Whisper is a kitty photographer who wears a CatCam on a timer and, well, takes pictures. Taking pictures is what photographers do.

Whisper is half long-tailed yellow tabby and half Siamese. He gets his nom de photography from the color of his fur.

If you want keepsake photographs taken by a cat, you can even get prints with Whisper’s signature pawprint. It is always good to have a distinctive signature. Mine is unfortunately an un-aesthetically pleasing scrawl. Maybe I should switch to fingerpainting a signature.

Full disclosure: Kitty Photographer is an advertiser. Further disclosure: Sometimes the most awesome thing about accepting advertising is the opportunity to discover fun sites like this one.

In just a few weeks, EroticBPM is going to be having a rave in Arizona and lots of girls who have stripped down sexily for EBPM will be there. We’ve got a little free EroticBPM photo gallery featuring some of the confirmed guests, including Eyecandy, Jamie, Money, River, Lucky, Stevie Neko, Uzi, and Ziggy. The best stuff is in the members area of EroticBPM and there is a party bonus for members. Details below in my exclusive interview with EroticBPM’s Scott Owens about the Lingerieve party.

Amelia G: What festivities are planned for the party?

Scott Owens: It is EroticBPM’s 10 year anniversary and we are having a Lingerie-themed rave in Phoenix, AZ. August 22nd. We just confirmed DJ Swamp for the lineup (Beck’s old DJ)

Amelia G: What was the reason for this event’s choice of locale and venue? Who is involved with putting it together?

Scott Owens: The reason we chose Phoenix is because Ebpm photographer Clix is also a rave promoter in the area. We have a lot of models from Phoenix and he has all the resources to make it happen . . . Clix from clixbagoftricks.com is doing most of the real work.. Ebpm is of course making sure lots of models will be attending and providing any additional support . . . We *might* also do a dvd of the event combined with behind the scenes footage of photoshoots that will be done with girls at the venue beforehand.

Amelia G: What special deal do you have for EroticBPM members?

Scott Owens: All EroticBPM members from out of state get into the event for free. Lots of members are already arranging caravans or booking flights to make sure they come come be part of the fun.

Amelia G: Last words?

Scott Owens: We are working on setting up a live broadcast of the event online for those who can not make it in person . . . We should have some contests and giveaways, but the details of that have not been confirmed yet.

Blue Blood hottie April Flores is on the cover of the new issue of Bizarre. This is her second time gracing the cover of Bizarre. Only a few women, such as Masuimi Max, Bianca Beauchamp, and Aria Giovanni have been on the cover of Bizarre more than once, so April Flores is in a pretty exclusive club there.

Last month, you saw the video of the Topco April Flores Toy art show curated by Carlos Batts.

Photographer Martin Perreault shot this April Flores Bizarre cover as well.

April Flores is also starting work on designing a plus size sexy clothing line. She always has something going on.

Congrats to April Flores for making the cover of Bizarre yet again. Blue Blood girls are covergirls.

What the Duck is the best comic strip anyone has ever done about photography. Now Blue Blood readers, unless they are viewing the site with some sort of high tech braille conversion computer, are familiar with my more professional lit studio and location photography of rock stars, freaks, and naked people.

I also sometimes like to do, uhm, personal work, where I take my snapshot camera out on the town with me (and sometimes rock stars, freaks, and naked people.) In order to achieve my distinctive brand of party time nightlife photography, I do not look through the viewfinder and I keep the display turned off. I do my best work of this type when alcohol is involved.

I’m not much of a drinker, but I can tear it up from time to time on special occasions. Prior to the age of digital photography, I thought I had never blacked out from drinking. I mean, there was never a dead hooker in my bed in the morning and, in the absence of dead hookers, it is difficult to remember not remembering. Since the advent of digital photography, I’ve been made aware that sometimes less booze equals more memories. For example, I was giving my buddy Gonzo grief for not having introduced me to famous, err, computer wiz Kevin Mitnick when we were all partying in Vegas. Unfortunately, Gonzo was able to produce digital photographic evidence of us hanging out.

At any rate, I was first exposed to What the Duck when my brother emailed me the accompanying webcomic because it made him think of me and specifically my painting the town red snapshots. My brother is a professional photographer and he came across the strip because another professional photographer told him about it. When comic strip creator Aaron Johnson is asked whether he is a photographer, he replies, “I’m 40% photographer, 60% Photoshopper.”

Not to in any way belittle the importance of post-production in modern photography, but Aaron Johnson is 100% hilarious and insightful cartoonist. If you’ve ever picked up a camera for art or business or know too many people who have, the humor in What the Duck is very very spot on and funny.

Have a good weekend and make some good memories everyone. Don’t forget your camera.

In this video, I interview fab photographer Steve Diet Goedde about his creative process and recent collaboration with composer Robert Waechter. The GoeddeConcerto CD features twenty-one concertos by Robert Waechter, each inspired by a specific image by Steve Diet Goedde. The photographs are included in an accompanying booklet designed by Steve Diet Goedde. Special thanks to Stockroom for the shooting location.

You can get signed copies of GoeddeConcerto now at SteveDG.com (if you don’t like to type or spell anything complex) or SteveDietGoedde.com (if you prefer being completist).

Steve Diet Goedde has been shooting much longer than I have and he has been very generous with good advice to me over the years, so I was really happy to do this interview. His perspective is interesting in general. Enjoy.

This video features Forrest Black’s interview with the beautiful muse April Flores and my interview with art show curator and contributing artist Carlos Batts and contributing artist Misha (who enjoyed one of the tickets won by MorningStar in our Sisters of Mercy giveaway). Forrest Black and April Flores discuss what it is like to be immortalized in a very unique way and Carlos Batts and Misha and I discuss their inspirations for their respective pieces and Carlos Batts’ vision for the show. The gallery was kind enough to let us shoot while they were closing up, after the huge crowd had dispersed, so it would be quiet enough to hear the interviews, although I think you can see them flicking the lights on and off once or twice to remind folks to exit the building and head out to Good Luck Bar. The video is directed by Forrest Black. Blue Blood theme music is by Tim Skold. The gallery show party portion of the video features many luminaries in attendance, including yours truly, photographer Steve Diet Goedde, memorabilia historian Matt Kennedy, director Ramzi Abed, writer Gram Ponante, photographer Michael Prior (all the way from Australia!), and many more.

So, basically, sex toy novelty art supply manufacturer Topco Sales wanted to try out making a BBW vulva mold and gorgeous April Flores seemed like the obvious choice. Thus was born the April Flores’ Voluptuous CyberSkin Love Toy in the Wildfire Celebrity Series. Desiree Duffie, Director of Marketing and Public Relations for Topco Sales, says that “When Topco Sales molded April to make her toy, we knew we were breaking new ground.” I think they are pleasantly surprised at just how much new ground April Flores and Carlos Batts brought to the table.

Curating this show, which featured eight celebrated artists working with plaster molds of April Flores’ nether regions, Carlos Batts says, “Creative interpretations of the female anatomy are fundamental to art. Specifically, this project was inspired by the irony of Jeff Koons’ work and the playfulness of the Dunny movement, as well as by April herself. In this exhibit, April provides the blank canvas on which each artist has the opportunity to express his or her vision.” Topco’s rep adds, “This show provides an inspired arena in which to play with such provocative issues as beauty, sexuality, intimacy, pleasure toys and more. I can’t wait to see each artist’s work.”

Artists whose work appeared in tonight’s gallery show include Axis, COOP, Jim Mahfood, Kime Buzzelli, Kozy & Dan, Misha, Small Paul, and of course Carlos Batts himself.

The La Luz de Jesus Gallery on Hollywood Boulevard played host to this unique and fun art show. You can contact the gallery to acquire a one-of-a-kind plaster art piece featuring April Flores’ parts or you can purchase a waterproof, phthalate free, and more multipurpose version in CyberSkin. April Flores says, “Celebrating my phenomenal new Voluptuous CyberSkin Toy with all these amazing artists in the flourishing LA art scene is a dream come true”

Naked Girls Smoking Weed – Best of 420 Girls is a compilation of photographer Rob Griffin’s favorite images from his 420 Girls site. From the site tour, it looks like the 420 Magazine peeps got bored of updating much once they had this coffee table book out. You know how distractable stoners are.

Before the stoner-identified among you all make notes to send me hate mail, so you won’t forget to, allow me to state categorically that I feel strongly that pot should be legal. I think that making something, that most people do illegal, just teaches disrespect for the laws, and makes it a lottery whether someone’s life will be taken entirely off-track in a horrible way over kind of nothing. I am well-aware that caffeine is a drug and I’d be pretty sad if iced lattes got legislated against. I’d probably keep drinking iced lattes too, under those circumstances. We should have reasonable laws and enforce them. I truly believe that, if anti-drug laws on the books were genuinely rigorously enforced against all law-breakers for even a little while, those laws would all be changed. Rob Griffin, the mastermind and photographer behind 420 Girls, got a felony conviction for pot in Maryland in 1992. Being in the DC area, he was politically-aware and upset that this meant he lost his right to vote. In 1993, he says he was inspired to start 420 Magazine both to raise awareness and cover and entertain stoner culture. The 2003 crackdown on the sale of paraphernalia such as glass pipes demolished his advertising base, so he turned to the pay site business model. Voila, 420 Girls became the pay site you can join today. I really like that Rob Griffin says he is on a mission from Mother Nature and I always appreciate a good combination of education and entertainment.

Oh, and, while it is not my choice recreationally, you can be damn sure that, if I ever need chemo, I will be getting a medical marijuana prescription immediately because being nauseous is one of the things I like least in the universe. (Did I mention I live in Hollywood and California is awesome?)

Getting back to the hotness . . . the 420 Girls site still boasts thousands of photos of really hot girls, many of whom you’ll definitely either recognize or sit up and take notice of, including Lexi Belle from BlueBlood VIP, Bella Starr of EroticBPM fame, pornstar Charlie Laine, fetish goddess Brittany Andrews, and a bevy of other sexy 420 beauties.

Rob Griffin’s photography showcases an intimate side of these naked women, not just because they are nude, but because there is something very personal about his photographic style and compositional approach. The scenarios vary with some girls strolling nude through what looks like a forest of marijuana and some just building little Close Encounters mountains with it. Others toke up using everything from glass pipes to a giant plastic bag contraption I can’t begin to guess the reason to use just to smoke pot. Sometimes the paraphernalia is what makes an activity extra fun. There is just something really entertaining about tools and accessories.

Happy 420, everyone.

Have you ever felt you should get a pass for misbehaving because of your extensive zombie experience? Heck, we’ve all felt that way. But Woody Harrelson is doing something about it, with his tried and true Mistaken for a Zombie Gambit. Allow me to illustrate.

Forrest Black and I photographed special effects artist André Freitas (pictured) in his AFX Studios by Atlanta, Georgia for a feature in Skin Two. At the time, his most current project was developing a scary wrestler character. His most recent project has been makeup on the scary special effects for a movie called Zombieland. The movie is directed by Ruben Fleischer and written by Paul Wernick and Rhett Reese who previously worked together on the Joe Schmo show. Although Zombieland reportedly just wrapped filming, it is still technically in development, so the final cast list is still more rumor than confirmed. For sure, André Freitas’ special makeup effect must have been really damn scary.

It is known that Woody Harrelson is in the Zombieland movie. According to IMDB, Woody Harrelson plays a character named Albuquerque. According to the Sony Pictures publicity department, Zombieland will not be in theaters until a Halloween-ready release of October 9, 2009, but they believe Woody Harrelson plays a character named Tallahassee. It seems a safe bet that Woody Harrelson is at least somewhat in a movie called Zombieland and does play a character named after a city. Based on posts on the director’s site, principal photography for Zombieland took approximately two solid months and was completed the middle of this week.

According to Alan Duke reporting on CNN, Woody Harrelson finished shooting Zombieland on Wednesday in Atlanta, Georgia and he and his daughter landed at La Guardia Airport that night. I know that personally, if I had to make a list of times I would least like to be photographed, when I had just landed at an airport after working in Georgia would be very high on my list. Allegedly, Woody Harrelson broke a camera belonging to a photographer/videographer who was trying to film him and his daughter. After this alleged incident, the photographer went on to bust out a cell phone camera or some other smaller snapshot deal and shot more video of Woody Harrelson and his daughter. The photographer alleges that Woody Harrelson assaulted him in the ensuing scuffle. Although a police report was made, no charges against Woody Harrelson have been filed at this time.

Woody Harrelson did, however, issue a statement which I believe clears the whole thing up. The actor explained, “With my daughter at the airport I was startled by a paparazzo, who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie.” Quite understandably. Mistook for a zombie. Could have happened to anyone.

CNN and others are reporting that Woody Harrelson plays “the most frightened person on Earth” in Zombieland. In point of fact, had any of them managed to check with Sony, they would have learned that Jesse Eisenberg plays the most frightened person on Earth in Zombieland. Jesse Eisenberg is perhaps best known for his role as Jimmy Myers in Wes Craven’s Cursed, where he spent the movie trying to escape werewolves. Apparently there is something about Jesse Eisenberg which makes monsters want to chase him. Then again, CNN used the usually reliable IMDB as their source and IMDB reports Jess Eisenberg’s character is named Flagstaff, while Sony Pictures publicity department calls him Columbus. Still, once again, both names are cities. Not that big a difference in a name.

The big difference is that Woody Harrelson’s city-named character is actually the bad-ass in the movie. to be specific, the Sony Pictures press releases on the movie states, “Columbus (Jesse Eisenberg) has made a habit of running from what scares him. Tallahassee (Woody Harrelson) doesn’t have fears. If he did, he’d kick their ever-living ass.”

Given that anyone who has seen Natural Born Killers (which is everyone I know) can see what a convincing dangerous bad-ass Woody Harrelson is, I can only conclude that paparazzi don’t get to the movies much. Or read magazines. Apparently there is something about Woody Harrelson which makes paparazzi want to chase him. Another paparazzo is currently suing Woody Harrelson for allegedly attacking him outside Hollywood nightclub Element in 2006. (Although it might have changed ownership since then, the last time Forrest Black went to this particular venue, he complained of having to endure watching a performer flog a balloon, as opposed to a hot girl. But I digress.) At any rate, Woody Harrelson has made it clear that, like anyone, he does not love having strangers up in his face with cameras at all sorts of annoying times. Unlike just anyone, he has already made it clear that he is prepared to defend his privacy strenuously. Unlike just anyone, he is also the son of a man serving multiple life sentences for contract killing a Federal judge. Does a famous actor have to actually kill a paparazzo in self-defense before people back off?

Even if common decency fails to stop paparazzi from non-consensually photographing Woody Harrelson, you’d think common sense might kick in. As I don’t even like to lift a camera to my eye until a model release is signed, the whole paparazzi phenomenon really kinda baffles me. I don’t think harassing a man, when he is exhausted from gainful employment and travel in service of same, is what the founding fathers had in mind when they guaranteed us freedom of the press. There are areas of scandal where I feel the newsworthiness of a public figure is relevant, but I don’t get what is newsworthy about what an actor’s daughter looks like after a plane trip. Then again, Woody Harrelson is an activist for marijuana legalization, so maybe this will make the press take up his cause in the hopes that he will become a little more chill.

The real good that will come out of this unfortunate incident, however, is that, from now on, I am going to excuse all hostile behavior by explaining that I was startled by someone who I quite understandably mistook for a zombie.

The new issue of Marquis is hitting European newsstands now. This makes twenty-seven or twenty-eight issues in a row of Marquis, the highest circulation glossy fetish magazine in the world, which have featured work by yours truly and Forrest Black. As you probably know, Forrest Black and I of course do the Big in America column.

For Marquis No. 45, Big in America was a spotlight on fetish photographer Larry Bradby. I first met Larry Bradby at the Richmond, Virginia home of fetish model Mistress Kali. Mistress Kali modeled back when everyone was still shooting film, so her name is perhaps not as known outside of the DC/Baltimore/Richmond corridor, but she was very compelling. In my own personal experience, a photograph Forrest Black and I shot of Mistress Kali ran in Tattoo Savage and readers wrote in to say they were getting our photo of her inked permanently into their flesh. That is how compelling Mistress Kali was. If digital photography and the internet had really been around then, she would definitely be even more well known. Larry says of Mistress Kali, “I owe my fetish photography success to her. She was the one that pushed me into fetish photography. Being a very good friend, I took her advice and put all of her ideas on film with my Pentax ME Super.”

Larry Bradby’s first big photo credit was, poetically enough, when he won the Marquis readers contest back in Marquis No. 11. Blue Blood has just inked a deal with Larry Bradby to run a huge number of erotic sets by him on BlueBlood.com. You all can expect the first one of sexy Nicotine, who you all know from the forums, to post this week.

The end of Spring was approaching in San Francisco and that meant that the annual Emerging Illusions Alternative Fashion Show was soon to happen. For those unaware, Emerging Illusions is meant to showcase up and coming fashion/costume designers from the Goth, punk and industrial scenes.

Again, I was honored to be asked to set up a mini studio backstage and shoot the models and designers, make-up artists and hair stylists and anyone else who wanted to pose.

The smell of make-up and hair spray filled to backstage area. Nearly every square inch of floor was covered by people, clothes and props. Activity was everywhere. Make-up being applied, hair being styled, models dressing and undressing, dancers stretching out. It was more difficult to negotiate than the dance floor when the DJ plays everybody’s favorite song.

And it was no wonder that it was packed. Each designer is limited to only five or six models and provides their own hair and make-up people. This year, saw 14 designers: Somnabulance, Wisp-her Wear, Gibbous, Severd, Eirik Aswang, Lisa Goblin, The Window Lady, Dragoness, Chelsea Aragon, saKAna Desgins, Larvae, Shawk Designs, Shadow Bound and Clotho Constrictor. Plus there were stage crew running the show, photographers & videographers and the occasional friend of someone.

As I set up my equipment, I looked over the outfits being worn by those already dressed. With fourteen designers, their designs were as diversified as you would imagine with outfits ranging from everyday wear to clubwear to costumes to things you’d probably only wear at Burning Man if you wear anything at Burning Man.

Though I really enjoy the energy backstage, my only regret in being backstage is I don’t get to see the show. This is because Emerging Illusions is not a simple fashion show. One thing that the organizer, Miqua, has done, is to add broader appeal by eschewing the catwalk. No models simply strutting up and down the stage in this fashion show. The designers are encouraged to create mini performance pieces to showcase their creations. So rather than a fashion show, you get a show that has fashion.

Luckily, after I had everything set up, I had some time to watch some of the rehearsals. And again, the range of performances varied as vastly as the style of clothes. From dolls coming to life and turning their little girl owner into one of them to handmaidens who feed their queen to sea demons to a post-apocalyptic, spy-thiller demon hunt amid snowing fallout. I was even asked to stand in for Vampirabat and Nixon Sixx during one rehearsal. Not an easy task, as I am the opposite of what comes to mind when the names of Vampirabat or Nixon Sixx even come up.

Even before the show started, I was taking pictures and shot nearly continuously for the next six hours. And with the exception of a wayward mannequin punching a hole in my backdrop and fisticuffs nearly breaking out between two groups of models over who was going to shoot next, it was a pretty fun-filled evening.

The show for 2009 is already looking to be the biggest of them all.

If you’d like more information on the show or the designers or where to purchase clothing, visit the Emerging Illusions website.