The Red Knight - Part 1a

I'm repeating part of an earlier blog post to ensure an easier follow up connection with an upcoming personal story

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The Willy Vandersteen strip series "De Rode Ridder" or "The Red Knight" with over 200 albums published between 1959 and today has a serious impact on my life ...

Johan (John) , the Red Knight, is the main character in these strip albums. His character embodies the chivalric ideal ... brave to the point of intrepid ... loyal and of course, an expert swordsman ...

In most of the albums he's a traveling knight fighting all sorts of evil threatening peaceful communities ... his travel have brought him all over the world ... Egypt, South America, Atlantis (!) , China etc. ... even outer space figured as a background for a couple of stories ...

Chronologically the stories are placed from the 6th century to the 16th century, thus covering a wide range of historical events. King Arthur, Crusades, Battle of the Golden Spurs and 15-16th centurylife in Flanders.

These strips always featured gorgeous damsels in distress in need of rescue ... and were pretty much the sexiest books I got my hands on in elementary school ... lol ...

Relationships are purely platonic in line with the ideals of chivalric duties.

The Red Knight however is in love with Galaxa, the Faerie of Light. She can only appear for a few brief moments in Johan's world. Together however they fight evil and injustice in the hope to be joined together in a future ...

There is also considerable romantic tension suggested between the Red Knight and Demonia, the henchwoman from Bahaal, the Prince of Darkness.

Other recurring women in the strip are Morning Star and Isjtar, both loyal colleague faeries from Galaxia, always ready to give a lending hand when Galaxia is weakened in battles with Demonia.

As such these strips have appeal for both teenagers and adults alike ...

The women in this strip series do not follow the stereotypes of the historical background.

These woman are all emancipated, independent, love their personal freedom and all have important responsibilities to fulfill in the story.

Although The Red Knight often has to rescue damsels in distress, they are all strong women.

The Red Knight's unobtainable love for Galaxia is often the driver for his actions and needless to say that all plots have a happy ending.

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The Red Knight is looking for a damsel that is not in distress ...

... but what would the Red Knight do with a damsel that is not in distress ? ...

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Images from the August 30 shoot with Sarah Ellis and Kayla, make-up and hair,

Lauren Warner

The White House - Part II

Continued from "In the Shadow ..." (June 10, 2009)

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I open the double door fully and let the light flow in ... I can see the 17th century fresco's on the left wall ... a woodsy scene with young women in pretty dresses with lots of ruffles ... wearing little cute hats ... their maids seem to be preparing a picnic .. couple of sheep in the background ... the rest is all faded out and was unrecoverable ...

I had discovered these fresco's after acquiring the house and scraping off some old cracked paint of the wall .. these wall paintings turned out pretty unique because of their size and quite a few art and historic architectural magazines were in and out the house to document the uncovering and restoration ...

I glance over the now familiar art and make my way down the entrance hallway to the right hand side kitchen door with window lights ... I'm trying to remember the name of the local painter to no avail ... I'm more pre-occupied with what I'm going to find in the kitchen after my last visit ...

I crack the kitchen door open .. it is dark inside ... no power yet and the only light comes in through the double door hall way and backyard kitchen window which Roman curtains are closed ... the clean smell of fresh lemon is puzzling ... no one was in here and this place is supposed to be a mess after my last visit ...

I ignore the clue and let my eyes adjust to the darkness before walking in ... I can see some light peering through the backyard kitchen window and I slowly make my way to open the curtains ... broken porcelain is cracking under my feet while I make my way ... this place is still a mess ...

Pulling the curtain open I can finally see the extent of the disarray ... broken plates all over the floor ... my eyes wander up to the cupboards ... all doors are closed and latched ... what the hell ?

The meat cleaver on the butcher block draws my attention ... there's blood ... fresh ... red ... my stomach turns for a split second but I decide to take a look at what's hanging in the cooking fireplace ... a skillfully skinned and cleaned hare is still bleeding out ... fresh kill... the fireplace is cold ... odd ... I don't remember seeing this scene last time I was here.

Before I can finish the thought, I hear the kitchen door slowly closing shut ... I check ... there's still no door handle ... I can't get out this way ... I cringe as I now need to make my long way to the other side of the house ... can't shake the feeling off that I'm not alone and that's no different than the past experience ...

I look over to the dark far corner as I know there to be the door to the hallway leading to the antechambers of the house. As I'm making my way to the corner, loud noises in the cupboards make me duck and close my eyes ... just in time ... dozens of porcelain plates fly across the kitchen and get shattered against the walls and various pieces of furniture ... I stay put till the violence subdues ... I stand up and there's one more layer of shards strewn over the floor ... all cabinet doors are closed and still latched ... it's erie quiet now ...

I quickly jump and stumble to the far door ... rattling and cracking porcelain shards on my way ... thankfully this door is not locked and I step in the hallway, quickly closing the hallway door behind me ...

To be continued ...

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Image above shot on July 19. Model is Kayla, make-up Lauren Warner, styling Seema Hamid. Hat design Jasmin Zorlu

Cleaning out ...

... the studio ... the house ... paint ... flooring ... more paint ... color ... done with the white walls ...

Getting rid of remnants of past lives ...

Books ... more books ... french ... german ... dutch ... music scores ... tapes ...

Less is more ?

Thanks Kayla for helping me out in this endeavor ... more hands = lighter work ...

;-)

Studio Shoot - July 18-19

Two beautiful models graced my studio July 18 ... so nothing better than making this a 2 day shooting bonanza ;-) ... some images below ...

SaraLiz and Kayla ... make-up and hair by Lauren Warner (SaraLiz) and

Christal Saville (Kayla)

The images of me at work are all courtesy Ankha Desh who did an excellent job of watching my back and came up with some great prop variations for her own shooting sessions with the models.

On the 19th Seema Hamid joined up for wardrobe styling while Heather Hartel made sure I got my solo venti white chocolate mocha ... lol ...

Great images, great camaraderie and

no drama ... just the way I like it ... this team performed flawless and we got some great images to boot ... what else ;-)

SaraLiz and me ... this was my second shoot with the Florida based pro model ... beautiful, gracious, great posing and easy to work with

This image and next are (c) Ankha Desh

Chimping ... SaraLiz and Kayla delivered great team work on their first shoot together ...

No time to loose ... shoot Kayla while Seema is fixing shoes ... this was our 8th shoot together ... like I wrote a couple of weeks ago ... watch ...

Seema did a fabulous job mixing and matching wardrobe, shoes and accessories ... I had the pleasure working with her before at the Salton Sea shoot ... she's highly recommended ...

Los Angeles trip ...

Breakfast with Lu, sushi with Betcee, dinner with Amarilla and Salim ... wardrobe shopping on Melrose Avenue ... more window shopping in Santa Monica ... checking out Courtney's new studio ...

Looking at new faces in agencies ...

exploring more of the window lights at the Custom Hotel ...

Making new friends ... intense ...

Casting call ... long drive home ... time flies ...

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Three days of shooting on the street with Kayla on her first shooting trip to LA ... she flies ... on heels ... in a long dress ... defying traffic ...

Beautiful ... sweet ... tall ... confident ... graceful ... unleashed ...

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This journey started the last day of May ... Kayla arrived in my studio for her first shoot ... a bit nervous ... tense ... unsure of what would happen ...

It took only 11 minutes to discover her affinity for the camera ...

She came back in June to shoot some more fun ...

Then July ...

Then the trip to Los Angeles ...

Watch ...

More images soon ...

Swamped with retouching ...

... didn't realize it was that long since I've posted anything ... a matter of life interfering with passion ... ;-)

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More chair pictures ...

Kayla on her first shoot ... beautiful and talented ... will shoot again ;-)

Make up by Lauren Warner ... more chair images shortly ...

Continued