And thus evaporated my hopes of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics having a bad-ass mascot.

I did a time for CD photo shoot last week with a makeup artist and a model. The makeup artist’s concept was “lost in the woods.” Here are three previews from the shoot.

A couple of news stories caught my eye today. First, was the story about “Buy Nothing Day” organized by the Green Party. I wonder how many people actually did this? It was supposed to be yesterday, Black Friday in the America, the biggest retail day of the year. In Canada we don’t observe this “holiday,” although it’s hard not to notice all the waves of advertising lapping on our shores.  The idea of Buy Nothing Day is to show some restraint and be aware of the environmental impact of our rampant consumerism. While I think it’s a great idea, it’s a tough sell on Black Friday. Or maybe that’s the idea? They’re trying to surf on the publicity surrounding the post-Thanksgiving consumer frenzy? I’ll be interested to know if it had any impact. Myself, I bought some things yesterday. Three packs of blueberries, some cough medicine, and two kinds of almonds.

The other story I noticed had this headline: “Web surfers more open with sites they trust.” It’s about a study that suggests that people are more willing share personal information with sites they consider to be trustworthy. No shit?! I hope no one got paid to come up with that gem of wisdom.

Speaking of gems of wisdom, I just learned how to wear a scarf.  I’ve owned scarves my whole life, but didn’t know how to fold it in half, put it around my neck, and pull the loose end through the loop created by the fold. Genius!

Here’s Ron. I did these headshots for him because he wanted to emphasize his creepiness. Ron is one of those people who actually looks better with the wild man style.

Well I was back in the studio again tonight, shooting photos for an Afro-soul-funk-reggae singer. She had a very interesting story. She was born in Africa. Her father was a freedom fighter for the ANC, battling apartheid in South Africa. Her family was persecuted by the ruling white majority, and terrorized by the police in that country. Later, they lived in a refugee camp. When apartheid was eventually overthrown, her father was granted a diplomatic post by the South African government, and the family was safe again.

Anyway, we shot her promo photos first.

Afterwards I painted the map of Africa on her back with red makeup, and we shot that to represent bloodshed for the continent.