WWAV fought to change the law (Crime Against Nature) that required sex workers to register as sex offenders, effectively preventing them from securing housing, straight jobs, social services, etc. Apparently, someone had a problem with that.
I had yesterday off from work, and after meeting with a very nice gentleman in the morning, I went grocery shopping. When I got home, I put the groceries away and decided to do a little housework. Well, the problem is that I hate housework, and I’m easily distractible. So, while i was changing into “house-cleaning” clothes, I decided to put the stockings-and-garter combo to good use and take a few pictures.
Do you realize how difficult it is to take pictures of yourself in lingerie? Well, let me tell you: it’s HARD. I wasn’t about to take my phone camera into the bathroom and snap pics in the mirror (I haven no idea how I’d scrunch myself up so that my reflection fit in the medicine cabinet mirror over the sink, lol), so I propped my camera up, pointed it at the bed, and set the timer.
It didn’t last long. Because, like I said before, I’m distractible, and I ended up getting sidetracked when my best friend called to chat.r. I had it set to take about ten pictures in succession each time, but it did so very quickly, so basically I had to push the button, then run back over and hop onto the bed, try to do a couple of poses QUICKLY, and then get up and do it all over again. Continue reading “Adventures in Self-Portraiture…or Leg-Portraiture…”
Look what came in the mail today!!! It’s my new Bellocq book!
E. J. Bellocq : Storyville Portraits
I’ve wanted to get my hands on this book (and that girl’s stockings!) for so long. I remember the first time I saw these images. I was taking a Sophomore level Louisiana History course in college–a course for which I had to memorize the names and locations of all 64 parishes in the state (oh, how I cursed that professor the night before THAT test…). Imagine my surprise when I walked into class one Monday morning, and instead of being met with another lecture on Huey P. Long or Earl K. Long or one of the other many Longs involved in Louisiana politics, I was treated to century-old photos featuring scantily clad ladies. Was I dreaming? Had I overslept through my alarm again? Nope. My lovely professor (I wasn’t cursing his name that day!) had prepared a lesson on Storyville, New Orleans’s own red light district, and the first in the United States. See–I knew my hometown had more to be proud of than our music, parties, and food!
I remember being so impressed with those photos back then. I didn’t even realize that there was a book of Bellocq’s portraits until later. I’d see the images here and there, on local-access TV shows or in advertisements for bars in the French Quarter. And I more or less forgot about them.
Enter the internet.
One day a couple years ago, I randomly thought about those pictures when I saw a pair of stockings with thick stripes. I bought the stockings immediately, even though they weren’t nearly as cool as the ones this girl is wearing in the photo. When I got home, I fired up the laptop and used the research skills I learned in graduate school to find that photo online (I am quite the Google ninja.). And when I found it, and I finally had Bellocq’s name, I hopped on over to Amazon to look for the book and…realized that it was out of print, and the only copies listed were going for well over $200. Wow. Not an expense I could justify, seeing as I was a graduate student studying the arts, and student life (especially grad student life) isn’t exactly conducive to a life of luxury.
Alas! A couple weeks ago, I randomly thought of checking up on the price of Bellocq’s book again. I found it for a pretty good starting price on Ebay, and set the alarm on my phone to alert me when the auction was closing. Those last few minutes were brutal–I was fighting it out with someone who, like me, really, really, REALLY wanted those pictures depicting legalized prostitution in New Orleans circa 1912, hahah. But in the end, I got the book for an amazing price. I still can’t get over it!
In the days of anticipation between the auction’s end and the book’s arrival, I read a lot of what others had to say about it. More often than not, I found their assessments patronizing. There’s one in particular that I’d like to share from a reviewer on Amazon, who “continue(s) to be intrigued by the sad faces, and what those expressions said about the tragic life that the ‘soiled doves’ lived in those days.” Continue reading “E. J. Bellocq’s Storyville Portraits – Prostitutes in 1912 New Orleans”
