Spike’s pictures from )’(

The last of my photos from Burning Man ( I should have more but my major 'taking pictures day' was interrupted by a major dust storm so I only got about half the photos I meant to) are from my other camp, Spike's Vampire Bar. I found Spike's the year they opened and became a regular very quickly. It was in center camp about three camps away from Hardware and was one of three places where I could hear music I like (seriously, I think Burning Man is an experiment in playing bad music) as they played gothic/industrial and hard rock. They only served red wine out of blood bags and didn't require any "barter" which was still sort of new for the time at )'(. They had a small dance floor (my only complaint about Spike's) with a stripper pole and wanted to give everybody a chance to dance. It was a nice little bar and I always ended the burn night by closing it down in the morning. I even camped with them one year when it didn't look like Hardware or anybody else I knew would be going. I did so for the last time this year as it will not be returning as a camp as all things must come to and end.



Most of these are just pictures of the people in the camp and I post them for completeness.

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Spark’s Night with BRC Hardware

Here are the photos from Sparks Night at this year's Burning Man. Sparks Night is the night that Black Rock City Hardware breaks out the grinders and fire toys and has some fun. We moved it from Tuesday to Thursday for good effect, especially considering that we were facing center camp this year. Luke and our new people brought some new ideas and a an oxy torch. I think that's got the creative juices flowing and hopefully next year or before that in Seattle, we should have some new ideas to display.

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Burning Man Photos

Here's the beginning of the Burning Man photos.


The Man




Our Camp
This was our camp and our truck. We didn't get to cover up our truck logos because one of the first customers we had was a guy looking for shade structure material and we ended up giving him the cammo netting we were to use to cover up the Penske logo. Next door was our friends Bike Rock City who were open a grand total of about two hours a day for three days. They still did more bike repairs that we possibly did and it was all tires by people who didn't bring any spares with them.


Flaming Lotus Girls Art
Got to see this before it opened up and all the work that went into it. The plumbing for all of these was amazing. The idea being that these were alien pods that had sprouted in the desert and were trying to communicate to the humans around them through fire. The controls to make the fire shoot out of them were built into the individual sculptures and controlled by the people standing around.


The Temple


Giant remote controlled hand that picks up cars and crushes them. Controlled by a glove that the operator wears, the hand mimics the movements of the wearer and was used to crush a car which can be seen on the ground below.

Art car in the shape of a horse.

Arachnophobia, one of the other goth/industrial dance clubs/bars on the playa.

It's an art car.

One of the larger large scale sound installations (ie dance clubs) one the playa. This is the one we call the "base farm" because it's where they grow all the base to be harvested and used for music thoughout the world. This was its last year on the playa from what I hear.

Hummer art installation.

Giant Jungle gym.

Babylon

All of the generic photos.

Still to come are stories as well as pictures from Sparks Night and Spike's.

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Old OK Photos

At the request of an old friend and because I've been planning to do it anyway, I've begun scanning and posting all my old photos from Oklahoma. The first batch is up which includes some from 1990 and my "gothic 23rd b-day party". Now I just need help figuring out who is who after all these years. The above is me, with my mohawk, and my leather jacket painted back in 1990.

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Second batch is up. Vanity shots for my 'zine. The Punknic, and David Patton's b-day party.
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Third batch is up.

Forth Batch is up.

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2007/2008 Goals

Every year, I decide on some goals to do for the next year. Usually something that needs to be done or I have never done. Travel to new places is a big one as I'd like to go to a new country every year. It's now time to go over past years goals and then set those for 2008.

From 2006:
Work on Websites - Still haven't done this one. I have something like five or six domains. Some are full of photos. They all could use some work and need to be properly organized and updated.

From 2007:

1. Complete my Games - I worked on some RPGs I was making fairly hard the first few months of the year and then dropped off. One of the main causes was that the games were an excuse to take photos in several various genres and my opportunities to take those photos, mostly of people in my WW2 re-enactment group, have not panned out.

2. Birthday Party - I didn't quite have a b-day party I was planning but I did start the Kascadia Art Show that will be continuing again this year.

3. Photostudio - I wanted to use the photostudio I started renting more this year. I've only shot in it twice, but I've used it every artwalk as well as for various parties. Overall, I consider this one a success.

4. Go to GenCon - I went to GenCon, had fun, met people, and had a good trip. It was something I'd always wanted to do since high school and finally got to do.

For 2008:

1. Go to either London or Rome. - It's my 40th birthday and I want to get out and do something big. So it's off to either London or Rome. In London I would do photos for Unhallowed Metropolis as there are so many landmarks only available there. I'd have to arrange models and stuff and it would be lots of work but fun and productive. In Rome, I'd just be a tourist and go look at all the Roman ruins. While in Europe, I'd probably also try and drop into Germany and visit my cousin who lives there with his family who is having medical issues. Not sure if I could do all three or not. People who were planning on going that shaped my interest seem to be dropping out.

2. Go to a foreign music festival. - This would either be Treffen or the Kenetic Festival in Canada. I've already been to Treffen, lots of friends are going to the Kenetic Festival, some of the bands I wanted to see at Treffen are playing at the Kenetic festival. So, think are looking like I might have to head back fro Europe and stop off in Canada for a music festival there. I'd probably hurry up and get tickets and maybe work on a photopass.

3. Work on Studio/Photography. - Basically, to be used for what I need to do, the studio needs work. It needs curtains to block light, I need my own studio lights, and there are several other things that need to be done before I can actually get people into the studio and shoot effectivly. Since I use the studio already and could use it more, getting this stuff done would be a great advantage.

4. Clean my room. - No seriously. I'm getting old and still living like a college student. I sleep on a futon and all my furniture is picked up ad hoc from various places. Some if it is full of stuff I don't even use and probably never will. I need to buy some nice grown up furniture, perhaps a matching set, get rid of some stuff that I will never use, organize the stuff I want to keep, clean, and make it presentable. Furnishing the room with a real carpet, ceiling, and walls would be nice, but although I lived there 10 years now (and have 10 years of built up detrius), it would have been worth it to put that sort of money into it back then, now, I live from year to year swearing I'm going to move out of that cold apartment next year. Buying a house by myself seems like a pipe dream in the Seattle market, and the apartment I live in now is large and in the perfect location as I can effectively walk almost everywhere I ever need to go including work and downtown.

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Looking for Artists

Looks like I've got the Mnemonic Gallery again this May for an artshow and artwalk and am beginning my look for artists to show in it. The theme of Kascadia is dark arts and things bizarre, morbid, or otherwise unsettling. This includes most media including performaces which I can probably get Starfish Studios for. So if you'd like to show art, have an artist I should contact, or would like to help, here's the place to let me know.

The show would be May 1st, first Thursday, and set up the days prior to that. We can probably set up the weekend before. Art can stay up for the rest of the month, but really, after artwalk, nobody's going to see it (unless I have a private party the weekend before for my birthday or something) and can be taken down late during artwalk. Other artist info can be answered on request.

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Mad Scientist Photoshoot, From Nov 21

Here are some of the color photos from the photo shoot we had last Friday. Theme was mad scientists. We had a couple of them plus lots of playing with Rusty's fire toys and watching him build fires. Some guys also showed up and made us a Jacob's ladder, although it didn't get into any of these shots it was fun to watch. Several other shots, I plan to work on some more and post in B&W like they would be done for UnMet.

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Sample UnMet Artwork, From Oct 30th

Another photo from the Vampire hunters shoot in f-stop studio. As two of the studios we were shooting in were part of the Seattle underground and shared the old 1st floor windows of the building, I thought it would be interesting to put them to some use and get a shot of a man, obvisouly a serial killer or such, outside of a window staring in at the young woman inside. Reflection proved an issue as well as proper lighting. The shot couldn't be done very well as one take, so this is the result of two takes, one of the model inside and one of the model outside and then put together. Still, I didn't get a good picture of the axe head and the lighting may be off.

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Vampire Hunters, From Oct 17th

Vampire Hunters







Hunters
Revel - Pants and super tight corset
Kory - Top hat w/ goggles
MizDeliverance - Dress w/ bustle and mini-top hat
Dekenangel - suit with contrast cuffs
Mineke - mourner / wardrobe

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Miss West, Re-animator, From Oct 16th

More shots from last Friday.

Miss West, Re-animator

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