Catch the Eye, Prick the intellect

Women's Portraits Only (WPO)

Nude study of Kalin Olson in waters of Costa Rica for Mystique Magazine by photographer Mark Daughn. Shot with a Bronica SQA, Ektachrome transparency film. (2018).

Check out his work here: Mystique Magazine.

eyes of model 菓子 by Andy Liu. September 2018.

What caught my eye was what a viewer asked. He want to know 'wuz up with her eyes?' My response was simple, on one level.

"What are you seeing? Probing question a man should ask of youth. If you look closer, the question innocence asks of itself, and of the possibility of losing or compromising innocence, you will be startled. It is a disturbing look, but is all around us. It is not that there is something wrong in the eyes; it is what is in the eyes? That is the question! That is start of the line of questions grandfathers should, and many do, pose to their grandsons. . ." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/07/18 

Mere, Mama, Mothers

Rosa Brighid composed and still in a simple setting. 

Opulence and how it feels is the temperament of the person.

Simplicity in this simple setting

 captured by Rudy Wahju II‎'s eye.

We cannot always breath again after our breath has been swept out of us by surprise, delight or wonder at the sheer beauty of the subject of some women's essence, we sometimes glimpse. Capturing such a thing on film is the work of art, genius, and care to touch the soul... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/06/18 





















In general: The qualities that interrupt our breathing patterns involuntarily are esoteric. What esoteric is belongs to what we perceive by touch, and by touch disseminate with logic and reason. It sad we feel we have to do that to place ourselves above what is beyond touch, and mere belief. It is best to enjoy the unfathomable, absorb its worth feeling its essence. That is how children understand and learn language, and language, itself is Beauty we care to understand by unction, insinuation and yes, touch again, and again, and again....

There is more, but too much without the contact with what balances the Unknown is mere weight. Ain't that something?

In short, I love how you, Alexander Faris, captured the woman's logical connection to the essence of what matters to the subject: "What is beauty, what is kind, what is being perceived?" - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 10/06/18 

Natural light portrait taken with Nikon D750 Sigma 85mm by Alexander Faris.

"Femme absolument somptueuse et Merveilleusement belle et séduisante." That means: [The] Woman is absolutely sumptuous and wonderfully beautiful and attractive! In the street vernacular: she is fine as she wanna be! 

Dignity.

African Woman powerful in presence and essence.

Celloist in solitude, in the mystique of her Muse.

[The] African woman as timeless prophecies unraveling into the complex designs of Knowing. It is a rare enlightenment dismissed by predators trolling for sex and church people defining womanhood by Euro-Jesus standards... - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 8/22/18

Natural was the ideal Blacks set as high standard in the cultural context of being a Black American in the 1960's throughout the '70's! It was a connection to Africa until the old need to be one with whites took over again. This guided Blacks into the 21st century to secure prominence in the soul of a people without a sense of their African soul!... - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8/22/18

The dark skin is the African, the beauty in the African woman is grounded in the genesis of Mankind and the deep spirituality of those traditions from the beginning of Creation beginning in the Land of the Blacks makes us Mankind! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8/22/18

Simple isn't.

"She created a world around her making her desirable. If there was ever perfection,

she was near it. . ." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 

"Simple quality natural is to the essence. Simple qualities to the essence essentially at the core of being alive. Hard to explain the simple feel of natural beauty..." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 1/18/18 

It appears the look in a woman's eye is designed for special effects upon the body, and soon after the spirit is engaged with obligations to be right for what is in her eyes. Women's pose is power over us. - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 1/18/18 

Tribute to Form without Alteration.

Naked against an old tree has a feel most will not know, not from an image! It is an elemental experience that broadcasts the fires of a body in the wind, against the wood, on the ground! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 9/7/17 

vintage photo of Black woman's style. circa 1970's

Naked beneath the white cloth, Melissa Rizo, is bilingual speaking to the loins, the impeccability of a spiritual man, the heart of a lover, and the curiosity of an artist! Being beautiful has its abilities to alter perceptions! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories 9/22/17

Joy and Hello!!

"Playing, oh, she playing!" by AU Naturale Photography.

playing like a child, a woman !!!!

"Joy precedes the hello that leads both along an adventure discovering each other!" 

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 

Joyous Black woman by Roland Dawson 

Melanin creates so many stories...

Face of simple, but profound beauty. 

A woman of the darker hue, whose melanin fades... One is tempted to say she is still beautiful. The word, still, implies a fading away of... - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories oct. 01, 2017 

Unbelievable the mystery, the intrigue of one from so ancient a culture and place in the world's stories.

- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 3.1.17

Unlearning Woman.

MelaninLove 

AS we move along in LIFE.

Virginia Madsen, profile of a woman.

"There are many kinds of love to be expressed today. Today can be one day to show love to those around you and to make someone’s day brighter. Random acts of kindness will work wonders on a day when many will feel lonely. Be polite. Let someone go before you in line. Visit a senior who may live alone. Be nice to kids. Give of yourself and don’t worry about not having a cheap box of chocolates. Buy something delicious for yourself. Take a friend to dinner. Donate to a charity. Celebrate yourself." ~ Virginia Madsen, actress (July 28, 2017) 

Naturalness of African woman's beauty of face, body and form!

"Simplicity can become a complacency in a person too shy to express him or herself. In a woman, a man can appear all she needs, and a man can see in the woman a need to be needed because her expression is shy and inward! It is all illusion the image we project to cover our authentic self, we don't know much about.

There is a riddle here, I admit; but we need to be honest with ourselves engaging the opposite sex. We are capable of making our lives harder than need be..." - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories [Aug. 5, 2017] 

Michèle Mercier's exquisite beauty was timeless.

Raquel Welch in 100 Rifles. She altered reality in a love scene with the popular Black actor, Jim Brown, at the tail end of Jim Crow's day.

WONDER about!

Outdoors by Penny Gamble-Williams. The Natural Essence of Life.

... I am the one whose eye is attracted to the wood! Everything spans out grasping everything unseen into a hold over the imagination, the senses, and the place of wind, water, space and movement seem sustained by something unseen and whole that we are a part of, and come into contact with easier away from cities and can miss in the outdoors, if we are disconnected with what connects us heart to heart to all around us! - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories [July 29, 2017] 

For The Funk of IT!

Rosa Brighid by Michael Row at the Little Chelsea Gallery. June 2016.

In the hey day of the 1970's funk had taken over the world and amongst the wildest, if not the wildest of funk bands was Parliament Funkadelic! Their outrageous stories and characters from other worlds, the unbelievable thick, phat-tuh-death drum and base lines girding up the strength of the loins of the heavy brass and torrential rain storms of fiery guitar solos and riffs made the lyrics memorable. One of the philosophical spins atop of the funk came from one of the singers, Shiela Brody from an offshoot of the group, The Brides of Funkenstein, many years later. In retrospect and much older in an interview she said, "We are not remembered for what we do for ourselves."

Remember the funk of it all because it was African's music that liberated whatever was liberated within the soul of white folks. Which part of their emotional retardation mended came through the music, which penetrates the heart, as Bach is remember for noting and saying. Bach was of the African bloodlines himself.


- Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories Jan. 16, 2017

Rosa Brighid by Michael Row at The Little Chelsea Gallery. June 2016.

Once a girl, now a woman.

"If you must insist on improving the quality of life improve yours." - Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories

Rosa Brighid by Danny Desantos early in January wearing a harness by Malice Lingerie.  

Early on little girls like to imitate and later emulate women whose sense of fashion is an essence, a being true to themselves that creates an atmosphere around them. It is elusive so it is mysterious. The woman who is not a lady, yet is still a woman can become many things, or embody the deeper treasures and become a Sacred Woman. It is the lady whose mystique is a quality girls can perceive, but cannot articulate until later in their lives, who hopes they become ladies because she can help them become ladies! 

The Little Girl, the Woman, the Lady, the Sacred Woman are moving entities within the soul of the Feminine. Without them women are just bodies, les carapace; and Art is lost.

Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories

1/16/17

Rosa Brighid's book in print Now available to order in print:

http://www.magcloud.com/browse/issue/1122913 

A L L U R E, into each other.



"naughty woman reflecting off of naughty men is a reciprocal relationship is it not?"
- Dawn Wolf, Keeper of Stories
5.4.16

 

the American Dream: the pursuit of happiness.

"If you are attached to human happiness, you are in for a lot of trouble, because nightmares are inevitable along with the beautiful dreams. But if you will think of a dream as a dream, whether it is enjoyable or dreadful, you will have peace. When you realize that life is a dream, then you are free."

- Paramahansa Yogananda

Yugarilya Zhangaela

Penetration



a wife's natural beauty older and deeper penetration of energies ...

Tiara Kristine Harris naked in a field 3

"The Woman who understands her sexual energy and embraces it experiences the Pleasure that is innate and natural within her... She doesn't need sex with a man to be "pleased"... it is her pleasure literally." ~ Tiara Kristine Harris April 17, 2015

 

SANKOFA VIEWS Black American Women

poster to Black Women

I love Black Girls

3 Black women's natural hair styles

Three Black American women with their 'naturals' sitting on the ground talking and laughing unabashedly reminds me of the climate when I was a young man; and Black women engaging life was intimidating and exhilarating at the same time challenged me and other young cats to exceed our limitations. Standing in close proximity to their presence did more to bring us into the concept of better where it could dwell comfortably within us. That is what Black women inspired in us. They were the glimpses of the Goddess compelling us to push our intellectual capacities over the horizon, and they were the Muse of creative impulses in ways foreign to this generation of Black women. 

It was and looking backwards, astonishing to feel that beside our parents a Black woman's appreciation of us made all the difference in the world. Those daily pushes from Black women's vitality diminished the social climate set against us, and made a world of possibilities a real world to create and leave as a legacy. That is part of the story of how I developed during and after the Civil Rights movement when I was stateside: internally and through indirect and direct communication with what I felt from the wombs of countless women engaged with their vital energies. It was a theater unlike today's world with the current fashion of disconnection from those energies and the hipness of being someone else, and less the feminine of the Black female doesn't inspire; it creates questions away from the why of existence! 

Gregory E. Woods,
Keeper of Stories 11.16.14 

legs agape - Keke Palmer 

P O W E R tools

"The subtlest beauties in our life are unseen and unheard." 

- Kahlil Gibran 



Serene protestor in Baton Rouge, LA July 2016.
Leshia Evans


STRENGTH 

"The very strength that protects the heart from injury is the strength that prevents the heart from enlarging to its intended greatness within. The song of the voice is sweet, but the song of the heart is the pure voice of heaven." - Kahlil Gibran





beautiful Puerto Rican woman !!!!

WEAKNESS

"That deed which in our guilt we today call weakness, will appear tomorrow as an essential link in the complete chain of Man." - Kahlil Gibran

a Look at Lara

Lara Christine Von Seelen (known professionally as Lara Spencer) (born June 19, 1969)
is an American television journalist is refreshing each morning she is on air.

Lara Spencer, co-host Good Morning America walking in a coral & purple dress !!!!

 

Ceremony of Restoration

"Cherish your wild Soul Wild Flesh'd Woman. Keep the River of your Soul clean and uncluttered ... of toxic heat and imbalance." - Mereana Taki 7.30.14

Amanda Jean in night clothes 

gallery: Amanda Jean


A question or three to the typical response and spirit of a nation immersed in personal rights, and sexual property. Do you know the ceremonies and rituals of restoration? Do you know the commandments of the Moon and the urges of the spirit within the wombs beyond the sanctity of virginity in the climate of a people who devalue virgins and their gifts? 

 - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8.2.14 

MOre To The EYE

an exquisite beauty from a dream of Life. 

"We must pass through solitude and difficulty, isolation and silence to find that enchanted place where we can dance our clumsy dance and sing our sorrowful song. But in that dance, and in that song, the most ancient rites of our conscience fulfill themselves in the awareness of being human." ~ Neruda

a snap shot of Cosetta Chantal
June 6 , 2014

Translation

A Black woman undressing is something to cherish. To behold it in reverence is at once spiritual. When she is undressing for you, her man, you are drinking a deep kind of love of reverence unequaled in power and strength found anywhere within the lexicon or the tradition of Church worship. Your Black woman undressing is her soul becoming more and more vulnerable to you trusting you will not violate either body or soul. The act is the usher into a realm of being you are responsible for, will become attached to, cannot control and will never dominate because her powers can hold you and give you 'some' from her all without losing herself within you. It is a great mystery the woman within our women! - Gregory E. Woods, Keeper of Stories 8.18.15