A little taste treat I'm trying for a google ad. No idea how this is going to work, but google says everything "integrates."

Okay, maybe I am a Luddite *s

Lyssie says the fact that I can code an entire website on a napkin does not save me from being a Luddite. So . . .

For those of you who have been laughing at my recent . . . erm . . . forays . . . into facebook . . . yeah . . . I'm a little slow with gadgets . . . mm hmm . . . and? *s

The fact of the matter is: I find most things unnecessary, therefore uninteresting. If it doesn't capture my attention immediately, I can fairly well determine I'm fine living without it forever. Ask my grown children, who never could convince Mamí of the "need" for a microwave (or get her to read the labels on microwave popcorn, when we stayed in hotels . . .). We have a popcorn maker. Por díos.

Yes, I'm laughing . . . *s

M'kay, so . . . I'm dividing my time between polishing View Shock, my new site; adding fairly regular photos to my Flickr gallery (most of which you can't see, if you're not a member of the site, due to flickr monitoring standards, which cause me to put the majority of my works on either "moderate" or "restricted" status, and those aren't available to the general public, sorry); trying to redesign and add content to the new issue of Standards, the journal for which I'm Arts Editor; spending time with my crazed and beautiful 5-year-old (the smartest person in the forest *s); running around to physicians here and in Baltimore; preparing for my teen, Elle, and my ex/comadre La Lenni to turn up, next week; doing the business end of View Shock; trying to catch up with a few of you, for shoots; and deciding when to move to join Altaira down on the beach in North Carolina.

In short: I'm mad busy.

It's 5 something to the a.m., gente, and I'm typing with eyes at half-mast. Is that a mixed metaphor? *s

Wish me luck.

Emmanuela

new site!

de León Photography has a new home . . .

When we first added my galleries to the same site as the journal Standards, I never expected my hand on a camera would ever amount to more than an incidental aside, leaving the journal as the prominent focus of the Dust Jacket site. In the last few years, my work has come to interfere with the goals and presence of the journal, so I'm moving to my own zone on the web *s

I've also come to recognize that I actually like working for free; the collaborations with models in Claiming Masculinity and the Art of Scars portfolios are my most rewarding photographs. Thus, I've taken the leap into not for profit photography (or just started admitting that's what I do, as some friends tease *s).

Going through the process of filing for 501(c)(3) status is arduous, and would make me a corporation. I'm not certain I'm up for all that. The only benefit would be so that your donations are tax deductible, and we're really only talking the Five Dollar Freedom Fund, or the cost of the prints.

You all will have to let me know what you think about this. I'm content working under the international guidelines for not for profits organizations (NFPO) with charitable intent.

Oh, wondering why the domain name "viewshock"? That's because the most frequent exclamation I hear from models, when I photograph them, is "That's me?!"

Mm hmm. That's you.

And I like the sound of "viewshock." No idea why.

Let me know what you think of the site. It's probably still a bit buggy.

You'll have to be patient with the load time of the larger flash movies . . . but hey: google analytics tells me my site has a 65% faster load time than the average website *s

Happy Holidays to everyone, if I don't post before then.

xo,

~Emmanuela