Chris Crumley Blog

We sent 12,000 of these email promotional pieces to the major art buyers and creatives in the U.S. week before last. It's impossible to pick a precise target audience for something like this because any kind of product can use a water-based ad concept.... insurance, pharmaceuticals, transportation, banking, fashion and a long list of others. And, then, of course, there are editorial possibilities like sports magazine swimsuit issues.

There are only a small handfull of photographers in the world who do this sort of thing successfully, so you just have to be in the buyer's or creative's files when they are moved in the wet direction.

Thanks to Tom Dye/Ferguson Enterprises and Jeff Ainslie/Ainslie Group Homes (Virginia Beach, VA) for availability of the shower unit, Chuck Guthrie/Lynnhaven Marine (VaBch) for transportation/sinking/rigging, mermaid Viv LEPLUS (Miami Beach, FL) and Christina Macfarlane (VaBch) for creative. All the photography was done underwater.

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1 Infinite Loop is the Center of the Universe as many artists perceive it.

Being an east coast guy with ten Macs, I had only read that 1 Infinite Loop and Cupertino, CA were the headquarters for Apple. Last Thursday, I found myself on Rt 17 going south from Napa-to-San Francisco-to-Monterey, CA, saw an exit to Cupertino and decided at 65mph to go see Apple. I had some spare time; why not?

Off the highway and in Cupertino, it isn't hard to find Apple.

Infinite Loop is comprised of six buildings on the inside of a circle about a large city block round. One building is for Executive Presentations, one houses The Company Store and the others are similarly tagged for a variety of company functions. But, the Loop buildings are only the beginning of the Apple presence. There are buildings-after-buildings with Apple logos in the surrounding techie-corporate-looking neighborhood.

The Company Store had a few more demo stations, but it didn't offer a much different inventory than you'll find in a typical Apple store in Norfolk, VA or NYC. Well, maybe there were more Apple-logo soft goods; hats, shirts, jackets, pens and cups; that sort of thing. I asked to see a MacBook Pro 15 or 17" with max RAM, max space and rpm HD and a non-glare monitor, but they don't make a photographer's non-glare 15 yet and didn't have a 17. If they'd had it, I'd have walked away with it.

I bought a couple of gifts for a fellow Apple user and got back on the highway. I hadn't seen Steve Jobs, but I have now seen the exterior of Apple and probably the Center of the Universe Corporate Headquarters. I'm not positive, but humor me and let's just say "I was there."

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This mannequin makes it three in a row. Could it be mannequin fever? Is that something prevalent in Northern California (Guerneville)?

You have to admit, the three are some mix of attractive, interesting or different. And, they are all in different cities.

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This mannequin head had a strong draw. She was in a vintage clothing shop in Guernevile, CA near the Russian River and Rt 116, both of which flow to the Pacific Ocean in a short amount of time. I tried to buy her for the studio, but the shopkeeper wouldn't have it. I can't be the only one. The shopkeeper saw me eyeing it and when I turned my head to her and started to open my mouth asking if she was for sale, the shopkeeper smiled and shook her head. She knew what was coming.

All is not lost. She told me where I could find one.

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I was dropping a courier package this afternoon and saw this mannequin in the window of a tailor shop. The light, her lips and eyes looking straight at me prompted the picture. I haven't been here for a while. We have a terrible economy, but I'm working 14 hour days to try to keep up with work. Go figure.

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