MasculineCurves

Hot in Cleveland!

It was an unexpected surprise when the temperature rose to a record breaking 90 degrees today. This, of course, made for some excellent people guy watching in Cleveland!

the iArt of exhibitionism...

One of the coolest things about the Instagram app is the plethora of male IGers willing to exhibit the goods in exchange for comments, compliments, and "likes". Here you get everything from the artsy and visually stunning to the prerequisite torso-in-bathroom-mirror shot. I sure hope Facebook doesn’t mess this up when they takeover the app. If you’re a voyeur, like me, then here are just a few hottest dudes you might be interested in following on Instagram:

confessions of an iPhoneographer...

A picture may be worth a thousand words, but who woulda thought a picture taking app would be worth a billion dollars? That said, I'm with my fellow IG addicts who hope the Facebook giants don'r ruin a good thing. And if you're with me, then please follow me on Instagram @desperateartist.

MasculineCurves

One of the things I felt used to make this blog unique is that I created orginal nude photo art and posted it here. It's been a while since I've done a nude shoot. Essentially, it costs your DesperateArtist quite a penny to hire guys brave enough to strip for the camera (all in the name of art of course). If you enjoy the blog and/or my original photography please consider making a donation via PayPal (donation link in right column of blog). Of course you can always buy my book too!

P.S. Today's image brought to you by the craftiness of my iPhone and edited using the PhotoShop app on my iPad.

around this town...

A week in Cleveland through the lense of a DesperateArtist's iPhone.

The California Dreams

Hopefully this installment of my iPhoneography "Guydar" series comes across as an artistic expression of my curious journeys. These shots taken on my San Francisco trip last month (edited mostly with Camera+ and Instagram apps).

Anchors Aweigh: The Gaultier Invasion of San Francisco

One of the highlights of my San Francisco trip was the Gaultier Sailor Boys giving out free pedicab bike rides and along with Le Male scent samples. Ingenious marketing ploy by Jean Paul Gaultier and left many a gay boy (like me) with a smile on my face. Above, my venture into “street videography” featuring the Gaultier Sailors and below a few iPhone stills.

scene at a busy airport

As seen at Washington Dulles.... Yep, I'm on a little trip... More to come...

art or voyeurism?

This image photographed with my iPhone 4 and edited using Adobe's Photoshop Touch iPad app.

Street photography... is it art or voyeurism? discuss in comments...

The G-Midster

So, I took a couple vacation days from work and won’t go back until Wednesday. Hooray for me. These are much needed mental health days because those m-f’ers at the office are going to make me lose my mind. That aside, I took today and tomorrow off so I could begin the process of visualizing what life will be like when I become a full-time photographer/blogger. 

So far today is perfect. I woke up around 8 a.m., a full hour and a half later than I would have slept had I gone in to work, yet not so late that I feel guilt for sleeping the morning away. I perused the internet a bit, checked in on my favorite blogs, and read up on Oscars news. Then I threw on some sweats and took the dog on a long walk. He loves his walks. Breakfast was a bowl of oatmeal then I was off to shower and dress for my day as a blogger. 

I chose my clothes for today with little care. A simple black button down with Cuban shoulders and a pair of jeans that are frayed along the bottom. Not frayed because I payed $100 for them to be that way, frayed because I am 5’5” and the cheap Mossimo Target brand jeans I buy are always too long and drag along the bottoms of my shoes. I dabbed a little hair gel on my curls and took a look in the mirror. There I was, some sort of gay middle-aged hipster. I guess that makes me a g-midster (note to self: title this post “The G-Midster). 

By 11 a.m. I’m sitting in my neighborhood coffee shop sipping a $3 cup of some exotic Central American blend and typing this post on my MacBook Pro. I’ll spend the next few hours here working on upcoming blog posts and browsing the web. Lunch will be a soup and sandwich combo from the counter, and I’m a happy little blogger. I’m happy because the coffee is good and one of my crush-object baristas is working today. He’s a mid-twenties white guy with untamed dark brown hair, light facial scruff, and a sweet piercing on his lower lip. Did I mention his eyes are dark and his lips are  an ever-so-kissable shade of pink? I guess he’s the true hipster. (Okay, Aaron, time to snap out of this mesmerization!)

If all goes well, my plans for the rest of the day are to post a couple blog posts; work a bit on my next photo-book MasculineCurves Volume II (buy Volume I here); and perhaps I’ll drop-in on a yoga class this evening. I figure I might as well indulge in yoga while I still have a corporate salary coming in. It enrages me that yoga has become such a luxurious trend in our culture that only suburban housewives can afford it.

So speaking of salary. Will I ever realize this dream of becoming a full-time photographer/blogger/g-midster? I logged into my Google adsense account today and was thrilled to discover I’ve made a whopping $68.98 in the past year from leasing ad space to Google. Hint: You can help support this blog by making a donation via PayPal (upper right column of blog).

Anyways, that’s all for now. Life is good, and I am one hip G-Midster!

Today is going to be my day!

This morning, as I was walking my dog, I happened to find a $20 bill on the sidewalk. Literally, I looked down and there it was right under my feet. Today is going to be a great day!

Back on the 365

I'm hell bent on not doing one of those cliche blogger New Year posts where I refelect on my biggest accomplishments and greatest disappointments of 2011. Though I would be remiss if I didn't acknowledge my regret over the fact that I didn't keep up with my iPhoneography project SpinCycle365 last year. I only made it about 210 days before I abandoned the project due to the perceived notion that I had too much going on to be bothered (otherwise known as laziness). Anyways, I'm going to give it another shot for 2011. Above is my first urban landscape of the new year taken on the first day of the year. Check out SpinCycle365 to see what I found in my garage on the second day of the year. It absolutely creeped me out and prompted an erratic call to the landlord.

the thrilling adventures of a desperate artist's iPhone

A few recent guydar/street photography shots lensed by my iPhone and edited with the Camera+ app .

Attention Wal-Mart Shoppers

Unfortunately, I was forced to shop at Wal-Mart yesterday (not really forced, but I was too lazy to drive an extra mile to Target). Fortunately, my perception of the typical Wal-Mart shopper changed when I spotted him.

pretty boi...

I love living in Cleveland's historic Shaker Square neighborhood. Because of its diversity there are regular sightings of exotic pretty boys, like him, on a regular basis.

Tales from the Town House Motel...

I was driving through East Cleveland the other day when I spotted this quite interesting looking motel. If those walls could talk I can only imagine.

Masculinecurves Remixed

 

A reader recently asked me about the apps I use for my iPhoneography series. So without giving away too many of my magical photo secrets away (lol), I'll try to make a point of sharing which apps I use from time to time. The above image of Shawn was originally shot with my Nikon D80, but I've "remixed" it using the qbro and Instagram apps. I especially enjoy Instagram because of the ability to network and share your images with other Instagram users.

anonymous...

impromptu

I apologize to all my loyal blog readers out there for not having posted much of my original photography in what seems to be ages. I really haven't been shooting much this year. But here's a sort of impromptu shot I recently captured on my iPhone. Dude has a great body, don't you think? Yes, there is a bit of a story behind this image, but I'm saving that for my other soon-to-be-unveiled blog. hehe...

The gardner at work (on his break).

Once again, this summer, my landlord has been very thoughtful in making certain his tenants have plenty of nice.... err.... uhm.... landscaping to look at.