I began photographing the moon when I first started using a digital camera in 2006 and was able to see the instant results of my hand held exposures. The last post was the first time I did so and I can still remember the magical feeling I had at watching the images appear on the back of the camera. I can only make these pictures under certain conditions, which makes them very special for me. A beautiful place, bright moon in the sky, some lingering daylight, not to mention some creative incentive. They all have a memory attached to them in ways other photos do not. These latest moonscapes were taken on Saturday night out in Mastic Beach, across the street from our place in the same spot as the other ones, of what they were calling the ‘supermoon of 2012’, or the one closest to earth out of the year. Beautiful, cool, blue, quiet, milky moon and quite a contrast to the warm, golden, late summer, harvest moon of the earlier post. Here’s a link to some other moonscape blog posts through the years: http://scottpasfield.blogspot.com/search/label/moonscapes
SCOTT PASFIELD
News and updates from award winning photographer, author and accidental activist Scott Pasfield.
Moondance © Scott Pasfield
This is Michael who was visiting his childhood home in Idaho when I shot him for the project. He was unfortunately edited from the book, although I wish he could have been included. I really love his photos and story. Here’s what he emailed me in July of 2009.
“50 Stars for 50 Fags”…no? Not really a good title for your book? LOL! Alright, so I’m no editor or writer, but I am a proud gay man from north Idaho! I have been around the world and back (worked on the Queen Elizabeth 2-if that isn’t gay enough for you!) and almost all 50 states except Alaska. Needless to say I have seen and done almost everything there is around the globe and it’s all because I wanted to fly away from this little nest in the back woods of Hayden Lake.
I grew up at the bottom of Hollister Mountain in a 2 story log home down a windy dirt road. I actually can tell my grandkids I walked across 2 fields in the snow to catch a 7a.m. bus for many years! Coming out wasn’t that easy, but I finally did it my senior year of High School. Though many already knew I had been gay from being the only guy in our Jr. High Drill Team to our High School mascot, I thought I was dropping some huge bomb. Successfully I rode out to New York City the day I turned 18 on a cross-county train with Mom in tow. I was going to be a Broadway dancer.
Well, I tried my best to land a Broadway show, but have yet to fulfill that dream of mine. I did however work in many venues all around the U.S. and like I said before- abroad. So when I decided to move back to the Northwest (Seattle) -it was bittersweet and difficult. How does one adapt backward to simple life? I do visit Idaho often, usually at Christmastime or during the wondrous summers when I can work at Coeur d’Alene Summer Theatre. It allows me to stay firmly rooted in country life while always running the rat race in the city.
So that is some of me. The highest honor has been to be titled Mr. Gay NYC in 2005 and the lowest time in my life was being diagnosed with HIV in 2007. I run the gambit of life, because there is no other way to live!!
Buchanan Mountain and Bruce Peak bathing in the most beautiful saturated sunset light. Shot this from the back deck up in VT a couple of weeks ago. The Long Trail follows the ridge along the top, although I have yet to hike that section. This summer it’s a must.
Here’s an alternate shot of Idaho Sam was not used in the book. I have to say that after this shoot I had a very memorable night in one of those hangars in the background… He kept his boss’ plane in one, which had an actual western-style saloon house built inside complete with a few guests rooms. And one of them served as my hotel room for the night. Such a nice gesture from a very sweet and handsome guy. Here’s what Sam first wrote me, which was edited down primarily to the last paragraph in the book.
My name is Sam and I live in SE Idaho (Teton Valley/Ashton area). Born in California and raised on a cattle ranch in the central valley. I own a small farm and work as a flight instructor at our local airport. Lived in L.A. for 5 years and had enough of the superficial bullshit so I moved to Jackson Hole, WY and took a job as a private chef. That was the biggest joke since I had no cooking skills, but my employers were patient through my learning process and we ate out or ordered in when recipes didn’t turn out well.
After 2 years in Jackson, I found that I could live a comfortable lifestyle just over the state line and moved to Idaho in 1995 and began selling real estate which treated me well. I’ve become bored with the real estate scene and am pursuing my real passion which is aviation. I work part time as a flight instructor in gliders. I also own an airplane with two buddies and fly it all over the country when the weather is good. I raise sheep on my 4.5 acres, but that project is coming to an end as the old girls are in retirement and no longer breed.
Most of my friends know that I’m gay, but I don’t exactly fit the typical stereotype and I’m fine with that. I’ve traveled to many places in the world and can tell you that a gay bar in Barcelona is no different than one in Sydney or Atlanta. So I don’t spend much time in bars, at pride parades or going on gay cruises. I find I get on better with my straight friends and/or Macho gay friends. If I don’t fit the type you are seeking for your project, I completely understand.
Here are some other shots of Robert from Leonard, ND, one of the great men in Gay in America. I had the tight face shot as an alternate cover at one point, I just love it. Rob opened his first email to me with this line…“I am not what most folks picture when they think of a gay man. But there are a lot of us, and we are all around.” Awesome.
The beautiful, but littered, Kootenai River near the MT/ID border taken a few days after Phil, in the last post.
Phil, Walkerville/Butte, MT
MT is much like living out anywhere, just the numbers are less. I’m not into the bar scene and since there are only 3/4 in the whole state, it works out just fine. I remember distinctly going to LA for the first time and seeing two men on a ferry [excuse the pun] holding hands, then one falling asleep on the others’ shoulder and having the realization that men could love each other, not just have sex. I had grown up in a town of about 1000 with a hot springs that was three miles away, an extremely cruisy place, bath house like atmosphere, but there was nothing about commitment, and this is what I knew of gay culture.
I probably should add that I was married and fathered 5 children [thought I could will/pray myself straight] before being forced out by becoming obsessed with a young Native American man that would become part of a larger spiritual experience, learning, practicing and insisting that I become the best possible person I can be. We still talk, he is a very damaged soul and struggles. I believe that we all carry pain bodies, or energy sis’s, these regressed feelings often draw people together. I have mistaken them for attraction, love, god’s will and fate. The feelings often encourage rationalization and irresponsibility.
I have always had a general disappointment with gay culture as I expected close knit caring, sharing and genuine concern, but instead got back stabbing, competition and ego fests. The gay culture thing is about expectations [which are premeditated resentments] that we are faced with a common goal and prejudices. Common sense [which is not all that common] would dictate to me that we join hands and hearts, accept one another and move forward. The we often turns into I, but I must ignore the negative and continue on the path. I meditate about what it means to be “out” and if my life reflects furthering the gay cause.
Looking down Seventh Avenue towards Times Square last night, Valentine’s Day 2012.
Very cool! This image was from my shoot with Scooter LaForge a couple of years ago that just keeps on giving. Love what Nico-icon did with it.
Shady Boy - Artwork: Nico-icon; model: Scooter LaForge; photo: Scott Pasfield (tracé vectoriel sur photo numérisée,impression format 21x14)
‘Gay in America’: Photographs of Gay Men From All 50 States - Maria Popova - Entertainment - The Atlantic
From Molly Landredth’s tender vintage portraits of modern queer life to 19-year-old Iowan Zach Wahl’s brave message for marriage equality to Dan Savage’s paradigm-changing It Gets Better project, it’s a time of heartening change for the mainstream’s growing awareness of just how faceted and diverse LGBTQ culture is. It is precisely this faceted humanity that photographer Scott Pasfield, a gay man himself, sought to capture in Gay in America, traveling 54,000 miles across 50 states in three years to weave a powerful, profoundly human tapestry of 140 fathers, brothers, sons, and friends from all walks of life, religions, ethnicities, and backgrounds, who happen to be homosexual males. From lawyers to artists to teachers to farmers, his perceptive, deeply personal portraits paint a layered picture of contemporary gay (male) life, the first-ever large-scale photographic survey of gay men in America.
