Photographer Seeks Closeted Military Personnel

Photographer Jeff Sheng is seeking as many participants as possible for a new photo project:

“Jess,  Bend, Oregon,  2009” is part of my newest photography project, “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell,” a series of photographs of closeted men and women in the United States military. For each image, I have asked the individual to wear their uniform, while staging the photoshoot in the bedroom or local hotel room where that person is currently stationed.  The reason for this is that I am most interested in the intersections between public and private space, and the government’s policing of our private spaces – the bedroom being the most representative space of this.  I have purposely shot each image in a way that obscures to some degree the identity of the individuals, and the final image that is released to the public is first approved by the subject, and is in many ways, their expression of their closeted-ness and lack of identity.  The name and location is also fictional: I have asked the subject to give me a first name and a location that is significant to them, but does not actually refer to the true name and location of who is in the photograph. My aim in this project is to use photography to create a visual record of the numerous individuals currently serving our country that are unjustly forced to hide an integral part of who they are."

You can contact Sheng via his website.

Photographer Adopted Rather Than Attacked by Leopard Seal

Photographer Paul Nicklen was hesitant about getting in the water with leopard seals in Antarctica as they are fearsome predators, but instead of being threatened by him, the seal adopted him:

"I slipped into the water, terrified of what might happen, and I swam up to this leopard seal. My legs were shaking and I had dry mouth. Right away she dropped the penguin. She came up to me and she opened her mouth … and her head is twice as wide as a grizzly bear’s head. She’s huge. She took my whole head and my camera inside her head and did this threat display. But then the most remarkable thing happen. She went off and got me a live penguin. She came up and she started to feed me a penguin. She kept letting these live penguins go and the penguin would shoot past me and she’d look disgusted as she go by me. She did this over and over."

Watch, AFTER THE JUMP...

Giving Good Face

 

Celebs and unknowns got ready for their close-ups in these shots from a forthcoming book by photographer John Russo called About Face. Russo used type 55 Polaroid film and used natural light.

   

 

The First Rule of Fight Club is Don't Mess with Lance Bass

Hunk du Jour did some fishing on that Bass photo I posted earlier and discovered the other half of it. Looks like Lance dealt that model a shiner. The photo was shot by Braden Summers.

News: Chris Pine, Twitter, Carrie Prejean, Iraq, Joe Jonas, Avedon

Arkansas GOP chair Doyle Webb believes a lesbian can't be trusted with the state's budget!

Jonas Brother is first to attempt wet T-shirt sex symbol shot (while invoking celebrity crush Daniel Craig).

New Tony Kushner play, The Intelligent Homosexual's Guide to Capitalism and Socialism with a Key to the Scriptures, begins previews in Minneapolis tonight.

Through they eyes of RIchard Avedon.

Together: Frankly, I'd rather see Hugh Jackman and Robert Pattinson as bound captives.

Effort to recall Portland Mayor Sam Adams holds kick-out party: "Organizers of Thursday’s event at Nick’s Famous Coney Island restaurant said they wanted to spread the word about their efforts. And they gathered a standing-room only crowd that spilled outside the small establishment - though it was unclear how many were simply patrons uninterested in the recall. While organizers have a number of people already involved, they are hoping other citizens will sign up too." Focus on Breedlove.

It kind of seems like they Photoshopped Chris Pine's head onto suits in these GQ shots.

Is the ill-conceived American Ab-Fab kaput? Are we lucky?

NYPD seeks ex-boyfriend in slaying of gay man in Brooklyn: "Tamiz Din, 50, was shot five times in the chest and stomach at 12:45 a.m. after he exchanged words with three men, police said. His wallet was not taken. Din, a livery driver for 20 years, had been due to testify in court today on assault and harassment charges he filed against Saleem Khan, his former boyfriend, police said. Din dated Khan, also a Pakistani immigrant, for 15 years before they split up in 2007."

Real life Twitter.

San Francisco activists to hold rally at Harvey Milk Plaza protesting executions of gays in Iraq on International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO) this Sunday.

Joseph Gordon Levitt covers Vman.

Adam Carolla makes misinformed remarks on gay parents: "We just get it spoon-fed to us [that] everything’s great, everything’s perfect, there’s no difference between, you know a couple of dads, a couple of moms, couple of bis and a couple of pre-op transsexuals, and a mom and a dad…no difference. Now look, I’m all for gays adopting but let’s not mistake it for being nearly as good as a mother and a father. It’s not nearly as good as a mommy and a daddy… all things being equal, it is much better for a mother and a father to raise a child than it is two of anything, all things being equal."

Focus on the Family's James Dobson talks about "dangers" of hate crime laws.

"Carrie Prejean Day" DOA in Vista, California.

Shanna Moakler just couldn't stand behind Carrie Prejean's lies: "The turning point for me, I guess, was when I was watching the Today show and she was sitting there continuing to lie. And it's obvious to everybody that the lying is still going on. I just couldn't stand behind her. I wasn't going to New York with this vendetta against her and hoping that she would be decrowned. But I was hoping that she would, at one point in time, stop pointing fingers at everyone in the world and take a little bit of accountability or a little bit of responsibility for herself."

Holy Facial Hair, Batman!

The Caped Crusader gets on the beard trend in an autoportrait by photographer Sylvain Norget.

One more, AFTER THE JUMP...

(via dudetube - nsfw)