An intimate story of darlene I want to share this story with you; Darlene is an anorexic I'd befriended while I lived in Palmsprings every day she'd walk 26 miles and actually looks like a walking skeleton my goal was to meet her and to get to know her and have the opportunity to photograph her naked sounds a little weird but that was my goal plus I just wanted to get to know what kind of person is like the way she was and why she was like that the second photograph of her standing in her kitchen exemplifies the Yin Yang of anorexia you see Darlene being Italian Always watch Emeril on the cooking channel and every year at Christmas she would make thousands of the most beautiful Christmas cookies I had ever seen Italian lace cookies , exquisite tuile, rolled cookies, sugar cookies a fantasmagoricke array of the most delicious butter cookies I'd ever eaten. One year dhe gifted me my very oen box. She never ate one of them as a matter fact in her refrigerator the only thing she had was diet Cola and her shoes but the picture of her in her kitchen with the chairs arranged with all of the beautiful cookies exemplifies her mania and sickness. The famous poem by Coleridge goes "water water everywhere and not a drop to drink"! knowing the story puts purpose to the photo and explains who this person is and why they are and who they are and how they are and what they are. I entered into these numerous photo sessions with her which occurred over a period of five months with the intention of getting to know her which I eventually was able to accomplish. she not only got to know me but trusted me I recently went to Palm Springs to visit to only to find out that she was dead, a fitting end of someone who only weighed 78 pounds walked 26 miles a day, every day in the heat of Palm springs and only watched the cooking channel as pornography

the only thing on my bucket list

Hey photo gang, I just got nominated for “The People’s Artist” contest. You’ve probably seen Johnny Depp doing weird ads about it. But yeah, I now have to get votes from the “peeeople” …so drop me a vote if you can! It would mean the world to me! https://peoplesartist.org/2026/benjamin-franke-j7NK

Hey friend! I’m pumped you’re here! This community is for photographers and creators to connect with one another, learn from each other, and remove that invisible wall that tends to isolate creatives in their work. We want to be open-handed with our knowledge and we know that getting better means working together! Ask any and all questions, share new discoveries in your work, and connect with other creatives here on this page! Make a separate post to introduce yourself! Can’t wait to meet you!