Erin 'Tiny' Blackwell

When I was younger I had a postcard of this Mary Ellen Mark image on my wall. This was kind of in the early days of the internet so it wasn't as easy to find out everything you wanted to know about an artist. I always sort of thought it was a glamorous image. It wasn't until Carlen Altman turned me on to Streetwise the 1984 documentary on teen runaways that I realized that the subject of the photograph Erin 'Tiny' Blackwell was a young prostitute.

You can watch Streetwise in parts on Youtube: here. These photos are from the book by the same name: Streetwise, Aperture.

She got to go to the Oscars when the movie was nominated.Mary Ellen Mark went on to photograph Tiny consistently every couple of years. Apparently she had a rough life. The most recent information I could find about her was this article: "Tiny Has Nine Children" from 2006.

Desire

How about those Ryan McGinley Images for the New York Times Magazine article on female desire. HOT!
What Do Women Want? Apparently we kinda have no idea, but it has something to do with being desired, and controversial rape fantasies come into play.

“Really,” she said, “women’s desire is not relational, it’s narcissistic” — it is dominated by the yearnings of “self-love,” by the wish to be the object of erotic admiration and sexual need. Still on the subject of narcissism, she talked about research indicating that, in comparison with men, women’s erotic fantasies center less on giving pleasure and more on getting it. “When it comes to desire,” she added, “women may be far less relational than men.”

Just tell us we are pretty!

In related news the Valentine's Day decorations have gone up all over my neighborhood. Pix soon. (I know it's not even February)

Sparks Zine!

Hey dudes, look what I found at my second home, aka the Variety coffee shop on Graham, a zine all about Sparks! It was created by the Birdsong micropress. It includes lots of love letters to the bright orange malt beverage and an interesting poem. Click Photos for detailed images.I did a quick search of the term 'Sparks' on my friend's flickr pages and I put together this little memorial collage.Left to Right: Melanie; Ben, Bertie, Eli and Tim; Miguel aka kid606, Maria aka oonceoonce, Me; Anshuman, me; Jesse; Matthew Davis aka EmDee and Xavier.

It will stunt your growth

For some reason I have been collecting images of very young girls smoking. I guess it started with this:

Joseph Szabo: Priscilla, 1969,

Mary Ellen Mark: Amanda and Her Cousin Amy, Valdese, North Carolina, 1990*

Sally Mann: Candy Cigarettes, 1989*

Unknown

Still of Tatum O'Neil from Paper Moon

Screen Capture of Linda Manz from Days of Heaven

Unknown

Don't smoke kids. It's really, really bad and lame and totally not cool or glamorous.

* Posts on Mary Ellen Mark and Sally Mann Forthcoming.
UPDATE: Mary Ellen Mark: Erin 'Tiny' Blackwell

mission walks

Somethings are still great about San Francisco, like afternoon walks where you realize all the insane buildings that have always been there, but you never seemed to notice before.

Color Schemes Houses built hella long ago (1866)Bright
IntricateMonochromeoddCuteDon't be a snitchI wish the glare didn't obscure how cool this stained glass is.We ate at this bar one night. Check out the Sutro Tower viewJello Man!
I miss you.

Ok I try not to play favorites...

I am all about encouraging Malia Obama to be the next photoblogging sensation, and I don't want to be one of those creepy people that freaked out about what the girls were gonna have for lunch on their first day of school, but Sasha Obama is killing it.In this picture she may or may not doing that dance that Tatum O'neil does in front of the mirror in Paper Moon.I'm sorry, I can't lie. I play favorites.