Sonoran Desert #30

Archival inkjet print on Epson Ultra Matte. Edition 3 and 4 out of 11.

Dimensions: 16x24”

Shipped rolled up in a cylinder.

Made and shipped from Los Angeles.

Custom Framing and local pickup available upon request // email [email protected]

Photographed in Phoenix, AZ in 2017.

Shot for Hemslöjden i Östergötland (https://www.hemslojdeniostergotland.se/)

Product photography for the Bever beer. Photographer Tigran Hayrapetyan | Zenith Photo Studio

There is peace in Simplicity

Find simple, and find peace

Find simplicityand you’ll find timeless Remove the clutterAnd find peace Simple peace

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Photographer George Kamper's "Everyone Under the Sun" Campaign

Photographer George Kamper’s “Everyone Under the Sun” Campaign

©George Kamper George Kamper’s assignment for Broward County’s “Visit Lauderdale” campaign was to focus on promoting an authentic welcoming vibe and a diverse community approach. The six-day motion and stills shoot incorporated a wide variety of locations and challenges. Working closely with the director and art director helped to insure a smooth and fruitful shoot. ©George Kamper ©George…

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Writer Spotlight: Jamie Beck

Jamie Beck is a photographer residing in Provence, France. Her Tumblr blog, From Me To You, became immensely successful shortly after launching in 2009. Soon after, Jamie, along with her partner Kevin Burg, pioneered the use of Cinemagraphs in creative storytelling for brands. Since then, she has produced marketing and advertising campaigns for companies like Google, Samsung, Netflix, Disney, Microsoft, Nike, Volvo, and MTV, and was included in Adweek Magazine’s “Creative 100” among the industry’s top Visual Artists. In 2022, she released her first book, An American in Provence, which became a NYT Bestseller and Amazon #1 book in multiple categories, and featured in publications such as Vogue, goop, Who What Wear, and Forbes. Flowers of Provence is Jamie’s second book.

Can you tell us about how The Flowers of Provence came to be?

I refer to Provence often as ‘The Garden of Eden’ for her harmonious seasons that bring an ever-changing floral bounty through the landscape. My greatest joy in life is telling her story of flowers through photography so that we may all enjoy them, their beauty, their symbolism, and their contribution to the harmony of this land just a bit longer. 

(Photograph: Jamie Beck)

How do your photography and writing work together? Do you write as part of your practice?

I constantly write small notations, which usually occur when I am alone in nature with the intention of creating a photograph or in my studio working alone on a still life. I write as I think in my head, so I have made it a very strict practice that when a thought or idea comes up, I stop and quickly write the text in the notes app on my phone or in a pocket journal I keep with me most of the time. If I don’t stop and write it down at that moment, I find it is gone forever. It is also the same practice for shooting flowers, especially in a place as seasonal as Provence. If I see something, I must capture it right away because it could be gone tomorrow. 

(Photograph: Jamie Beck)

You got your start in commercial photography. What’s something you learned in those fields that has served you well in your current creative direction?

I think my understanding of bridging art and commerce came from my commercial photography background. I can make beautiful photographs of flowers all day long, but how to make a living off your art is a completely different skill that I am fortunate enough to have learned by working with so many different creative brands and products in the past. 

(Photograph: Jamie Beck)

Do you remember your first photograph?

Absolutely! I was 13 years old. My mother gave me her old Pentax 35mm film camera to play with. When I looked through the viewfinder, it was as if the imaginary world in my head could finally come to life! I gave my best friend a makeover, put her in an evening gown in the backyard of my parents’ house in Texas, and made my first photograph, which I thought was so glamorous! So Vogue!

You situate your photographic work with an introduction that charts the seasons in Provence through flowers. Are there any authors from the fields of nature writing and writing place that inspire you?

I absolutely adore Monty Don! His writing, his shoes, and his ease with nature and flowers—that’s a world in which I want to live. I also love Floret Flowers, especially on social media, as a way to learn the science behind flowers and how to grow them. 

How did you decide on the order of the images within The Flowers of Provence?

Something I didn’t anticipate with a book deal is that I would actually be the one doing the layouts! I assumed I would hand over a folder of images, and an art director would decide the order. At first, it was overwhelming to sort through it all because the work is so personal, and I’m so visual. But in the end, it had to be me. It had to be my story and flow to be truly authentic. I tried to move through the seasons and colors of the landscape in a harmonious way that felt a bit magical, just as discovering Provence has felt to me. 

(Photograph: Jamie Beck)

How do you practice self-care when juggling work and life commitments alongside the creative process?

The creative process is typically a result that comes out of taking time for self-care. I get some of my best ideas for photographic projects or writing when I am in a bath or shower or go for a long (and restorative) walk in nature. Doing things for myself, such as how I dress or do my hair and makeup, is another form of creative expression that is satisfying. 

What’s a place or motif you’d like to photograph that you haven’t had a chance to yet?

I am really interested in discovering more formal gardens in France. I like the idea of garden portraiture, trying to really capture the essence and spirit of places where man and nature intertwine. 

Which artists do you return to for inspiration?

I’m absolutely obsessed with Édouard Manet—his color pallet and subject matter. 

What are three things you can’t live without as an artist?

My camera, the French light, and flowers, of course. 

What’s your favorite flower to photograph, and why?

I love roses. They remind me of my grandmother, who always grew roses and was my first teacher of nature. The perfume of roses and the vast variety of colors, names, and styles all make me totally crazy. I just love them. They simply bring me joy the same way seeing a rainbow in the sky does. 

(Photograph: Jamie Beck)

Hello, I bounce between two names but typically go by Will online! I post lewds, code on neocities, take other photographs, and read often. I am using this post to talk about attempts at raising funds for long-needed top surgery, and the gfm I use to host it. I’m a trans stone butch, and I have been publicly iding as a trans man since 2018. Since puberty (2015?) however, I have been desperate to get rid of two glaring, physically heavy boulders on my chest. I am a full-time blue-collar worker at a commercial paint store, and since we lift hundreds to thousands of five gallon buckets (60-100 pounds each) every day, I cannot safely bind on or off the job as I need to rest. Even sports bras bind too harshly due to my size, and when wearing one I cannot take in a full breath. Sizing up is not an option, as my breasts are severely saggy and inhibit my mobility at work (and mental power out of dysphoria) as they move. I work an eight and a half hour shift every weekday and drive half an hour to and from my job- that’s at least 9.5 hours of (light?) binding every weekday, and every weekend usually adds 4-6. I have been binding (properly, I swear, as this 9.5/5 in wage labor thing started seven months ago) from such a young age that my breasts are abnormally saggy for their size and have already lost most sensation. There is no way to get that back (I do not want it back), but there is a way to give me strength and confidence and tame dysphoria, and that’s of course a double mastectomy, or top surgery. All the money I earn at my full-time job needs to be saved for my run from southern Florida, and as such I cannot afford to save for gender-affirming surgery whatsoever. I have a gofundme here, which is the only place I currently take donations.

If any of my photo sets have got you going, I seriously urge you to tip me (and, while you’re at it, swers on this site that you dig) the only way I have set up and help me live a fuller life. I have not hidden my work behind a paywall, as I doubt it would’ve worked anyway, but this funding is the top motivator of why I post at all while I still have breasts. So, if you’re into any of it, let’s keep this shit going!

If you want a gift, I have NSFW offerings below the cut.

Thank you dearly for considering helping, and sincerest biggest most insane thank you to anybody who has pitched any amount to me—it lights up my world, really, and I cannot thank y’all enough. ❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️��🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹❤️‍🩹

Alright, you want more… fair enough!

I cannot do videos or self penetration in any hole. I can, however, show hole in photo sets tailored to your descriptions and desires. Each “set” is three photos each, and may include extras for no charge; only three are guaranteed per concept. Any donation at or above 8$ and proof of an email receipt gets you a slot (equals three photos or one “concept”). You can talk to me about details before or after one is placed, though I suggest before if you know ahead of time that you want this, because if you make a donation but I cannot fulfill your request, I cannot refund you. What I need to know is:

-vibe, concept, other synonyms? you can even be abstract, though I’ll likely ask more clarifying questions -what am I wearing? glasses, nothing, nothing but a collar, full clothes, etc., go nuts (browse existing photos to get an idea of what I have; I cannot afford to buy new objects or clothes) -are there any parts of my body* you want me to focus on? -subby or dom(ish)? pup-oriented? -any camera, only Nikon (denim sets on my profile were shot with such), only iphone?

These photos will be yours and yours alone, and thus will not ever be posted to butchkelev for other eyes, unless you would like me to do so** with direct credit for concept and funding.

*I know a lot of you really, really get off on the exact breasts I have been so long hellbent on ditching. If you want to see a photo, one photo, of my boobs without them being pinned down or hidden, I charge 30$. Any additional photo is also 30$. I will not take these photos lazily, and they will be quality, but my breasts, big as they are, are not picturesque (sagged to the point of mutilation), so proceed with caution and seriously curb your fantasies. If I send you a nude including my uncovered chest, you are NOT allowed to respond with any positive comment on them. I keep take the cash and block you. I know bodies are neutral, but from strangers or mutuals or partners, I refuse to take any “compliment” on what I desperately need to destroy. It is extremely disrespectful and not at all gentle or kind to me. **I will not share any photos of me with an uncovered chest on my account no matter what.

Anyway :,) Thank you for anything and everything!

all the world's a stage as you like it

❝ the one and only you, you're my celebrity ❞

➜ how yandere!manager!alexis ness is with you

➜ fem!reader (idol!fem!reader)

sugar level: 20% & 100% | cw: knife, possessive and obsessive behavior, suggestive themes, cursing, controlling tendencies, let me know if i missed out on anything!

an: i was supposed to make this with kaiser but all my creativity budget went to ness-

• behind his sweet smiling facade is the most loyal, devoted and dedicated manager ever to work with you. he's not leaving his position anymore. why should he? he knows you like the back of your hand, even with his eyes closed, he knows what your curves and breast size are. • despite the gender cross of work, you'd think ness is the strict type of manager. the ones who'd scold you if you show up on set or studio late, not getting your lines or choreography correct, but actually he's the opposite! • has these little stars and hearts in his eyes as he watches you behind the scenes. he'd clap his hand happily at you when you've done a good job. • he makes it a point to get along with you. wanting to know the big and small details of your life. • never ever leaves your side. he follows you like a dog follows it's master. it's okay, he gave you the handle of the leash anyway. • highly speaks of you! every time you're brought up or at least someone mentions your name, all words of flowery praises and compliments roll out of his lips. • doesn't handle criticisms thrown at your way very well! if the director of the commercial or photographer you're working on tells you that you're not doing a good job, you can bet alexis is already cursing at them. saying that they're the ones not doing their job perfectly. • behind closed doors, he's already threatening them that if they talk down at you again, he wouldn't hesitate to slit the knife he's holding against they're neck. • you could just be standing there, wearing the ugliest clothes or your hair is not cooperating with you but alexis ness would still look at you like you're responsible for the sun, moon and stars in the sky. • ultimately hates fan signing! he doesn't see the point why you have to smile, hold hands and talk to your fans, especially the male ones. • he's the one who is clearing and leading you to the path of fame you oh so deserve. so please only smile, hold hands and talk to him. fans are only to admire you from afar. • as the event ends, he is quick to sanitize your hands with wet wipes and alcohol. • he's responsible for the fans' gifts not reaching you too. they're only good decorations when it comes to taking pictures. after that, he'll take them away to never be seen again! • absolutely loves it when you share your personal life to him! even when he doesn't ask for it, it feels as if you're letting him inside your heart. don't worry, he'll be the one to close and lock the door! • have a male idol or actor sending you a love call? alexis is already besides you, whispering manipulating negatives he made up to your ear. • "he's no good at all. i heard that he's actually responsible for tearing apart his female lead star's family." • the paparazzi complimenting your dress on the red carpet? thank alexis for that! he's always responsible for the dresses and other outfits in general you wear! • he knows what's good for you. listen to him. • one time, when a certain media outlet spread a rumour about you and alexis are dating, he did nothing at all to shut it down. in fact, he prompted the rumor to keep going! • reason for that? the fans found out his personal instagram and all the posts are nothing but with you and about you, captions that contain "fleeting" emotions and cryptic messages that one can interpret on their own. • the type to offer to put lotion on you and massage it across your skin when you're tired after a long day at work. • but honestly he's just looking for an excuse to be able to touch you! getting to stand by your side is one thing, but to be able to touch you in sensitive and sensual areas is another. • "i-is this okay...?" • "yes, y/n. does this side of you still hurt? come and let me massage it for you." • also the type to give you those types of hugs that lasts longer than intended. • doesn't care about his salary. money comes and goes, all he wants to do is to be by your side forever. • but you don't know all of that because in your eyes, alexis ness is the best and most caring manager you have!

Ed Freeman’s early career was in the music industry; he performed as a folk guitarist and classical lutenist, worked ED as a road manager on the last Beatles’ tour, played guitar on dozens of pop recordings, wrote orchestral arrangements for artists including Carly Simon and Cher, produced and arranged over two dozen albums, including Don McLean’s American Pie. After a mid-life career change, he now creates commercial and fine art photographs that have been featured in hundreds of publications. Two books of his computer-enhanced images have been published. His architectural series - Desert Realty and Urban Realty - have been the subject of touring museums shows. Prints of his fine art images are in the permanent collections of several American museums and private collections world-wide. These days Freeman travels the world taking pictures, teaches Photoshop, still plays piano, is fighting a losing battle to learn Mandarin Chinese and swears mightily that he will write the Great American Symphony one day -whenever he gets some spare time.

Don’t hold your breath.

#architectures #architectureinspiration #architecture_view #architektur #architekturfotografie #architekturfotograf #architektur_erleben #architekturliebe #architekturporn #architekturelovers #abandonedplaces #abandonedafterdark #abandonedworld #abandonedcentral #abandonedphotography #abandonedporn #abandoned_junkies #abandonedfactory #abandonedplace #abandonedjunkies #abandonedgallery #abandonedhouses #abandoned_addiction #abandonedcore #abandoned_places #abandoned_world #abandoned_excellence #abandoned_seekers #abandonedmadness #abandonedbeauty

Part 2 3 4 5 6 7

Léviathan by Flavien Berger 🎧

BF Nelson #2, 2017

Archival inkjet print on Epson Ultra Matte. Edition 3 and 4 out of 11.

Dimensions: 16x24”

Shipped rolled up in a cylinder.

Made and shipped from Los Angeles.

Custom Framing and local pickup available upon request // email [email protected]

Photographed in Minneapolis, MN in 2017

Do you know fics where Draco fights for Harry? Doesnt have to be entire fic I just notice usually around the climax of the fic its Harry that makes the grant gesture to get his man; i want Harry to be fought for 😭😭

Hi anon! I definitely have some recs for that one, hope you enjoy these 😊

Like Gold by @the-sinking-ship (E, 4k)

Draco runs away from home on the back of his boyfriend’s motorbike.

Be Still by @writcraft (E, 5k)

Harry’s back in England and Draco tries to fix things before he disappears again.

(The Piece) I was Missing All Along by lauren3210 (E, 30k)

Draco and Harry have been flatmates and best friends for years, and Draco thinks life is just perfect that way. But when something comes along and threatens to take all that away, Draco has to decide what it is he really wants, and just how hard he's going to work to get it.

Make Me a Headline (I Want to Be That Bold) by dicta_contrion (E, 31k)

Draco never expected to see Harry doing that again. Especially with someone else, in a grainy photograph that's landed on his desk one Monday morning.

All Roads by @korlaena (M, 36k)

Draco hates his job at the Prophet. He hates it even more when he’s assigned to write an article on Harry Potter, who left the country three years ago after their falling out. Draco doesn’t want to face the truth about himself, but he’s stuck between Harry and his duty, and he’s out of options.

In The Red by @bixgirl1 (E, 45k)

When Harry goes looking for a vampire at a Creature club, the second-to-last thing Harry expects is to find Malfoy working there. The last thing he expects is to fall in love with him.

Nights With You by @the-sinking-ship (E, 58k)

Draco is mortified when moments prior to departing for the most anticipated destination wedding of the year, he is cruelly dumped. But when he learns that Harry Potter has, at long last, split with his horrible boyfriend, Draco is certain his luck has changed. Never a man to squander an opportunity for revenge (and what would probably be a spectacular shag), Draco vows to make Potter his for the weekend.

Tea and No Sympathy by who_la_hoop (E, 70k)

It's Potter's fault, of course, that Draco finds himself trapped in the same twenty-four-hour period, repeating itself over and over again. It's been nearly a year since the unpleasant business at Hogwarts, and Draco's getting on with his life quite nicely, thank you, until Harry sodding Potter steps in and ruins it all, just like always.

Among Ancient Pines by @graymatters (M, 74k)

Every day, Draco Malfoy tries. With every fiber of his being he tries. But he doesn’t much think about what he’s trying for. In his final term of Healer training, Draco is unfortunate enough to find himself on a plane, the only means of traveling to a small, magical town in rural Alaska. Years of hard work have culminated in an opportunity to work with an experimental wandmaker to study the intersection of Healing and wand theory. When Draco arrives, he doesn't find the wandmaker, but does find his apprentice, who happens to have ridiculously messy hair, a lightning bolt scar, and a definitely-not-charming smile.

I Am Not Who I Became by mab_di (E, 93k)

Draco left England after the trials and has travelled the world meeting wizards and Muggles from different cultures and with vastly different relationships to magic, each other, and the natural world. Now he's a fisherman in Finland on commercial vessels. Harry has been struggling since the war and has become a recluse while trying to write his autobiography.

Dwelling on Dreams by @the-sinking-ship (E, 135k)

Draco thought he could avoid Potter for the duration of his brief return to England. He’d stick to his schedule and be back home in Paris, where he belonged, in a few short months. No trouble at all. He had plenty to occupy him, what with the opening of the London branch of his successful apothecary, his innovative research, drinks with Pansy, a backlog of unread potions periodicals.

Madatoff Armenian Brandy Client: IT Service Photographer: Tigran Hayrapetyan

The Other Man- Part Seven//t.c.

Warnings: fluff, cursing, smut-but it's kinda brief this time haha, and that's it, I think

You were excited to travel with Timmy for the first time. You needed a getaway. It was all the more sweeter because you’d be spending time with him.

He was an actor; he was passionate about his craft. It wasn’t like your job where you were just there because you had to do something to make money. You weren’t in love with what you did like Timmy was. And you’d get to experience him working firsthand while visiting the set of the commercial he was filming.

As you watched him from perform his scenes from behind the camera crew, you realized why the camera loved him. He was charismatic, broody, sexy, everything he needed to be for this project. There were times where his behavior and next move couldn't be predicted, but you could see that that was what the director wanted. They chose Timmy because he's Timmy. This role was written up just for him, literally.

You were in awe.

The director called 'cut' for the final time of the day and dismissed everyone. Timmy came over to you. No one had suspected that the two of you were an item because if anyone on the crew asked about you, Timmy explained that you were friends and that you were visiting him. He'd mentioned that you were going through a divorce, and you needed a friend right now. He also had to pretend to still be linked to Amelia.

"Ready to go?" you asked him.

"Yeah, but we can't go back to the hotel yet. I have a photo shoot, we gotta get there while we still have plenty of daylight." he said, nonchalantly leading the way to his trailer off set.

"We? You want me to go with you?" you asked.

"Yeah, of course." he smiled cheekily, "You can help me change clothes and stuff." he opened the trailer door and let you get in first.

"Okay, I'd love to. It's not like I have anything else to do anyway." you sat down to wait for him to get his regular clothes on. "Can we grab coffee on the way?"

"Yeah," he pulled his shirt over his head, his curls shook with his movement, and he raked his fingers through them, "we can do that."

You watched him get undressed and then redressed. Of course, Timmy was beautiful, and you loved your sex life these days, but you were so committed to getting to know him better. He had a good heart, he was humble and down to earth, and goofy but still intelligent and well-spoken. You were falling in love with him for what he had to offer on the inside.

He ordered your coffee for you and didn't allow you to pay for it. He never let you pay for anything, ever. Afterwards, you got into a car with him and the two of you were driven to the docks where the photoshoot would take place. You wanted to take his hand in yours, to touch him, to anything him, in the car. But you couldn't as to not raise attention to what was really happening between you two.

You helped him as he asked you to during the shoot. He allowed you to pick out the pieces he would wear. It was fun watching him pose, explore his surroundings, and try out different clothes. The fact that he wanted you there meant a lot to you.

The photographer was shooting him, but he looked over at you. His smile was so big and you could see in his eyes how happy he was, like a little kid. Like he had no worries and he was safe.

Seeing him like that made your heart race. You loved him. You hoped he knew it. Really, truly, knew it. Even with your marriage ending, and this new relationship with him and everything changing, you didn’t want him to think you weren’t ready to commit.

It was late and dark when you got back to the hotel. No fans, no paparazzi, no noise. Timmy held your hand, you in turn, put your hand on the inside of his bicep. You were allowed to be yourselves.

You pulled him into a hug once you were inside the elevator. You just needed to be in the security of his warm embrace. “Timmy, I want you to know that I love you. I fall more in love with you by the minute. I’ve never felt this way. I know it’s fast but, I’m serious about you.”

He smiled, nodding and you noticed how he blushed. “I love you too. But you knew that.” He then put his arms around your waist and kissed you.

“I want you to tell me you love me, every time you think it.” You whispered against his lips.

“Hmm,” he pressed his forehead to yours, “then I’d never shut up, Peaches.”

For the next week and a half, it was just you and him. You'd go with him to work, you'd go out to eat, you'd order in, you'd make love on every piece of furniture in the hotel room. It was the vacation of a lifetime. You didn't even need any sightseeing or touristy activities. Timmy was more than enough to keep you occupied.

He even brought you along when he filmed his epic conversation with Martin Scorsese, whom he had worked with on the fragrance advertisement. It was so stimulating for you to see him in his element, talking to one of his heroes. He was nervous talking to a legend in the film industry, but he remained confident and professional, and he asked deep, historical questions. He was in awe of Scorsese, but it seemed that the veteran director was in awe of Timmy as well.

There was a celebratory dinner that same evening, but after discussing it, you both decided it was best if you didn't attend. It was intimate, sure, but there would also be pictures and paparazzi outside the event. So, it would be made pretty public, and you didn't need to risk the exposure and tarnish Timmy's reputation as Amelia's boyfriend.

He promised you he wouldn't be more than two hours, and he'd return back to you at the hotel. He made good on his word and was back in your room in no time.

"Ooh, this is like Willy Wonka, but make him sexy!" you cooed, greeting him as he came in. He wore an all brown, caramel-colored outfit. His shirt was shiny silk, and it looked gorgeous against his skin tone. He looked like he was wearing velvety chocolate, and for some reason it was making you feel feral.

"You like it?" he asked, grinning at you.

You nodded, leaning in and saying, "You look scrumptious." You put your arms around him and pressed a smooch to his lips.

Timmy hugged you back just a snuggly as you did him. He hummed as he kissed your cheek. "Wanna order pizza?" he asked, looking in your eyes.

"Did you not just go to a dinner?" you frowned.

"Yeah, baby, but that was like, rich people food. You can't fill up on that shit." he explained with a scoff, taking his jacket off.

You giggled, "Okay." you picked up your phone, "Sausage and pepperoni?"

"Yes, please!" he confirmed in a silly voice.

You ordered the pizza and Timmy grabbed you after you hung up the phone. "I know exactly what we can do while we wait for food." he purred into your ear.

“Ooh, tell me!” you laughed.

“Let’s take off your clothes and I’ll show you.” he kissed your lips, and gently shoved you onto the sofa.

……..

Timmy was fucking you missionary style on the couch. You were moaning softly as he carved his thick cock into you. You ran your fingers through his soft, fluffy curls, and you left scratch marks on his back.

He quickened his pace, making your legs shake wildly. Your arms were latched around his neck, and his hands were woven into your hair. His tummy met yours with each thrust, and your skin started to stick to his with tacky sweat.

He kissed you deeply, petting your hair while rutting into you. The contrast was delightful. You nearly jumped out of your skin when there was an unexpected round of knocking on the door. You both gasped in shock.

“What the fuck, pizza guy? Can’t it wait five more minutes?” you groaned in annoyance. Your orgasm had escaped you.

Timmy frowned, and took a second to catch his breath, “Fuck, that was quick. That can’t be the pizza already.” He hopped off of you, and he went over to grab a pair of sweatpants out of the nightstand drawer.

But before he could get them pulled on, you said, "Wait, just go like that." you giggled.

"Oh, yeah, that's what I'm gonna do is answer the door naked." he joked, shaking his head at you, and you noticed that the curls at the nape of his neck were damp with sweat. He slipped into the sweats, the waistline grazing his hips, hanging low as he headed to open the door for the pizza delivery.

You bit your lip, gazing over his sexy back and thanking your lucky stars that he was your man. You covered up with a throw blanket and waited on the couch.

You heard the door open, and Timmy said, "Amelia?"

@gatoenlaciudad @thebetawolfgirl @musicandbooksaremyhappyplace @softhecreator

THIS DAY IN GAY HISTORY

based on: The White Crane Institute's 'Gay Wisdom', Gay Birthdays, Gay For Today, Famous GLBT, glbt-Gay Encylopedia, Today in Gay History, Wikipedia, and more … FEBRUARY 24

1836 – Winslow Homer (d.1910) was an American landscape painter and printmaker, best known for his marine subjects. One of the most prolific and important American painters and printmakers of the second half of the nineteenth century, Winslow Homer created a distinctly American, modern classical style.

Homer dealt with many of the same themes that writers such as Henry Thoreau, Herman Melville, and Walt Whitman did, including the heroism displayed by ordinary individuals, when confronted by seemingly insuperable difficulties; the camaraderie and friendships enjoyed by soldiers and working men; and the isolation of the individual in the face of the "Other."

Born in Boston on February 24, 1836, Homer was initially trained as an artist by his mother, Henrietta Benson Winslow, who successfully exhibited watercolors of flowers and other still life subjects throughout her adult life.

Between 1855 and 1857, he was apprenticed to John H. Bufford, a nationally prominent commercial artist, based in Boston; with this training, he began to do free-lance work for Harper's Weekly and other magazines.

In 1861, Homer was commissioned by Harper's Weekly as a special artist/correspondent to record the events of the Civil War. Homer failed to produce the heroic battle scenes that his editors had wanted. Yet his images of the daily lives of ordinary soldiers greatly appealed to the magazine's readers and helped to establish his reputation.

Among other subjects, he represented guard duty (A Sharp-Shooter on Picket Duty, wood engraving, 1867); punishments for minor infractions (A Punishment for Intoxication, painting, 1863); medical care for the wounded (The Surgeon at Work at the Rear During an Engagement, wood engraving, 1862); and recreation (Soldier Dancing, drawing, 1862).

The Empty Sleeve at Newport

As the war ended, Homer revealed the personal "costs" of the conflict in such images as The Empty Sleeve at Newport (wood engraving, 1865), which represents a one-armed man, riding in a carriage with a sad, aloof well-dressed woman.

Very little is known about Homer's "private" life. He consistently refused to answer personal questions from critics and potential biographers, and he left no revealing diaries or other personal papers. His reclusiveness is indicated by the fact that he produced no self-portraits; in contrast, most American and European painters of the nineteenth century eagerly exploited the rapidly growing market for images of artists.

Most historians have adamantly maintained that Homer remained a bachelor because he was extraordinarily "shy" around women. However, it would seem more plausible to suggest that Homer simply may not have been interested in women sexually.

Constructing Homer as a solitary eccentric, who virtually withdrew from human society, most scholars have overlooked evidence of significant, intimate associations with other men.

One of his closest friends was Albert Kelsey, a fellow artist whom he initially met in 1858 in Massachusetts. In 1867, Kelsey traveled with Homer to Paris, where they lived together for the next two years.

A studio photograph, made while they were in Paris, mimics the conventions of marriage portraits, as do so many photographic portraits of male friends of this period. Kelsey inscribed the back of the photograph with the names "Damon and Pythias," famous ancient Greek heroes and lovers.In the 1890s, Homer remembered their friendship in the humorous and erotically suggestive drawing "Albert Kelsey riding a giant turtle in the Bahamas."

Homer's closest companion in the final years of his life was an African-American man, Lewis Wright, who worked as his servant and lived at his Prout's Neck, Maine estate from 1895 to 1910. There are indications that some of Homer's acquaintances were disconcerted by the apparent closeness of his friendship with Wright. While most "negative" reactions involved race, other "unmentionable" factors may also have been involved.

The Herring Net

Throughout his career, Homer created images that celebrated diverse aspects of male friendships. Thus, he depicted soldiers, unified in melancholy longing for peacetime home life (Home, Sweet Home, 1863); wilderness guides enjoying the beauties of nature (Two Guides, 1871); and fishermen laboring together (The Herring Net, 1885) and coping with dangerous storms (The Signal of Distress, 1890).

Homer died on September 29, 1910 in Prout's Neck, Maine.

1852 – The Irish novelist, short-story writer, poet, art critic, memoirist and dramatist, George Moore was born on this date (d.1933). Moore came from a Roman Catholic landed family. He originally wanted to be a painter, and studied art in Paris during the 1870s. There, he befriended many of the leading French artists and writers of the day.

As a naturalistic writer, he was amongst the first English-language authors to absorb the lessons of the French realists, and was particularly influenced by the works of Émile Zola. His writings influenced James Joyce, according to the literary critic and biographer Richard Ellmann, and, although Moore's work is sometimes seen as outside the mainstream of both Irish and British literature, he is as often regarded as the first great modern Irish novelist.

According to Brian Lacey's new book, Queer Creatures: A History of Homosexuality in Ireland, Moore outed his good friend, the artist Edward Martyn, in his three-volume masterpiece Hail and Farewell (published between 1911 and 1914). Moore, who was attracted to the handsome young Yeats, later fell in love with the celebrated French painter Edouard Manet, who painted three portraits of him. Moore was influenced by the homosexual Oxford critic Walter Pater, and Moore's 1879 work, "Flowers of Passion," already contained references to Lesbianism. Moore's 1887 novel, A Mere Accident, also has a homosexual theme and its central character is again based on Martyn.

1868 – The first parade to have floats is staged at Mardi Gras in New Orleans, Louisiana.

1938 – A California appellate court upholds an oral copulation conviction of a man in a hotel after naval investigators listened in and heard his bed squeaking.

1939 – Doric Wilson (d.2011), the American playwright, was born on this date. Some people write for the "alternative" theatre because they aren't good enough for Broadway. Doric Wilson wrote for it because he was too good for the Great White Way. Wilson was one of the first playwrights at NYC's legendary Caffe Cino, his comedy "And He Made A Her" opening there in 1961. Other Cino productions followed, including "Now She Dances!" (one-act version), "Babel Babel Little Tower " and "Pretty People" .

Street Theater, Wilson's best-known play, is a fictionalization of the Stonewall riots, an event in which Wilson took part. Using satire and exaggeration, Wilson recreates the milieu of street culture in Greenwich Village in the late 1960s, presenting characters variously described as "heavy leather, keys left," "a flower child," and "a street queen." The characters are archetypes representing both the disparate groups involved in the riot and also real people Wilson knew. A complex parody of Wilder's Our Town and Crowley's The Boys in the Band, the play is both deeply literary and deeply rooted in a particular time and place.

A veteran of the anti-war and civil rights demonstrations of the early 1960s-mid 1970s, Wilson was a participant in the Stonewall Riots. An active participant in the early gay liberation movement, Wilson was a member of the Gay Activists Alliance (GAA). He helped support himself as a bartender and manager of several bars and clubs that sprouted up in the wake of Stonewall, including such institutions as Spike, Ty's, and Brothers & Sisters Cabaret. Wilson's activism and his thorough immersion in New York's gay community are reflected significantly in his work.

In 1974, Wilson (with Billy Blackwell, Peter del Valle and John McSpadden) formed TOSOS (The Other Side of Silence), the first professional theatre company to deal openly and honestly with the gay experience. The company featured new plays and revivals by such writers as Brendan Behan, Noël Coward, Christopher Hampton, Charles Jurrist, Joe Orton, Terrence McNally, Robert Patrick, Sandra Scoppettone, Martin Sherman and Lanford Wilson. In June, 2001, Wilson, and directors Mark Finley and Barry Childs resurrected the company as TOSOS II. The original TOSOS and its production of Doric Wilson's play The West Street Gang are featured in "Perform", the new permanent exhibit on theatre at The Museum of New York City.

A pioneer in the Off-Off-Broadway movement, he was completely committed to alternative theater and over the past 25 years has written, directed and produced more than a hundred productions. Such plays as Forever After, A Perfect Relationship , and The West Side Gang made him not only "one of a handful of leading contemporary playwrights who deal frankly with the Gay experience," but a satirist of the first water whose targets - hypocrisy, cant, and simply human foibles - are universal.

1975 – Gary Lane and Larry Lane, born in Goldsboro, N.C., are identical twin actors, models, film producers and screenwriters. They are both gay. The twins have appeared in feature films and national TV ads and are three-time grand prize champions of reality TV competitions. They are best known for a film they co-produced and appeared in, Hollywood to Dollywood, a feature-length documentary released theatrically in 2012. The film, about their quest to personally deliver a screenplay they've written to singer-actress Dolly Parton, played at 60 film festivals and won 24 festival awards.

Since the early 2000s, the Lane twins have appeared in feature films, TV programs, reality TV shows and TV commercials. As teenagers, they appeared on several episodes of Dawson's Creek and played twin colonial flag bearers in the Mel Gibson film The Patriot (2000). Other film appearances include Zoolander (2001), New Best Friend (2002), Spider-Man (2002), The Girl Next Door (2004), Eating Out 3: All You Can Eat (2009), and Jack and Jill (2011)

The Lane Twins talk of their life

The twins have competed on and won $50,000 on NBC's Fear Factor; beat out 24 other contestants for the grand prize of $50,000 on ABC's Winter Wipeout; and won $125,000 on the reality TV competition Set For Life. Gary Lane said their goal for appearing on these shows was to win money to pay for music rights and production costs associated with their documentary Hollywood to Dollywood. "For every wipeout, I would say, 'that was for Jolene, and for every ouch, 'that was for Coat of Many Colors!,'" Gary Lane said, referring to the need to raise money for licensing rights to hit Parton songs.

The Lane twins wrote a screenplay, Full Circle, which includes a role tailored for Dolly Parton. They submitted the script to Parton's management, but Parton's managers returned it as "unsolicited material." The twins decided to drive from Los Angeles, where they live, to Parton's theme park in Tennessee, Dollywood. The goal was to try and hand their script to Parton during one of her appearances at Dollywood's 25th anniversary celebration. In addition, the documentary explores the Lane twins' concerns about their Southern hometown's potential reaction to the film (and to the brothers' homosexuality) and their desire for acceptance from their Southern Baptist mother. Also on the journey is Gary's partner, Michael Bowen, who has crafted a birdhouse for Ms. Parton. The journey to deliver their screenplay is the focus of their documentary feature, Hollywood to Dollywood, which played at 60 film festivals throughout 2011 and 2012, winning 24 awards.

Parton makes an appearance in the film. After viewing the documentary, she gave the twins rights to use her music and likeness in its promotions. The Lane twins donate 10 percent of each Hollywood to Dollywood DVD sold to Parton's Imagination Library, an organization that provides free books to young children and is part of the Dollywood Foundation.

Today's Gay Wisdom:

George Moore

Faith goes out of the window when beauty comes in at the door. - George Moore

The mind petrifies if a circle be drawn around it, and it can hardly be denied that dogma draws a circle round the mind. - George Moore

A man travels the world over in search of what he needs and returns home to find it. - George Moore

A great artist is always before his time or behind it. - George Moore

I am filled with pride when I think of the noble and exalted world that must have existed before Christian doctrine caused men to look upon women with suspicion and bade them to think of angels instead. - George Moore

The world is dying of machinery; that is the great disease, that is the plague that will sweep away and destroy civilization; man will have to rise against it sooner or later. - George Moore

The difficulty in life is the choice.

- George Moore