http://search.deviantart.com/?q=by:danthedanimal&section=today deviantART RSS for by:danthedanimal en-us Copyright 2009, deviantART.com Wed, 30 Dec 2009 03:35:18 PST deviantART.com http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss http://s.deviantart.com/minish/widgets/apple-touch-icon-precomposed.png http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/29097191/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/29097191/ Tue, 22 Dec 2009 01:17:02 PST
[link]

here is his blog: [link]

please stop by and have a look, and of course, tell him what you think of the amazing hard work he did for me!!
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/29030715/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/29030715/ Sat, 19 Dec 2009 00:17:35 PST
In spite of what we have been taught; in spite of what religion tries to brainwash us into believing, in spite of what (for-no-good-reason-bigots) cluck from their idiot tongues.. love is indiscriminate. It does not choose flesh color or gender or ages or religions. Love elevates itself above all material or sightly appearances, concepts, belief systems.. and REVEALS the enormity of its universal power to embrace things outside the parameters or pointless bounderies of man's self-embraced limitations.

We know that BECAUSE:

remember when: you first felt the moment of attraction? How beyond ur control it was? How it haunted your dreams, moved your feet, motivated your personality.... how it CHANGED you? All beyond your control? All making you helpless under its spell for the very first time?

You cannot even explain what happened to you or why? You just remember the fire that flashed inside your head, the heartbeat that stunned your body, the sweats that attacked your sleep, the dreams that persisted in unconscious and conscious moments. There was no explanation...nor will there ever be... because that is the way NATURE has made us in its perfect harmony.

Im trying hard to remember my age, but I am not certain. Im going to tell you I was 12 or 13 because I remember that I was in gradeschool. I really had no clue what sex was. No one had ever said or did anything that even remotely made me feel anything different.
And then it happened... I will certainly never forget it..The sights the sounds, the smells..

I was in gym class and we were doing the obligatory jumping jacks etc. One of my buds, I will even mention him , Barry P. was two rows in front wearing a white gym shirt and white fake satin gym shorts looked behind at me and smiled. It was a blinding moment when suddenly I saw him differently. First his legs. Even now so many years later I remember them. The thighs, the calves, the color..so tan. His face, the full red lips the brown eyes with hint of green and the blond tangled curly hair...so very curly. (You would have to know how many years ago this was to understand the magnitude of the moment of remembrance). And the first..VERY first sexual awakening of a young boy. He suddenly was like a god to me. I felt possessed, obsessed and stressed with my feelings..because I knew all other guys were wanting and talking about 'girlfriends", and here I was feeling crazy about my buddy who lived around the corner and rode bikes with me around the neighborhood in conservative south Saint Louis.

By accident we ended up spending a day together because both of our parents were working. I remember the bike ride we did, and the stunts we tried to do in a catholic church parking lot when he skidded his bike and skinned his left leg from shin to thigh. We were only half a block from his house so I helped him home.

He asked me to help him get in the bath to wash off the blood. I will never forget (I WILL NEVER FORGET) the moment he got naked in front of me, mindless of what I felt. My heart beat so wildly out of control that I could not talk and my brain froze. Nothing happened, if that is what you are waiting for. I wouldn't have known , at that age, what to do, or how to approach or even deal with those thoughts... so freaking overwhelming they were. I remember him stripping, without a thought, in front of me and slipping in the tub. I was so consumed by mindless, blurring, irrational lust that I came in my shorts, and covered the incident by pretending to have a sneezing fit

God had no play in this. The devil had no play in this. Choice certainly had no play in this. It was just there.

As time went by, and life changed..and everyone moved on.. I have never forgotten this decisive moment of personality definition in my existence. When I remember how much it was out of my control..not by choice...and so extremely in the framework of my nature.. I can now quite confidently tell the religiously brainwashed naysayers... Nature is the real religion... and methinks you doth protest too much..

and to you "formysake" thanx for inspiring me to speak out. These things are important!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28972146/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28972146/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 23:20:49 PST
tell me whatcha; are doing?
smoochers
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28963257/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28963257/ Tue, 15 Dec 2009 14:46:38 PST
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28913653/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28913653/ Sun, 13 Dec 2009 00:39:24 PST [link]

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28752854/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28752854/ Fri, 04 Dec 2009 18:50:40 PST
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28701509/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28701509/ Tue, 01 Dec 2009 22:55:54 PST What I want you to do is this: throw me your own personal fantasy that can be shown in a one frame storyboard (picture). Describe it to me in detail. Try not to be too graphic. I am really limited on what I can show and I do like to stay within artistic range. I'm asking coz my ideas..are, of course, my ideas...and everyone elses fantasies can be quite intriguing. And if I see a few I like , I will definitely shoot some stuff and bring ur fantasies to life!

smoochers
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28561066/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28561066/ Wed, 25 Nov 2009 04:02:42 PST
Well, as most off you know, I worked very hard on finding two models to do some storyboard shoots. Even asked ya'll to help me select an idea, and u were gracious to do that. I found the models, who were perfect for this. We contacted. They interviewed. I solicited magazines who expressed avid interest in the shots. I then set to work for a month, scripted three storyboards and then miscellaneous shots.(300 shots altogether) I script out camera angles, light arrangements, props, costumes, exposures. I scout outdoor locations. I then bought some new lighting equipment that I knew I would need. And, of course, some props. Won't even try to tell you the personal time involvement in a project of this scope. Talked back and forth with guys over the weeks. All was gung ho. The mags were eager to see some rough shots.

You know where this is going. On the day of the shoot. In fact at the exact time of the scheduled shoot, I get a call from one of the models telling me he isn't feeling well. He assures me we can do it the next day at the same time. Okay, long story... next day..an hour after I was supposed to do the makeup shoot I get a voicemail that the guys overslept. I tried to call back...no one picked up. I tried to text...no response. I sent emails..still never got anything...(it's three days later, Nothing. Not even an apology)

My goal this year ya'll, was to try and learn to control my ADHD emotions. But you cannot even begin to imagine the scream of RAGE that shook the rafters. I had made Nick cancel family plans, work meetings and a football game with friends to help me with this significant shoot. The mags were on my butt by that evening wanting to see these heralded shots. I had nothing to show.. and no legitimate reason why.

I could go on and on about the disrespect I feel for the amount of time I put into this. I could complain about the two day chunk of Nicks personal and professional life I took for no reason.. but I think the thing that aggravates me more than NOT getting the work accomplished, is that my resolve to control my emotions was decimated by this. I exploded again last night and Nick actually ran to the fridge pulled out a beer and told me to drink it to settle my britches. I twitter every morning and these guys are part of my network. The first thing I saw them twittering back and forth to each other was what a wonderful weekend they had together. Not that they were sick .. none of that. Rage took over again. So here I am talking it out like therapy.

Anyway, since everything is done on the preparations I am back to looking for models to do the shoot and , strangely enough, I have the magazines themselves forwarding their suggestions to me. Hopefully they can find me some people who will work...and show up like professionals.

The key to adversity like this..is staying positive. I would love to make excuses for these people and for what they did..but rational, logical thinking prevents me. I would never waste ANYONE'S time like that. So the only thing I can do is buckle down to the work I have at hand..and hope the next experience is better..

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28434638/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28434638/ Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:56:36 PST [link]
and tell him how much u love it. I found it by accident and was glued to it all during breakfast without even knowing we had contacted each other here in deviant.

just awesome!
d

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28389464/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28389464/ Mon, 16 Nov 2009 06:51:44 PST [link]

tell them how much you enjoyed the visit!!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28363199/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28363199/ Sat, 14 Nov 2009 21:29:01 PST [link] if u get a chance leave a comment. So many people check these blogs out for their content and he was bold enuff to feature my more erotic artistic stuff...so the more comments the more people will know...we all like this type of stuff... thank ya thank ya.. you are all the best!! By the design of our will we can conquer what most think cannot be moved at all!
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28326398/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28326398/ Fri, 13 Nov 2009 04:42:24 PST
pressure pressure

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28229451/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28229451/ Mon, 09 Nov 2009 01:29:50 PST
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28157540/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28157540/ Thu, 05 Nov 2009 09:15:17 PST
Funny thing is I haven't mentioned my birthday to anyone including Nick, so I don't think anyone around me even remembers. Truthfully it doesn't matter. He's kinda busy with another wedding this week. I think its the last of his fraternity brothers getting married so its a big deal.

I think for my birthday I'm gonna buy a new tripod and another battery for the camera since it looks like one of the shoots coming up is gonna have me traveling out a ways..

over and out.

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28060282/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28060282/ Sat, 31 Oct 2009 07:47:29 PDT
but aint that a great way to wake up?
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28042145/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28042145/ Fri, 30 Oct 2009 08:09:12 PDT
But I am beginning to believe that some of these photographers don't even blink twice after clicking the picture. I honestly and truly believe that they think if they just put a perty model in front of their lens and click..that THEY are some kind of miraculous genius. Again, I ran across this same photographer, who is well known, but no names mentioned, who shoots many male models. How he ever got in the business I will never know.Maybe when the male model became popular he was one of the first guys around. He is either very very lazy or unimaginative or both. Same shots over and over and over...just different models. And now he isn't even bothering to take time to do the shots right. I saw one beautiful model in four shots... he looked like he was freaking scared out of his mind, back arched like he was gonna leap away from the photographer, arms jutting like defense weapons at his side...and worse... the biggest no-no of all..his head reared back so we could have the ole "I can count the hairs in your nostrils" pose. That he would even release these travesties, or this poor model allow them to be seen is reprehensible. I once or twice talked to this fella on the phone and remember thinking as I listened to him.. "this dude must be high to be this boring".

Don't try to get his name out of me, just review the blogs. You will see the stuff enuff to recognize the "blur". Same shots, different models.... pathetic. God it angers me...so much talent wasted. If I had a few of those beautiful faces I would take enuff time to give them something that ,pardon my friend, "would make them want to f@#K themselves".

AND THEN... as I scrolled further I saw again..something you heard me rant about before. Long ago, a very original and beautiful shot was done of a young muscular man carrying two huge tractor tires I think. I believe it was originally done by my friend Eric Jacobson. I cannot tell you how many times I have seen this shot done over and over and with less professionalism than the original. And yet...again today... I saw that another photographer did the same shot with a different model. This is like watching remakes of I Love Lucy to the tenth power. I am beginning to believe there is a hollow core in the head of some of these guys who get behind the lens. They open up a book of great shots done by other people and then go down the list of duplicating them. I don't believe they could come up with something wholly and truly their own if held at gunpoint.

I mean if you read my earlier blog on Fashion Marketing Logistics and start looking at what is out there right now, you will see...laziness is abundent. We are supposed to be attracted to these shots so much that we can't take our eyes off of them. We should want to make them our screen savers, print them out, hang them on our wall.

I seriously can't scroll past them fast enough because I simply start feeling sorry for the models.

GAWD!! So much beauty ruined by idiots who think with their dicks instead of their heads..

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28027975/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28027975/ Thu, 29 Oct 2009 12:04:35 PDT [link] and take a moment to use their contact address here: info@horizonmag.co.uk and let them know what you think of them taking a chance on putting my work so predominantly in their mag. They took a biggie on me...very few people get the opportunity and I am so proud... but we should let them know WE are proud of them too..

thanx
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28010161/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28010161/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:09:27 PDT
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28008380/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/28008380/ Wed, 28 Oct 2009 08:33:36 PDT
Doubtless, part of this is due to the economy, but a greater part of the fashion industries failure is its inability to excite people enough with their advertizing campaigns to make anyone want to be a part of "it" by buying "their' products. Even though many have hired the very best of the best to strategize, formulate and photograph the concepts that should sell...nothing is selling.

I have asked and watched my models who come thru my revolving door of a studio why they buy what they buy and , why they don't buy. Ten to fifteen years ago, everyone was wearing A&F and Hollister and Eddie Bauer...we can go down the list. Now those names don't even come up in everyday life..unless you talk to a model who is looking for a job.

Lack of excitement comes from a media-glutted public. What was fresh and wonderful fifteen years ago is old hat today to the younger generations. As wonderful as Bruce Weber is, and I love his stuff, I really can't tell his new stuff from his old stuff from a decade ago. So the window of Abercrombie has not done anything new in a decade or more to HYPNOTIZE that public to pull them thru the door and make them want to be a part of it. Old Navy's campaign has always been so bizarrely disconnected that most people viewed it as an SNL joke. I watched several models one day in my house as I was shooting (I always leave a television on during a shoot for the chronic adhd people) and noticed that during certain commercials, they muted the volume. What brought all of these things to my attention was how they all repeatedly muted the volume on the new Levi's commercial. I finally asked them why. It was unanimous: "It's annoying. It doesn't make any sense." I watched it myself and my own opinion was: "Wow, I'm obviously not doing enough drugs to enjoy what MUST be happening in that thing."

So I asked them, "Do you buy Levis?" Their answer was, "not unless I have to."

So all of these advertizing campaigns that are supposedly geared toward the impulse-buying youth are now dismal failures to the point that most of the stores are closing in the malls. And economy isn't wholly responsible. Old and tired marketing campaigns are boring them enough to actually look away.

I have studied the european fashion community which is in just as dire straits economically. Many houses are looking to completely disappear. And when I look at their marketing campaign I feel like I am looking at a shopping list for Lady GaGa. Their shoots are so wierd, so emotionally and visually disconnecting you feel you are looking at the worst outtakes of a Fellini film or something shot backstage at Cirque du Soleil. Their wares are displayed by models looking like they stepped out of Madonna's odd SEX book from a decade or so ago. You feel no affinity for anyone in the shot and are so distracted from the things they are supposed to be selling that you almost have to flee the picture to get a grasp on reality again.

As a photographer, I am entertained by the lengths people go to to shoot something. For instance Karl Lagerfeld who is constantly shooting one boy now ala Death In Venice obsessiveness, has a whole storyboard of this kid wearing womens pumps. (Highheels) I laughed at first and then I sat there looking at all of it thinking... its beautifully shot...but...what is being sold here? If you have to look for what is being sold...and look and look and look....

The key to a successful campaign of marketing is you have to captivate, excite and compell. You do not do this by doing the same thing year after year...or on the other extreme...doing something so surreal that people don't even know you're selling something. We all appreciate art for the sake of art's sake, but in marketing in the fashion world... art has to infuse excitement in the consumer enough to make the product a household name.

All of this existed fifteen years ago when A&F and Calvin Klein and Versace and D&G and the rest started fresh, visually arresting campaigns that made us want to hang their advertisements on the wall. How long has it been since we felt that way?

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27975215/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27975215/ Mon, 26 Oct 2009 10:24:29 PDT [link] One of my shots from my "Study Break" series is their cover for the month of november, my birthday month thank you guys, and a great cross-selection of work within the article!!

Give these guys all your support and let them know what you think of their mag.

From me... all smiles and smooches!!!
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27950702/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27950702/ Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:51:56 PDT
I have been in the business long enough to be pushed around by people who had alot of ideas but very little vision. I have seen many pieces of my work dissected to unrecognizability for the sake of commerciality to the point that I would remove my name.And at the same time as I did things my way, according to my aesthetic sensibilities and suitabilities, to be appreciated by a wider variety of afficionados who sensed and saw art in the same manner as myself.

There is a point in "time" when one realizes, as an artist, that we will do things according to another's agenda, to make our living. But at the same time we will do what pleases us...what we are compelled to do... to comingle in the creative juices of what motivates us...and produce what we like...in spite of what commerciality or opinion suggests.

I realized I had crossed over the hump of being "controlled" by opinion a little over a year ago. Let me tell you why.

Most who know me know my business partner, friend, cohort,roommate, model etc. etc. Nick who has been by my side for many years now, became suddenly ill after a triathlon two years ago. Physically perfect, a specimen of health.. he fell into a month-long coma that culminated in his family calling in a priest to the ICU while he was on life-support to give him the last rites as a catholic. They...I expected him to die. I cired for three days in preparation of it... you don't want to...it happens..

Alot of things fused in my head at that moment. I won't burden ya'll with what u know was there with me thinking I was losing the most important person in my life. But the essential kernal of self-actualization that resulted was... my god...life is tenuous...

Tenuous... a second between...here and there...

Why do we do the things we do? Why do we compromise ourselves? Why do we pretend? Why would we fake it? Why would we lie to ourselves...

Why don't we do what means the most to us...to make these moments count?

Okay, for those who don't know the end of the story, Nick came out of the coma and he is still here helping me. But it was the realness of the impending "loss" that changed both of us.

Take yourself there. Suppose in the next breath..the very next one...you were gone. Did you do things your way? Did you do what you thought was right, or gave you a sense of completion? Or did you do what was expected of you..or what others wanted you to do whether you wanted to or not? Were you...you...or what everyone else wanted you to be?

Time...age..formulates our ability to finally be...ourselves. But the realization of the tenuousness of time.. dictates... we must do it now and until...

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27874782/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27874782/ Tue, 20 Oct 2009 15:55:36 PDT
I cannot...I mean CANNOT forget listening to her when Katie Couric interviewed her... To this day I have never seen anyone else...so utterly lost in their own head... except Ozzy Osbourne, of course...

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27809565/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27809565/ Sat, 17 Oct 2009 04:46:15 PDT
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27791941/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27791941/ Fri, 16 Oct 2009 04:51:21 PDT
Now I am not one of those to hide behind nice words when my thoughts are a bit more concise, and I certainly don't have an ego to think I am better than more experienced folks. I mean I think I am always improving and moving forward and changing. So I am not stuck doing the same thing. I don't think I am great...but I am struggling to be..

Like I said, the thing that separates me from others is that I must tell a story, or move my camera along a subject that is, in some way, unconventional. I refuse to be lazy and think the subject will make my work...although I certainly can't help it or complain if that happens.. lol

But, again, after looking at so many sites and so many photographers work, my sentiments remain firm. I literally can't tell one from the other. They all do the same thing..like they are so mesmerized by the guy in front of them that they can't do anything but point and click. The model shows nothing, the poses are all typical and endlessly duplicated... I mean if I see a foot ball in another guys hand wearing underwear, or another model barechested in jeans holding two tires...I'm going puke. What is wrong with these photographers? Where did the art go? Where did the special moment captured on film go? Out of maybe two or three hundred photos, one might stop me for a moment... but this AllAmerican Jock conveyer-belt, assembly-line treatment of these wonderful faces is a crime due to the pure laziness of the eye behind the lens. Utter laziness...lack of thought... the works...

I know I sound like a pain in the ass... but sometimes it's very tuff to find a good model, but when I do... I simply must take the time to find a way to display him, use his talents, and show his personality. Some of these photographers have these beautiful guys lining up at their door and they treat them like they are on a robotic assembly-line putting a car together. The same ten shots on each one that walks thru the door.. not even bothering to see if they are comfortable... walk thru the door..point and click..

so much wasted...yeah that bothers me a tad...

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27701301/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27701301/ Sun, 11 Oct 2009 07:37:21 PDT
That said, my black humor is out of me, and I will tell you what I am trying to do. You have all seen my Study Break sequence, two guys studying. I am wanting to do a Romantic Trueblood type of storyboard with at least ten scenes depicting romance between two gorgeous guys...from meeting to final classy, not pornographic, bed scene. Each scene has to be very clear in something unique and special happening in it that makes each one stand out strong and separate from the other.

The reason I am asking is I have two men wanting to shoot with me using this storyboard style. I have suggested and submitted a scenario of an executive picking up the hitch-hiker which I did one similar scene in the portfolio. However, they would like to have several storyboards to choose from. So throw ur ideas at me...I'm gonna throw them at these guys....Throw ur ideas in a NOTE to me, rather than in the journal so I can keep them all separate to read without clogging up the site.

It's not a contest because I don't have any prizes to offer, but I do like to spin ideas with ya'll to make my work better..

thanx
dan

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27613643/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27613643/ Tue, 06 Oct 2009 11:36:03 PDT
I am primarily known as a book cover artist and that is what actually pays the bills. I started out as a fitness photographer, but was so dang bored with the ordinarity of the types of shots that I felt blessed when book companies actually wanted me to do covers where I could actually tell something of a story in what I call a one-frame story-board..the book cover. I have mainly been hired by romance companies and I have probably done thousands of covers...but again, I got very bored with doing what, technically, ended up being the same cover just with different people and different props and backgrounds.

I really have always been fascinated with comic book, or anime -styled stories that delighted the eyes and aroused the senses or prompted fantasies of imagination, and I have tried, on my own, to do these types of pieces...just for my own enjoyment...because they weren't done to be sold. Just my own challenge to tell a story...using people as art. I already covered the territory of how I was hired by a male/male romance publisher and that opened up new horizons for me that garnered me ALOT more attention and afforded me the ability to tell those stories that haven't been broached because of years past taboos. I loved it!

Before I knew it I was ending up on blogs all over the world and developing, of all unimaginable things, fans. Models began noticing my work and wanting to work with me. Fashion magazines discovered me and wanted me to do pieces for them. Everything began to change.

I would personally describe my style as almost realistic graphic novel. I am not really aware of how I work differently until one very well known model worked with me and told me: "You are the antithesis of every other photographer I have ever worked with." I asked: "How's so?" I didn't know how others worked.

With that he thumbed thru every model site he had been on and thru many other model portfolios. The All American Jock type shots were endless...mindboggling in their uniformity and without style. Everyone of the guys had a brutish expression, shirts off, legs spread , hands on hips supposedly oozing sex appeal. They became a BLUR. I am not kidding A BLUR. I could not tell one model from the other, one photographers work from the other. So much talent and ability lost in sameness.

Then he pointed to the pictures I had just taken of him. "The difference with you...is I had to act. You wanted something to happen in the shot.."

That really made me feel good.. and I guess that's what I am trying to do. Make something happen.

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27573444/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27573444/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 08:11:09 PDT
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27571605/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27571605/ Sun, 04 Oct 2009 05:26:38 PDT
For those of you actually critiquing I will give you some explanation of the picture. For many years I have been a book cover artist making the majority of my living from doing romance covers. And I really grew to hate them for the simple reason they were truly all the same. Sometimes different backgrounds and costumes on the man and woman...but the same picture over and over again. I tried to change it as much as possible, but the male/female romance cover has been around since the Bronte sisters and earlier so there isn't much that hasn't been done.

Then I was hired by a publisher that specialized in male/male romance.Totally new to me. In the beginning most of those covers were one man looking at other man with longing across the room, across the park, etc. I felt there was a detachment of emotion, and that drove me crazy because I consider myself a storyteller, and you can't tell a story if there isn't an emotion attached to it.

So I did what I had to do. I actually hired two models. They are not lovers in real life. They are professionals. And I laid out every single shot I wanted to do to tell my story of a love between two caring individuals who just happened to be men. In every shot I described to them..the EMOTION..that was essential to make this shot work. My personal philosophy is that genuine love is truly an oblivious emotion that doesn't stem itself because of gender or race or any of the repressed barriers we have been mistakenly taught to acknowledge.

None of my work is pornographic, and I truly feel awful for someone to try to say that it is. Pornography will show two people engaged in a sexual act. These photos, just like their counterparts that I have done many times for romance covers with a man and a woman, depict people...very plainly...in love..

thank you all again for your time to comment...you are appreciated!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27507950/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27507950/ Wed, 30 Sep 2009 17:03:37 PDT
I have got so much coming up. Four new guys to shoot, each one very different and I had a couple of celebrities who spotted my stuff from my rants on Twitter who will be coming to shoot with me. That should be fun. I will keep their names under wraps for now coz I do wanna plan something very special for that. I storyboard everything just like a film and plan every lighting arrangement, angle and etc. and forward that to people when I plan to do things like that so they are fully aware of the difficulty levels. But the good thing is I am staying busy.

Nick bet that I would be fine after a month since putting down my doggie of fifteen years. But I still break down quite frequently and when I do, I go to the gym and do 30 mins of hard cardio just to get my endorphins kicked in to get me past the sadness. I hate to inform all of you that I have been doing 2 hours of cardio a day..every day since puppy's passing. I do feel much better, and I know it's gonna take time. I'm sure some people are rolling their eyes and going, "For crying out loud, it was a dog." Can't even begin to tell you how much that would oversimplify it, but that's okay. I mean I apologize to Nick everyday for my little bouts of grieving that seem to spring out of nowhere.

Anyway, all is on the right..and healthy track..so I know it's all gonna be okay. I have a feeling I will be turning out some more exceptional work since my focus seems to be deadon on every story idea I wanna tell.

But always throw ur ideas at me as well. I love to expand my horizons.

And again, than u all for being so nice to me during this time. It really makes me believe there are beautiful kind people in the world!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27305513/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27305513/ Sat, 19 Sep 2009 18:06:34 PDT
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27276765/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27276765/ Fri, 18 Sep 2009 08:29:31 PDT
That's what made me think of a line a very famous international photographer had said to me many many years ago...when I was a child just picking up my first camera. "The Pig in The Tuxedo" line. And I will tell you what story leads to this.

Alot of my photos are turning up in blogs. And I am so happy people are enjoying them, and they are, thankfully, generating a new field of business for me. But I stumbled on a blog of a young aspiring photographer, 22 years old, who had posted my photos. His comments went like this: Dan Skinners work is phenomenal. It really is amazing that he can get shots like this when he uses "such and such" a camera... and I spent $2000 more on a "blah blah camera" and can't get shots like this. I had never heard of camera snobbery before. I mean I own six cameras...some very very expensive..and some not so expensive, but I tend to gravitate toward a camera that is more "comfortable" for me with the type of task I have in front of me and how fast I can do it. I mean it's the megapixels that matter to me and not the price. I don't need huge lens for my type of work..and I spend more on studio lights and, of course, my imagination and post work in photoshop. I want to create storyboards...not just the typical model pictures you see out there on every site. But...to continue this young man's thought on the blog, he said: "If he can get shots like these with this type of camera...then there is hope for me..."

I mean, I sat there with my mouth open with the total lack of logic and appreciation of talent.

Which brings me to the internationally famous photographer I knew some twenty years ago. He stunned me with his work and he had cameras worth thousands and thousands of dollars. I had asked him which one took the best pictures. He smiled at me..picked up an old polaroid instamatic I think they were called, and took a picture that was more beautiful than anything I had even seen in a magazine. I was flabbergasted. When he saw my expression he simply said... "You can dress a pig up in a fancy tux...doesn't change the fact that it's still a pig.."

So to anyone who thinks that buying the most expensive camera is gonna give you talent..spend it on the tux first...

lol

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27102701/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27102701/ Tue, 08 Sep 2009 19:21:05 PDT
]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27095381/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/27095381/ Tue, 08 Sep 2009 13:50:09 PDT
Bye bye Putis, daddy loves u!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/16252628/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/16252628/ Fri, 04 Jan 2008 09:29:22 PST time to vote for me? Doesn't take long. it's Moon Child's Wish. Just
check the box and enter your name and email at the bottom. they send
you an email. Click the link they send you and its done.Thanx Dan

[link]

I am so excited!

]]> ~danthedanimal http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/16066736/ http://danthedanimal.deviantart.com/journal/16066736/ Sun, 23 Dec 2007 22:50:55 PST
I have not cried today. I know the tears are there because I feel the loneliness of that realization that I will never stand on her doorstep waiting for the door to open, or be able to pick up the phone and call her again. I know I face tomorrow without her there...and that all I have to remember her is from the cellphone pictures I took of her in the hospital when I forced her to smile, assuring her that everything was going to be okay.

Her Christmas gift is still in the closet.

Dec 23, 2007

]]> ~danthedanimal