The Places You Will Go

The Frying Pan - a ship moored on the west side of NYC near 26th st. gave me some of the best ideas for shoots that I've had in so long...too long...
very excited to explore it properly with at least one naked tied up woman...

quote of the day

Bob Porter: Looks like you've been missing a lot of work lately.
Peter Gibbons: I wouldn't say I've been *missing* it, Bob


not sure what that quote and a picture of my dog have in common but I just love my dog so much lol

Trying New Things

Spring is here and it seems that it is the time of year that I want to fuck around and experiment. I bought a 10 stop neutral density last week so that I could work on a series of long exposure images designed to show a solitary subject - sometimes a person or sometimes a place. Doing this by being able to shoot 10 - 30 second exposures during even the brightest of days is pretty amusing...now to find some subjects willing to be shot in that good old stark-arts style...
In any event - I took my dogs to get their nails clipped on Saturday in Sheepshead Bay and decided to make a turn toward the Ocean to check out the boardwalk at Coney Island after...
Here is one of the results...

Boys Day Out

there are days that I think that these guys are one of the absolutely greatest gifts ever...
thanks
JC

The Power of Friends

Good friends are hard to come by. That is as cliche as it gets but most people don't take a second to think about the validity of it. It took me almost 40 years to get to the point where I have more than two people in my life that I can really count on and I have to tell you - it feels really good...
you guys know who you are - thanks

Something To Look At

The Bathroom Takeover

Hijacking a party for my own use....
It's always great to go to a party where everyone is some sort of artist...
thanks to Ellen and Irving for the impromptu model job...

Puke And The Consequences of Being A Pushy Asshole

The other morning it was cold. Very cold. People are miserable when it's cold. They get anxious and irritable. I get it. I switch trains every morning either twice or three times depending on what time I wake up. This morning was going to be a three train switch which means I was running late. For those that don't know I'm very anal on the showing up on time issue and I'm also very big. Six five, two fifty or so. My train pulled into the first transfer and I waited for a few minutes with the rest of the cattle waiting to continue our drive into the cattle pens that are our jobs. The D came steaming in and there was a train that stopped in front of me that happened to have a bunch of empty seats...this set off a warning bell or three. In NYC rush hour an empty train means one of two things 95 percent of the time - there is a stinky bum (forgive me for my lack of political correctness) or there is vomit. This was a vomit morning. Didn't see it yet but I knew it. The long story ends here with a very aggressive little calf deciding that she was more important than the people that had been standing around waiting with what passes for patience on a cold winter morning. The train pulled in and like a running back hitting a hole she nearly pushes me out of the way and drives another woman two feet to the side as she rushes in. The smell hits me hard. I scan and can see the floor covered in vomit - but not the little running back. She hits the hole and breaks for daylight and one of those coveted empty seats and then - BOOM - she slips in it and falls on her ass. She's slimed. Covered in puke and I know I'm an asshole for saying it out loud but it was what everyone was thinking
"excuse me would have saved you"

Commercialism

NYTease

I have a nifty little store at cafepress that sell t shirts that are focused on my life - be it living in Brooklyn, my photography, or poker. If you need something kinda unique check it out...

I now return you to our regularly scheduled programming

5D Mk II and My Own Nudity

Tricked you with the headline into thinking this was a post about some self portraits huh? Sorry to disappoint though trust me it's not like you are missing lots. In any event I put my money down for the new 5 from canon thinking (as we all did that ordered over the weekend) that it would ship monday. Bong!!!! No such luck. Normally this would not bother me...but...here it comes...I sold my older camera on Saturday and for the first time in years I have none at all. Not quite accurate I guess. I have a p/s but I don't have a tool of my trade...I didn't think it would bother me but I really have been itchy for the past two days...
enough
hopefully in the next few days I have something good to show you
JC

Cheap Deals On Caskets?

Two in a row(posts i mean)...what the hell is the world coming to?
So I was out and about a little yesterday and didn't really see a single "deal" definitely nothing worth dying over and yet I watch the news and there are two stories about people dying during the "black friday" (what the fuck is that supposed to mean anyway?) and all i can think to myself is were they giving away extra kidneys? was there a buy one extra year of life get one free deal? Insane. All I can think of is this guy in Long Island - part time worker - 34 years old goes to work to make like 8 bucks an hour and never comes home.
What a fucking waste...
In any event - what the hell do you say after that..
damn
JC

No doubt I've been lazy updating my site Stark-Arts
but that doesn't mean I haven't been trying. Despite some personal issues and camera issues I've still maintained a trickly of output and found some older images that hadn't yet seen the light of day and this day I bring you the biggest update ever...in fact the only update ever.
Also (and they say the third time is the charm) I am going to rededicate myself to putting something up on this blog each day...
Sometimes a (hopefully witty) anecdote, sometimes an image, sometimes just some made up story that I think about when I'm loving myself...

thanks to all of you for your support and comments at my various site and places where I post work...

In the near future I'm also going to try to figure a way to make my work available to you in limited edition signed and framed prints...I had a much better go of it at the erotic flea market that I sold some of my images at and that has led me to believe that maybe someone out there actually likes my work...
JC

The Stark-Arts Volume 1

Stark-Arts Vol...

By Joseph W. Carey

Book Preview

After a test run that I guess I should have kept private I have come with a new layout and many more pages...80 pages with over 100 images...

thanks for your patience

JC

Shooting With Other Photographers

I had the pleasure this past week of doing some rigging and shooting with two guys that produce excellent photo work...it was honestly the first time I'd ever really shot side by side with anyone and it was easier than I imagined. No alpha male bullshit or other nonsense. The shoots gave me a chance to do some more rigging that was not my usual. The above image is by Aeric Meredith Goujon of the amazing Ree Ja. Rigging by me...
I also did some rigging for Melvin Moten Jr aka EroCrush
Below is a picture I took during that shoot - which was a blast. The closet I've come to what I did with Hardtied and InfernalRestraints since that leaving there...
this is an image I took from that shoot (my man Melvin hasn't posted any from that day yet)

Got to hand it to Janice for being such a trooper...
really tough girl that had never been tied up before...
it was fun to be able to spend more time directing and tying and figuring out what to do with the subject since it was Melvin's shoot and he set up the lights and found the place...

In any event - check out the work from these talented guys and then check out mine as usual. some fun new stuff going up...
JC

Coming Soon -

I've got so many free days this month that I really hope to have some fun stories and great images in the near future. In the meantime you have to make due with what I have on hand...this was a real shot of a tie I did for play that I liked. The light isn't quite what I would have like but like i said it was shot for fun...
hope you like
JC

Daily Was A Bit Too Much I Guess

I've been meaning to write here more - really. I think all the time "i should put something up today" or "i think i have the start of a good new story..." but then something called life gets in the way. So today I just am just going to throw up a picture and commit to putting something here at least once or twice a week (maybe even more)
thanks to those that do bother to check this out...

Been A Little Bit

I've been lazy and I've had some issues to deal with and I let it all get the best of me...

Sorry to anyone that has been checking this out - I'll be back on the ball again soon...

JC

A Touch Of Glamour

Stark-Arts is up and running pretty well now - I hope to have it fully functional in the next week. It loads fast, shows my work pretty well and has the links I want it to have...
I have shot some "glamour" work (still fetish really but lit different that what I normally do and i thought you might all enjoy taking a look...
thanks

Model Call

If you've had a chance to take a look at The Stark-Arts (or if you've been reading this at all) you've seen that I'm working on a series of fetish out in public shots and so this is a call...

Women, Couples (any mix match), (hate to put it bluntly here but -) attractive transgenders, and in shape men are invited to contact me at jc@stark-arts.com if you would like to get some (hopefully) quality shots of yourself in public flaunting yourself a bit. I can nearly 100% assure you that I can keep you from arrest and that you will get at the very least a few shots that you'll be happy with for years to come and the possibility of showing up in a book in the future should I get enough answers for this project... If you know someone that would be good for this project get them in touch with me as well. Nudity is NOT a necessity - I will be doing shibari over clothes as well as over naked flesh for some of the shibari shots and if you're fetish is something else - well let me know about it and lets see if we can make this happen...

This is a tfp shoot meaning I can't pay you with anything other than an enjoyable shoot, a quality conversation starting story, quality images and a 8x10 or 13x19 print for your time...

Thanks
JC

Adventures In Phototaking

The other night I decided to take my little artsy shibari photography show on the road. To be completely honest little might now be the right term for me...and artsy is in the eyes of the viewer...and my shibari is pretty simple so...the real truth is I found a model willing to let me tie her in public and take some pictures...

I decided for this shoot that I would need an assistant. I'd never had one before and I wasn't going to pay anyone so it had to be a friend. It had to be someone that would not freak out the model and that knew a thing or two and that would exude calmness because even though I was certain that I would not be arrested this was the first time I'd decided to take the show outside.
My friend/co-worker/photographer/cool guy Manzell (when he give me a link to his work - I'll give you one) decided to be my wing man. We worked our day job during the day form 9 - 7 with the plan to pick up the model at 10 and do some crazy guerrilla style shooting...

A word or two on my tools for this job - a 1dMk II - old by todays standards and probably not the right tool for this job. Sufficient and in it's day a great camera but slow focus in low light ended up a problem for me as the night went by. 70-200 2.8 IS is a champ and I love it. 16 - 35 2.8 also a champ on a 1.3 crop...(version 1 is soft on full frame and i have...version 1 but not a full frame so it all works) and the weakest point in the whole set up is the canon 550 flash. The flash from shot to shot is inconsistent even in manual (which you have to shoot since canon does not have ttl wirelss) and a relatively slow recylcle speed made for some moments lost.



Back to the (mis)adventure. We pick up Asha at 10 - she is right on time which in my experience is a sign of the apolypse as most models seem to be a little late - and we begin to drive toward some locations I have in mind. I never got to shoot at either of them as I seem to have misjudged the number of tourists that would be out from 10 - 12 on a Tuesday night including a few too many kids. So we drove a bit and I came to Beaver St in the financial district about 100 steps to Delmonicos Steakhouse and found a building with a service elevator door open (not the actual elevator but the door that let people make deliveries to it...the room was surrounded by scaffolding so it made a location that I decided would be fun to shoot.

to be continued - life gets in the way of living...