Text by Brian Hunt, Owner Ethimo Foto, Copyright 2025
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A Classic Session With Lumen Foxx
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My subject for this particular shoot is Lumen Foxx. She is a classically trained dancer who I chose for her ability to hold poses requiring strength and balance. The ceiling height and exposed beam at Tony Ward Studio allowed me to hang a heavy mooring rope for Lumen to create poses with. During lighting changes Lumen would study the portraiture on the studio walls, which also serves as a gallery space. Sometimes the photographs provoked her to ask questions about the work on display, which honestly enhanced our working rapport more than I expected.
Photo: Ethimo Foto, Copyright 2025
TWS is like visiting a gallery or a museum, the environment promotes a discussion of ideas, and the sharing of lifes stories. Quickly we found ourselves in a steady flow of poses as if we were trying to outdo the subjects who were depicted on the walls. Near the end of our time TW peeked in to check on us, and answered questions about several of the key pieces in the studio on exhibit. After hearing the backstories on a few of the pieces, Lumen and I rallied for one last set of poses that turned out to be some of the strongest material of the day. I can’t help but think that the vibes emanating from Tony Ward Studio and the and the visit from Tony himself attributed to a grand finale.
Simone With TV on at Hotel Village, Hamburg Germany. Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2024
Text by Bob Shell, Copyright 2024
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A Vast Wasteland
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I grew up in television. My father, Jim Shell, was the news anchor for WSLS TV Channel 10, the NBC affiliate in Roanoke, Virginia, and I used to hang around the TV station as an obnoxious kid.. So it was natural for me to go to work in television after college. In 1971 I worked for WRFT TV Channel 27, in Roanoke, the ABC affiliate. My boss there was Adrian Cronauer, the man Robin Williams portrayed in the film ‘Good Morning Vietnam.’ It was a very small TV station, so everyone did everything. I did newscasts, weather reports, hosted late night horror movies, produced, directed, ran the soundboard, was staff artist and photographer, etc. It was a great learning experience.
Back in those days the man who headed the Federal Communications Commission, the FCC, was a fellow with the amazing name of Newton Minnow. I always thought he must have been teased in school for being called Newt Minnow, named for two little aquatic critters.
Anyway, after assuming chairmanship of the FCC, Mr. Minnow watched a lot of TV and famously called TV ‘a vast wasteland.’ In those pre-cable days, the FCC had near absolute control over TV. For example, there was an FCC rule against portraying superstition as factual. This resulted in the cancellation of ‘The Sixth Sense,’ a program I liked, because it portrayed psychic phenomena as true. It always bugged me that this rule wasn’t enforced against TV preachers. The worst I ever saw was Billy James Hargass who performed miracle healings on his program. Don Imus did a wonderful parody with his Billy Sol Hargass character.
When I watch TV today on cable, I ask myself ‘Where is Newt Minnow now that we need him?” TV today has sunk to depths he could never have imagined. But the FCC, by law, has jurisdiction only over broadcast TV and radio, it lacks any authority to regulate cable TV or cable radio. The results are obvious.
One thing the FCC did was regulate the amount of time commercials could take up in programs. When I worked in TV, we never ran more than two commercials in a single commercial break, only two breaks per half hour, and both commercials were thirty seconds in length. Today there are so many commercials in a break that I lose count! This, in my opinion, dilutes the value of them all. And it disrupts the continuity of the program. This is why old TV programs must be reedited to make room for all of the additional commercials, often disrupting the story.
When TV was broadcast-only we watched TV for free. The programming was paid for by the advertisers. Why today do we pay for cable TV and still suffer through commercials? It’s like double-taxation!
I’m an admitted news junkie. I watch NewsNation a lot to stay informed. But I’ve become burned out on repetition of the same commercials ad nauseam.
For example, if I see Jonathan Lawson hyping Colonial Penn life insurance again I may start pulling out my hair. I’ve noted that he says your rates will never increase, but he does not say that your coverage will never decrease!
Or the jewelry company called Pandora. Anyone who knows a bit of Greek mythology knows that Pandora was the first human woman. In Greek, Pandora means ‘All Gifts.’ After Zeus created her, he gave her a beautiful box, but strictly ordered her not to open it. Pandora could not restrain her curiosity and opened the box, releasing all evils upon mankind. Name your company after the person who unleashed all evil? What were they thinking?
I could go on about the stupidity of commercials, but I’ll spare my readers that vitriol. My point is that there are too many commercials, and too many of them are just plain stupid. Advertisers must believe the famous quote variously attributed to P. T. Barnum and F. W. Woolworth; ‘No one ever went bankrupt by underestimating the good taste of the American public.’
Butts Allowed on YouTube. Photo: Tony Ward, Copyright 2024
Text by Tony Ward, Copyright 2024
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Only Butts Allowed: YouTube and Censorship
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For the past couple of months I’ve been experimenting with YouTube and the platforms censorship rules. As of this writing I have 47 videos posted on my channel that range from behind the scenes clips of recent shoots, as well as vintage television footage of me working on erotic still and video productions from LA to Paris.
About one week into the experiment, I received a notice that one of my videos was marked as only available for viewers 18 years of age and older. I said to myself ok fair enough, but why that one considering the clip was not that much different than other videos I already posted with no limitation on viewership. Despite the age limitation, the view rate started to go up and so did the number of my subscribers. At the time of this writing around 9000 viewers have subscribed to date. Not bad for an upstart.
So I continued drilling down on my hard drives and the process of uploading videos continued until I received my first STRIKE. A strike is a warning that content has been removed from my site. So I looked to see what video was taken down and low and behold it was the very same video YouTube had already approved of – for at least a week running – until the algorithm thought otherwise, thus a strike out of know where it seemed. How unfair I thought. Why would they allow the video to be up in the first place if there was risk to breaking the rules? Just goes to show you these platforms are not perfect, so it’s best to be on the safe side if your plan is to game the system. Gaming the system means to monetize it.
Here is the video that was taken down:
A second 18 years of age limitation was placed on the channel on April29, 2024 but this time it was immediate. A message landed in my email inbox within a minute of the clip being posted. So again I was amused by how random these YouTube warnings can be if you operate close, near, or up to the line, when it comes to their censorship rules. Here is the clip that this time I took down without risk of getting another STRIKE. I will keep readers informed as this experiment evolves.
Thirty years ago in 1993. I embarked on a new body of work that explored our rights in America to freedom of expression. My subjects were from all walks of life, from various races, religious backgrounds and sexual persuasions. This melting pot that stubbornly defines America formed the palette of a series of black and white photographs that defined an era. What was that era? It was the time in which sexual freedom and multiculturalism was on the rise.
Unfortunately, in these times there are certain bigoted elements of our society that continue to attempt to roll back the hands of time. Sadly, Facisim in America is on the rise. Obsessions as a body of work reminds us of what we once were and still are, a free and open society in which each individual American is free to choose and be who they are.
We invite you to join us for an exploration of human vulnerability and the timeless beauty of the unadorned form. “OBSESSIONS” is an ode to the human spirit, a celebration of the profound authenticity that lies with us.
