The Life and Times

100 People Project

Me, My Friends &
One Arm Portraits

november, twenty nine, 2007

  All artists, writers, peddlers, thinkers and doodlers need a space to do the things that they do. This might be a small corner table in a room, a worn and wobbly table in the basement, or a whole room dedicated to you and what you do. It could be a secluded back table in the local coffee shop, or even a remote location in the great outdoors. The location is not important, what's important is that you have someplace to be creative. I have done the things I do in all the before mentions places, but I also am fortunate to have a room of my own. This is my space. My creative space where the other worlds end and mine begins. In this room there are no rules and minds are free to meander and create. Here my mind sores high, dives deep, gets on a soap box, and sometimes seems to explode in thoughts and ideas. This space is way past the entrance and deep into the secret portal.  Read More...
Like hundreds of people before me, I have been captivated with photographing the human figure. I choose to do this out of love for people, who I believe are the most important part of our world. I photograph people with no disrespect as to who they are, nor do I compare them to the next person I may photograph.  I believe that people are unique in their own way and I honor them for that. The people that I shoot are brave clean spirits that are without any doubt individuals. The most attractive, and often lost, trait there is in a human.
    Lately I have been under scrutiny, quietly attacked for the fact that I have nude photographs on my web site. I say quietly because no one has come to me directly, but rather they do it through people that know me. I think in societies circles it is gossip. I'm ok with people talking about and even attacking what I do. I am not motivated, or curtailed by the actions of others. The other good thing about people talking about me is it means they are leaving some other poor slob alone. I am extremely proud that my friends defend me, and I apologize to them for being exposed to the cowardly ignorance of others.
    What bothers me, and why I am writing about this, is people are so fucking narrow minded it is sickening. Try as I might, as a lot of people that have gone before me, this is something that we will never change. For these people I feel sorry. They are living in such a closed world that their wings will somehow always be confined.
    To the other side of the coin, the people that want to look, but won't admit to it, I say shame on you. You are worse the puritans that want creative growth curtailed. You need to be true to yourself, for it is only yourself that you are lying to. I don't know how many times someone has asked me, with a stupid shit-eating grin on their face, if I have naked pictures of someone. I shrug it off and usually very vague about my answers, but I'm actually disturbed by the question. They want to look but not let anyone know about it. These people are the wrong ones. Yes I shoot nude woman and enjoy it. I have never hidden this fact to anyone. So who is more the deviant, me for shooting the nude form, or the people that want to look, and then talk bad about it so they can turn art sleazy?
    The human form, is just as it is, a part of mature that artist have been exploring for hundreds of years. Humans have been used for art way before the camera was. Many master painters painted the human form and it was a natural process to continue with the camera.
    I photograph nudes for reasons that are with me at the time I am making the image. I try to make some form of self statement with my work. It is nothing strong. I am not trying to change the way that any individual might see an image, I am just moved by ideas that come to me from many different sources.
    There is nothing wrong, or pornographic about nude images. They are like everything else in our natural world, just part of it. I want you to look at my images and enjoy them, if not that is all right too. What bothers me, is to be asked who the person in the photograph is, or to have the person scrutinized for being in the photograph. If the later is your reaction then you need to look deeper inside your own makeup. You are the one that's wrong in your judgmental attitude, so shame on you.
    I do not try to make my images overly suggestive. If, however anyone finds them to be erotically stimulating then so be it. This too is only natural. But, I do not try to evoke this type of response. I simply photograph the scene with the concept I have in my head, leaving the viewer response to their own inclinations. Though I do not intend for my images to be sensual, I do intend for them to have a sensual quality. I try to evoke a response in beauty, gracefulness, shape and form, rather than just female allure.
    The nude images that I make are done solely for the sake of art. I hope that you enjoy them, and if at all possible, maybe a bit moved. If so then my mission as an artist has been accomplished. If you are looking at these images of art in any other way, than the celebration of the human spirit, or if you are talking about the person in the image in any negative way, then in my opinion, your mission as a human has failed. It is your choice to look, or not to look, but it is not your choice to attack the people that do not think and act like you do.

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november, twenty six, 2007

I drive to Jackson Hole, WY just about every week. It's a usually a nice drive and it gives me some windshield time to think, contemplate and come up with a new idea. This time of year I always look forward to the Big Horn Sheep moving into their winter grounds. Once they arrive at Camp Creek they will be there all winter. I never tire of stopping and watching them for a bit. Last week on the way home, when the light was just right, they were back in all their glory.

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november, twenty fifth, 2007

   Molly called me on the eve of Thanksgiving called and told me about some new road kill she was witness to on the highway. At sunrise I was off during the magic light of morning, on the highway finding new subjects for this bloody photo project I've started. I found them, in all their gruesome, mauled, and bloody glory. It was two below zero; I'm wearing shorts, wild socks and a cowboy hat, composing photographs on the side of the road. Needless to say I got some strange looks from the people driving by. No worries though, I'm very use to getting strange looks from passerby's.
   I'm starting a page with these road kill shots and some info. I'm not doing this to be gross, although the images are very gruesome. What I am hoping to accomplish is some type of awareness. Maybe by seeing these graphic images, people will slow down and be more alert.
   I was told by the Sheriffs Department that over 40 head of deer are getting hit a week around Pinedale. That is an unbelievable number of dead deer not to mention the costly damage to the murder weapons. According to High Country News, who run some stats on the subject, the average minimum cost to a vehicle is $2000.00 after it has smacked our wildlife. With that figure the weekly cost for carnage is $80,000.00, or $320,000.00 a month.

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november, twenty second, 2007  -  Happy Thanksgiving
   When I was in the 7th grade, and it could be said that I was a bit rebellious, on one of my many visits to the principals office, I was told that I would never amount to anything because I was an anti conformist. I took this statement to heart and used it as my foundation in life. I am an anti-conformist because I will not fold, bend, or alter in anyway to the idea of what our society might think we should be like. For me it is more important t be an individual, which really, is the base of what our country was founded on.
   A few years back I was told that I should cut my hair and grow up. A statement I was proud to hear because, I am anti-conformist. Over the years I have adopted and times even shouted the statement, "I may grow older, but I refuse to grow up."  Why, because I am an anti-conformist.
   Just a few weeks ago, again I was told that I should do something to better fit into what society sees as the realm of normality. Not because it was wrong but because the close knit society that I live in thinks it is not right. Being a bit bolder and more sit in my ways, now and my response was, "fuck that." So again, I held true to my foundation of being an anti-conformist.
   I have been thinking about this for a while and though I doubt I will ever change from the foundation that I have built it still bothers me that people feel safer by knowing false individuals. Our society accepts the action of living two lives, of being two faced. It does not really mater who, or what is inside the person, as long as they project something normal to the masses. This is bullshit! We are turning a blind eye to life. It's Ok to dress as a pillar of the community, go home at night, drink yourself into a coma, abuse your spouse, or surf the net for kiddy porn. Just be sure you act right in public, dress right, join in the gossip about other people and get to church on time. It seems like everyone is accepted the defense of an ostrich, sticking his or her head into the sand thinking everything is all right, everything is cool. I think it is more like, pull your head out of your ass, look around and then you will see what is cool.
   For myself, and that is all that I am really writing about, I realize that if I was to fallow the ideas and standards of others I would not be myself. My actions would be hypercritical and there is no fucking way I could fallow that path. I am an anti conformist. I am who I am, and that is all that I am. I live and show it proudly.
   I have never hidden from the masses who I am, or what I do. I wear my life as an open book and am not ashamed of the things that I do or the person that I have developed into, though the later is constantly changing. This growing in life and we all should be doing it. Everyone should all be an anti-conformist.

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november nineteen, 2007
Being obsessed with making images is an addiction I have to feed on a daily basses. I am not saying that all the photographs I make are great, but they all are fun, and I will never tire of it. Over the years of working with a camera you learn to see things that make a picture. Again not all images we see and shoot are great photographs, but some are worth the effort to shoot and I think some are also worth the effort to share. The first photo is just such an image that I saw in the wonderful light of the evening. I will not ever hang on a wall but I think it is worth a brief glance.
The next one may be a bit morbid to some, but it is part of a new photo project I'm working on, which I'm calling Road Kill. I have never been much of a wildlife photographer. I've shot some, but the most of my work has always dealt with people, although some of them were damn sure wild. This is my type of wildlife photography. The animals are easier to shoot as they don't seem to move much.


    While I was kneeling down in front of this dead mule deer I heard the gravel pop and crack behind me. It sounded like something was creeping up on me so I turned slowly to see what was stalking me on Highway 191. I was a bit surprised as the gravel popping sound was a Wyoming Highway Patrol car rolling up to me. He saw me on my knees in front of this deer and either thought I hit it myself, was trying to offer some magic from the gods or was morning the loss of our creatures.   
Looking at the dent in the hood on my car, which has been there for a year, he asked me if I hit the deer. I told him, "no. I was working on a photo project" He looked at me with a glassy type gaze and was saying to himself, "sure you are buddy." And took a step backwards. He started to ask questions to find out who this strange person was that was telling him he was photographing dead animals. The questions were flowing fast and direct until I told him I was the owner of Rock Rabbit. He then looked as if the light came on and now understood the weirdness and went back to his car and drove away. Being different pays off!

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november eighteen, 2007
I'm working on some more words but in the mean time I am also being very prolific in the art department. I have been producing a lot of new photomontage work which I dearly love doing. I've just finished another one of Carrie, which you will be seeing more of. This is another color image I had fun with. I'm not sure where this is all going, but I'm having a hell of a lot of fun on the journey. I'll be sharing the whole trip so keep it strapped tight.

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November Fifteen, 2007
I am not starting a new rant here, I'm just adding to the one I started yesterday about panned spontaneity. What if our plan is so different then anyone else in the community? What if our plan is being open to spontaneity, then we are chastised by the community.
  We are the freaks, geeks and eccentrics that people laugh at, but want to know. Point a finger at, but will bring your name up in conversation. Tell you need to cut your hair and grow up. Why, because when the truth is known they are freighted by your individuality and they want to be more comfortable in their boring existence.
   These people, who are about 66% of society, are so miserable "keeping up with the Jones" that an individual has become a threat. These people are unhappy with their lives and will not stop ridiculing your until they think you are unhappy. Then we can all be unhappy, everyone can talk shit about each other and no one will notice the new bright flower coming up from the earth, it will be stomped on by a spit shined combat boot.
   As I am a humanitarian I am glad that I have this individual target on my back. Maybe it will deflect the rage from younger freaks just getting their groove on. To all the narrow-minded pricks looking for a dinner party subject, invite me, invite me, but be warned, I can eat, drink and stay up late.

On a more civil note after that bought of verbal diarrhea, I have post some more work in the Image Of Flesh gallery, a couple of new images and some old work that has not been up for a while.

Dave Vaghan