Welcome back! We’re proud to present (finally!) the action shots of Issue 50, collected by Operative Ashley Tobin around Orange County, CA, in the warmest days of this summer (photos and commentary both by the operative).
Little Paris
Gazing at the Eiffel Tower mural in my great aunt Cheryl’s tea shop, “Paris in a Cup.” It’s located in the historic “Orange Circle,” in Southern California. If you’re ever around there, check it out. *wink wink*
Some Shapes
Leaving “The Perfect Circle” cupcakery, also located in the “Orange Circle.” Yes, I am aware that cupcakery is not an actual word, but bear with me.
The Best Ones
Outside of “Paris in a Cup.” It was imperative to my little sister that she be in some of the pictures with me.
Wildlife
The iconic water fountain in the center of the “Orange Circle.” It seemed that the event that was going on around me was a meet and greet with locals and Orange County bikers. Yes, very enthralling.
Road Signs
Examining Audrey and the wall decals of the cupcakery in all their glory.
ONE MORE YEAR
The harmonious voices of my family rang out in this picture while they sang “Happy Birthday” to me.
Reversal
Late night picture of a late night food run.
“The Mermaid Lagoon”
Hiking to “The Mermaid Lagoon,” a quaint little water hole my father and I found when I was younger.
The Giant Flora of California
Indulging in Indian cuisine at Himalayan Grill in Huntington Beach.
*
Many, many thanks to both Alisa Golden and Ashley Tobin for making 50 issues come off in fine style.
We are delighted to present the following photo-set of our latest issue, brought to us filtered through beauty both natural and teeming by Operative Dillon J. Welch, straight out of Manchester, TN and the set of Bonnaroo, where people wear birds like clothes (commentary by none other than the operative himself):
THE KIDS ARE JUST FINE
Got the tent popped, the carpet spread, the canopy hoisted, and the generator up and running in record time. This one’s for sitting back and admiring your own work. This one’s for beer. This one’s for the kids.
WHAT MOST FAIL TO UNDERSTAND UPON INITIAL INSPECTION, ALL AT ONCE BECOMES CLEAR
On the hottest day of the week, it’s okay to drink a glass of lemonade. Here you can see me standing in an actual stance of “being okay with drinking a glass of lemonade.” A curious festival-goer behind me in line said “What does his shirt say?” And then she said “I don’t get it.” And then she said “Oh—I get it now.” She gets it now.
ALWAYS AIM FOR THE OIL DRUMS
The Bonnaroo arch. A symbol of freedom. A symbol of not really knowing where your wallet is, even though you could’ve sworn you left it in the center console in your car, but it wasn’t there the last time you looked. Important to note the exhausted looking horde moving slowly through the serpentine railing formation. Note the grass, trampled and greying. Note the sky, the trees, the oil drum trash can (deftly labeled “Trash!”).
CROSSING THE THRESHOLD
Crossing the Threshold, 2013, Silver gelatin print, 14 x 10 inches
THEODORE
Standing in front of Bonnaroo’s famous “Silent Disco” tent. It is in this tent where a man named Ted wears headphones and dances with an air of sudden and stifling uncertainty. It is there where Ted sways slightly to the left, and then slightly to the right. Ted knows a crowd stands just beyond the railing, silently judging his every quiet, unfortunate movement. It is in this tent where Ted will shed a layer of his skin. He will violently cocoon himself to the tune of some in-house DJ’s twee interpretation of Katy Perry’s “Teenage Dream.” He will break free and moth into the wild and untethered night.
Or maybe he’ll get drunk and sing along to “Free Falling” with Tom Petty’s reanimated corpse.
TRADITIONAL CEREMONIAL DRESS
On my way to see Björk wear some kind of endangered bird around her neck like a marvelous heirloom. Bro in the jersey told me Daniel Tosh insulted his forlorn mother. In this picture, Bro is on his way to the craft beer tent to dunk his head in a vat of the heartiest local pilsner.
SOME FLAGS, NO MATTER HOW HIGH YOU HOIST THEM, ARE DESTINED TO BE TORN DOWN
My friend Colton knows all of the words to Jack Johnson’s “Bubble Toes.”
Camera guy (Corey) got annoyed with my constant photo demands. Here you can see me pretending to enjoy the music, while standing still enough to avoid blurry pictures. [Note: I tried to get The Tallest Man on Earth to give a shout out to Safety Pin, but he wasn’t having it. Whatever. The man’s a liar. He’s not even tall. He’s not even short enough for his name to be ironic.]
LIKEWISE, SOME NATURAL STRUCTURES ARE MEANT TO BE TORN DOWN
After a long week of poor decisions and finding oneself perfectly lost in the dark of a field full of drugged-out twenty-somethings, it’s important to reflect on what makes you a person, what makes you tangible. This is a waterfall. It is large and made of water. Beneath it are rocks. Beneath all of us are rocks. Miley Cyrus once swung on a rope swing above this very waterfall. Miley Cyrus knows about the rocks beneath us all.
BLOCKAGE
I ate a cheeseburger from Wendy’s just before this picture. It was beautiful. It made me feel like a wind-torn statue. I think that’s all I want in life: to feel like something solid, immovable. And cheeseburgers from Wendy’s.
We’re just thrilled to present the first grouping of Action Shots from Issue 49, a three-poem series brought to us by James Tadd Adcox. The first piece is worn here by Operative Afra al-Mussawir in Austin, TX (with commentary by the operative!):
The Vehicle AKA the Wheelchair
If you stare at a wheelchair long enough, will it become a small bird?
*
If you stare at a woman in a wheelchair long enough, will she become nameless and comforting?
Ready to Work Out
and
At the Wheelchair Fitness Center
…where the poem sparked an unexpected and bewildering debate as to whether it was really possible for a bird to remain nameless for long. I got a few “Oh, I like that” and “Yeah, I saw that–what’s that all about?” responses.
BBQ #1
*
BBQ #2
*
BBQ #5
Group lunch at the BBQ place after working out. The guy behind the register didn’t see the poem until I turned around to model it for him. His response was: “Yeah, I like that.” The people on line behind me didn’t comment; I think they were too hungry to appreciate The Scientific Method.
Outside Quack’s
I played chess with my friend Victor in this coffee shop, and after he finished squashing me like a bug, I waited outside for my ride home. A café employee bussing tables outside asked me, “So, who won?” I distracted him by pointing out the poem. “I like that,” he said. “About the bird. I like that.” Then he agreed to take a pic featuring the poem and the coffee shop storefront.
Keep Austin Weird
I think sometimes Austinites try too hard.
When I asked the cashier at a department store if he wanted to see the poem on my back, the lady behind me on line piped up. “I read it!” she said. “It’s good,” she assured the cashier.
Outside the Old Toy Joy
It turns out Toy Joy is moving to a downtown location – NOOOOOO!!! I caught them just as they were moving some last items, the hand chairs being the last to get loaded onto to the truck. Total transformation I can handle – even turning into a bird – but moving downtown? I’m gonna miss those chairs. Oh, and the plastic Godzillas in the window display.
Alborz
At the Persian restaurant. I think probably the belly dancer was twirling too fast to catch the poem, but my friend’s cousin took a pic of it for herself. See, I was right: no one can appreciate poetry until after they’ve eaten.
TFB
Breakfast at the Texas French Bread down the block from the old Toy Joy. No one commented on the poem. Adults are not supposed to stare at people in wheelchairs. I wished they would so that I could fly off in a flurry of feathers.*
*No birds were harmed in the making of this photoessay, but brisket was consumed with gusto.
In the midst of the rains that seem to have engulfed New York as of late, we emerge from the waters into the fresh air of Wake Forest, North Carolina, from which hails our latest beautiful series of Action Shots, brought to us by the incomparable Operative Emily Ramser. And so we travel, ever backwards:
The fields, the fields, the fields
From the operative:
“A friend and I drove out to an abandoned golf course to take a few pictures. Sadly, we didn’t find many people interested in reading my back there. In fact, we only stumbled upon a teenage couple making out, who ran away from us, embarrassed, without stopping to read my jacket.”
Anyone Finds Anyone
“My photographer friend wanted to experiment with artistic views, so he had me sit in mud and a drain pipe. Fun times. I was certainly contemplating diving in and becoming water by this point.”
Twins
“When a place becomes abandoned like this, it’s a mystery that anybody finds anybody.”
You Cannot Practice Traveling Backwards in Time
‘Practicing for exams, I have the habit of perching on desks, as my teachers call it.”
There Is No Such Thing As Underwater
“I wandered down to my town’s yearly ‘Meet in the Street’ with David’s piece on my back. I can’t tell you how many people ran after me going ‘WAIT! STOP! I want to finish reading!'”
Other Kinds of Light
“Just another instance of me having to explain the meaning of caliginous to someone.”
Degrees
“Bringing thought into a place of ruin.”
I STAND CORRECTED
“I was letting professors of Southeastern Baptist Seminary read my jacket after an essay reading I attended where a good friend of mine was speaking. Everyone was very impressed with David’s piece, some of the professors in attendance in particular.”
Sweatshirt Eternal
*
This phenomenal issue belongs totally to David Tomaloff and Emily Ramser, communicating in unexpected, inter-medial ways. Enormous thanks to them both; and the promise of refreshments should path cross path.
Fresh from the tumbleweed-ridden lands of Austin, TX and the back of Operative Joey, the SPR is proud to present the following, shamelessly political set of Action Shots, premiering with this artful, windswept portrait:
Arms Reaching Out to No One
*
Next, we visit the royal palaces of Texas.
Before the Gates of Montezuma
*
Inside the Gates (A Sacrifice Is Made)
*
On the walls of the palace:
Joey w/ A Bush
*
Lighting the Fire of Revolution
*
PIONEERS
*
On his journeys with the story on his back, Joey collected three tales (in his own words):
The Wilted Leaves of the Modern Art
*
1) The first day I wore it a couple of elderly women sitting behind me at a coffee shop asked to take my picture – they said that they loved it.
Shimmery People
*
2) One day as I was walking to a diner a man, who looked rather scraggly, with a staff (although I suppose he called it a bow, does that make it a bow staff?) yelled at me to stop so that he could read it. I bit back the fear, but only for you my good sir [curator/browbeater], and let him approach. He then explained that if some guy kissed him he would probably hit him with the very staff he was toting – he then further related an event in which he did use that staff to hit someone in the head repeatedly – no worries, I made it to the diner.
(EDITORIAL NOTE: This is the kind of people who inhabit Austin, TX. Casual staff-wielders. Probably dressed like the shimmeries in the photo.)
Joey Is Addicted to Firepower
*
3) the night of my birthday I was wearing it at a club – two older gay gentlemen asked me about it, and then laughed at the age – saying that they were about 60.
The Faces That Are Always Watching
*
Where Children Go to Drown
*
Holiday Cheer Lasts Forever
*
Majesty:
The Man Who Learned to Fly
And so we have achieved the power of flight.
Welcome to Texas.
Mucho thanks to Joey Holloway, for wearing Cassandra’s poem; to Cassandra Gillig, for contributing the poem and turning the SPR on its side; and to Chad Redden, for being the muse.
We could not be more pleased with these Action Shots, fresh from Operative Robert wearing Joshua Young’s piece. See them below!
But first things first, WATCH THE READING OF A SAFETY PIN REVIEW STORY BY ITS OPERATIVE IN A FARAWAY PLACE:
This reading took place at the Big Ass Boom Box festival at Floating World Comics in Portland.
!!!!!!!!!
A sign, a sign of things to come.
All of These Cars Will Be Crushed by Nightfall
The Safety Pin Review is STREETWISE with Robert Duncan Gray.
Innumerable Casualties in the Name of Something Else
It gets the SPR all hot and bothered when folks take to spreading the love. We are big fans of Getting the Word Out Via Multiple Operatives.
We Wear These Stories Like Condiments
Here, honorary operative Diana Salier rocks Josh’s poem whilst eating some fries. Jealous types scheme in the background.
The Aluminuminum
In this marvel of photographic composition (those lines! that red door! the coiled hose! – a metaphor for what?!), Rose Tully festoons herself in lovely denim.
Spreading Like Eagles
Barn-burner Riley Michael Parker struts his stuff in front of a giant cat’s eye and shows off his shapely legs.
CATS. DIG. SPR.
Lindsay Allison Ruoff brings the SPR to the cat-people. Meanwhile, an owl watches from the background. In this case, the owl is the metaphor.
Is there any such thing as too many cats in an SPR photo? No.
What Everything Leads To
FUCK YEAH!
Basically, this sums up our feelings towards this set of photos. Tremendous thanks to Joshua Young for providing the killer poem, and Robert Duncan Gray and his gang for spreading the SPR gospel so awesomely around Portland.
*
And stay tuned. Tomorrow: a newsflash that probably involves all of you.
Just in passing time for the holidays, at the fringes of new semesters the world over, we awaken their spirit for this seasonal installment of SPR Action Photos, brought to you from Orange, California by Operative Lauren.
Let this be indicative of things to come:
The Pink Umbrella
*
Wood Paneling #2
*
Do you remember the first time a wood-paneled kitchen appeared in the Safety Pin Review?
We have, shooting outta Dayton, OH, some of the best action shots ever, courtesy of Operative Rabbi David, who strutted his wearing stuff while leading Shabbat services, teaching Krav Maga, and hanging out with his kids. Seriously, this is gonna make you wanna hug someone pretty hard.
Your Very Own Outdoor Shabbat
: D
Children in the Midwest (Your Very Own Outdoor Shabbat #2)
In all honesty, these are some of my favorite action shots so far. Ever.
FEEL THE LOVES.
Israeli Martial Art
Here, Rabbi David teaches a Krav Maga class, which is Israel’s martial arts/self-defense system, creating a legion of Jews exceptionally well-prepared for hand-to-hand combat.
Operative Chad wore Ken Baumann‘s story and our 40th issue around the environs of the Art Prize, held in Grand Rapids, MI each year. In this once-in-a-lifetime installment of Action Shots, the Safety Pin Review inspires its wearers to make dramatic life choices.
Vision on, to find out how, and where, and when. Chad knows!
This Is How You Plan for the Longest Journey
This is how you frequent your local library.
This Is How You Capture Light
This is how you create mood.
This is How You Win at Business in Western Michigan
This is how you hydrate.
This Is How You Fracture Light
This is how you practice your moves.
This Is How You Take to the Streets
This is how you cross.
This Is How You Spot Objects in the Sky
This is for those who look forever up.
This Is How You Hold On Forever
*
And this is how you keep warm.
*
Did you know that a ring of Saturn, sized down, fits around your finger just like an engagement ring?
*
This Is How You Say Yes
I’d draw your eyes to the pumpkins, but you’ve already read them, haven’t you?
That’s right.
THAT’S RIGHT.
She said yes, of course. *CONGRATULATIONS, CHAD!!!**
❤ ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤
LET THE SPR DEFINE YOUR LIFE. Entertoday, by any and every means.
We are reveling. Big ferocious thanks to Chad and Ken for wearing and writing. For always. xx
We are proud to present the following Action Shots, brought to us off the rainy streets and from the shiny white malls of Cardiff, Wales by Operative Rebecca L. Brown, sporting her some Mel Bosworth. BRING IT ON, Welsh-style:
THE BOOTH
Look at the way the floor pattern moves!
Pondershot #1
Mel’s story inspires deep stares.
THE DOME
This mall; Grecian, in its dimensions.
Pondershot #2
COLUMNS.
Pondershot #3
*
Pondershot #4
*
ACCESSORIZE THIS (Pondershot #5)
Ghosts in boxes.
The Coming Hordes
*
City Glaze
This is visual poetry.
Belts!
*
Hand in Hand in Umbrella
*
An enormous round of applause to our operative abroad, Rebecca, for making this happen, and to Mel Bosworth, for taking us down so damn far.