Category: Visual

  • WAX and WANE: The Full Moon of March 2019

    In 2019, the full Moon of March rises on the same day as the vernal equinox—marking the start of spring!


    March also brings the final supermoon of 2019.


    The March full Moon is particularly special because it reaches its peak on the same day as the spring equinox, on March 20, 2019. The last time the full Moon and the spring equinox coincided this closely (4 hours apart) was in March 2000, but the last time they occurred on the same date was on March 20, 1981!


    Traditionally, the Moon we see in March is called the Full Worm Moon. At this time of the year, the ground begins to soften enough for earthworm casts to reappear, inviting robins and birds to feed—a true sign of spring. Roots start to push their way up through the soil, and the Earth experiences a re-birth as it awakens from its winter slumber.

    This full Moon is also a supermoon, meaning the Moon will be nearly at its closest to Earth for the month of March. It’s the year’s third (and final) of three straight full supermoons. This means that the Moon may “appear” brighter and bigger than normal, provided the night sky is clear and dark.

     

     

    https://www.almanac.com/content/first-day-spring-vernal-equinox

    featuring Model: Alycia de los Santos
    The Full Worm Moon of March:
    20 March 2019
    Seaside, Waterford, CT  USA

     

  • “Don’t Take The Ring”

    “Don’t Take The Ring” draws from an admonition spoken by Agent Cooper to Laura Palmer in a dream sequence in Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.  The focus of this series is upon choices made, once the ring is taken.

    We are drawn into the young blonde model’s world:

     

    she has chosen to stand at the threshold-

     

    she pauses,

     

    she considers what lies beyond,

     

     

    and then she enters the mansion.

     

     

    She wants to explore,

     

    and we ride along with her

     

     

    And then it has been decided

     

     

    that the consequences have already unfolded before her

     

     

    as she meets her shadow self- the brunette model.

     

    It is the casualty of her decision-

     

    to cast one’s lot with the angels

     

    in the hopes that it will be received well,

     

    that resonates with the audience.

     

     

    We are rooting for these models to succeed

     

     

    because we see ourselves in them.

     

    We understand the platform of complication,

     

    but we want them to rise like the phoenix,

     

    and speak to our own immortality.

     

    It is all about the work.

    “Laura Is The One”
    All Photographs by Michelle Gemma
    featuring Models: Piper Meyers and Julia Farrar
    locations: The Haley Mansion, Perkins Farmhouse before it was demolished, woods off River Road, Mystic, CT USA

  • Chronicles of Sonic Life

    “The Stars Turn, and a Time Presents Itself”:::


    I started thinking about all the band photographs I have taken since the early 1990’s, when I first tested the waters with a camera. Musicians were my first muse, before I established a model stable, a steady fuse that still burns today. I realized with a tiny shock,  that not a single band in my photographic collection is still together today.

    Of course……not shocking at all:

    being in a band is the very essence of a photograph: “it is a flash in a moment of time” (Portersville, 1998).

    My very first band photo was a live shot of Delta of Venus, at the El-n-Gee in January 1993:

     

    $3 Depth Charge Photo Shoot for Postage Magazine 1997 on promotion for the Trapezium CD.

     

    Fatal Film photoshoot at the Waterford Drive-In Theater 6 March 2004

    Estrogen and Tonic   (ONE HALF OF PAISLEY JUNGLE!!!!!!!) Hygienic Rock Fix 29 January 2005

     

    Lotus at the Green Marble 1994

     

    Low Beam at Hygienic Rock Fix in New London January 2005

    Incessant Pop Group chez Centraal Studios, 2005

     

    Slander band photo June 2012 in our backyard

     

    My last band photo was Slander at the Stardust Motel in North Stonington for a video production of  “Ghosts” b/w “Magnets” in 2013.

     

    Over these twenty years, I have photographed in pretty much chronologic order:  Delta of Venus, 17 Relics, Lotus,  Mindbender,  Magpie,  MAP,  Doug,  Cigarette, The Reducers, Vera From Alice, Grand Passion,  Semaphore,  Mona Gritch,  Adams Onis,  $3 Depth Charge,  Black Pig Liberation Front,  AmberTones,  Portersville,  Roger Human Being,  Seratonin,  Low Beam,  Estrogen and Tonic,  Fatal Film,  Quiet Life,  Ringers,  Sodium Lights,  Incessant Pop Group,  and Slander.

    The music of many of these bands can be heard here in the music archive, carefully maintained by Mat Tarbox. The origin of PortFire was in MMA:  Mystic Music Archive, and after the Chez Depot Memorial Show in July 2011, it was decided that a larger Artist website would better serve the talent of the roster.

    “I can’t find my way home..
    That’s when I don’t need you.”

    Incessant Pop Group, Anhedonia, from Batterie Electronique, 2006

     

  • Caroline’s Supposed Demon


    “Caroline’s supposed demon
    Caroline, they say she’s haunted
    We may only once divide the
    Pain and darkness deep inside us”
    This song is by His Name Is Alive and appears on the album Livonia (1990).
    written by Warren DeFever


    Outtake from The Personal Universe Shoot

    featuring Model: Carol W.

    as my PISCES
    Photograph by Michelle Gemma
    26 September 2017
    Watch Hill, Rhode Island,  USA
    michellegemmaphotography.com
    michellegemmaphotography.wordpress.com

  • Last Quarter Moon

    The LAST QUARTER MOON occurs on Thursday, November 29th, 2018, at 7:19 PM EST.
    Thursday evening, the Last Quarter Moon is exact, when the Sun in Sagittarius forms a square with the Moon in Virgo.
    The Last Quarter Moon phase points to some sort of crisis of consciousness.

    Outtake from “The Balance of Power”

    a new photo narrative featuring Model: Jane Alice
    as my LIBRA
    for the new series: Personal Universe, an astrological study starring the model stable of Michelle Gemma (2017-2018)
    Photograph by Michelle  Gemma
    27 July 2018
    Stonington Boro, CT  USA
    Full Moon Lunar Eclipse

    https://michellegemmaphotography.com/
    https://michellegemmaphotography.wordpress.com/