Things I am interested in visually right now... or Things I Want Badly To Photograph....

1. Hot Girls Hula-Hooping.

Does this one really need justification? If you aren't hip to the sudden resurgence in all things Hula, you need to head over to YouTube and check out quasi-disturbing videos like THIS ONE HERE.

2. Brick Walls As Backgrounds.

I had kind of thought this might just be a phase I was going through - but no. I'm a junky for pin-up shots against brick walls. My argument for the brick wall is that you can find a million different colors, textures, and patterns in every city in the world. Just in Birmingham alone I have found tons of gorgeous walls to shoot against. Nothing better on short notice.

3. Girls With Wet Hair / Girls in Water

Yeah, I know, it can be a cliche... but if done right nothing is hotter.

4. People. Asleep.

No clue. Just find it interesting. Alice (a model I work with some) and I did some park bench pics of her asleep once and I loved them. I want to do more.

5. The Buddha

I am intrigued by the notion of 'found' images. The concept is nothing new: Roland Sherman (Birmingham's own famous photog) did a book once called 'Elvis is Everywhere' that collected mages where Elvis-as-icon played some small role in the background. The Buddha is interesting to me just for the sheer volume of ways he can be represented, from fat-bald-happy to sleek-young-serene. Would like to jump into a 'Found Buddha' project at least by next year.

I have applied to SG to start the group SG Birmingham. I hope to have an answer about approval within a few days. If approved as I hope, this will be a forum for SG's, Hopefuls, and members / fans in the Birmingham and Central-Alabama area to network.

I feel that SGDixie is a bit too vague in its focus to be effective as a local social-networking tool. Do people in MS, GA, FLA, really want to debate where a handful of people in Birmingham could eat pizza or vice-versa?

SG Birmingham will be run efficiently and simply with an emphasis on making sure that local SG members have an opportunity to network a few times a year.

Thanks,
Chris

P.S. - You can keep an eye on my blog here on SG for updates going forward.

Testing 1...2...3... - Is this thing on??

I couldn't stand seeing that my last blog post was dated sometime last year, so I wanted to post something a bit more recent just so I wouldn't appear to be 'away on business' all the time.

The last 8 months of my life have been tough, maybe the toughest ever. My mother was in the hospital for 7 months solid and passed away in early March. It was tough to watch and just that grueling day-in / day-out stuff alone was hard on my entire family.

I'm trying slowly but surely to shake off 7 months of cobwebs and get back to living. I'm glad I was able to afford to devote that time to my mother and to my family and I'm grateful for that, but I'm also glad it's behind me.

I'm EAGER to return to shooting and creative stuff...

CG70

Added some new pics to my Portraits album - just non-SG photography stuff I've been doing lately. I will likely post more over the next few days since I am currently in Photoshop HELL but remarkably close to caught-up...

CG70 - Portraits

Girls are tougher than guys... period.

I had a set of pics that I shot rejected by SG recently and I think I was more disappointed than the young lady was! She decided to enter her set in the Second Chance Sunday forum under SG Hopefuls. So far the response looks pretty positive. She - Gravee - is a sweet girl and I'd love to see her succeed at anything she tries.

Check out her set in the SG Hopefuls Section:

Gravee - My Journal

Went to see 'Grindhouse' tonight and now I feel like I've gorged on candy for three and a half hours. I don't write reviews, but here's my 'Blink' take on the films by Rodriguez and Tarantino:

I liked the feel of the Rodriquez zombie film more than the Tarantino effort. Kill Proof suffered from too many of Quentin's monologues which were not up to his usual (excellent) standards. Kurt Russel was great as always playing Snake Pliskin's hillbilly cousin. I'm glad someone finally found a use for Josh Brolin - I really liked him in the Rodriquez piece. Rose McGowan is Rose McGowan - she can do little wrong in my book. I could have used a bit more Bruce Willis - which I'm pained to write, actually. Naveen Andrews was a nice touch but he really didn't stretch much from his role on 'Lost'. I need to know more about the actresses in Kill Proof, who all seemed strong and maybe a bit underutilized here. I miss my uncle's 1970 Dodge Challenger. The coming attractions spoofs in between were nice but the 'Missing Reel' gag was just annoying in both flicks. All in all, it was no 'Kill Bill' or 'Sin City', but I had a good time.

Gmail has forsaken me. My account has been locked for 24 hours due to 'abnormal usage patterns', whatever the hell that means. Nothing has changed on my end - I still check it religiously from within Firefox and get mirrored copies of everything on my Samsung Blackjack, but suddenly the god's of Gmail have deemed me worth of purgatory. Sob.

I filled out their MIND-NUMBING tech support form but have heard zilch...

At the risk of sounding creepy (perish the thought), I'd like to offer the following:

If, for any reason, Amy Winehouse should turn up missing - have the FBI start their search in my belly...

I Was Asked To Leave Graceland