited me to play around in the ICP studio with her a few weeks ago.  I called up two friends of mine who just happen to be very pretty ladies, and had them come model for us.

Every time I get into a studio situation, I realize I only have a vague idea of what I can do, how I can do it, and how this that and the other piece of equipment works.  Lighting is an ongoing experiment for every photographer, but for some reason I feel like I start from square one every time.  I imagine after shooting often enough, one develops their own style – they know what lights they like, they know where to put them, how to modify them, etc.  I haven’t gotten there yet.  I need to shoot a lot more regularly to develop that.

The photos from this session came out pretty alright.  I feel like the photos are lacking life… something original, something memorable.  I blame myself for that.  I have a lot of learning to do.

I also have no idea what to do in post with these photos.  Some are touched up slightly with basic contrast and some curves.  Some are a bit more effected.  If anyone has any suggestions or comments or pointers about post-production work on studio photos, I’d love to hear them.

The good news is, the girls looked great, thanks in part to Liz Piper, our make up artist.

And now, the photos:

Models: Jill Scambia and Erica Hernandez
MUA: Liz Piper
Photos: JoeySee

-JoeySee

The following cartoon is my first and only attempt at cartooning.

It is in the form of a letter home to my dear friend, Flounder.

From the fall of 2008.

When I was in South Africa.

Enjoy.

“The Capricious Quixotic Quests of Flojo”

Here are the cartoons in their entirety:

In my fit of boredom tonite, I decided to organize parts of my room.

I started with my sock drawer.  That was as far as I got.

My sock drawer proved to be full of wondrous treasures and misfit things!  (Kindly disregard the un-vacuumed carpet… I’ll take care of that… tomorrow.)

What secrets does your sock drawer hold?

-JoeySee