2009 Retrospective, originally uploaded by exoskeletoncabaret.

2009 was definitely one of my most challenging, rewarding, and backbreaking years. Some of the crucial plot points:

+ I joined Starfish Studios, which taught me the finer details of using monolights and seamless backdrops, and coerced me into making more work this year than I ever have previously. I probably shot between 30,000 and 35,000 images this year. My top-viewed photo on Flickr has had 14,753 hits (as of this morning) since August.

+ By proxy, I did 11 art walk shows, 2 solo art openings, and a month-long group photography show. I shot two weddings. Also, I did not sleep.

+ In May, I lost my “real job” and have freelanced (read: struggled) since. However, as demoralizing as it’s been to be on a low income, it’s forced me to bust ass and really take the photography and design bull by the horns.

+ This year, I’ve had work published in the Brazilian Marie Claire, three issues of Filament Magazine, Morbid Outlook, and a steampunk jewelry book. I’ve started blogging about steampunk fashion weekly at the Steampunk Workshop. I was on television, too, for like, 8 seconds.

+ I met/re-met a plethora of wonderful creative people at the Bay Area Maker Faire. This weekend was probably the most joyous one I had all year.

+ I had three friends hit the emergency room with scimitar wounds, appendicitis, and bike accident injuries, respectively. I’ve spent way more time than I’d like in nursing homes, doctor’s offices, and hospitals. I’ve been sick constantly.  I’ve found that I am absolutely wretched at taking care of myself and terrible at remembering that if I don’t put myself first I’ll be useless at helping others. Figuring out how to adequately care for Libby is a major goal for the new year.

+ I truly learned the value of having a family I chose/an urban tribe. Without the support of my people, both in Bloomington/Seattle meatspace and online, I’d have failed miserably at 2009. I’ve had to rethink and inject a spirit of DIY into a lot of my relationships. A big thank-you goes out to everyone who brought me crack chai and samosas, came to my shows, defied gender and steampunk conventions, traded YouTube videos, electrocuted me for fun, cooked CSA potlucks with me, hauled frames and hung work, taught me the benefits of non-sexual physical affection, listened to my kvetching late into the night, accepted and discussed non-traditional and non-heteronormative behavior, etc. etc. etc.  Thank you to everyone who believed in me when I doubted myself and my work; thank you to everyone who didn’t mock me for obsessing about Lady Gaga or Turkish pop videos or bacon. Thank you for the endless screening and quoting of “Happy in Paraguay”. Faxing ham and apple juice to each other has been a high point. I am so proud of all of you guys, and so grateful for you.

Thank you.
Love, Libby

So, here’s a wee update as to some of what I’ve been making, and most of it has been group projects.

Krista Brennan, a friend of a friend, residing in Australia, is an insanely talented illustrator who borrowed some of my photographs as reference for a handful of breathtaking watercolor and ink pieces. Everyone should chuck money and cookies at her for being so darned awesome with the art.

This one is of Willow, using this image from a show we managed for reference.

Chris and Bergen, from a photo I took for their engagement.

And yours truly, from a self-portrait. I am in love with the hairdo and the tentacles.

A year ago, I also donated some images to the recently-released Steampunk Style Jewelry: Victorian, Fantasy, and Mechanical Necklaces, Bracelets, and Earrings by Jean Campbell. I haven’t received a copy of the book yet, but the Amazon preview stokes my faith that it will be a fine publication (and I get a shout-out on the back cover! yes!).

More fun collaboration to come in the new year. 2010 will be my craziest yet. Happy holidays.

]]> http://exoskeletoncabaret.com/2009/12/27/collaborations/feed/ 2 http://exoskeletoncabaret.com/2009/11/13/steampunk-fashion-at-spws/ http://exoskeletoncabaret.com/2009/11/13/steampunk-fashion-at-spws/#comments Fri, 13 Nov 2009 23:43:48 +0000 libby http://exoskeletoncabaret.com/?p=260 So much steampunk we’re bleedin’ oil!

I’ve started my fashion column over at Jake von Slatt’s Steampunk Workshop. Have a look-see if you’ve a moment! I may begin cross-posting some content from here to there and back again, but this time I’m gonna make ya go look.

Thank you!

Jeff VanderMeer and I have been in contact for a number of months regarding the following project. I do hope you’ll considering contributing as well. We’ll hopefully be publishing some of my photography in the book.

THE STEAMPUNK BIBLE WANTS YOU!
Noted Archivist Seeks Steampunks to Index

World Fantasy Award winner Jeff VanderMeer’s The Steampunk Bible, published by Abrams Image, will provide a comprehensive and lavish overview of all aspects of Steampunk, in text and pictures. Research for this momentous and globe-spanning project includes the compilation of a comprehensive Archive of, and Index to, everything and everyone Steampunk and Steampunk-Related. This Archive will be made public online, and you also might be contacted about appearing in the book.

If you would like a website or blog link, book or brick-and-mortar establishment, to be considered for the archive, please send the relevant information to Master Archivist S.J. Chambers (steampunkbible at gmail dot com) or to The Steampunk Bible, c/o Jeff VanderMeer, POB 4248, Tallahassee, FL 32315 USA. Make sure to include a short paragraph describing your submission and your complete contact information. Although the Master Archivist’s extensive list of ongoing clockwork projects makes it impossible to guarantee a reply, you may be sure she will give each missive intense scrutiny. As part of a Larger Study, please consider including Your Personal Definition of Steampunk with your email message or snail mail parcel. Rest assured, the Master Archivist and her minions are also out in the World, actively seeking Steampunks for the greater glory of the Archive.

Annnnd, the included photo is of the illustrious maker Jake von Slatt, from a shoot we did Monday! Jake was here for Steamcon, and we spent a good portion of the event in the hotel bar, plotting over whiskey. I am pleased to announce that I will be joining the Steampunk Workshop as a fashion correspondent. Expect some bloggity over there within the first bit of November!

Thanks.

Allegra says:

After a lengthy struggle and much holding of heads, we are delighted to finally be able to announce the release of Issue #6 of Steampunk Magazine – The Pre-Industrial Revolution. With the final part of John Reppion’s ‘Doppler and the Madness Engine’; a look at the Romantics and what they did for us; alchemy; Luddites; corsets; sculpture; windmills; poetry; and Victorian martial arts, it’s our biggest issue to date.

As ever, Issue #6 can be downloaded from our website, or alternatively you can get your hands on your very own hard-copy through the order page on Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness.

I had only a small part in this issue (grammar/spelling/punctuation nazi), but I am very proud of it. Go have a look!

FILAMENT Magazine And The Erection Dilemma

The beautifully-produced London-based magazine FILAMENT has a problem.

Explicit images of women are available at any newsagent, but Filament, the world’s only magazine featuring male pictorials designed for the female gaze, is finding itself between a rock and a hard place when it comes to printing explicit images of men.

Filament only prints explicit images when these are of high photographic and erotic quality, and clearly designed for women – we won’t ever be putting hard cocks on every page. The problem is, all the printers that a small, independent magazine like Filament can afford have said they won’t print images of the male of the species in a state of obvious arousal. Reasons given include that printing these images may cause offence to ’women’s groups’.

If they can sell another 300 copies of FILAMENT #1, they’ll have the money to switch to a printer that isn’t terrified of the cock, and then they can

make history and print (we’re pretty sure) the first explicit male pictorial in a British women’s magazine.

Link to the fundraising page. And, here, a link to the purchase page. Obviously, click around the site and have a nose at it. I thought it was a lovely object, and I know Niki enjoyed looking at it, although there was, to her taste, a distinct lack of morbidly obese beardy men with all their hair burned off.

I’ve posted before about this magazine, one with whom I am directly affiliated (I’ve been sharing my food photos and helping Suraya with layout). It boggles my mind how easy it is for malecentric print media to disembody women (in a rather nasty and unwholesome way), but when a feminist indie wants to respectifully objectify and dismember male images, it gets shot out of the sky. So, give us a hand, if you will. I’m sure I can help with the beardy dudes on fire.

Thanks.

Imagine my glee when approached by the lovely Kyshah Hell about popping some of my photos into July’s installment! She’s written a rather inspiring article about steampunk as a fashion and subculture, littered with quotes from some of the finer articles in Steampunk Magazine. Ms. Hell respectfully touches on the occasionally scorned political underpinnings and DIY ethos that drove me to admire the aesthetic. There’s always conflict amongst the ranks about whether steampunk should have anything to do with either steam or punk, but it certainly is nice to hear someone write favorably about something other than “this sux & yr doin it wrong”.

Finn’s photo is on the front page of the site, and Ms. Hell’s included many pictures of my friends at the bottom of the article, mostly from Maker Faire: David S Dowling, Kat Craddock, Qais Fulton, Noah Beasley, and the Neverwas Haulers.

A big thanks to Morbid Outlook for the article, and I do hope you all will go have a look at the site. Thank you.

On the second day of Maker Faire, my friends Tom Sepe, Qais Fulton, and I were interviewed by a television crew from CBS for a science show called BRINK. This specific episode will air tonight on the Discovery Science Channel at 10:30 pm (7:30 pm on #284 for Seattle locals with fancy teevee). I look forward to re-viewing bits of the Maker Faire experience! Hope you’ll tune in.

“How pleased I am to find another female photographer who does erotic images of men…I swear there are about 6 of you in the world.” 

That woman was Suraya Sidhu Singh, and at the time I laughed at her comments regarding my “erotic” photographs. I rarely shoot implied or blatant nudes, and so I thought she was a little crazy for filing my work under that category.

However, after many conversations back and forth, I realized Suraya was on to something I’d never really consciously seen in my own work. Non-traditional, non-mainstream (yet attractive) people enjoying themselves are indeed erotic–possibly not sexual, but sensual. Suraya’s generous comments allowed me to unrestrain my female gaze just a bit, and I credit her for inspiring me to try open-minded and wilder things within my artwork.

In return, it is my pleasure to present to you the first issue of Suraya’s London-based magazine, Filament, dubbed “The Thinking Woman’s Crumpet”, a highly-researched, beautifully bound publication chock full of both saucy males posing for the camera and intelligent articles. I just love her letter from the editor:

“Do you remember the magazines? They were so full of things that inspired us…When did we get ahead of them? Growing into the type of woman they didn’t want to talk to…We stand at the back of the male strip revue on a hen night, looking past the oiled, muscle-bound hunks, checking out the narrow-hipped lads behind the bar. If I look for us in magazines, I won’t find us…There is only so much to be said about the state of women’s media before you have to sort out the problem yourself.”

And indeed, she has. Filament is filled, cover to matte cover, with articles about witchcraft, pubic hair, making music, feminism, the ethics of porn, and alternative history. I have never in my life seen a women’s erotic magazine that wasn’t degrading, disgusting, and telling me to diet and/or suffer for hotter sex. Thus, I am very excited about this publication, not to mention some of my food porn pics are featured with a delicious celeriac dish. Yes, folks, a dirty magazine with recipes (and Jean-Paul in leather trousers)!

Now that I’ve bragged on it, I should tell you that Filament is online at http://filamentmagazine.com/
Go get a copy!

Thank you. [Photo of Suraya by Gerard Harvey.]

Featuring everything from emergency welding to a very special guest essay by Bruce Sterling, it is available…on our downloads page, and can also be purchased, as ever, through Strangers in a Tangled Wilderness.

Magpie, Allegra, and I are extremely giddy about this issue. It is stuffed to the gills with dangerous DIY projects, motivating editorials, and delicate (as a doorknob) humor. I contributed an interview with the Chronabelle Crew, a gang of sharp young steamers I had the pleasure of meeting at last year’s Bay Area Maker Faire.

Take a gander at the free download, and do pick up your own analog copy for reading late at night in the bathtub, too. Many thanks!