6600. and THEN some.

In the past four days, in three model shoots, I've taken 6,600 photos. Ana, Acacia, and Gigi went through the photos from the Sirens shoot the other night and picked out roughly 10% of the photos that they liked.

I never went through them. I just picked off a handful that they selected and marked on a sheet of paper. I still have more to do. 99.9% or 10% to do. Of the ones they selected. And I still haven't looked.

From yesterday's shoot with Ana and Acacia, I skimmed the photos last night, and opened roughly 20% that I would be proud to publish and stick my name to. 20 percent is a number I am MORE than happy to live with. Especially given all the factors yesterday. Multiple models, multiple photographers to look at, crowds to deal with... 20 makes me happy from yesterday.

Today, I had a third shoot with Katja and holy hell, her photos come out amazing. Every time I shoot Katja, it amazes me; I get the highest hit rate with her out of anyone. We took nearly 3,000 photos today. Of those, it's just madness... We sat here today and just randomly opened photos, and probably 8 out of every 10 were great shots. It's just insane how well she shoots.

I have another shoot tomorrow with Vanessa that's to last for hours. I anticipate easily hitting the 3,000 mark again. Possibly 4 or 5. And hopefully as high a hit rate as with Katja.

Do you see a problem here? I do.

I need to sleep. I haven't gone to bed since Tuesday night.

- July 3rd, 2008 10:13pm
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The calm before the storm

12:29pm, Ana
Do you want to do another shoot today? THE CRAZY ONE!?!

12:36pm, Me
Oh fuck. You know i do. When?

12:39pm, Ana
Like in 2 hours we were thinking of doing it in the streets like on lincoln maybe

12:41pm, Me
Perfect. And i want to get some in the middle of traffic on Washington

12:42pm, Ana
Hell yes!

1:32pm, Me
Perfect. Same spot.

1:43, Me
What do you think of me inviting two other fotogs? Great f'in fotogs?

A phone call from Ana. It's on.

Ladies and gentlemen, Ana and Acacia as shot by: Miami Fever, Rolo Del Campo, and Yours Truly.

- July 3rd, 2008 09:13am
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is today the day I die?

... if today is the day I die. I sent an email the other day that read as follows. And perhaps this will explain some things....

My thoughts now (and frequently running in this pattern are) I'm a dead man. And it's simple, really. The more happy I am with something, the more I feel death approaching. Today made me incredibly happy. So my natural tendency is to expect that I'm heading toward a horrible ending quicker now. I don't know why. I can't explain. But today.... with everyone. Just what a great day for me. Ever since the other afternoon... this has just been an incredible experience.

....

I'm so lucky to have met all of you.

And so today... a day after one of the most amazing days in my life, I have to wonder: is today the day I die?

If it is, check my last photo from the set that will come today for clues. Or some people I know who I spent time with yesterday could tell you.

But what an unreal insane superbly fucking unbelievably what-the-fuck how-the-fuck-did-I-do-that kind of day it was yesterday. So fucking insane sentences don't need commas kind of crazy!

And I'm wide awake because of it. Fuck. That's "fuck" as in what the fuck!?, not "fuck" as in I can't believe I'm awake.

I cannot WAIT to share!!!!!

(I think the theme song here should be, "You're getting even while I'm getting odd" which I don't even know the lyrics too, or if it even is a song, but it's a familiar phrase that runs through my head. But nobody's getting even; I'm just getting odd.)

- July 3rd, 2008 06:23am
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A scene

I helped to create a scene on Lincoln Road. I am very, very happy.

More details to follow tomorrow, maybe late, late, late tonight.

- July 2nd, 2008 09:15pm
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the hours

So yesterday, I woke up a little freaked out by stuff. Today, not so much. Today, I just woke up. On my couch again. I passed out once more from a night of going everywhere, doing really nothing at all.

Saturday night, I was up until around 6:30am with... the peoples. Monday? Was it Monday we shot? It must have been. And I was up that night until around 7am. I'm losing track of my days, my hours.

I am Jack's sleepy insomnia.

I got so many great photos of Ana, Acacia, and Gigi the other day. And Trevor took aMAZing video which I need to edit. But I've already got 10 hours of other video I need to edit.

And that's all apart from other stuff which HAS to be done. I don't have enough hours. And I'm fucking them all away.

No, I'm not. I just don't have enough of me to get everything done. I can sit here, I can type, I can edit, I can write, I can manipulate, I can sort, I can view, I can saturate, I can de-saturate, I can clip, I can crossfade, I can smoke cigarettes, I can watermark, I can stamp exif data, I can make pot after pot after pot of espresso, I can do, I can do, I can do.... And there is not enough time.

But today.... today... for the next 12 hours, 14 hours, 16 hours, until I pass out once more, and hopefully not on the couch, I will accomplish. Fuck.

And as I finish typing this, the text message comes:

"Do you want to do another shoot today? THE CRAZY ONE!?!"

"Oh fuck. You know I do. When?"

I am Jack's insanity.

- July 2nd, 2008 12:17pm
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tired

i am tired. i am tired of shooting. i am tired of editing. i am tired of video. i am tired of everything visual. Something is seriously ticking me off. Two things actually are really ticking me off. I want to say something but I think it's best to just....

It's been noted before by others that I'm passive aggressive. Right at this moment, I'm bothered. And I really would like to sort it out sensibly. But you know what? Know what I'm going to do?

I'm just going to bottle it all up inside.

Because... Because I'm a simpleton. I'm the Mayor of Simpleton in fact.

Never been near a university,
Never took a paper or a learned degree,
Now some of your friends,
Think that's stupid of me,
But it's nothing that I care about.

Well, I don't know,
How to tell the weight of the sun,
And of mathematics,
Well I want none.

And I may be the Mayor of Simpleton,
But I know one thing,
And that's I love you.

-Mayor of Simpleton by XTC

Entirely applicable to me right at this moment. Except I have a Bachelors of Science in Mathematics. And I'm not throwing my love to anyone. Just, had to finish that line. It's like playing the first raps of "Shave and a Haircut" a la "Who Framed Roger Rabbit;" it's not complete without the last two raps.

Where was I? Oh. Right. Fuck it.

- July 1st, 2008 01:14pm
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my textual world.

i love the new photos. u are an awesome photograph! i can't wait to see more. party like a rock star!

Don't send repo man. Had 2 fix car. Will send next week. Promise. Btw late happy bday.

Geez its been forever. Howve you been?

Would you maybe pick us up? The bus takes so long.

Scott, this quote was made for you:

"When I ask to photograph someone, it is because I love the way they look and I think I make that clear. I'm paying them a tremendous compliment. What I'm saying is, I want to take you home with me and look at you for the rest of my life. - Amy Arbus - On the question: "How do you get cooperation from your subjects for such wonderful portraits?" Interview with Amy Arbus - Revealing Human Nature Through Portrait Photography."

doing a search for use of my images.. came up with this one..

http://boinkology.com/2008/05/27/is-there-an-art-to-the-pickup/

lol.. you be a star baby!

Doug
PS. happy late bday..

my name is Christian, and I`m 31 years young. I`m here at youtube.com for watching nice videos, and getting to know new people. As I browsed through the videos, I discovered your video "Katja Jumping on the bed". It`s a very nice video - I really like it. It`s sooo much fun. But now let me ask you a little question: How old is Katja in this video? I know, I`m very curious, but I really would like to know.

- June 29th, 2008 07:07pm
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Girl on a bed, trampoline edition

From our photo shoot.... I <3 you, Katja!



Feed people, link is here.

- June 27th, 2008 05:13am
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the way you looked tonight

My iPod is on again. It's always on. But I've spent a few days listening to the same two or three sets of songs over and over.

But this afternoon... this afternoon "Lady in Red" by Chris DeBurgh comes on. Now, I've never claimed to have any collection that I can be proud of so you can go ahead and lay into me for having this on my iPod or even more for liking the song.

But I do. Not "do have a good collection." Do love this song. My collection is questionably questionable.

I've never seen you looking so lovely as you did tonight,
I've never seen you shine so bright,
Mmm-hmmm-hmmm.

I've never seen so many men ask you if you wanted to dance,
They're looking for a little romance,
Given half a chance.

And I've never seen that dress you're wearing,
Or the highlights in your hair that catch your eyes,
I have been blind.

Lady in red,
Is dancing with me,
Cheek to cheek,
There's nobody here,
It's just you and me,
It's where I wanna be,
But I hardly know,
This beauty by my side,
I'll never forget,
The way you look tonight.

I've never seen you looking so gorgeous as you did tonight,
I've never seen you shine so bright,
You were amazing.

I've never seen so many people want to be there by your side,
And when you turned to me and smiled,
It took my breath away.

And I have never had such a feeling,
Such a feeling of complete and utter love,
As I do tonight,

The lady in red
Is dancing with me,
Cheek to cheek,
There's nobody here,
It's just you and me,
It's where I wanna be,
But I hardly know,
This beauty by my side,
I'll never forget,
The way you look tonight.

I never will forget,
The way you look tonight.

The lady in red,
My lady in red,
I love you.

-Lady in Red by Chris De Burgh

In my life, I danced with the her. Once or twice I did. And I had such a feeling. A feeling of complete and utter love. But the memory.. the memories are surely my imagination, I feel certain.

I remember a summer at the beach along the eastern seaboard, going to a local night spot and dancing with some beauty by my side. I forgot the way she looked that night. She was memorable enough for me to, years later, remember that night. But she was... who was she?

And I remember there was another, wasn't there? Yes. Yes, there was.

And then I hear the song again in my head. With a beautiful girl by the name of Claire. Claire of England. Claire who was on summer vacation like me, coping with the desert sun in all the ways we could: days by the pool, afternoons in the snack bar. Big white-rimmed sunglasses and umbrellas. Slow motion. Claire laughs.

I remember her in a dress. I remember her silky legs, the soft shoulders that come at that age, and her perfectly blue eyes. And I remember her in slinky dresses. Or maybe I just imagined it all. Maybe it never happened.

I was having coffee the other day with a girl (beautifully bohemian but bohemian is the wrong word; she just... is) and we were talking about a Ray Bradbury story. Somehow, in the midst of our conversation, she pulled out a large softback book, easily 1000 wide pages, of Ray Bradbury Stories. And she began to tell the tale of an older woman who these neighborhood kids would visit. The kids never believed that she was young. And eventually, as the kids began to remove items of her from her life, the woman began to believe (or maybe accept?) that she, in fact, had never been a kid.

My point is, maybe I imagined these memories. Memories of these nights. Maybe we never met at all. And maybe we never danced.

I hear this song and I think, "I should like to meet that woman. And I should like to remember that night. And I should like to never forget."

Possibly. Maybe I should just skip to the next song on my iPod.

- June 26th, 2008 06:15pm
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nervous tension

There's a song by Lemon Jelly called Nervous Tension. I only mention it because that phrase just went through my head. I think that's what I'm feeling right about now: nervous tension.

And what do I have to be nervous about? What could I possibly have to be tense about? I'll tell you what.

Models.

Models make me nervous. They make me tense. Scheduling with models is such a precarious thing. One minute it's on, the next it's off. Then it's on again. Then, "Oh sorry, when are we shooting again?"

Editor's Note: It should be noted that I am NOT referring to any model that appears in the galleries nor the models I am shooting tomorrow and the next day and meeting tonight. And definitely NOT the girl in the picture, Katja. (Hi Katja )You're all just the tops.

It can be nerve-racking. I need the experimental model still. The one that lives here. The one that will shoot what I want to shoot. The one that has great ideas that wants to do and explore everything that comes to mind. That's what I need.

Until then, I schedule, I plan, things fall through, my house gets cleaned for no good reason. I feel like a nerviplatimus.

It's okay, though. It's all worthwhile. But it's still nerve-racking.

Tension, though.... I need a good shoulder rub and head massage. Like one of those "stand behind me, this is the prize-fight champ, just gotta go this round" kind of massages. Although, that doesn't sound so appealing because then I know I'm going in for a clobbering of some sort.

Maybe meditation rocks are what I need. My kids gave me a meditation fountain a few years ago. I created a website dedicated specifically for it. Every day, I would look at it for inspiration, and every day, there would be a post on the site that read, "Meditated on fountain. Still not inspired." THAT was a fun blog. For about three days.

Oh fuck it. You know what I'm going to do? Just to make matters worse? I'm going to make a HUGE pot of espresso and drink it all right now. Because I need to be more on edge than I am.

Seriously. Maybe that'll be a good thing. To put me to that point where I'm just RIGHT on the edge of freaking the fuck out.

I need to clean for tomorrow anyway, so maybe it'll help me just spaz out on cleaning.

In other news, I still like squeezable jelly. Had some on an English Muffin today. An English Muffin that I toasted in the oven and then set to broil so the edges would get crispy. Sprayed butter on before I stuck it in. Then squeezed the squeezable jelly on top. Mmmm.

I'm out of milk.

- June 26th, 2008 05:35pm
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