Tecate Bukkake from Goddamn Cobras Collective on Vimeo.

My other collective, The Goddamn Cobras, are releasing new material left and right (and check out that beaut of a site!). I didn’t do much on this video, besides come up with the idea and take photos. The filming and editing were completely out of my hands but I still fancy the video and my description of it on Freewilliamsburg: “A gender studies graduate student could definitely write a dissertation about the possibility of feminine empowerment via a typically male dominated substance as demonstrated in this video.” Village Voice liked my description too!

We ended up submitting it to the Vimeo Awards in their captured division and find out sometime next month if getting tecate bukkaked gets you awards as well as notoriety.

Honey Pie from California is a place. on Vimeo.

I know my fair share about Real Dolls, having once written an article about sex dolls. I put it on my website, thinking it would make a fine portfolio piece. That I could send a link to editors, who might like it and lavish me with assignments.

I am not sure editors are the ones seeing it.

Now 6 of the top ten search terms that bring people to my site are related to sex dolls. It appears these searchers are doing some comparative researching before making the plunge into a 6k+ investment. I hope they find my article informative in their decision making. I also hope some of them might be editors who can appreciate some good writing when they see it.

Later this month I will be working on a set that wants to use Lightroom 3 and the tethering capabilities, so I thought it would be a good idea to test it out at home.

I can’t believe I had this puppy for a month and haven’t used it. It was a little slow, evening shooting small jpegs, but the lag wasn’t insurmountable. Also, I am not one for presets but it was quite fun seeing in real time the 100+ presets I’ve downloaded.

Will has been a bit busy with his trip recap to look over my photos. So, tired of his heavy-handed editing anyway, I decided to do a review of my own photos. Over the past two months, I have been to Philly, Puerto Rico, Michigan, Chicago and spent days on trains and boats. I biked miles and drove even more. I went to a music festival and took a trapeze class and learned to sail.

The good times and plenitude of novel experiences helped inspire some interesting shots. The two main characters ended up being Luke Miller (as per usual) and Wu-tang, who, I must say, are immensely entertaining. With my newly freed up schedule, I expect more fruitful months as June and July turned out to be.

Since then, I have traveled to Puerto Rico on a surf safari and then two weeks later took my bike and got on train to Chicago before sailing the length of Lake Michigan. Now, these types of trips are not going to be the defining elements of my new situation, especially as income becomes less stable, but both helped shake things up.

I also got published two weeks after going part-time.

Writing under my boss’ name for so long made seeing my byline on Aol News an especially great thrill. I had five days to turn this puppy out, a faster deadline with more sources than I have ever done. There is hardly any changes by my editor.

I truly believe taking the plunge was necessary for my creative spirit. My photo output is just barely over half of what it was at this time last year. I have a lot of time to make up. This tale of taking time off to discover one’s self inspired me to write this one and codify what I am going to do with my 25 newly freed hours a week.

I am going to be reading obscene amounts of articles and books. I am going to watch my tutorials for Final Cut Pro as I continue editing little projects that have dwelled in purgatory for too long. I will probably migrate my flash-based website to a friendly html one. I will pitch at least once a month. I have a local photo essay that needs some attention. And I am going to bake so so much bread. Let me know if you could use any sourdough loaves. And please, hold me accountable.

Serena’s finally got her hands on a new camera all her own! After some dastardly coward stole her camera, along with a lens I had bestowed, Serena has been watching from the sidelines as Will and I do our monthly reviews. No more! Serena sent me along some photos from a mini road trip she went on. Out of the 20, these nine spoke to me. Sure, they are without people, my usual favorites, but I think Serena did a great job making landscapes interesting and with plenty of character-quite a feat without a large format setup. Since Serena is about to embark on yet another road trip, I expect good things.

Here’s to many more new pictures from Serena.

Leave it to irrevevant pop musicians to do something inventive with disposable cameras. You can check out his DIY setup almost immediately in the video but have to wait around to about 1:47 to see it in action. Feel free to dance around in the interim.

Perhaps he was a photographer himself, but his statement got me noticing motion in other photos. In the introductory class I teach on photography, one of the first things we talk about is how to eliminate blurriness. There are, of course, many times where motion adds a “je ne sais quoi” to your shot.

This New York Magazine photo accompanied a restaurant review. The photo caught my eye because I didn’t find it particularly up to par with their usual work but the movement shown in the hostess/server redeems the photo. It conveys the fact that she is the one on the move, working, while the guests are still, enjoying their meal. Subtle storytelling!

When shooting events where motion is so inherent, its nice to see it captured as well as this. While we are at it, this picture makes me hear this song:

Enjoy.

Washington Monthly

The Washington Monthly is a publication covering politics, government, culture and the media. Before you pitch a story to us, we recommend you read through a few of our back issues online or in print to get a feel for the type of investigative, system-analysis journalism we value and promote.

The magazine is published Bimonthly and includes investigative and opinion-based feature articles (2,000 to 5,000 words), occasional short news items and humorous sidebars (500 to 1,000 words), and book reviews of recent political and cultural titles (usually about 800 words). We occasionally print excerpts from forthcoming political books. We never publish fiction, poetry, or celebrity profiles.

Our editors welcome story pitches that suit our editorial mix. We ask freelancers to submit query letters in writing by either emailing us at editors@washingtonmonthly.com or mailing submissions to our mailing address (below).

Due to the volume of mail we receive, we regret that we cannot respond to every story pitch.

All freelance pieces are submitted “on spec”; we don’t pay kill fees. The pay rate for published articles is 10 cents per word.

Complimentary copies of the magazine in which their articles appears are mailed to freelancers. Published articles are also available online.

Herizons

Herizons aims to reflect a feminist philosophy that is diverse and relevant to women’s daily lives. The purpose of Herizons is to empower women; to inspire hope and foster a state of wellness that enriches women’s lives; to build awareness of issues as they affect women; to foster a spirit of co operation; to promote the strength, wisdom and creativity of women; to broaden the boundaries of feminism to include building coalitions and support among other marginalized peoples; to foster peace and ecological awareness and to expand the influence of feminist principles in the world. Herizons is a non-profit organization based in Winnipeg, Manitoba Canada.

What Herizons Publishes

Herizons’ audience is a feminist readership. Articles about applying feminist principles in work, in relationships and organizations, and in social justice are welcome. Our readers are interested in health issues, social and political issues, environmental issues, equality issues, justice issues, spiritual issues; parenting issues and all issues informed by diverse racial and cultural experiences. Articles in which the writer is engaged with the material work best; personal experiences, journalism style articles, interviews, articles which bring in current research and a clear feminist perspective are all things we look for.

NEWS
500 – 700 words. News items of interest to feminist readers taking place in communities across Canada.

FEATURES
1,000 – 3,000 In depth articles on feminist debates, current social/ political/legal/environmental/culture emerging issues or personal stories with a broader social relevance. Can be interview style, essay style or journalism style. Non academic writing is preferred.

REVIEWS
350-words Book, music and film reviews; preference is given to Canadian authors, filmmakers, musicians. $55

Payment License Use:
Payment is made in Canadian funds upon publication. Articles in Herizons are licensed for first time North American rights @ .25 cents per word with an additional .5 cents per word for non-exclusive subsidiary rights, including the right to transfer articles to CD rom for educational/academic libraries and/or secure on-line database services. (Total .30 per word) Herizons reserves the right to post select articles on Herizons’ web site in order to promote the magazine.

Hyphen

Hyphen has limited resources, but we pay $500 for in-depth, feature stories that carry the theme for each issue. We’re looking for writers who can depart from the predictable daily-news structure and tell a story well, with keen observations and strict accuracy. We welcome investigative reporting as well as literary journalism, thoughtful pieces as well as tongue-in-cheek ones.

We’ve got a bit of a split personality, so we want both fun and serious writing. As long as it’s well written and solidly reported, we’re very open. Bonus points if the story takes place in the South or Midwest. Asian America doesn’t exist only on the coasts, you know.

We are interested in issues that affect Asian Americans, but, please, no Asian American Studies 101. We are also interested in tangentially Asian American stories, in quirky stories, and in stories about emerging artists rather than established ones. We don’t have many rules, but here are a few. If you break these, your submission will be rejected:

1) Do not send ideas about people and events in Asia. We cover Asian America, not Asia.

2) Absolutely no reprints, though substantially revised or expanded stories will be considered. This means don’t send us something that has already been published elsewhere.

3) Do not pitch us a story about a conference. There is nothing more boring than a story about a conference.

4) Don’t send us anything that uses the phrase “East meets West.” Just don’t.

5280

5280 is the premiere monthly guide to the arts, entertainment, dining, and lifestyle issues in Denver. First published in 1993, the magazine has a circulation of 85,000 and is consistently among the top-selling magazines on metro newsstands. Many of our stories are written by 5280 staffers and a group of established freelance writers, but we welcome ideas from journalists we haven’t worked with in the past.

Literary Traveler

From the Web Site:

Literary Traveler was launched in March of 1998. We currently have around 80,000 visitors per month and over 5,000 subscribers. Our audience is made up of people who love to read and travel and who are interested in literature and the arts.

We are seeking articles that capture the literary imagination. Is there an artist or writer that has inspired you? Have you taken a journey or pilgrimage that was inspired by a work of literature? We focus mainly on literary artists but we welcome articles about other artists: composers, painters, songwriters, storytellers, etc.

Subject matter can be anything artistic or creative. Each one of our articles in some way is about someone who creates. Some of our articles are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers, or artists.

ARTICLE GUIDELINES

– 1500 – 2000 words in length

– First-person narrative that inspires our readers

– Please send accompanying jpegs (sized small)

**We cannot emphasize enough how important it is to read our current articles before writing. New writers to LT often make this mistake and we have to ask them to rewrite. Our articles have a unique style (i.e. no travel guide writing).

RIGHTS
We run material that has not been previously published. We hold exclusive rights, and will keep your article archived on the web.

I think I might try Literary Traveler with my trip to Puerto Rico next month, Perhaps writing in the footsteps of Hunter S. Thompson’s Rum Diary. These will all be on the Submission page soon.

But I am still hopeful. Or at least I was until I shot the Root’s Picnic and found myself sharing the photo pit with a 9 year old and his Spiderman backpack.

He was shooting with a little Canon G-11. I got to see some of his shots and he miraculously captured a sunburst dipping below the horizon when the sun wasn’t even setting. Perhaps at his height it was?

I asked him for whom he was shooting and he said “my mom,” before sauntering away to get another shot. I wish I was this committed and cool (and staying up late to take pictures of Wu-Tang) at his age.