BY TheSeattleLesbian.com

Social Outreach Seattle is starting the 2014 round of community forums off with “Lesbian Life Forum” combined with the “Body Diversity Photo Project” on Wednesday, February 26, 2014 at City Hall (Bertha Knight Landes Room, 600 4th Ave, Seattle, WA 98104).

The focus of this forum will be discussions about living life in work, social, and business as it pertains to lesbians in the Seattle community. Panelists include: Seattle City Councilmember Sally Clark, Judge Anne Levinson (Ret.), Aretha Alexander (City of Seattle Parks Department), Angela Hughes (Director – Seattle, Sistah Sinema), Fran Dunaway (Co-Founder, TomboyX), and Sarah Toce (Publisher, The Seattle Lesbian).

Expert and novice photographers were invited to submit their favorite lesbian-related photos for consideration. All pieces will be unveiled at the event at City Hall.

Read more at TheSeattleLesbian.com

The Seattle Lesbian online magazine reaches more than 188,000 readers per week globally.

The post Lesbian Life Forum and photo exhibit launches this week in Seattle first appeared on Lesbian.com.

2014’s August calendar butch. (Photo: Debbie Boud)

BY JAMES NICHOLS
Huffington Post Gay Voices

“It’s All Butch” is a striking annual calendar that showcases butch lesbians in a variety of environments. The brainchild of photographer Debbie Boud, the first installment of the calendar was released in 2010. With sparse examples of lesbians in the media and entertainment industries, Boud initially found inspiration to produce “It’s All Butch” when a friend posted pictures from cult television show “The L Word” with some comments about how hot the women were. Boud found issues with the fact that not all of these women were really gay, and her friend challenged Boud to find women that were actually “gay and hot” and document them as a photography project.

With the popularity of calendars that showcase sexy and naked gay men, calendars the feature lesbians seem to be few and far between. “I think butch women are not seen as pretty by the media and lets face it pretty sells,” Boud told The Huffington Post. “I get 20 emails a day from butch/bois that want to model but can’t find any outlet to do so.”

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post ‘It’s All Butch’ calendar shows off the beauty of butchness first appeared on Lesbian.com.

One set of images from Ashley Kolodner’s “GAYFACE” series. (Photo: Ashley Kolodner)

BY JAMES NICHOLS
Huffington Post Gay Voices

Ashley Kolodner is a New York-based activist and artist who specializes in still photography. Her latest project, “GAYFACE,” involves over 150 participants across six states and utilizes portraiture in an attempt to both empower the subject and transform the perspective of the viewer. The subjects are photographed in two frames — one with eyes closed and the other with eyes open to give the viewer “a sense of the subject’s vulnerability.

As a body of work, “GAYFACE” is Kolodner’s response to the marginalization of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) individuals living in America and the mainstream attempt to cast LGBT identity in black and white terms. She cites the goal of the project as an attempt to “break the barriers under which the LGBTQ community has lived for too long… to give this community the voice it deserves and the power to speak the diverse truth… [and] to portray the innovative, personal and participatory face of the gay movement and American culture at large and in the home.”

For more information on Ashley Kolodner’s work check out her website.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Show us your ‘GAYFACE’: Photo series explores queer identity first appeared on Lesbian.com.

BY KAREN HOUSTON

“Vixen Obscura – El Libro Malo” is a collection of Ivana Ford’s “desires, vanities, obsessions, and demons” in the form of erotic photography. Ford challenges viewers to “understand and appreciate the intrinsic depth and directness of unadulterated images captured on film as opposed to digital.” A majority of the photographs are in color, but a few appear in black and white, emphasizing the light and shadows around the women’s curves. On Ford’s Tumblr, she has a quote by Japanese photographer, Daido Moriyama, regarding how he thinks color affects the level of a photograph’s erotic quality: “The reason why I think black and white photography is erotic is completely due to my body’s instinctive response. Monochrome has stronger elements of abstraction or symbolism. Colour is something more vulgar because the colour is making the decisions, it feels vulgar, and that seems to me to be the difference.”

Ford features a range of women in her work—tatted women, redheads with ruby red lipstick, muscular women, pierced women, a pale woman captured in daylight with wild hair, women in bondage, feminine women, women of color, and one woman wearing briefs and a tie which I, um, particularly appreciated. Ultimately, Ford aspired to create a body of work with strong images that would intrigue and entice.

Read more at TaggMagazine.com

Tagg Magazine is a print and online resource for LBT women in the DC Metropolitan and Rehoboth, DE areas.

The post ‘Vixen Obscura’: The desires and demons of Ivana Ford first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Photo by Steph Grant

BY CHRISTOPHER RUDOLPH
Huffington Post Gay Voices

Photographer Steph Grant recently had the honor of capturing a spectacular lesbian Indian wedding, a first for the seasoned photographer.

“I have photographed Indian weddings before and I have photographed gay and lesbian weddings before, but never have I ever shot an Indian lesbian wedding,” she wrote in a post on her website on July 9.

Read more at Huffington Post Gay Voices

The post Behind the scenes: A lesbian wedding in India first appeared on Lesbian.com.

There’s an art to taking pictures this good. Did we mention we love that one bride is in white, the other in black? (Photo not from book. Photo: InkuPhoto.com)

BY EBONÉ F. BELL
Tagg Magazine

Veteran photographer, Thea Dodds and wedding expert and educator, Kathrynn Hamm have come together to produce a groundbreaking guide, “Capturing Love: The Art of Lesbian & Gay Wedding Photography.” The book was created after the co-authors spent hours exploring the notion that the current mainstream wedding photography resources available were insufficient in a changing marketplace. It showcases 46 same-sex couples and 38 gay and lesbian wedding photographers.

“It’s so important for everybody to tell their story, for us to tell our story, and photographers to tell their story,” says Courtney Wallace who, along with fiancée Megan Eimerman, was photographed by Maggie Winters for the project. “I don’t think people necessarily think about shooting same-sex couples and how that might be different for photographers, and Maggie did a great job.”
Capturing Love is now available in print and in digital formats from retailers like Barnes & Nobles and Amazon. Fore more information about the book and authors, visit www.capturingloveguide.com.

Read more at TaggMagazine.com

Tagg Magazine is a print and online resource for LBT women in the DC Metropolitan and Rehoboth, DE areas.

The post ‘Capturing Love’: Gay and lesbian wedding photography first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Cover of Kanithea Powell’s photobook “Butch.”

BY KELSEY BRANNAN
Tagg Magazine

The definition of the term butch is an often-contested word within the LBTQ community. Kanithea Powell, the author of the photo book “Butch,” believes there is a butch spectrum. Powell and her photographer, Alford, photographed fourteen models (most of whom identify as LBTQ) in the span of two days. Powell notes that she let “everyone bring a little bit of their own flavor to the set.” It was the photographic medium that enabled her to “challenge what ‘butch’ really means” (11). The resulting photographic product, “Butch,” includes over 100 photographs of (wo)men split into four sections (i) Bois, (ii) Suits, (iii) Just the two of us, and (iv) Never judge a butch by her cover.

Seeking to open the identity box that often confines, Powell is a woman who steers clear of labels, she identifies as a woman who loves women. Similarly, she hopes her book, “Butch”, expands and/or queers the stereotypical meanings of butch. She writes, “We are all apart of each other – (wo)man, female-blended perfectly together creating one complete being.” Rather than offering a ‘butch’ spectrum, however, most of the models appear to hold similar levels of feminine and masculine traits, leaving the viewer hungry for more. Where was the stone butch? Powell’s intentions are genuine and heartfelt, but each woman seems to be contained and constructed by Powell’s words and her own subjective understanding of what makes a (wo)man ‘butch.’ Powell can offer her perspective (and Alford’s beautiful photography), but a (wo)man’s identity is individual and unique.

Read more at TaggMagazine.com

The post Queering labels: Review of photobook “Butch” first appeared on Lesbian.com.

Leisha Hailey is perhaps best known for her role as Alice Pieszecki on Showtime’s “The L Word.” She’s a talented actress and an accomplished musical artist who first gained notoriety as a member of the band The Murmurs. Currently she’s half of the duo Uh Huh Her, along with bandmate Camila Grey.

These photos were taken at the 2009 Dinah Shore weekend in Palm Springs. As a photographer, I’m sometimes lucky enough to capture moments that are completely unexpected. Such was the case with these of the oh-so-super-hot Hailey.

You can follow Leisha on Twitter,  Facebook or check out her website.

Cheryl Mazak is a Toronto photographer obsessed with getting the heart of her subjects. See more from Cheryl at inmyphotos.com.

The post Inside Out: Leisha Hailey is completely unexpected first appeared on Lesbian.com.