View allAll Photos Tagged Talented
The super talented and fabulously wonderful Flooz created this background for me for the Beatles assignment yesterday. Unfortunately, I had to go out of town and was gone all day and could not use Flooz's wonderful creation. I thought it would be a travesty for her work and talent to go to waste. So I give you, Lucy in the sky with diamonds.
Thanks Flooz. You rock.
Picture taken by the talented and lovely Miss Evangeline Milles, for some more of her amazing work, please look here:
www.flickr.com/photos/eviescloset
Thank you so much Evie, for helping to save this precious memories and for allowing me to use some of them!!
We had an amazing evening, everyone looked gorgeous and enjoyed the music and the mood. Angel Manor, our home, this is what we can experience there, and everyone is welcome at all times. Come and visit!
The beautiful and talented Audrey Scherer is host of hoopingLIVE.com every Monday at 9pm USA Eastern time.
Pretty Venus Ballerina Dancing Classical Ballet! Malibu Beach Sunset Leo Carillo State Park! Nikon D810 & AF-S NIKKOR 70-200mm f/2.8G ED VR II from Nikon! Gorgeous Athletic Talented Ballerinas Dancing Classical Ballet in Pointe Shoes Ballet Slippers & Leotard! Landscape Nature Ballet Potrait Photography!
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
Epic Art & 45EPIC Gear exalting golden ratio designs for your Hero's Odyssey:
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Follow me my good friends!
Facebook: geni.us/A0Na3
Instagram: geni.us/QD2J
Golden Ratio: geni.us/9EbGK
45SURF: geni.us/Mby4P
Fine Art Ballet: geni.us/C1Adc
Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
The Talented & Beautiful Alana Blanchard Surfing at Huntington Beach Pier Surf City USA! Van's US Open of Surfing! Epic Ripping, Carving, Bottom Turn Surf Girl Goddess & Bikini Swimsuit Wetsuit Model! Pretty Athletic Woman! Sigma 150-500mm f/5-6.3 APO DG OS HSM Lens for Nikon Sports Photography!
Athletic & Talented Professional Women's Surfers Ripping! Sally Fitzgibbons, Alana Blanchard, Sage Erickson! Pro Surf Girl Goddesses & Bikini Swimsuit Wetsuit Models! Vans US Open of Surfing Huntington Beach Pier Surf City USA! dx4/dt=ic NikonSports Photography! Surf's Up!
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Follow me my good friends!
Facebook: geni.us/A0Na3
Instagram: geni.us/QD2J
Golden Ratio: geni.us/9EbGK
45SURF: geni.us/Mby4P
Fine Art Ballet: geni.us/C1Adc
Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
“Everybody is talented because everybody who is human has something to express.” - Brenda Ueland
Just before diving into my journey of the coast of California known as "Big Sur", I decided to stop off at this cool little Mission just outside of Carmel to explore the interior. These kinds of churches are always a good subject for capturing brackets of frames for HDR creations and this place was just what I was looking for. Its been a while since I cooked one up like this, but I think this one was a perfect example of when it is OK to crank up the grunge a bit.
BTW, I'm sure I haven't mentioned this in a while, but thanks! It gives me great pleasure to share my work, my rambles, and my own expression of the world I see here on the blog, flickr, facebook, twitter, google plus, and where ever else these images make it out there. Its always nice to here from you all and read the comments, see the likes, feel the love, etc :) Thanks for the continued support!
As always, more to come!
For more from MDSimages, please check out the links below....and thanks for stopping by!
This is entry is from a very talented guy, @dawidwlosek. Please give his awesome works a visit. Thank you @dawidwlosek for sending me this photo.
Photo by: @dawidwlosek Edited by: @mackysuson
Thank you ✨✨✨👉👉👉👉 @dawidwlosek for sharing this awesome photo! Please give this awesome person some love! ❤️💗💜💛💚💙 I would ❤️ to collaborate with you. Please DM your panorama photos taken by iPhone. Talk soon and have an awesome day!
This photo is just part of a my panorama. Please do check out my profile to check how it exactly looks. Comments and likes are much appreciated.
_______________________________________________________ ❤️💗💜💛💚💙 ❤️💗💜💛💚💙 ❤️💗💜💛💚💙 #art #colors_of_day #traveltosingapore #bestofsingapore#tagsforlike #insta_world_life_ #instalike#clouds #bestoftheday#panoramaoftheday #japan #nature #sun#beautiful #summer #happy #instasg#picoftheday #fun #📷oftheday#iloveasia #panorama #shotoniPhone6#adidassg #iPhonePanorama #colors #igpowerclub ❤️💗💜💛💚💙 ❤️💗💜💛💚💙
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2 Comments on Instagram:
phanomsee: 👏👍😄
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Oh no, that's not possible, they can't get on the plane and disembark in San Francisco without warning. Since I started studying applied art, as advised by my teachers, I have discovered my inner self, and the shy college boy has grown into a splendid, talented woman artist. How am I going to explain to my parents, my long pink hair, my nail extensions, my tattoos, my laser hair removal, and that I am on hrt ?
Oh and shit, I’m doing my part of the deal, I’m super good at college, they’ll just have to endure the shock of the outing !
My talented friend Leeligo did it again~~~
She's so beautiful in her new clothing~~
I hosted my second workshop last Sunday and this is one of my photographs from it.
We had such an amazing time, even though it chucked it down with rain the entire day! haha
Everyone's spirits stayed high and everyone worked SO hard! And everyones photos look phenomenal for it.
Gotta say a big thank you to my three fierce models Georgia O'Connor, Megan Train and Charlie Barker who froze to death in the name of art! Thank you to the hair goddess Sheena Billionhair whose creations are unique and beautiful every time! Thanks to one of the most talented and kindest men I know Paul Fletcher Mua- your make up today was truly spectacular. Thanks to Lilly Froud for your perfect and ingenious styling, for your assistance in the smoke department and for your all round support! Thanks to Ben Sonny Mak for your unbelievable dress and incredible headpieces! You're the very definition of haute couture! And lastly thank you to Jack McGurran and Claudia Edwards for being incredible assistants and an amazing support network. I couldn't have done it without any single one of you. Now I can't wait to start planning the next one :P
Thank you to all the immensely talented and caring Lindens and Fairelands creatives - worldbuilders, merchants, organizers, performers, fellow fairelanders all - who brought Fantasy Faire 2024 to life.
Such a beautiful faire.
Athletic & Talented Professional Women's Surfers Ripping! Sally Fitzgibbons, Alana Blanchard, Sage Erickson! Pro Surf Girl Goddesses & Bikini Swimsuit Wetsuit Models! Vans US Open of Surfing Huntington Beach Pier Surf City USA! dx4/dt=ic Sony Sports Photography! Surf's Up!
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Follow me my good friends!
Facebook: geni.us/A0Na3
Instagram: geni.us/QD2J
Golden Ratio: geni.us/9EbGK
45SURF: geni.us/Mby4P
Fine Art Ballet: geni.us/C1Adc
Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
I was tagged by the lovely and talented Miss Car. This shot is for you sweety! (See.... we finally had some sunshine over here too. Yaaaay) xox
16 random things about Me...
1. I love pink. And I mean LOVE. I have a pink notebook, a pink mobile phone, a pink iPod, pink shoes, pink bags.... *lol*
2. I name some of my stuff. Like my cam, my notebook and my car. And I usually only call these things by their names. (For example: My laptop is called Tiffany. And people know that. Otherwise they'll not understand me saying "I'm lying in bed with Tiffany" *lol*)
3. When I was younger I hated my freckles. I tried everthing to get rid of them, like putting lemons on my face and stuff *lol* Glad it didn't work out. Now I love them.
4. From the day I bought my cam a few months ago I became instantly addicted to photography.
5. I'm the world's biggest Garfield fan.
6. I'm terrified of height and rollercoasters.
7. I cannot only do ONE thing. I always have to do several things at the same time.
8. I think men with tattoos and piercings are hot
9. I met my father for the first and only time in my life when I was 17. And although I'm not used to have a father I so wish I had one.
10. As a kid I wanted to become a teacher.
11. I'm not a morning person. I cannot get up, I'm always late for work, I cannot talk or drive early in the morning.
12. My favorite food is Sushi.
13. I cannot express my feelings very well.
14. I don't like white walls. All the walls in my appartment are painted in different colors like yellow, orange or green.
15. I want to travel the whole world. But who doesn't?! I've already been to many places but I so want to go to Japan (not just for the sushi ;-), Thailand, USA, India and Australia.
16. I was born on Friday the 13th and I strongly believe that's why kinda strange things happen to me quite often.
I tag: Eddi, Q-tee, Miss Claire, Miss Jane, Miss Isabelle and Mister Italy
Shot some photos for the talented singer Fairooz.
More on my blog: www.atamadnan.com/2018/06/19/fairooz-ukulele/
This is Asya, a young talented actress. Asya wrote this text two weeks ago. So the dates are a bit off. Asya recently had a performance at the White Theatre. Asya is also beautiful, smart and very cheerful, although she is a little sad inside. This generation has had to grow up quickly. I really want to be friends with them. "My name is Asya, I'm 20 years old, in a week it will be exactly a year since I live in Israel.
I came in July for a summer student program. I came with a return ticket to Moscow, because the plans were to finish my studies at the institute. I studied at the theater and really wanted to finish it, and then leave.
My return ticket was the day after the start of mobilization, and I still remember this moment: I’m sitting on the sea and crying about as hard as on February 24, I’m crying, realizing that I can’t go back, I just can’t.
It’s hard for me to call my emigration prepared, super conscious, I just felt inside that it’s better for me now.
My parents remained in Russia, there were almost no closest friends left, and the theater completely disappeared, the theater of freedom, which cannot exist where it does not exist.
In Israel, I started learning the language, I started learning to live an “adult life”, where you have to think about banks, an apartment and a job. And in general, I feel like this year I have matured 10 years ahead.
A lot of talented children of creative professions have now arrived in Israel, so it was not very difficult to find their people. All year we thought up, created, played something together.
In a couple of days I have a premiere of a big performance, so far in Russian, but it will also be in Hebrew.
I really want to have at least some kind of work in my profession, because of course you can hardly earn a lot of money with creativity, you have to have about 4 more jobs,
but when there are people nearby who share with you the love of your interest, this gives a huge amount of inner strength.
Life is hard now
unpredictable, but interesting, no matter how strange and scary it sounds against the backdrop of all the terrible events.
I don’t know where I’ll be in a year, but what really, in a couple of months, but I want to always have the strength to create and invent, help people and believe that the war will definitely end"
The Jenna Fischer bra size story has gained many people’s attention and we feel that it would keep growing over the next couple of years as this talented actress shows no signs of stopping.
taken with teacher and the other guys of the photography course... :)
thanks for the inspiration to the talented chia_renton
for this shot flickr.com/photos/chia_renton/3175620522/
I took this candid portrait of my good friend amazingly talented photographer and model Kathy Gfeller putting on makeup before one of our underwater photo shoots.
See more here www.flickr.com/photos/grantbrummett/sets/7215763323951297...
This is right out of the camera no photoshop using a Canon EOS T2i Rebel camera and Canon EF 85mm F/1.2L II USM lens.
The wonderfully talented (and drop dead gorgeous) Inna Modja from her gig in the Big Red Tent at this year's WOMAD Festival at Charlton Park.
You can see more pics of her in my Inna Modja set.
My sincere thanks are due to Inna Modja for giving her permission for me to photograph all of her set. I so enjoyed shooting this gig. :-)
Check out the videos for some of her songs here: www.innamodja.com/Videos#content
You can see my WOMAD 2016 shots here: WOMAD 2016
You can see my WOMAD 2015 shots here: WOMAD 2015
You can see my WOMAD 2014 shots here: WOMAD 2014
You can see my WOMAD 2013 shots here: WOMAD 2013
You can see my WOMAD 2012 shots here: WOMAD 2012
You can see my WOMAD 2011 shots here: WOMAD 2011
You can see my WOMAD 2010 shots here: WOMAD 2010
You can see my WOMAD 2009 shots here: WOMAD 2009
My thanks are also due to Dee McCourt of Borkowski PR for arranging my photo pass.
I met this very talented young artist in Montreal yesterday. His work is just fabulous ! Keep it up Jarus, and keep in touch next time you are around ! P.S.: This girl sitting on the sidewalk is the same girl on wall :)
For my sweet talented and gorgeous friend Silena www.flickr.com/photos/silenaconstantine/5661342213/in/pho...
Thank you for the lovely gifts: dresses, jewelry, eyes and the
challenge to do this shoot for my love Hunter♥
(He thanks you too)
Travis Tritt - T.R.O.U.B.L.E. www.youtube.com/watch?v=w3Ms1IE6M3s
Well, I play an old guitar from a nine till a half past one
I'm just tryin' to make a livin' watchin' everybody else havin' fun
Well, I don't miss much if it happens on a dance hall floor
Mercy, look what just walked through that door
Well, hello T-R-O-U-B-L-E
Tell me what in the world
You doin' A-L-O-N-E
Yeah, say hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
I was a little, bitty baby when my papa hit the skids
Mama had a time tryin' to raise nine kids
She told me not to stare cause it was impolite
She did the best she could to try to raise me right
Cause mama never told me 'bout nothin' like Y-O-U
Bet your mama musta been another good lookin' honey, too
Yeah
Hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
Yeah
Well, you're a sweet talkin', sexy walkin', honky tonkin' baby
The men are gonna love ya and the woman gonna hate ya
Remindin' them of everythin' they're never gonna be
May be the beginning of a world war three
Cause the world ain't ready for nothing like Y-O-U
I bet your mama musta been another good lookin' mama, too
Hey, say hey, good L double O-K-I-N-G
Well, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey
I said hey (Hey)
Oh, I smell T-R-O-U-B-L-E...
Yeah
Whoo
Smile please...Fun photo shoot with talented Jessica...Thank you for viewing my friends...Cheers, Ringgo.
Nikon D700 + Nikon 70-200/2.8 VR II + Available light + Handheld
Portrait of the uber talented Andre Rieu when he was performing at the SSE Hydro in Glasgow 24.03.17
Underwater fashion by upcoming & talented Malaysian fashion designer: Ilham Shahhir Wan Wedding Planner & Design
Surfing is Poetry in Motion! Beautiful & Talented Professional Surf Girl Goddess! Alana Blanchard! Athletic Bikini Swimsuit Wetsuit Models Surfing Trestles Beach, San Clemente California! Nikon D810 + Tamron SP 150-600mm f/5-6.3 Di VC USD G2! Catching Waves Surf's Up!
Support epic fine art! 45surf ! Bitcoin: 1FMBZJeeHVMu35uegrYUfEkHfPj5pe9WNz
Exalt the goddess archetype in the fine art of photography! My Epic Book: Photographing Women Models!
Portrait, Swimsuit, Lingerie, Boudoir, Fine Art, & Fashion Photography Exalting the Venus Goddess Archetype: How to Shoot Epic ... Epic! Beautiful Surf Fine Art Portrait Swimsuit Bikini Models!
Follow me my good friends!
Facebook: geni.us/A0Na3
Instagram: geni.us/QD2J
Golden Ratio: geni.us/9EbGK
45SURF: geni.us/Mby4P
Fine Art Ballet: geni.us/C1Adc
Some of my epic books, prints, & more!
Epic Poetry inspires all my photography: geni.us/9K0Ki Epic Poetry for Epic Landscape Photography: Exalt Fine Art Nature Photography with the Poetic Wisdom of John Muir, Emerson, Thoreau, Homer's Iliad, Milton's Paradise Lost & Dante's Inferno Odyssey
Exalt your photography with Golden Ratio Compositions!
Golden Ratio Compositions & Secret Sacred Geometry for Photography, Fine Art, & Landscape Photographers: How to Exalt Art with Leonardo da Vinci's, Michelangelo's!
Epic Landscape Photography:
A Simple Guide to the Principles of Fine Art Nature Photography: Master Composition, Lenses, Camera Settings, Aperture, ISO, ... Hero's Odyssey Mythology Photography)
All my photography celebrates the physics of light! dx4/dt=ic! Light Time Dimension Theory: The Foundational Physics Unifying Einstein's Relativity and Quantum Mechanics: A Simple, Illustrated Introduction to the Physical: geni.us/Fa1Q
Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.
Picture taken by the talented and lovely Miss Evangeline Milles, for some more of her amazing work, please look here:
www.flickr.com/photos/eviescloset
Thank you so much Evie, for helping to save this precious memories and for allowing me to use some of them!!
We had an amazing evening, everyone looked gorgeous and enjoyed the music and the mood. Angel Manor, our home, this is what we can experience there, and everyone is welcome at all times. Come and visit!
I met up with a fellow Flickr contact and friend Samuel this past Friday. A pleasant and talented man who is courageously heading across country to start a new life out in Nevada. I'm afraid I put him through something of a grueling trek up and over one of the hogbacks to the west of Denver.....something that can be a challenge for anyone who's been living 6000 ft. lower in altitude for several years......but he took it like a trooper.
Good luck Samuel with your new endeavors and the life that is before you.
© All rights reserved
Black Friday when we lost this beautiful talented singer
Selena as her fans knew her by. Terrible tragedy but
remembered by all who loved her and still listen to her music.
April 16, 1971 – March 31, 1995
Selena Quintanilla - Como la flor - Acapulco 1994
www.youtube.com/watch?v=OHV19QL8HcA
Selena Quintanilla - Si una vez - Padrisimo 1995
www.youtube.com/watch?v=-NePA1TAS_U
The tragic news arrived the way tragic news often does: by phone. The call came just after lunch from my friend David Bennett, a reporter at the San Antonio Express-News. “Selena has been shot. In Corpus Christi at a Days Inn motel. The woman who did it is sitting in a pickup in the parking lot, holding a gun to her head.” I waited for Bennett, a font of sick jokes about current events, to deliver the punch line. It was, after all, March 31 — the day before April Fool’s. But no punch line came when he called back a few minutes later: “She’s dead. She passed away at 1:05 p.m. at Memorial Medical Center.”
I had met her only once, but it was as though someone close to me was suddenly gone. Selena Quintanilla Perez was a 23-year-old Grammy award-winning singer and the undisputed queen of Tejano music, a Texas specialty that is enjoying unprecedented popularity around the country and the world. A year ago, I’d talked with her on a tour bus in Austin for a Texas Monthly story. For most of the interview, she sat next to her mother, Marcella, who often traveled with her band, Los Dinos, and her father, Abraham, the band’s manager. At one point, her husband, Chris Perez—who was also her lead guitarist—stopped by to say hello. Around midnight, Selena’s sister, Suzette—her drummer—and her brother, A.B.—her bass player, chief composer, and producer—would join her and the rest of the band onstage.
Selena’s family crossed my mind when I heard about her death. She may have dressed provocatively onstage, but after sitting face to face with her in the company of her kin, seeing her without makeup or her sexy costumes, I pegged her as a good girl—not the sort of person who would be involved in a shooting, especially a shooting involving a jealous woman in a crime of passion.
That, of course, was what the early rumors suggested. A radio deejay somewhere wisecracked that the assailant was “Emilio’s wife”—the spouse of Emilio Navaira, the popular Tejano singer who was Selena’s only real box office competition. That scurrilous suggestion spread so fast that Navaira’s office and home were besieged with death threats. To get the truth, I tuned in two of San Antonio’s Spanish-language stations, KXTN-FM (Tejano 107) and KEDA-AM (Radio Jalapeño), and stayed close to the phone. Soon, another friend called to say that Ramiro Burr, the Express-News‘ syndicated Tejano columnist, had heard from Selena’s record company, that the woman in the pickup was Yolanda Saldivar, a 34-year-old nurse whom everyone knew as Selena’s number one fan.
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By five that afternoon, San Antonio TV stations—including the affiliates for the Spanish-language Telemundo and Univision networks—had reporters and satellite uplinks at the crime scene. Selena y los Dinos songs were all over the radio. Grieving callers to radio stations read poems on the air. Other Tejano artists, such as Stefani, the All-American Sweetheart, phoned in to share memories. Dances at Tejano venues were called off in cities across Texas.
When I heard that Tejano 107 would be holding a candlelight vigil at the open-air Sunken Gardens Theatre in San Antonio at seven that night, I jumped into the car. My first stop was Selena’s boutique and salon, Selena Etc., on a tiny strip of Broadway by Brackenridge Park. Last year, Selena had opened this boutique and one in Corpus Christi; music may have been her living, but fashion was her life. When I pulled into the parking lot, four other cars were there. Two had messages painted on their windshields in white shoe polish: One read “Selena Lives On,” the other, “Missing You Selena.” A bouquet of flowers had been placed by the door of the boutique, alongside a picture of a smiling Selena and several notes. A few adults, four teenage girls, three younger boys, and an abuela (“grandmother”) were milling about, studying the flowers, reading the notes, peering in the boutique’s window at the photos and posters of Selena that hung among the designer outfits. Their faces were not animated or emotional but solemn and blank. They wanted to see, to touch, to connect somehow.
Across the park, Sunken Gardens was filling up fast. A small truck, the Tejano 107 mobile studio, was parked in the middle of the stage. Two life-size cutouts of Selena holding a Coca Cola were placed nearby. The event had been haphazardly organized—when someone from the station began handing out candles, a small stampede broke out—and at first, it seemed as though it might never come together. Then disc jockey Jonny Ramírez emerged from the truck to tell the nearly five thousand people in attendance that they were there because “somebody stupid had a gun.” A few people laughed when he recounted first meeting Selena (“I said to myself, ‘Yes! This lady makes me want to go home and take a cold shower!’”). Then he said what almost everyone else who had ever known her had said: “She never behaved like a superstar.”
By seven-thirty, candlelight illuminated the whole place. Kids still skittered under their parents’ legs, and friends still greeted friends with smiles. But a sober, respectful serenity prevailed. Facing the stage, a teenage boy and girl (brother and sister? boyfriend and girlfriend?) stood rigidly, holding a candle and clutching a white banner that read “Honk If You Love Selena.” I didn’t realize it then, but the veneration had begun.Selena is Dead - 0009
Who She Was
On Saturday Selena’s death came up during a conversation with a neighbor in my predominantly Anglo Central Texas community. “I never heard of her,” she told me, “and I’m from Refugio. I grew up around those people.” Her reaction echoed that of many Texans, who saw this as just another senseless shooting.
Yet to “those people”—the five million Texans of Mexican descent—March 31 was a darker day than November 22, 1963. To “those people,” Selena was more than a celebrity. She was an icon. Her status as an entertainer who was a millionaire at age nineteen; her positive personality; her devotion to God, family, and home; and her willingness to talk to kids about staying in school and avoiding drugs made her a hero to brown-skinned people—especially Hispanic girls—who had precious few role models.
Her music validated the cultural duality of the majority of her fans, proving you could embrace the traditions of the land you came from while still being hip and modern. Like most Mexican Americans who have assimilated into the mainstream, Selena’s first language was English—and yet she opted to sing in the native language of her parents, proving that who you are and where your family came from are sources of pride, not sources of shame.
Selena was a total package. She could work a crowd. She could dance. She was sexy. She knew how to make time for industry types backstage. And, of course, she could sing. She was equally comfortable with the fancy streamlined polkas that are the backbone of all Tex-Mex music, the histrionic boleros from Northern Mexico (such as the “Que Creias,” in which she scorches a lover who has taken her for granted), and the mambo-derived cumbias popular throughout Latin America. She reinterpreted the sixties-era Japanese pop song “Sukiyaki” into a sentimental Spanish-language version. She re-worked the Pretenders’ eighties rock classic “Back on the Chain Gang” into “Fotos y Recuerdos” on her latest album, Amor Prohibido. She was savvy enough to write and record the nonsensical but eminently hummable, “Bidi Bidi Bom Bom,” which received heavy airplay here and in Latin America last year but would have been a hit in any language.
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Despite those accomplishments, it was the forthcoming release of Selena’s first English-language album that had her fans and business associates giddy with anticipation. Instead of competing with Emilio Navaira (Tejano’s George Strait), La Mafia, Grupo Mazz, La Diferenzia, or Gary Hobbs (Tejano’s Vince Gill), she would be taking on the likes of Whitney Houston, Gloria Estefan, and Madonna. Her rivals were cheering her on. She was going to lift all of Tejano with her.
Then the dream ended—at the hands of the one person outside her family who stood to benefit most from her success.
The Killer
Yolanda Saldivar fit the classic stereotype of la dueña, the faithful chaperone or assistant. Neither attractive nor charismatic, the short, pudgy registered nurse from San Antonio was Selena’s constant companion. Her devotion and loyalty were beyond question. With the Quintanilla family’s blessings, Yolanda founded the Selena Fan Club in 1991. Whenever Selena y los Dinos played San Antonio or nearby communities, Yolanda was at Selena’s side. She was Selena’s eyes and ears, friends said—so trusted that she gave up her fan club position last fall to run Selena’s boutiques.
But some members of Selena’s circle spoke of another Yolanda. She was possessive and controlling, says Martin Gomez, who designed fashions for Selena until, he claims, Yolanda’s obsessiveness drove him to quit. She was a loner who had lived with her mother until recently and had few friends. She had once been accused of embezzling funds from a previous employer, and she had defaulted on a student loan. A woman who moved into an apartment with Yolanda discovered that Yolanda didn’t just have pictures of Selena on her walls—the whole place was “like a shrine.” Spooked, the woman moved out after two weeks.
Word reached Abraham Quintanilla in January that something had been amiss with the fan club. Several fans had complained that they had sent in their $22 but had never received the promised T-shirt, CD, picture or biography. About the same time, employees at the boutiques began to raise questions about Yolanda’s actions. Abraham began quietly investigating the matter and didn’t inform Selena until he felt he had concrete evidence.
In early march, Abraham, Selena, and Suzette met with Yolanda and demanded a full accounting. Yolanda denied the accusations and said that others were intent on making her look bad. Still, she must have seen what was coming. The person she had devoted her life to was going to cut her loose.
On March 13, after undergoing a background check, Yolanda bought a snub-nosed .38-caliber pistol from a San Antonio gun dealer. She then traveled to Monterrey, Mexico, where Selena planned to open a boutique, taking Selena’s business records with her. At some point during Yolanda’s trip, Selena phoned her and told her to bring the records back.
Subsequently, Yolanda resurfaced in Corpus Christi. On the night of Thursday, March 30, Selena and her husband, Chris, went to room 158 at the Days Inn, where Yolanda was staying, to pick up the records from her—despite the fact that Yolanda had asked Selena to come alone. When Selena got home, she realized some bank statements were missing, and she made arrangements with Yolanda to pick up the remaining records Friday morning.
On the morning of March 31, Yolanda asked Selena to accompany her to Doctor’s Regional Medical Center, claiming to that she had been raped in Monterrey. When test results were inconclusive, Yolanda changed her story: She hadn’t been raped after all. Selena and Yolanda then drove back to the motel.
Once again, Selena asked for the bank statements. Apparently, she also attempted to sever their professional relationship. Harsh words were exchanged. Yolanda demanded that Selena return a ring she’d given her as a gift from her employees. As Selena removed the ring, Yolanda pulled out the gun. When Selena ran out the door and yelled for help, Yolanda screamed, “You bitch!” and shot her in the back.
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Selena crossed the courtyard and collapsed. The bullet had entered her right shoulder and severed an artery. By 11:49, when she crawled to the lobby door, she was bleeding to death.
“I’ve been shot,” she cried.
“Who shot you?” asked a motel employee.
“Yolanda.” Selena said. Then she passed out, clutching the ring in her hand.
An ambulance arrived within three minutes to take her to Memorial Medical Center. Notified almost immediately that Selena had been in “an accident,” Abraham and his family raced to the hospital, but the message had gotten confused: They thought she had been in a car wreck. A doctor met them in a waiting area near the emergency room and told them she had been shot. When he said he had administered four units of blood and had been able to restart her heart, Abraham became frantic and interrupted him. Because of her religious beliefs, he said, Selena would have objected to the transfusions.
But it was too late. The transfusions hadn’t helped, the doctor said. Selena was dead.
The Crime Scene
I woke up early on the morning of Sunday, April 2, with an urge to be in Corpus Christi. The outpouring of emotion on the news the night before was unlike anything I’d ever seen.
On the way to pick up David Bennet, who would come along for the ride, I tuned in KEDA-AM’s weekly Spanish-language mass from San Fernando Cathedral in downtown San Antonio. The priest was talking about Selena. “It isn’t the woman who senselessly killed her,” he said. “It is the whole culture of death we’re promoting.” He criticized the urge to retaliate. He begged the congregation to “say no to the spirit of getting even.”
When we got to the Days Inn in Corpus, we met up with about one hundred people, almost all of them Hispanic. Some were taking photos of themselves in front of the motel’s marquee, which read “We Will Miss You Selena.” Others were hanging around the lobby, where Selena spoke her last words. Still others were standing stoically near room 158, posing for cameras and video recorders. At the foot of the door were a bouquet of carnations, some roses, a pink oleander blossom, a votive candle, and several notes.
Many people seemed to be combing the site for something—evidence, perhaps, or a memento. Several young men hovered around the wooden trash container by the lobby, inspecting every square inch for flecks of dried blood. Two teenage boys in Dallas Cowboy jerseys ran their fingers through the thick blades of grass in the courtyard, where Selena had collapsed. Near room 158, three boys carefully picked up wood chips from the flower bed, studying each one for traces of blood.
Retracing Selena’s final steps, I felt the same cold chill I’d felt at Dealey Plaza in Dallas. I looked around for David, who had wandered off. I found him kneeling near the lobby, joining two men in silent detective work. After peering underneath an empty planter, he rose, his face paler than before. “I think I’m going to lose it,” he said. He had found a rust-colored spot that the cleanup crew had missed.
Selena is Dead - 0010Home
From the motel, we drove south on Navigation Boulevard to Bloomington Street, where the Quintanilla clan lived. Traffic was stalled for five blocks as motorists lined up to cruise by. The three modest brick homes, surrounded by a single chain-link fence, were among the newest structures in the blue-collar, largely Hispanic neighborhood, and each had a paved driveway that took up most of the front yard. The house on the corner was Chris and Selena’s. It was small and unassuming — not the sort of place you would identify as the domicile of a superstar. The two-story house next door was Abraham and Marcella’s. The next house belonged to A.B. and his wife, Vangie.
Scores of fans stood in front of the fence, which had turned into a canvas of poster boards, banners, photos, flowers, colored ribbons, balloons, and teddy bears. There were flags of the United States, Mexico, and El Salvador. There were messages from Puerto Rico and Wisconsin, Dallas and Deer Park, Laredo and Three Rivers, and La Feria. One especially touching note was simply addressed, “To: Heaven, From: Houston.”
Staring at a picture of Selena on the fence, a toddler gleefully tugged at his mother’s skirt: “Look, Mommy. Bidi Bidi Bom Bom.”
The Long Good-bye
Downtown, for nearly a mile, people lined the sidewalk of Shoreline Boulevard on their way to Bayfront Plaza Auditoruim. They were waiting to see Selena’s closed casket, which was surrounded by five thousand white roses—Selena’s favorite.
The fans started showing up as early as four in the morning, though the doors didn’t open until nine. Still, things went smoothly until a rumor spread through the crowd late in the afternoon: The coffin was empty; Selena’s death was a publicity stunt. To calm the well-wishers, the family had the casket opened. The body was Selena’s. Her hands, folded across her chest, clutched a single red rose. By ten, when the doors finally closed, almost 60,000 people had paid their respects.
I drove home that night but the next morning impulsively decided to drive back to Corpus. It was too late to attend the private funeral service, but since it was being broadcast live by San Antonio TV and radio stations, I listened while driving down the highway—with my headlights on. Minister Sam Wax, a Jehovah’s Witness, preached in English about the resurrection of Jesus according to the faith. “Jesus said, ‘Do not marvel at this.’” The service lasted less than twenty minutes. At the family’s request, each of the six hundred mourners placed a white rose on the coffin. Before long, a two-foot pile of roses rested atop the casket, which was eventually cleared and lowered into the ground.
I pulled into the parking lot of the Days Inn precisely 24 hours after my first visit. Just as many people were walking the grounds and searching for traces of the crime, but the façade of room 158 had been transformed. Messages scribbled in ink, pencil, and felt-tip marker covered the door, the window, the sidewalk, even the limestone block interior. From a distance, room 158 looked like an altar.
When I first heard Selena had been shot, I thought I was witnessing the end of an era and the shattering of the great American crossover dream. Now I wasn’t so sure. At the very least, my Anglo friends finally knew how to properly pronounce “Tejano.” And I was getting a life’s education in the art of grieving, the power of family, and the cycle of life and death. How sad it all was—and yet how vibrant and full of life this send-off was. These people, most of them strangers to Selena, had gathered to say their good-byes. I heaved a deep sigh, wiped the tears from my eyes, and took one last look around.
The Wisdom of Abraham
It was midafternoon when I arrived at Q Productions, an old auto body shop along Corpus Christi’s Leopard Street industrial strip that the Quintanillas had transformed into a company office and recording facility. Most of the mourners had already cleared out, and Eddie Quintanilla, Selena’s uncle, was happy to regale me with tales of his childhood and of his brother Abraham’s high school group, Los Dinos. Abraham loved street corner doo-wop music and rhythm and blues, Eddie said, but he played traditional Tex-Mex fare—polkas and waltzes with Spanish lyrics—to pay the bills. He recalled how Abraham took a good job, working for Dow Chemical in Lake Jackson, to support his family. With money he saved, he opened a nice Mexican restaurant, quit the plant, and re-formed Los Dinos with his older children. Selena began singing in the restaurant when she was eight. Then oil prices slumped, people quit eating out, and the restaurant went under.
In 1982, Eddie said, Abraham moved the family back to Corpus Christi. Music provided them with sustenance as they traveled across Texas and the United States in a battered van pulling a broken-down trailer. “That was a long, long time ago,” Eddie added with a smile.
I found Abraham Quintanilla sitting in a chair in the studio control room while a TV crew packed up its gear. A broad bull of a man, Abraham had impressed me as a classic band manager, a streetwise type who instantly sends the message that he’s not to be trifled with. He certainly knows the rules of survival on the tejano dance hall circuit: how money at this level of show business is generated (in gate receipts and merchandising, not CDs and cassettes), who was most likely to steal it from you, which disc jockeys can sell an extra 10,000 copies of an album, which promoters skim off the door.
Above all, he knows talent. Even when the shy Selena was singing country music in English or, later, when the members of Los Dinos were jumping around in shiny space suits, Abraham saw something. And, indeed, in 1989 he managed to sign a breakthrough six-figure deal for the band to cut Spanish-language records for EMI’s new Latin division. Then came last year’s English-language contract with SBK records. The beat-up van and rickety trailer were replaced by a tour bus, and a semi full of production and staging equipment. Selena y los Dinos had become a mini-empire. I couldn’t help but wonder then if Selena would someday ditch her father and sign with a big-time management firm in New York or Los Angeles. Now, that was beside the point.
Since Selena’s death, Abraham had been on automatic pilot—talking to reporters, overseeing funeral plans, conceding that he had always been wary of Yolanda Saldivar, even lamenting the death threats that Emilio Navaira’s wife had received. But as the crowd began to leave, he spoke with dread abut the future. “When I see that empty place and I know she’s not there, I’m going to start missing her,” he said. “It’s a tragic thing that happened. It’s a reality.”
We talked of respect, of family, and of the senselessness of the crime. Abraham railed against the concealed-weapons bill that the Texas Legislature would likely pass: “We live in a dangerous world. Why make it worse? My God, everyone’s armed to the teeth. Anybody is liable to kill you for a minute thing.”
But life would go on, he vowed. He manages six other bands, and his other children are certainly gifted enough to perform on their own. Selena had already recorded four tracks for her English-language debut, and four more songs in English are on the sound track of the new movie, Don Juan DeMarco, in which she has a cameo appearance. There was enough material for a new album. “Of course, it would never be the same,” he said. “There will never be another Selena. But we’ll go forward with it.”
I told him what I had seen, how people were looking for answers. Were there any lessons they could take from the tragedy?
He paused deliberately. “Parents, it’s time to go back to the old-fashioned way of teaching our children,” he said. “About morals, about the dangers of life. They’re too trusting. They don’t think there are bad things out there. I hope that a lot of young people see this and grow cautious. I don’t think Selena knew how popular she was getting. I would tell her, ‘Mi hijita, don’t go to the store by yourself at night. Don’t go to the mall alone. There are people who will kill you for no reason, just because you are famous.’”
Abraham Quintanilla knew all that, but he also knew his daughter was old enough to make her own decisions. She would listen, then tell him, “Dad, you think all people are bad. I can take care of myself.”
Abraham talked about the band’s first Mexican tour. The promoter warned them that the media there thrived on sensationalism. Yet Selena disarmed everyone at Los Dinos’ first Mexican press conference by walking in and hugging every single journalist. “By the time she started doing interviews, they were in the palm of her hand,” Abraham said, smiling. “The next day, all the articles praised her. They said she wasn’t some prefabricated blonde. Several remarked about the color of her skin.” It was the brown tone of the masses not the pale white of the Castillian Spanish. “They called her una mujer del pueblo—a woman of the people. She never forgot where she came from.”
You may soon have a problem, I told him. The veneration of Selena was taking on a life of its own.
He shook his head. “Selena wouldn’t want that. She believed worship should go only to the Creator. Just remember her as a good person who loved people and loved life. I don’t think Selena would be pleased to be part of any form of idolatry.”
I told him how sorry I was for him and his family and hugged him in an abrazo.
Moments later, I was back on the highway, holding back sniffles, ready for the long weekend to end. I turned on KEDT-FM to listen to the news when an announcer broke in, saying there had just been a shooting at a refinery inspection company in Corpus Christi. Five people were shot by a former employee with a pistol. The company was only about five miles from Q Productions. It happened at the same moment Abraham Quintanilla and I were talking about guns and violence.
Jhinook Mukherjee is a young and extraordinarily talented exponent of the classical Indian dance form known as Bharat Natyam. This photo is from one of her live performances in Dallas, during her recent tour of the United States.
Bharat Natyam, the Indian Classical Dance from Tamil Nadu, a state in South India, has been one of the oldest and richest classical dance forms of India. Its antiquity is estimated at about 3,000 years, and is associated with a mythological and historical origin. It was originally known as Sadir-attam (court dance) and also Dãsiattam (performed by the daasis - the servants of God).
"Bharat Natyam is a symbol of beauty and aesthetic perfection. As a philosophy, it is a search of human soul for ideal. As a religion, it is the man's quest for the Supreme and the desire to unite with the Ultimate. As a science, it is to attain the perfection of body technique and corporal movement and as poetry, it is the symbol of rhythmic lyricism."
"Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.
Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.
It is our light, not our darkness, that frightens us most.
We ask ourselves, 'Who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, and famous?'
Actually, who are you not to be?
You are a child of God.
Your playing small does not serve the world.
There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that people won't feel insecure around you.
We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us.
It's not just in some of us; it's in all of us.
And when we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.
As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others."
(From "A Return to Love" by Maryanne Williamson - American spiritual activist & author, b.1952)
This lady was standing at the door of her house nearby Alamgir Mosque, she was waiting for the milkman.
She was wondering why I wanted to take a few pictures of her, thinking she was old and not interesting.
I told her that her beauty was shining, she was graceful...
She was smiling with modesty and her gift was to allow me to see her "own light shine"...
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"Notre plus grande peur n’est pas d’être insuffisants.
Notre plus grande peur est d’être capable au-delà de toute mesure.
C’est notre lumière et non notre obscurité qui nous effraye le plus.
Nous nous posons la question: «qui suis-je pour oser me penser comme quelqu’un de brillant, grandiose, plein de talents fabuleux ?»
Mais en fait, qui êtes-vous pour ne pas oser l’être ?
Vous êtes un enfant de Dieu. Jouer petit ne sert pas le Monde.
Il n’y a rien de transformé à se faire tout petit de manière à ce que les autres ne se sentent pas mal à l’aise autour de vous. Nous sommes nés pour rendre manifeste la gloire de Dieu qui est en nous.
Et elle ne se trouve pas seulement chez certains d’entre nous ; elle est en chacun de nous.
Et en laissant briller notre propre lumière, nous donnons inconsciemment aux autres la permission de faire de même.
Au fur et à mesure que nous sommes libérés de notre peur, notre présence automatiquement libère les autres."
(Extrait de "Le Retour de l'Amour" de Marianne Williamson - écrivain américain, née en 1952)
Cette femme se tenait à la porte de sa maison près d ela mosquée d'Alamgir à Benares (Varanasi), elle attendait le laitier.
Elle se demandait pourquoi je voulais prendre quelques photos d'elle, pensant qu'elle était vieille et peu intéressante.
Je lui ai répondu que sa beauté rayonnait, qu'elle était gracieuse...
Elle a souri avec retenue et son cadeau était de me permettre de voir "briller sa propre lumière"...
Another talented Sasquatch Shooter. My friend Chona!
I dont mind the hazy blur on this photo. especially since it was on our 3rd day of shooting/editing for 12 hours a day haha
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Ralph Waldo Emerson. The happiest man is he who learns from nature the lesson of worship.