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Little Princess (aka: Meg)


     

Inside the Burkhart Bus                   The New Burkhart Underground


     

Aloft Aerialists                             Burkhart Regulars


     

Gothic Nights                                Nite Life


     

Chicago Pride                          Punks High on New Wave


     

Common Folk                                 Patty the Pin Lady


     

Naughtiness                                  Halloween 2006


     

Freaks                                       Portraits


     

Cabaret of the Nameless                        It's Only Rawk & Roll


     

Dereliction                                 Underground Film Festival


     

Cute Girls                                   Just Friends


     

Red Hot Annie                            Right-Eye Rita & the Scrapyard Sideshow



     

Deviant Installation                            Out of the Box -- Fetish Sampler

The Crux of the Matter

Note: Many of you know that I come from the "old school" of photography - making prints by hand, utilizing papers with silverbuilt into the actual fibers, lovingly processed with toxic chemicals in dim lights of a primitive darkroom, like those cubicles that housed the alchemists and magi of of lore. Yes, forty years of focus and discipline was bound to lead to change!

So I chose to expand my awareness by exploring the new digital media that everyone was talking about. I bought a digital SLR camera during the summer of 2006. Shortly thereafter, at the end of November, while photographing at the Naughty Spot here in Chicago, I was attacked by a crazed woman bent on causing havoc. Although permanently barred from the establishment, she managed to work her way back in unobserved by management. Afterwards, she dumped a drink into my camera and ran like hell out the door. Her beef was she was an unappreciated dyke, and that night I appeared to be the closest thing to a man she could molest.

As a result, my new camera was short-circuited and rendered inoperable, currently in in need of costly repair. Subsequently I have had to cancel the many photo shoots that stood open to me.

In the meantime, the owner of Spot 6 confided in me that his own love for photography came as a result of being exposed to my photographs some 15 years earlier, when he discovered them on exhibit at a local coffeehouse. Eventually inspired, he was able to invest in the bar through profits he made from photography, emulating my style. How ironic!

Today I await an estimate on the damages - $100's of dollars. At first I envisioned asking those who are privy to all of this - and even those who aren't - to maybe drop a couple of hour's wages into Pay Pal's Palm, to aid my recovery. But lately I'm convinced that telling the story is more worthy than all the contributions I could garner from an otherwise incredulous contingency of party goers who can't justify paying for more than their clothing, aclohol and coke.

I haven't been back to Spot 6 since, although my friends continually invite me. Yet someday I will return, with a pin-hole camera if necessary. Afterall, I don't need any more art... I need friends!

E-Mails:

Fred@BurkhartStudios.com BurkhartStudios@gmail.com

 

 

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