Life has been in the fast lane this week and my blog lost its priority status, apologies. Finally made it back to the City Paper. Excerpt from my interview with Meg Augustin freelance writer for the City Paper:
CP: What has been your most amazing moment in the salon over the years?
SM: There have been a lot of amazing moments, but recently there was a man who came in late and asked if there was still space to read. [When I] asked him what name he wanted to read under, he said “Nicole.” I had no idea what to expect, but he got up and read from the perspective of a woman. It was the most heartfelt reading. Afterward, I was going through my emails and he had already commented saying, “I never knew such a life of honesty could exist. I finally found a home I can be comfortable in … this event changed my life.” I was just overwhelmed and so happy for him. Read more:
http://www.citypaper.net/agenda/2012-06-14-sexy-time-erotic-literary-salon.html
Wonderful seduction video:
http://socialcam.com/v/6Jw7rVJm?autostart=true&no_fb_log=true
Email/newsletter sent by colleague photographer David Steinberg
A demonstration photo shoot with David Steinberg – Seattle Erotic Art Festival
REAL SEX IN FRONT OF A CAMERA?
A DEMONSTRATION PHOTO SHOOT WITH DAVID STEINBERG
PLUS TWO OTHER PRESENTATIONS AT THE SEATTLE EROTIC ART FESTIVAL
I am pleased to once again be a contributor to the Seattle Erotic Art Festival this year, June 15-24, 2012, at the Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th Street, Seattle. I will have two photos in this year’s exhibit, which will feature over 260 works of erotic art from across the nation and 10 other countries, as well as workshops, performances, and installations.
I was excited to be chosen this year as one of five founding Masters of Erotic Art, a new honor established by SEAF to commemorate those artsists whom SEAF feels have “made the most meaningful contributions to the history and development of erotic art.” (The other four are Betty Dodson, Michael Rosen, Barbara Nitke, and Charles Gatewood.) One of my photographs will be in a section of the show devoted to these five artists. The other will be part of the larger visual art exhibit, which this year includes 80 photographs, 50 paintings, 30 drawings, 30 sculptures, stained glass pieces, textiles, and jewelry.
I will also be offering two lectures and a demonstration photo shoot workshop during the course of the Festival, which has been expanded to two weekends this year.
DEMONSTRATION PHOTO SHOOT
On Saturday afternoon, June 16, from 4:00-6:00 pm, I will offer a demonstration photo shoot workshop at the Center for Sex Positive Culture. At this workshop I will speak about how I photograph couples engaged in sex, focusing on how I work with couples to help them feel relaxed, comfortable, and thus able to be sexual in an honest and intimate way in the presence of both me and my camera.
The main part of the workshop will be a demonstration sexual photo shoot during which I will photograph two people who have volunteered for the occasion for 30-45 minutes, while participants observe.
After the shoot, the model couple, myself, and people I have photographed in the past, will discuss the experience of being photographed in this way, and answer participants’ questions about the process.
Some of the questions I hope this workshop will address are these: What are the emotional and artistic dynamics involved in trying to capture something honest and intimate about sex on film? How does a photographer help people feel free to reveal the emotional subtleties of their sexual connection to him and to the outside world? Is it possible for a couple to engage in honest sex during a photo session? What can a photograph show about the intimate aspects of sex to people who don’t witness that sex in person?
As many of you know, I have been photographing couples being sexual since 1999. I have photographed over 160 couples to date — people ranging in age from 19 to 75, heavy people as well as thin, disabled as well as abled. Samples of my couples photography are posted on my website at www.nearbycafe.com/loveandlust/steinberg/photo/index.html.
The workshop will take place at the Sex Positive Community Center, 1602 15th Avenue W, Seattle 98119, (206) 270-9746, sexpositiveculture.org. The cost is $40. To register for the workshop, go to www.seattleerotic.org/festival2012/workshops and click on the button at the end of the description of this workshop, which is at the top of the workshop listings, right side.
CREATING HONEST SEXUAL IMAGES OF PEOPLE WITH DISABILITIES
On Sunday, June 24, at 1:00 pm, I will give a one hour lecture/slide show presentation on my sexual photography of people with disabilities. Part of my work over the last 12 years has focused on the sexuality of people with disabilities — people whose sexuality has been ignored, ridiculed, and fetishized by mainstream culture. I have photographed nine couples with a variety of physical disabilities, and will be showing slides from these shoots while talking about the importance of recognizing the sexuality of people with disabilities through respectful photographs. The lecture will take place at the Festival itself (Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th Street), and is free — included with Festival admission for that day.
OVERCOMING SEXUAL SHAME
On Sunday, June 17, at 12:00 pm, I will give a one-hour talk on overcoming sexual shame, a significant issue for just about everybody raised in our sex-negative, sex-phobic culture. Before we had a chance to discover the real nature of our sexuality, most of us learned that our sexual feelings and desires were wrong –too weak, too strong, inappropriate, immoral, unnatural, misdirected. The sexual shame born of these teachings stands in the way of our being able to enjoy the full wonder and power of our sexual natures. This presentation will be an opportunity to look at these issues and their impact on our sexualities. The presentation will take place at the Festival itself (Fremont Studios, 155 N. 35th Street), and is also free — included with Festival admission for that day.
ABOUT SEAF
In my opinion, the Seattle Erotic Art Festival is a magnificent event — a unique opportunity to celebrate our sexual natures, and to view (and perhaps purchase) imaginative, insightful erotic art covering a wide spectrum of media, styles, sexualities, and perspectives. This is the Festival’s tenth year, and I have watched it grow, year by year, in perspective and depth into a truly thoughtful and progressive venue for showing and celebrating erotic art. I encourage everyone who will be in the Seattle area in June to attend.
More information about the Seattle Erotic Art Festival itself is available at http://seattle-erotic.org/festival2012.
If you have questions about SEAF or about the workshop and lectures, feel free to contact me at david@davidsteinberg.us.
I hope to see you there.
David
