5/24/05 and The Mystery Woman

The Dakar Apartments-My first floor apartment is on the left.

    I happened upon some photos recently that were taken on May, 24, 2005. It got me thinking about the past, which is what I do best. What was going on with me 20 years ago that day? It's also the day I took the photo of the mystery woman, a photo that I’ve reflected on many times over the years. 

London Town and Springtime in Paris

The Palace of Westminster

    I’ve been lucky with almost a month of sunshine, with just a few cloudy or partly cloudy days. especially in the last two weeks in London and Paris. Right now the sun is shining brightly as I compose this blog in the town of Stevenage, a town a mere 20 minutes on the train from Kings Cross station in London. This extended sunshine makes up for the month of dreariness in December in Amsterdam. But whatever the weather conditions might be, it is what it is, so it wouldn’t stop me from exploring whatever particular place I’m in. But I am happy with the sun. The temperatures have been averaging 60 degrees. As a result, I am doing a lot more walking. In the last two weeks I’ve done the most walking on the trip so far. In Paris alone I walked a total of 31 miles in 3 days. I’m going to need new shoes (just like Leo). In Paris and London, cities which I’ve been to twice before, I revisited some places I really like and explored new uncharted territory. If I’m in Paris I will always go up Montmartre hill to the Sacré-Cœur and sit on the steps. Sometimes I’ll decide to walk down this avenue or that boulevard without knowing what I’ll come across, like a mural or a statue or a cool storefront.
    

Happy New Year

    It’s been six weeks since I started this adventure and it’s now the longest time I’ve been abroad. The previous record was 1 month in Peru(Lima and Cusco) way back in 1999. That was certainly an adventure. That was through a study abroad program at Brooklyn College. I am now in the Hague, having just arrived last night. My time in Amsterdam, taking care of 2 kitties, Finn and Callie, has come to an end. Being winter time, there were a lot of overcast and cloudy days. It reminded me of Seattle. There were a few days where the sun peaked out behind the clouds to play. Luckily there were only a handful of days of rain. This was my second time in Amsterdam and both times have been in the winter. So the next time I visit will only be in the spring or summer where I can see all those tulips they talk so much about and I can wear shorts. Regardless of the weather, as always, I did a lot of walking and photo-ing.

I'm a Traveller

The English Channel at St Leonards-on-Sea

    In 2005, in Paris, while sitting at a cafe, I wrote to my friend on the back of a postcard that I had to move here. I was completely enamored with the city. I’m sure that is a sentiment a lot of people have. Not just with Paris but any place you might be on vacation. Everything is new to you. And the grass is always greener. I did not move to Paris then. But now, almost 20 years later, I’m stepping out for a completely new experience which, initially, will take me to Europe and Paris.

Creating in Photoshop (European Version)

  As the title suggests, the photos that are the subject of this post are ones I took on a recent European trip earlier this year. This is my 3rd instatement of the "Creating in Photoshop" series. You can read the previous ones from 2015 and 2021. As in those previous posts, the sentiment is the same; enjoying being in the moment as I use different techniques to create something new and eye catching. I took a couple thousand photos on my trip not necessarily with the idea of experimenting with them in photoshop.  A month after I got back and, once again, there was a desire to create something. 

The Arch de Triomphe

   

Creating with Photoshop 2

Violet Tendencies

    Way back in 2015 I posted Creating with Photoshop on this blog. I wanted to share some of my work and my creative process. Since my photoshop chops have improved and I'm able to go a lot deeper with some of my work I thought I'd do an update and show some recent work. One thing I've realized is that when I'm doing this work, when I'm lost in the world of Photoshop, I feel that I am truly in the moment. 

Photo Walking

5 Spot restaurant along the staircase trail

    Recently I came across a website that has a list of 30 staircase trails throughout the city of Seattle and thought these would be perfect for photo walking. I’ve been doing photo walks since 2003, when I purchased my first camera. It's been something I’ve been doing a lot more this past year during this the Covid epidemic, especially in the last couple of months.   

    Seattle is composed of a series of hills and on those hills are more hills, slopes and ridges. Some of the steepest roads in Seattle: Denny Way, Dravus and Queen Anne Ave can be accessed by walking on the sidewalk. There are, however, many areas in Seattle where a sidewalk wouldn’t work. So Seattle built close to 500 staircases to access the streets below and above wherever you may be on any particular hill, some dating back to 1905. With these 30 staircase trails you can go in either direction, however the list does tell you how many up and down steps there are and favors the direction with more up steps than down. I’ve always loved walking and it's great exercise, especially if they involve lots of stairs to climb so it wasn't a problem to see the hikes were 4 to 5 miles, so I chose the direction with more steps up. I'm all for the challenge.  I chose the first trail on the list called “Queen Anne” simply because I could pick up the trail a half a block from my front door. I was familiar with most of the areas on this staircase climb, though I certainly hadn’t been on all the staircase before. Some of them are quite remarkable and beautiful such as Wilcox Wall, The Galer Crown and The Comstock Grand Dame. 

Farewell to Re-Bar

 

Re-bar

     Oh Re-bar when I saw those tall buildings going up all around you, I thought, sooner or later they would get to you. I hope you do reopen in South Seattle and I’ll look forward to that day but I will miss walking down the street and seeing that iconic arrow over the entrance as I turn the corner on Howell street. I remember the first time I walked through your doors. It seemed like you were in the middle of nowhere. It was in September 2005 and it was for a burlesque show called “Back to School” hosted by Indigo Blue. It was a benefit show for victims of Hurricane Katrina. At that show I met Tamara The Trapeze Lady, Red Delicious and Heidi Von Haught. I had just purchased my first ever DSLR camera and I snapped a bunch of photos that night. Over the next 15 years I snapped thousands more. But I won’t take any more photos there and I will never walk through your doors on Howell street again. But let me put aside my sadness and resentments and instead express my gratitude for you.

The Magic of Burleskaraoke

    All the way back in May of 2019 Ruby Mimosa introduced us, along with Queer Bar on Capitol Hill, to Burleskaraoke. This is a wonderful night of singing and stripping, sometimes a marvelous symbiosis of singer and burlesquer. The night is filled with mirth, merriment and even downright hysteria as dollar bills, along with peeled-off gloves, stockings and g-strings(sometimes lobster claws and narwals too)fly through the air as performers bump and grind on the stage, tables, bars and lucky laps. This event is all glued together with DJ Baby Van Beezly, always getting the night started and finishing us all up strong. Baby keeps the flow going the whole night as the singers come up to the stage and the go-go dancers and burlesquers get freakin' down. I think what makes these events so special is not just the magic of burlesque and mixing it with the fun of belting out your favorite songs, but also the immersive atmosphere of the night. Sometimes it feels like all of us, the burlesquers, singers, DJ and audience are all part of one big orgasmic explosion. The best part is the performers don't know what songs they'll be stripping to. Will it be an epic 80's rock ballad? A funky Hip Hop standard? Lizzo, Led Zeppelin or Disney's "Be Our Guest"? They never know what they'll get. There may even be an opera singer or two to bring down the house. And since the beginning of Burleskaraoke, I've had the privilege of photographing every show. This is probably the most I've ever sweated photographing a show as I'm running back and forth and sliding on my knees to get the best shots. I am exhausted at the end of the night. So here are some photos from all eight Burleskaraoke shows so far. The next show is Wednesday, January 15th . Don't miss it.

Max

 Beau Briefs

Ruby Mimosa

Sinner Saint Burlesque-A Photo Anthology

        According to my meticulous photo records, I've photographed 21 Sinner Saint Burlesque shows starting in 2008 right through their last show, "A Midsummer Night's Reverie" last weekend. I've probably been to at least a dozen other Sinner Saint show's I hadn't photographed. I can't remember when my first Sinner Saint show was but I did I photograph their fundraiser in SODO back in December 2006. I have fond memories over the years of seeing their awesome shows, mostly at the Noc-Noc on 2nd Ave. Remember the tator tots? I celebrated my birthday 3 times at their Thursday night show, including one time when I get spanked on stage(though they really didn't spank me hard enough). Of course, like the rest of you I was sad to hear that  "A Midsummer Night's Reverie" would be their last show. Anyway here are some photos from over the years of some of the different Sinner Saint performers, hosts and guests. 

Sinner Saint Burlesque - Revolution

Evilyn Sin Claire

Doña Dei Cuori

POC Photo Company Open For Business in Austin

 After moving to Austin in August of this year, my main goal was to set up shop and start doing photo studio work. Well that time is here. I have a lovely studio space in South Austin and I'm ready to take your picture. 

 I’ve been taking photos for the past 10 years in Seattle as POC Photo, mostly in the burlesque world. Live burlesque photography is a major passion of mine. Through this wonderful art I got involved in studio photography about 8 years ago, mostly in the pin-up style, both vintage and modern. Now in Austin with a new name POC Photo Company, I'm specializing in pin-ups & portraits, head-shots and group photo sessions, Check out POC Photo Company to find out more info, to book a session and check out some of my work in the photo gallery section.

Pulp Covers

     About 8 years ago my friend Serafina gave me a thank you card for helping her out on a project. The card was actually a post card of a vintage pulp cover. I thought it was funny and ridiculous. It was around this time I had gotten involved in studio photography and thought it would be fun to recreate this pulp cover.

Dime a Dance Queen

     Pulp fiction had its heyday in the 30’s, 40’s and 50’s. Genres ranged from westerns to science fiction to hard-boiled detective and everything in-between. Today it’s the illustrated covers of these novels that are popular and kitschy. These trashy dime a dozen novels (some writers were paid per word) weren’t the only novels to have these illustrated pulp covers. After a novel went through it’s hard cover printing, a soft cover printing would follow, and sometimes it would be with a different publisher. This new publisher would commission a new cover that would help sell these books at drug stores and news stands across the USA. So you could have a tawdry pulp novel like Divorce Bait next to a famed work of fiction like Catcher in the Rye. Actually J.D. Salinger was quite furious with that illustration that donned his novel so when it came time for the the next printing he took control. The new cover was just maroon with yellow lettering which I'm sure you’ll probably be familiar with from your high-school days. But regardless of whether it was a trashy novel or a great work of art, the covers tried to be a sensationalist as possible. Here’s a good article in New Yorker Magazine about the pulp business.

Five Years of Stripped Screw Burlesque's Disney After Dark in Photos

As I headed out to photograph Stripped Screw Burlesque’s Disney After Dark show last week, I realized the show is in it’s 5^th year. I have photographed the show every year, first at The Jewel Box Theater at the Rendezvous back in 2011 to just last week and The Colombia City Theater. Since I’m sentimental, you know I would want to have a photo retrospective of those 5 years. Over that time, troupe members have come and gone and there have been several guests along the way. I'm grateful to have photographed their show these past 5 years.

Congratulations Stripped Screw Burlesque for 5 years of your awesome show Disney After Dark.

                                                     All photos © Paul O'Connell   

Roxie Moxie-DAD 2011 

Trojan Original & Long Richard Longfellow-DAD 2011 

Creating With Photoshop

     I think I’m at my most creative when I don’t put any expectations on myself. That can be difficult at times when I think whatever I do has to be the greatest thing ever or if I've been hired to be creative. My thoughts usually go something like this; “Okay I’ve got to be creative now. Think. Think! THINK!” Of course, no matter what your discipline, there are plenty of Zen ways to get down to the creative bone. I won't get into those ways here though, I'll just share how Photoshop helps me create some cool looking photos.
     When I started taking photos a few years back, I only used Photoshop to clean up the photo. Removing blemishes, fixing those wild hairs, erasing scuff marks from the seamless background and other things like that. But after a while I started get board with just  regular looking photos. I wanted to do something different and Photoshop was definitely a tool I could use to help me achieve that. I started to manipulate the colors, add different textures, experiment with the blending modes, while at the same time learning the vastness of Photoshop. There were also many times where I would wake up from a restless sleep, go to the computer and just start working on a photo without having any real idea of what I wanted. Here's an example from a recent photo-shoot where I had done a little midnight editing.

Paris Original & Trojan Orginal in costumes designed by Louise DeLenge 

Go on a Photo Walkabout

        Over the years people have asked me, “How do I take good photos?” Like anything else, you practice. Then I tell them to practice by going on a photo walkabout. This is exactly what I did when I got my first camera some 12 years ago. For me it wasn’t only learning how to use the camera but I was also discovering my new city of Seattle. By simply walking around and taking photos you can easily become one with your camera and learn the fundamentals of what makes a good photo.

From a photo walkabout earlier this week 

How to feel comfortable and prepare for a good photo-shoot

                    People who want to do a photo-shoot with me sometimes tell me they’re terrible in front of the camera; like a deer in the headlights. They say they’re stiff, nervous and feel non-photogenic. That’s understandable. Photo-shoots can be intimidating. You’re fine posing with you friends on Saturday night out side the bar but in the studio it’s different. You’re in this foreign place, standing on a seamless roll of paper, maybe wearing some type of revealing costume you don’t normally wear with a bunch of bright lights pointing at you. But I say fear not! Here are some tips on how to a have a fun, comfortable and memorable photo-shoot.

Lana Milk 'n' Honey looking fierce 

10 years in Burlesque

     Ten years ago I entered the wonderful world burlesque. The setting was the gritty old Jewel Box Theater inside the Rendezvous Cafe in the city of Seattle. The show was a recital of recent graduates of Miss Indigo Blue's Academy of Burlesque, which routinely offered a six-week course in the art of the tease. After developing a persona, learning the craft, and picking a burlesque name, students graduate in the form of a recital in front of an audience. One of the graduates that night was my friend Joy who went by the name Ruby Caliente. Ruby had asked me to take photos of her act. It turned out to be one of the most pivotal moments of my life and would lead me to many incredible experiences as a burlesque fan, photographer, and performer.

Me in 2003 at which point I didn't know nuthin' about no burlesque
(photo by Carla Loo)