Sitting, eating a severed foot.

Last year I got a bucket of eyeballs for my students, but this year they only had packages of various body parts. And also, candy costed a million dollars this year.

I'm exhausted after a long "Character Day" at work. I spent most of the day face painting. By the end of the day I was speed-face painting, lol. Right now I'm literally falling asleep at the computer. But, I have to blog, I made a vow. Lol.

This weekend it looks like I'm going to photograph some of the Halloween Parade, which should be fun. Might see some severed body parts.

Anyway, here are a few photos from today of the little faces I painted on.

VERITAS

I had the privilege of photographing my old friend Thai's rock band, VERITAS, an "operatic" Seattle-based rock band consisting of three lovely females and two Asian boys with mohawks. Not only are they aesthetically yummy, but their music is pretty awesome too ;). You can check them out at: http://www.myspace.com/veritasband

You can also check out my growing set of them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622543085625/

This particular photo I'm fairly proud of. The night and lighting was just perfect for experimentation. I felt like a director, and liked it. :) I hope to do more creative work with artists like VERITAS to explore more visual concepts.

Frances Villar for NYC Mayor!

Frances' two adorable babies, Justin and Jana.

Jana posing with my keffiyah.

Danny ripping up an LGBT supports Bloomberg sign, because we know conscious LGBT peeps know Bloomberg's a wormy little bastard.

Frances posing with Danny at NYC PRIDE, 2009.

Frances speaking at a PSL Socialism Conference in DC.

To counter my Bloomberg post, I thought I'd go ahead and talk about PSL (Party for Socialism & Liberation)'s mayoral candidate, Frances Villar. Frances is an Afro-Latina from the Bronx who is a young, single mother of two beautiful children, a student, and a community activist who stands up against Obama's wars, stands in solidarity with Palestine, Cuba, Venezuela, Bolivia, Honduras, and the rest of the international working class. She rejects capitalism, colonial-type wars, zionism, and evil private corporations that like to suck dry natural resources of our country and others while profiting off of them. Basically, she kicks ass.

You can read/find out more about Frances at: http://www.votepsl.org.

I had the honorable opportunity to photograph her over the summer and help collect signatures for the campaign, so I'll post a few photos that I took. Also, when you go into vote on November 3rd, be sure to check the ballot for her name, and if you're a supporter, go ahead and vote for her. NYC Councilman Charles Baron (who I have also had the privilege of photographing) supports Frances, and so do I!

Bloomberg in Bay Ridge

So a few weeks ago, Bloomberg appeared in my neighborhood. I was literally in the middle of doing my laundry when I noticed that we had a street fair here in Bay Ridge.

So, I was like, "Eh, whatever..we have street fairs all the time," and then I saw like a swarm of people around one person, and then I saw his face, and literally, my stomach turned.

He had a distasteful yellow shirt on, and a dinosaur for a face..yes, it was indeed, our billionaire of a mayor who has nothing in common with the people of NYC, who continues to serve the interests of the rich, and the Zionists, who went to fxxking Israel after the attacks on Gaza a year ago to defend Israel, whose mayoral control of the public schools has suffocated both students and teachers, forcing our hands to prep kids for culturally-specific exams, and setting us all up for failure..but oh look, what great colors he chose for his campaign...Let me, the responsible American, go vote for him because his team put together such great color schemes and not at all be aware of what he really does for NYC and it's people...Yes, I'm a bit angry and bitter.

So, when I saw him, I had mixed feelings..should I grab my camera or not? I figured I'd take the opportunity, so I went back home and grabbed my camera.

I held onto these photos because I wasn't sure what to do with them, because it's pretty obvious how much I hate Bloomberg.

So, I thought I'd just attach my opinion to them, just to make sure people know how I feel.

Bloomberg = Asshole (Zionist Pig)

View set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622523506917/

The Secure Man.

I'm glad my buddies Eddie and Jinnette can be my models for this photo. The body language (more specifically her arm on his lap) communicates to me a man who is secure enough about himself to be in a relationship with a strong and dominant woman. Looking back in my past relationships I realize all but one of my exes were intimidated by me, and the one that wasn't was truly able to love me fully and was in fact a self-proclaimed feminist.





At a PSL fundraiser party this past weekend I had the privilege of catching up with some old friends from ANSWER Coalition, one of the largest and most left (if not the most) Anti-War organizations in the nation. This is a shot of who I like to refer to as the Original Eddie Pages (posing with a Che ANSWER banner), who is ANSWER's unofficial videographer. You can see more of him at http://www.youtube.com/eddiepages.

These lovely ladies are also a part of PSL and ANSWER. The NYC PSL branch just keeps getting better and better looking, lol.
This was outside around 1AM in Inwood Heights right before we started getting into an argument with some sexist street mo'fo's who referred to women as "broads and bitches," and felt that we were failing our significant others by being out on the street for a cigarette break. Luckily there was a fence between us and them, otherwise I think we would have had to resort to some serious nut-crushing.

See the rest of these party pics at: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622549946089/

On The Train

I have began a few sets on my Flickr Account, which I will be posting links to on a regular basis. I get overwhelmed with photos sometimes and the storage of it is a bit confusing. I hardly ever feel secure in where I store them. In the last two years my Mac has crashed on me twice resulting in some devastating losses.

This particular photo is a favorite that I took this weekend off the Myrtle Avenue stop in Bushwick on the J train. Notice the little white pup the man on the left is holding. I have a strong interest showing a realistic perspective of the NYC subway culture, and how commuters from this city function in general. There are so many commuters in this city, and we're forced to share space in such small spaces in such an overwhelmingly large city. New Yorkers have to be clever with the way they carry their belongings, like this man with his bestfriend.

On The Trains Set: http://www.flickr.com/photos/vanissa/sets/72157622677869146/

The First Post.

This is a photo of one of my students that I took on a field trip two days ago to see Where The Wild Things Are. There's a lot to be said about the photo: the background advertisement with the writing, my student with his eyes covered by his hands and his gesturing hands with the toy...I like that his eyes are covered and yet the photo still displays the subject so intimately. It's very clear he is having quite an imaginative moment with his toy.

This is my first post. I feel like I should have a drumroll or something, but seriously, I've been meaning to photo blog my work for awhile now, and have finally buckled down to do it. So, I guess I should have a drumroll just to mark this epochal event, heheh. Use your imagination.................drumroll.................................!

I'm not sure what's supposed to happen now, but thanks for reading my first post, and visit often, because I'm taking photos nearly everyday like a crazy person. And, I probably have something to say for each photo I take.