I Wish Too Fly

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Jermaine

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Darkness & Light

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Soulful 2009

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

A Full Life Lived - RIP Grandma

My Grandmother passed on today after living a long and happy life. While she was ill she passed in her sleep which was appropriate and appreciated. I am sad for so many reasons, but not so much for this, she was ready, she wanted to go. On my last visit with her she was blunt about it, "I've done everything I wanted to do and I'm ready to go". I was taken back initially but then I thought about what it must be like to live so long. Most everyone she knew was gone, she was lonely and I'd like to think she missed Grandpa.

This was my fathers mother and she came from a long line of long lived people. As such it is the historical aspect of my family that brings me so many memories. My Grandmother knew great uncle Lorenzo who fought in the Civil War for the north. She was a daughter of the American Revolution and her family landed here at Plymouth Rock on a small ship called the Mayflower.


Many of my fondest memories surround my birthday parties which she was allays there. On my 10th birthday she signed me up for an art contest at Kennedy Square in down town Detroit. When I won the contest that day I knew what I wanted to be, an artist. She was different from my other grandmother who in as much liked to take me shopping for cloths, this grandmother took me on short day trips of exploration. Opening my eyes up places like the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Main Library where I saw the famous Diego Rivera Murals, the Detroit Historical Museum and Science Centre. She signed me up for one day classes in things like Ukrainian Easter Egg decoration and drawing. Standing on Woodward in front of the Vernor's Ginger Ale plant watching through the windows. My fondest of childhood memories of a vibrant downtown Detroit which to this day inform my staunch belief in the city. She imparted a sense of exploration in me that I cherish to this day.


Grandma was married to Grandpa for over 60 years! He was quiet and sometimes seemingly hard man of few words but I knew he loved her. He has been gone for quite some time now.


Gram and me from her birthday a couple years ago...

Here is Grandmother and my cousin Ted who spoke a my mothers funeral in 2007

My last visit with her at her home in Huntington Woods a suburb of Detroit. I love this photo, it was a good day. She had baked me the chicken pie she knew I liked and I got to tell her how much all of our adventures around Detroit had meant to me. It was a really good day....

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman.

Thoughts

Sorry gang I fell off the Earth for a moment during the past week and I missed posting on World AIDS Day which was Tuesday December 1st. That was the day of my kidney stone procedure with the fantastic folks at St. Mikes in Toronto. The procedure was actually no worse that a trip to the dentist, that is to say there is more apprehension then actual things to worry about. I got home and rested fairly well that night. It was the next day I fell off the edge... Pieces began to move down their inevitable path and I have to say the pain was nothing short of extraordinary, even compared to what I went through prior. I ramped up on the drugs they gave me and was only able to find comfort for a few minuets to a few hours at a time... same for sleep. Full on drugs only sacked me from doing anything, and I hated that. By Saturday I had reached my limit of pain x duration and went back to St. Mikes...within seconds of getting a bed, I began to feel better, now in the halo of morphine. New xrays confirmed the break up and movement of the stone... it was not what I had expected and quite frankly half of the stone is still logged where it was. One major jagged edged piece was 3/4 of its way down.... The Dr. on staff gave me some new drugs which would help lessen the pain and remove my need for the pain killers... pretty cool. I am feeling on the mend, at least for now.

Kidney Stones are one of the most painful illnesses on record, but generally its not a fatal one. For all of my personal rantings I want to keep it in perspective that there are worse illnesses in the world. There is such a long way to go to find a cure for AIDS. People continue to get sick and die, the thoughts of mine have been the personal toll to myself and my friends which has been enormous... Its been a long time since the years I was loosing 20 - 30 friends a year... And it only seems to be better now. We need to continue to push our knowledge towards a cure for all!


Every 12 seconds someone contracts HIV.

Every 16 seconds someone dies from AIDS.

Number of people with HIV in 2008:
TOTAL: 33,400,000
ADULTS: 31,300,000
WOMEN: 15,700,000
CHILDREN: 2,100,000
Number of AIDS deaths in 2008:
TOTAL: 2,000,000
ADULTS: 1,700,000
CHILDREN: 280,000

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Finally In FAB!

Finally I have made into the pages of Fab Magazine! Both print and web versions! The photo was from a series shot for the promotion of the Almighty Ball... And aside from Fab Magazine was used for the official "Love Is" Mix CD. I have included a couple of versions plus an awesome portrait of BlackCat, to whom I have to give much thanks for allowing me to contribute to the events!
You can find the pic on Page 9 of FAB Issue 386!







If you get a chance you can attend the "Love Is" Party tonight at Goodhandy's in downtown Toronto! Here are all the details..Enjoy!


Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

My two weeks at the AGO came to a close tonight as all the pieces were auctioned off and although my piece did not go for as much as I would have liked it was an awesome experience and it was for a truly good cause. I have learned a lot and I am more enlightened for the auction next year. It was awesome seeing such a cute guy walking my piece around the auction floor!;-) Ahh the small simple pleasures in life!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Finding The Almighty At The Gladstone Hotel!

The Almighty Ball went off in spectacular fashion at the Gladstone Hotel! Thirteen categories and lots of ball room drama! Toronto was ready for this ball! Everything was in place and the show was well produced! The Legendary DJ Vjuan Allure kept the place bumpin with awesome beets! he killed it! Here are just a small sample of images from the night... If you were there and interested in getting pics contact DJ BlackCat!

Here is what the Toronto Star had to say about the Almighty Ball!





































Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

The Passing Of Perhaps The Worlds Most Famous Photographic Muse Charis Wilson 1914 - 2009

I was captured by this story as I understand the power of the muse, that special model that not only drives your imagination as an artist but also connects with you to a degree that often boarders on a personal relationship. Indeed Edward Weston would marry his muse. The connection is mysterious and powerful.

Charis Wilson, died Friday at her home in Santa Cruz at the age of 95, carried a particularly potent and long-lasting brand of fame.

We knew her by her image.


Model and wife to photographer Edward Weston, Wilson's nude body is one of the most iconic human images in the history of photography. From 1934, when the two first met, until the middle 1940s and his creative partner in what was one of the most productive periods of his long career.

"She didn't really think of herself as a muse, or an icon," said her daughter Rachel Harris. "She thought all that stuff was nonsense. They had a good, collaborative, working relationship. They both gained so much from that union."

"She didn't feel that she was just a nude body," said writer Wendy Madar who collaborated with Wilson on her 1998 memoir "Through Another Lens: My Years with Edward Weston."

Once they met, Wilson moved with him to Santa Monica where she pursued many artistic interests. At the time, Weston had had a checkered sexual history and had just returned from an extended period in Mexico where he counted among his friends and acquaintances Diego Rivera and Frida Kahlo.

"Her identity was not wrapped up in being Edward Weston's wife and model. She was very much an intellectual and lived an active life of the mind to the end."


Indeed, Wilson emerged as a writer in her partnership with Weston when the two traveled the West as part of a Guggenheim Fellowship. The result was the seminal book "California and the West," in which Wilson contributed the text to accompany Weston's photographs.

Wilson was just 20 when she first met Weston who was 48 at the time. The two married in 1939 and divorced seven years later, after which Wilson re-married and had two children.

After divorcing Weston, Wilson married labor activist Noel Harris and raised two daughters in Humboldt County. Her oldest daughter was murdered in Scotland in 1967. After a divorce from Harris, she moved to Santa Cruz and lived close to her daughter Rachel for the rest of her life.

"She knew dozens of ribald limericks by heart, loved conversation, was a great story teller and deep listener, a person with a gracious empathetic imagination and absolutely generous of heart."

Her literary collaborator Madar said that Wilson enjoyed her status as a central figure in the life of Edward Weston, but never let it define her life.

"She never felt any resentment of being known as that," said Madar. "She was on the one hand very modest, but it wasn't false modesty. She knew the value of her contributions."

Harris said that her mother died surrounded by the animals that she loved, including a pet chicken named Emily.

"Every morning, she'd roll out in her wheelchair," said Rachel Harris, "look out the windows and just say, Oh God, how beautiful. Look at that sun!' It reminded me of that old New Yorker cartoon with the dog saying, Oh boy, the same old dog food again!' No one could experience the freshness of every single day like she could."

Note: This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Getting Ready For An Almighty Weekend!

................Click To Enlarge..................

The Official Web Site

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Andy

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

I Know What I Want! ;-)

I'm walking through Eaton Centre in Toronto and they have begun to decorate the place for the holiday.. One of the hallmark decorations is a massive tree in the center of the mall that is covered with Swarovski Crystals... Here still covered in red velvet the sign reads What will you wish for? Are they kidding me!? The picture says it all... What a cutie!:-) Santa wrap him up for me! Shhhh don't tell Temi!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

The Color Of Fall

I sometimes forget that I walk with a camera everyday with my iPhone... in the past couple of days I have pulled it out to catch things of interest... in this case a particular maple tree which had the colors of red, orange and still a bit of green. The colors really struck me and so I snapped a couple of shots... I have run them through the watercolor filter in photoshop to give them a painterly look.

The sun has changed position in the sky, and it begins to get dark when I leave work for the day... Here is a shot of Toronto at sun set that I shot across the top of the subway station I take. What struck me with this moment was the cast of gold that the city was reflecting... I thought of the lost city of gold and how it may have looked.

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Line Art 2009 - Opening Night

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Coop

Over the past 22 years I have been blessed with the privilege of photographing many extraordinary models. the unspoken contract between Model and photographer is one of trust and appreciation of a shared vision. With some models this connection goes to a completely different level resulting in the production of many images all showing a small but connected story of the model. Coop whom I had initially met under the name JR was just such model. We have had many different shoots over the years but this was one of my favorite ones. Shot on and around the roof penthouse of a 14 story apartment building just down the street from here, this shoot was one of the last times I committed images to film. I used both Color and Black and White and the results were fantastic and yet another part of my negative scan project! Coop has since moved to California and you can catch some of his films under the name Race Cooper! Enjoy!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Line Art 2009

Starting Wednesday November 18th you can see a grouping of four of my dance images in a piece I have donated for the line Art Auction for the Youthline being held at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO) here in Toronto. On November 29th you can come and bid on the piece, with the funds going to a very worthy cause.


From the Line Art Auction Website:
The Line Art Auction has been an important fund-raising event for the Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line's unique and vital service of peer-support. This event provides an opportunity for our allies in the arts and business communities to build a network of support aimed at improving the lives of LGBT youth. Now entering Line Art's 10th year, we have demonstrated our capacity to execute a successful and enjoyable event which benefits artists, our organizations and our sponsors.

In 2008 the 9th Annual Line Art Auction was held at the Art Gallery of Ontario for the first time. This esteemed location, an impressive collection and our reputation as an upstanding organization allowed us to grow this event in size, scale and funds raised. We hope to exceed our expectations again this year. Our collections feature not only the fine works of established artists but also provide an opportunity to highlight the work of emerging and youth artists. To this end, we have ensured that our values of community development and accessibility are embedded in Line Art Auction planning. We want the night to be enjoyed by art collectors and art enthusiasts alike. Stay tuned for what is bound to be the best Line Art Auction yet.

The Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Youth Line is a toll-free Ontario-wide peer-support phone and instant messaging service for lesbian, gay, bisexual, trans-gender, transsexual, 2-spirited, queer and questioning young people. The Youth Line is a queer-positive and sex-positive line for youth to ask questions that they may not feel comfortable asking elsewhere. To find out more about the Youth Line, please visit their main site www.youthline.ca.

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

The Power Of Mystery

Sometimes in the film world you take a photo with a certain intent and then it gets developed and something very different happens. In this case the overtly white background of white marble, mostly white wallpaper and white robe completely closed the aperture down and turned the model into a mere silhouette in the photograph. At first I was disappointed as I chalked the results up to failure. Yet over the years the image has become strangely compelling to me, it carried a sense of mystery, who is this person, what was the situation in which this image was taken... And the power of those questions and emotions carry the photo.

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Mycal's Island

Here are some images from the vault (1999) and edited with a different style for me...
Mycal Noir on Belle Isle, Detroit! Enjoy!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Aaron

Working on a project this winter coming... will be scanning in hundreds of negatives from the pre-digital era of the 80's and 90's... Here is one that I may have posted before but not with this level of contrast as I am scanning from the neg and not a print.
Stay tuned for more of this work...
Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Danseuse Du Romantisme

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Stoned!

Three Sundays ago I found myself flat on my back in a hospital with the most extraordinary pain I have ever felt. I broke my leg in 10 places in 1981, a downhill skiing accident and that pain didn't come close to this. I have a kidney stone! I can tell you... this is something you don't ever want to get.

Kidney stones (renal lithiasis) are small, hard deposits of mineral and acid salts on the inner surfaces of your kidneys. Normally, the substances that make up kidney stones are diluted in the urine. When urine is concentrated, though, minerals may crystallize, stick together and solidify. The result is a kidney stone. Most kidney stones contain calcium.
Passing kidney stones can be excruciating. The pain they cause typically starts in your side or back, just below your ribs, and radiates to your lower abdomen and groin.
I asked if this was caused by eating junk food... In fact just the opposite the Dr. remarked. Here are some of the food linked to stone formation:
High-oxalate foods—higher to lower - rhubarb, spinach, beets, swiss chard, wheat germ, soybean crackers, peanuts, okra, chocolate, black Indian tea and sweet potatoes.
Foods that have medium amounts of oxalate may be eaten in limited amounts. Medium-oxalate foods—higher to lower - grits, grapes, celery. green pepper, red raspberries, fruit cake, strawberries, marmalade and liver.

I'm set to receive Extracorporeal shock wave lithotripsy (ESWL) at the beginning of December. If everything works out the stone will be crushed into easily passed particles... Stay tuned!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Did You Forget Your Treat?

Did you forget your TREAT?

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Church Street Halloween 2009!

Note: All images and text (not specified) is copyrighted by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.

Thoughts On Robert

A few times over recent months I have been asked or compared to Robert Mapplethorpe and I am having ambivalent feelings about the occasional comparison of my work/life to his. Over the past 10 years I have tried to read everything I can about him. In trying to understand myself and my creative motivations I like to read the biographies of many photographers. From my readings I have concluded a few common threads. Photographers have: The need to express beauty, the need to express uniqueness in the human condition, and finally the need to connect with people and events in a way that helps in the understanding of the self which is what I am doing now. What this blog is about.

I saw "The Perfect Moment" - Mapplethorpe's final exhibition prior to his death. It was at the Chicago Museum of Contemporary Art in 1987. I took my then boyfriend Aaron McGee to Chicago for the spring weekend as away of getting out of Detroit for a few days. It was a wonderful weekend, the highlight of which for me was the exhibit. It was also a time very early in my life as a photographer and Aaron was of coarse was one of my earliest models. On our drive back to Detroit Aaron became the first to openly compare my work to Mapplethorpe's. I asked him how he felt about what he had seen as a black gay man. On whole he seemed to like most of it save some of the uncomfortable S&M imagery on which I concurred. He mockingly said "You white folks are strange" we giggled and drove on.


Since then I have collected or read every book published on and about his work, read the biography by Patricia Morrisroe, the writings of Kobena Mercer who initially postulated the Mapplethorpe's images were racist in nature but has since reconsidered this position. Mercers work had largely looked at the imagery and developed a theory about the photographers motivation via his photographs composition, Morrisroe delved into the entirety of Roberts life to try and divine his artistic choices.

For the record, not all white people think alike so I'm not sure one can look at a photograph or a series of photographs and speak with certainty about the artists thoughts. Robert didn't just take photos of black men... he photographed women, socialites and celebrities, flowers and statuary, not to mention the S&M community.
To conclude wholly that Robert photographed from a racist point of view weather it was consciencely or un-consciencly doesn't seem reasonable. If anything he seemed driven by shock value and of coarse money. It is fair to say that Roberts work was highly sexualized but that could be said about allot of his work up to and including his work on flowers, but at the same time I understand the idea behind Mercers thoughts and in my opinion some of his examples seemed inflated and contrived to fit the need of the author.



It's in Morrisroes biography that Robert seems to show his racism. Looking at his life on whole Robert grew up in the mostly white and catholic community of Floral Park in Queens. He was never a child of Harlem or the Bronx and while I am sure he knew black people they were not part of his everyday life. Clearly tired and dissatisfied of the malaise of family life Robert ended up in the big city... Straight, gay, S&M, drugs...he clearly lived it all. New York was a candy box for his picking...


As Morrisroe wrote.. in 1980 Robert found god in an infamous Christopher Street gay bar called Kellers, a black man named Milton Moore. Robert perused and seduced him and then photographed him... including some of his most controversial photos "Man in a polyester suit" and one where Moore had a pillow case covering his head. Roberts tumultuous relationship with Milton Moore is clearly chronicled via Roberts many friends and associates as being one where Robert often referred to him as a Nigger. A word that clearly and understandably aggravated Moore. Robert is also quoted as saying Milton "had the face of a beautiful animal".


Many critics have sited the lack of a face in many of these initial images as Robert objectifying the black male body. In truth for these images it was actually by Milton's choice that was written into the terms of the photo release that no image could have both his nude body and face in the same image. While other truncated images where taken the vast majority of his images of black males included the full image of the model. While Milton clearly seemed to struggle with the challenges of mental illness it did not help nor explain Roberts use of the N word in their relationship.. Now almost 30 years later the thought of someone openly using that word... and in a relationship seems inconceivable. Given Roberts for penchant for S&M it can only be imagined that he used the word as a form of verbal abuse though I do not believe they shared the same interest in the S&M lifestyle. Additionally many reports indicated Robert legitimately seemed to care for Milton and tried to save their relationship by providing Milton with various forms of help, most of which never seemed to work out. Another of Mapplethorpe's model is Ken Moody whose experience was quite different from Moore's. His conclusion as seen in this youtube clip is that Robert Mapplethorpe was trying to give us a gift with his work, a conclusion which surprised me. On reflection Robert seems more complicated than I have previously thought.





As an artist Robert was an elitist, a master manipulator and at the very least racially challenged. He clearly struggled to find personal happiness until he died of AIDS. Yet ironically at the same time Mapplethorpe and another one of his long time relationships Sam Wagstaff clearly invigorated/elevated and legitimized the art photography market and his images still sell for 10's of thousands of dollars per print. Many if not all photographers have benefited from this fact. His images are beautiful and clearly perfect in their composition, manufacture and execution and on that final note it is hard to compare my work to his in terms of the perfection of final print. Robert worked with film using cameras I could only dream of holding let alone using. His prints, many large scale were processed in a darkroom using a time honored silver gelatin printing process which to this day still produce some of the finest quality prints available.

I too started out using film, though my cameras were small format and when digital came into vogue I was clearly and early adopter. Today my images are processed and manipulated in the computer using software and printed using dyes. Many images can be manipulated in such a way that mistakes made in camera can be eliminated. Composition is sometimes no longer slowly calculated process as SD cards can hold hundreds of images and photos can be taken until the perfect desired composition is found.

I earned a degree in illustration and design and my path to photography started via my interest in painting portraits and nudes of my friends, people whom I socialized with on a day to day basis. Photography made that process easier to establish the basis for the paintings. The immediacy of the photographic media soon over took my paintings and my friends began to ask me to take their images on a regular basis, word of mouth has perpetuated into more than 22 years of work.

My ambivalence about Robert Mapplethorpe is likely permanent. We share in subject matter but our paths are different, how we make our photographs is different and I believe the relationship between photographer and model is very different. I like many of his images yet from all I have read Robert is not someone I would have liked personally. We are different.

I recognize that some of my work has been conceived in part based on Roberts work, but many other photographers have informed my work as well, Herb Ritz, Richard Avedon and Annie Liebovitz just to name a few. In fact I don't think there is a photographer alive who's work was not informed by others. Through the evolution of this blog I have come to discover many other great photographers around the world who are like myself in as much as they photograph black men. I wonder if it was Robert Mapplethorpe who lifted the vail on the black male.

I continue on my path of discovery, perhaps one day I will understand.


Note: All images by Robert Mapplethorpe. Txt by Christopher Cushman. This site does not specify or denote the sexual orientation of any model and as such please post your comments accordingly.