52.52 we ~ yevgeny zamyatin

(theme – three women)

not my favorite self portrait ever, but very much me, regardless.

51.52 the last light ~ lily kershaw

(theme – acceptance)

I hated absolutely everything I shot for this theme. I am a W.I.P.

50.52 raylan givens ~ justified

(theme – copycat)

I don’t know who shot the promo photos for season 4 of Justified, but as soon as they came out I went all swoony. They’re gorgeous. I knew then I wanted to shoot something inspired by them, but never got around to it. In part, because I didn’t have a kick ass cowboy hat. I finally bought one last year. Anyway, Justified was brilliantly conceived and written by my fellow Michigander, Elmore Leonard. (No one will ever do noir, no one will ever do dialogue, like Elmore Leonard.) (As an aside, my step-mother-in-law used to know him, they golfed together a time or two.) The books were turned into one of the best television series of all time and Raylan Givens was portrayed perfectly by Timothy Olyphant. This is my homage.

49.52 ~ calvin and hobbes ~

(theme – resolution)

48.52 endymion: a poetic romance ~ john keats (tongue firmly in cheek)

I tried to channel my inner Amanda Palmer for this shot, but as it turns out, we really don’t get along. So I Johnny Cashed it up on account of Johnny Cash is one of my 47 spirit animals. See AFP’s Instagram for the inspo.

(theme – joy)

 

47.52 christmas blues ~ dean martin

(theme – believe)

46.52 ~ ray bradbury

(theme – universe)

45.52 spike ~ give me something to sing about ~ (buffy the vampire slayer, season 7, episode 6, once more with feeling)

(theme – once more with feeling)

“Life’s not a song. Life isn’t bliss, life is just this – it’s living. You’ll get along. The pain that you feel, you only can heal, by living. You have to go on living. So one of us is living.” One of the top five episodes of the entire series.

44.52 10,000 weight in gold ~ the head and the heart

(theme – fraction)

43.52 head full of doubt/road full of promise ~ the avett brothers

(theme – power)

I have kept politics out of this project for a lot of reasons. I’m not the very liberal feminist my collaborators on this project are. In fact, I don’t consider myself a feminist at all. I’m a humanist through and through. I wrote and deleted so many things about power and politics and people for this theme because I’ve been so profoundly frustrated for such a long time. But it’s not worth it. The bottom line is this: Stop wringing your hands and whining about shit. Stop picking fights on the internet. Stop telling everyone else how to live all the time, you don’t know what’s best for anyone but yourself. Stop politicizing absolutely every aspect of everything. Leave people alone. “Don’t hurt people and don’t take their stuff.” Live free.

P.S. You can get your very own Liberty Hero tee from Free the People.