The Ballad of an Infantile Dancer

This is the title that came to my mind over and over as I sat on my roof-deck basking in the warm birth of the springtime air. Sometimes words or phrases come to my mind just out of the blue. Or do they?

Lately, I'd been seeing a lot of documentaries about the American Artist Jackson Pollack, and I certainly can't forget the restrospective of his work a few years ago at the Guggenheim Museum. Reminiscing on my life thus far, I conjured up the work and spirit of Jackson Pollack. I wondered how life must have been so challenging to him, not so much because of his internal torments, but because of what he had to endure from other people's gossip and exploitation of his work. It became quite clear early on in his career that Jackson Pollack had problems with alchoholism. Some people even think he had mental problems. It got me to thinking about how very few people had his back, that is, until he created works of art at a furious pace, and he became an art-world commodity. Suddenly finding himself the toast of the art world, vultures swarmed around him, just as they did the late Haitian-American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat...each vulture jockeying for a favorable position in his life, smiling and dancing while maligning him behind his back. I wondered how isolated Pollack must have felt, and how his greatest dances of escape were performed on canvas. Fortunately for Pollack he had a loving and supportive wife by his side in Lee Krasner. It could be argued that she was co-dependant, but what if it was just love?

Anyway, as I contemplated all this, I looked up at the sky and surrounding bare trees. I recognized immediately the beauty in simplicity, and quiet comtemplation. A solitary dance that only changed with the light, I began to see Pollacks canvases merge together from between the wood branches, preparing for a new birth of leaves, but reminding me altogether, that beauty is truly in the eye of the beholder.

The Ballad of An Infantile Dancer---inspired by the work and life of Jackson Pollack. Enjoy!








































Number One by Ocean Morisset, 2009



Number One by Jackson Pollack, 1948

She: A Celebration of Women

This is the next exhibition I'm participating in with the members of the Fort Greene Photography Organization, a photo collective that I founded eight years ago. Several exhibitions later, we're celebrating women (March is Women's History Month) with a themed exhibition titled SHE: A Celebration of Women, in Brooklyn's Fort Greene neighborhood winery Gnarly Vines. The exhibition opening is March 12th from 6pm-9pm and will linclude a wine tasting. Exhibition runs through April 20th.

HAPPY BLACK HISTORY MONTH!

View the exhibition at http://blackisbeautifulgayisgood.blogspot.com/

CONGRATULATIONS ANDREA AND EDDIE!!

Andrea Fairweather of Fairweather Faces (www.fairweatherfaces.com) is my oldest friend in that we go way back to the first grade! She just got engaged to a great guy named Eddie and I'm so happy they're madly in love! I shot the engagement photos yesterday and was aksed to shoot the wedding in September!

Recent images Jan 2009

I've been recovering during this past week from a hundred-pound- head-cold-sinus-congestion-blah-ness. It's so frickin' cold !! I'm over winter already!! OK< I won't complain, and BALANCE is in order. After clearing off my neglected CF card, I found the balance I needed in my images. It's the least i can do anyway, 'cause during the winter months my shoot count goes way down. Nevertheless, I manage to pull out my camera, to remind myself of why I enjoy taking photographs... It feeds my soul.

Click on any image to enlarge.


Cemetary entrance on a snowy day from K's window.


White smoke invading the street from Duane Reade.


Rowhouses



Untitled 2PAC.


President Obama and Journalist Robin Roberts (screen shot), the night of the Inauguration.


Light, shadow and blur.


Still Life


Wolf eye


Light and Shadow

President Barack Obama's plan for the LGBT Community

Expand Hate Crimes Statutes: In 2004, crimes against LGBT Americans constituted the third-highest category of hate crime reported and made up more than 15 percent of such crimes. President Obama cosponsored legislation that would expand federal jurisdiction to include violent hate crimes perpetrated because of race, color, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, or physical disability. As a state senator, President Obama passed tough legislation that made hate crimes and conspiracy to commit them against the law.

Fight Workplace Discrimination: President Obama supports the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and believes that our anti-discrimination employment laws should be expanded to include sexual orientation and gender identity. While an increasing number of employers have extended benefits to their employees' domestic partners, discrimination based on sexual orientation in the workplace occurs with no federal legal remedy. The President also sponsored legislation in the Illinois State Senate that would ban employment discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation.

Support Full Civil Unions and Federal Rights for LGBT Couples: President Obama supports full civil unions that give same-sex couples legal rights and privileges equal to those of married couples. Obama also believes we need to repeal the Defense of Marriage Act and enact legislation that would ensure that the 1,100+ federal legal rights and benefits currently provided on the basis of marital status are extended to same-sex couples in civil unions and other legally-recognized unions. These rights and benefits include the right to assist a loved one in times of emergency, the right to equal health insurance and other employment benefits, and property rights.

Oppose a Constitutional Ban on Same-Sex Marriage: President Obama voted against the Federal Marriage Amendment in 2006 which would have defined marriage as between a man and a woman and prevented judicial extension of marriage-like rights to same-sex or other unmarried couples.

Repeal Don't Ask-Don't Tell: President Obama agrees with former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff John Shalikashvili and other military experts that we need to repeal the "don't ask, don't tell" policy. The key test for military service should be patriotism, a sense of duty, and a willingness to serve. Discrimination should be prohibited. The U.S. government has spent millions of dollars replacing troops kicked out of the military because of their sexual orientation. Additionally, more than 300 language experts have been fired under this policy, including more than 50 who are fluent in Arabic. The President will work with military leaders to repeal the current policy and ensure it helps accomplish our national defense goals.

Expand Adoption Rights: President Obama believes that we must ensure adoption rights for all couples and individuals, regardless of their sexual orientation. He thinks that a child will benefit from a healthy and loving home, whether the parents are gay or not.

Promote AIDS Prevention: In the first year of his presidency, President Obama will develop and begin to implement a comprehensive national HIV/AIDS strategy that includes all federal agencies. The strategy will be designed to reduce HIV infections, increase access to care and reduce HIV-related health disparities. The President will support common sense approaches including age-appropriate sex education that includes information about contraception, combating infection within our prison population through education and contraception, and distributing contraceptives through our public health system. The President also supports lifting the federal ban on needle exchange, which could dramatically reduce rates of infection among drug users. President Obama has also been willing to confront the stigma -- too often tied to homophobia -- that continues to surround HIV/AIDS.

Empower Women to Prevent HIV/AIDS: In the United States, the percentage of women diagnosed with AIDS has quadrupled over the last 20 years. Today, women account for more than one quarter of all new HIV/AIDS diagnoses. President Obama introduced the Microbicide Development Act, which will accelerate the development of products that empower women in the battle against AIDS. Microbicides are a class of products currently under development that women apply topically to prevent transmission of HIV and other infections.

While I know it may take President Obama to accomplish all of his goals for the LGBT community, it's good to know that he at least has outlined some initiatives!

Hope
decidedly
won
over
fear.

--Ocean

Passenger Seat Photography

A few pics from my passengerside window while my boo handled the wheel of the car, on a recent trip to the city. Not bad considering the car was always in motion as I snapped these!

Merry Christmas!

Snow in the city

The first snowy night and the day after, NYC.