Be The Power
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I love photos like this because you really get to see the person’s emotion. What is she thinking? (Probably, why is this strange American taking a picture so close to my face.)
I’m hoping with the new Nikon 780 I’m saving up for, I won’t have to get SO close to people’s faces to get pictures like this. But I really love pictures like this one.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
What to make of shit like this. You see two types of reactions on Twitter to this billboard in Georgia that suggests that Trump is, well, Jesus Christ. On one hand, you have people who laugh at it. And on the other you have people who are freaked out by it.
Without knowing how this billboard came out, I’m of the general opinion that artifacts of Trumplandia like this are one big troll. The person who thought it up and paid for it wants nothing more than to “own the libs” by evoking the very reaction that they got.
I see this type of froth a lot these days in Far Right circles. They’re like a snake eating its tail. They do and say some pretty fucked up shit because their negative polarization is extreme, so absolute that they want to make it clear that you, the lib, have been owned for good.
Personally, I think this type of bizarre behavior is a reflection of how macro trends in our dying Republic are warping our politics. Or, even more ominous — our politics are now dead. Not only is there literally nothing Trump could do to change the mind of the average MAGA person, even if that did happen, they would just piviot to one of the dozen or so other would-be autocrats who want to finish the job that Trump started.
In other words, we’re fucked.
We’re totally, completely, f u c k e d.
Things are going to come to a head no later than January 2025. That’s when we find out if we’re going to slip peacefully into autocracy or if we’re going to bomb ourselves into oblivion.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Now that I’m beginning to get some sense of my creative future, I find myself thinking back at how I ended up in this situation. It all goes back to ROKon Magazine.
It’s embarrassing how long I dwelled on what went wrong a half-assed attempted at a magazine that only lasted a few months. But it was the one moment in my life — to date — when I was cool and people, like, actually fucking listened to me. Or, put another way, I told Annie Shapiro what we needed and people listened to her.
Anyway, the whole story is so romanticized in my mind and I’ve attempted to tell it in so many different ways, that, lulz, there’s not much more to say. But here are a few of the covers I’ve managed to save.
This was the first cover. We were all so naïve. I think my brief relationship with Annie lasted about the duration of production on this one — less than two weeks.
The above issue was a few months later — or maybe it was the second issue? It was the first issue where our vision for the magazine began to take shape, regardless. We were still very broke. But we were catching people’s attention. Again, no one cared at this point so things went well.
This was the first issue where there were obvious cracks in my relationship with Annie. I think this may have been the first issue when we were the only magazine for expats in Seoul. Everything that went wrong with ROKon Magazine was my fault because I was the one who started it. But it was fun, still at this point. I think this is the October issue when we decided to take a break so we could come out on the first of the month.
Below was one of the later issues. It’s a pretty good cover.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Of all the would-be autocrats we may find ourselves living under at some point, the idea that “promising young man” Josh Hawley might crush 240 years of American liberal democracy is just sad.
The fucking cocksucker piece of shit whose jackboot we’re going to live under won’t be a “Joe” or a “John,” but…Josh?
But that’s really besides the point — Josh Hawley could easily become president. All that would have to happen is either he gets named Trump’s veep and Trump somehow shuffles off this mortal coil, or he somehow manages to become the nominee and he becomes POTUS because MAGA Republicans nullify any Biden win.
Anyway, Josh Hawley would definitely be the one potential autocrat who would establish a traditional autocratic rule in the United States. It would be so traditional, in fact, people like me would scream at the top of our lungs on a daily basis that the United States is an autocracy and….either we get pushed out a window or nothing happens because we’re not seen as a threat.
Do I honestly think that will happen? I don’t know. Time will tell.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
The more I think about it, the less I care about actually having any interaction with the subjects I might take pictures of should I get what I want, which is a career (of some sort) in the fashion industry.
Lulz. I’m obsessed with the art of fashion. The actual people involved can do their own thing. If they’re gracious enough to allow me to sit with the cool kids, then, great. But, honestly, just having the opportunity to take pictures of gorgeous women in gorgeous clothes would be enough.
But having said all that, I find myself thinking about my first memories of fashion photography. For some reason, even as a young man, I was drawn to the work of Helmut Newton. I liked the stark, austere nature of his work. That he was working with the best looking women in the world, didn’t hurt.
Anyway, lulz. No one cares. And if they do care, they think — at this point — that I’m totally delusional and bonkers. Which, at this point, I am. But I’m notorious for taking a tiny opportunity to running with it at light speed. So, it’s at least possible that once I get the Nikon camera I’m working towards buying that something might, at last, break my way.
I don’t know what to tell you. Either I’m going to always be an Internet crank, or something’s going to change in a big way.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I hope to return to Seoul before I drop dead. Everything changed when I went to Asia. Or, should I say, everything changed when I met the late Annie Shapiro. I have a very romanticized recollection of those years of my life. I mean, Annie was no saint and I was so crazy that they put me in a book about crazy expats. (That was fun, let me tell you.)
In more than one way, the bolts popped off my sanity while I was in Asia. And I was so kneecapped on an emotional basis by what happened with ROKon Magazine that I pretty much was in neutral for a decade. But I can feel things beginning to change now.
Now that the novel series I’m working on is beginning to take shape and I have my potential “second track” of (fashion) photography, I’m beginning to get my emotional sea legs again. I think back to how I was a man on fire in Seoul and how I was “famous” and overexposed within the expat community for being everywhere and nowhere at once.
A lot — A LOT — could still go wrong. But the reason why photography, specifically is so appealing to me is it makes me the protagonist of my personal story again. Something has to change in my life for me to use the camera I want to buy successfully. I can’t just stay in neutral. I’m going to have to hit the pavement and see if I can crack some doors somewhere.
I remember how exciting it was in Seoul in late 2006 when Annie and I were changing the world with ROKon Magazine. I would do it all different now, but it wouldn’t be nearly as much fun.
The more I think about it, the more I realize that fashion photography is, like being a rock DJ, a sweetspot in my personality. And it was in Asia that I realized I was not a journalist, but, rather a creative person. In a way, being a DJ and fashion photographer are same same but different in my mind. I’m using a similar part of my mind to tell stories, if you will.
But, as I keep saying, I’m about 20 years too old to start a career in (fashion) photography — or any creative career for that matter. They say “age ain’t nuthing but a number,” but “they” lie. All I can say is I have a native, organic talent with it comes to a few things and photography is one of them.
Getting into photography, if nothing else, elevates my serotonin levels.
You go girl. / Image: Twitter
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
No one should listen to me. I’m a nobody, but I felt Cara Delevingne’s outfit to the 2021 Met Gala won the night. It’s edgy and makes a point. That’s why I think AOC blew a huge opportunity with her faux edgy “Tax the Rich” outfit.
Ugh.
If a rando weirdo like me can come up with a more pointed political statement than what AOC wore, you got a problem.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
First, I would love to cover the Met Gala, to take pictures of it in some capacity. It would be a dream come true. But, on a political basis, AOC attending the Met Gala is a what the what situation. I say this and I’m a pretty strong AOC supporter in general.
The key point is thought she could square the circle by wearing an all white dress that said “Tax the Rich” on it. Uh huh. Nope. I know why she did this — it’s very ironic and non-confrontational. If you’re going to go into the lion’s den, as it were, you go all in.
Instead of a wane white dressed with “Tax the Rich” on it, you go in with a sultry red satin and black felt dress with “EAT THE RICH” draw on it, maybe dripping red like it has blood coming off of it.
Now THAT would have made a statement.
I will note some other things — she wore white and, despite her best efforts to look demure, her curves simply would not be held back. She’s a real babe. It’s too bad that we can’t make any mention of it without it being A Big Deal. I mean, people mentioned JFK was handsome, didn’t they?
Anyway, lulz. No one listens to me and they shouldn’t.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
I really was very hysterical — and wrong — about Trump. But there was something I could not have predicted about him, and that is how fucking lazy and stupid he is. I made a huge assumption, and that was the same assumption that the people who voted for him made: that he was the “You’re fired” guy and, as such, would bring autocracy to the United States.
Turns out, I was wrong.
He wasn’t the “You’re fired” guy — he was just a lazy, bonkers moron who was an avatar for the rot in the American political system.
These days, I’m ranting about how no later than January 2025, we’re going to either have a civil war or turn into an autocracy. This has led my far more conservative relatives to poo-poo this because, well, lulz, I was wrong once about a dystopian nightmare, I’m obviously going to be wrong again.
And I could very well be.
But there is one thing I will be shocked to see happen — the United States continue to be a Western democracy in the way we have been for 240 odd years. If that happens under Republican control, I will be totally, completely shocked. And that’s the rub — my conservative relatives won’t see the autocracy for what it is. They will just be happy that, at last, the liberals are owned for good and “cancel culture” has been outlawed.
It will be a struggle, pitched rhetorical battle, to get my conservative relatives to admit that the media has been purged and the only way a Democrat can become president is if their party controls Congress. My conservative relatives will lulz all of this — they agree with the autocracy, afterall — until it’s personal. THEN they’re going to freak out.
But, then, of course, it will be way, way, way too late. I’ll be proven right, but it won’t matter. I’ll be dead at the hand of an ICE agent because I fucking wouldn’t fucking shut up about President DeSantis (or Pompeo) being a sack of shit.
Or, who knows, may be my conservative relatives will continue their debate nullification technique of saying “no it won’t” whenever they don’t have a ready answer to my very well thought out talking point.
As for the civil war, I still think that’s going to be a matter of how deft the MAGA person in charge of our transition into autocracy is. If it’s Trump, we’re going to have a civil war. He’s just too stupid.
Anyway. Good luck.
by Shelt Garner
@sheltgarner
Almost no one reads this blog. Like, no one. Maybe almost a 100 people on a good day. Otherwise, I’m just barking into the darkness. So, anything out of the ordinary catches my attention in this site’s Webstats.
Like, why are there people with French URLs who pop up out of the blue? Why are there people in Romania, of all places, who have started to read this blog? Is that one URL I think is a conservative relative who I think it is? And what was with that one person from Brooklyn who spent over an hour doing a deep dive into my rantings on this site? Should I be worried, or pleased with that one?
Anyway, another thing I’ve noticed is a teeny-tiny uptick in hits from China of all places. I think they’re people interested in my rantings about how we’re going to have a civil war at some point between now and January 2025?
Well, if that is the case, all I can say is — slow your roll.
Yes, the United States is as divided as it’s been since the Civil War, but that is going to change the moment there’s a major regional war. For the next four years, until we actually have that civil war (or turn into an autocracy) the United States will become a lot more united the moment we realize we have to gird our loins to save the world, AGAIN.
Around January 2025, however, all that could change.
It would be difficult for the United States to do anything about China — or the DPRK for that matter — if we’re too busy bombing ourselves into oblivion to do anything about it.
So, if you’re some sort of Chinese agent, reading this blog hoping to get a bead on the current American ability to defend Taiwan, that’s my advice.
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