Well, perhaps against my better judgment I’m going to wade into the whole nudity/pornography muck by challenging anyone to suggest the following is remotely obscene or pornographic:

This rather poetic underwater dance was captured in Johnny Weissmuller’s second feature film, Tarzan and His Mate, in 1934. 

Here is some background information on this scene, courtesy of IMDB.com:

“The infamous nude swimming scene was originally filmed in three different versions: with Jane wearing her traditional costume, with Jane topless and with Jane fully nude. US states were empowered at that time to enact individual censorship laws, and three different versions of the scene were filmed in order to allow individual states to select the version of the scene which best conformed to its laws. All three versions were eventually removed from the film due to protests from conservative religious groups, particularly the powerful Catholic Legion of Decency.

The nude version of the scene was discovered in the vaults of Turner Entertainment during the late 1990s following its purchase of the MGM film library, and was restored to most subsequent versions of the film on the direct orders of Turner Entertainment chairman Ted Turner. In the restored version of the scene, Tarzan is depicted wearing his traditional loincloth while Jane appears fully nude, her costume having been torn off when Tarzan playfully tosses her from a tree to the water below. The scene as it exists today is approximately four minutes in duration.

Removal of this scene from the movie was utterly senseless.  At least it is good to know that pig-headedness was not created by my generation  (sarcasm intended), even if we sometimes subscribe to it.

This was the second time I’d seen Clapton perform — the last time being at the Ford Center in OKC a couple of years ago. There is no doubt this musician is the greatest guitar player I’ve ever heard. See the Tulsa World review of the concert here.

Here are some pics from last night:

Baseball is more fun to photograph than even football — and if you know my passion for the latter you know how big a statement that is.  In baseball there are so many more decisive moments (OK, OK, I stole that phrase from Henri Cartier-Bresson, but it’s true). 

And not all of it comes from the players, as seen in the shots below I took a couple of seasons ago of Oklahoma Coach Sunny Golloway having a discussion of sorts with the umps during an OU-Texas contest. 

 Yeah, he was ejected.

Chris has posted his farewell blog entry, announcing his imminent death to the disease.  As you can see from the comments posted to his blog, the announcement is met with varying responses, but all with great conviction, attempts at understanding, and efforts to signify the importance Chris and life itself has to us all who remain.

Some may find this gentleman’s postings uncomfortable.  However, I believe his words and his granting others the opportunity to express their feelings about him while he is still alive, make this the best use of the internet I have seen in a long, long time.

This week was the third anniversary of the loss of a good friend and father to the person I love.  In recent times I have lost too many people who are important to me. So, the rest of you — you know who you are — take care of yourself, or I’ll get really mad.

In the meantime, the death of those who are important to us — including those we don’t even know, but who contribute valuable things to our own lives, such as Chris — are reminders that life is far too short and we better not wait around to tell the people we care about how important they are to us. Otherwise, it may become too late.

This is a photograph taken several years ago near where I grew up.  The bridge was built in the Depression era over Fourche Maline Creek on old U.S. 270 east of Wilburton, Oklahoma.  I chose to shoot this with infra red film to get a certain mood from the infra red halation effect on the sky and background foliage.  It also depicts a certain kind of light on the bridge that you can find today as a Photoshop filter.  But, hey, no “cheating” here. This is all film and all darkroom work.

Funny thing is I have only one frame of this shot on film.  Usually I’ll take three or four at least, to make sure that the exposure is correct or some weird scratch or difficult dust spot doesn’t ruin my only shot.  But not here.  Frankly, while the composition is what I had in my mind’s eye when I took the picture, I didn’t really think much of the picture until I was in the darkroom printing and this is what came up.

I have made several 16 x 20 prints of this image, including the one hanging in my office. One of the prints was captured the best of the show award at the Oklahoma Bar Association Art Show in 2003 in Oklahoma City.

It is one of my favorites.  One reason is this bridge has historical significance to me.  My parents, grandparents and great grandparents (comprising of all my Oklahoma ancestry since pre-statehood) all traveled over this structure at one time or another before the highway was re-routed.

(Sadly, the county has since painted the bridge and taken down the bullet-hole riddled sign.  It’s just not the same.)

I should have posted this during Valentine’s week. But, still, it’s a scene from one of my favorite, if not the favorite, movie.  It’s the final scene of “Cinema Paradiso” when the now grown up Salvatore, who was once the little boy helper of the projectionist Alfredo, screens for the first time the reel that his mentor Alfredo had left for him from the collection of cinema clips he had been required to censor.  

The movie is about the bittersweet of love and the love of cinema.  The Ennio Morricone’s romantic score alone is enough to make you cry. If you have not seen this movie, rent it.  

This self portrait turned out better than I’d ever imagine.  I was standing on a lonesome highway near Santa Fe for this 30 second exposure.  My “assistant” (he has a title now — woo hoo) used his trusty flashlight to paint some light on me, without exposing the surroundings. 

This may be the first time I’ve successfully captured real stars — that look like stars — in the sky.