Jasper Johal posts
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Lean on me
Lean on meWhen you're not strongAnd I'll be your friendI'll help you carry on...For it won't be longTill I'm gonna need somebody to lean onYou just call on me brother when you need a handWe all need somebody to lean onI just might have a problem that you'll understandWe all need somebody to lean on– lyrics by Bill Withers, from his 1972 album “Still Bill”PHOTO: Two good friends, Erin and Devon, dancing in my studio. ...
City Of The Angels
City of the angels, spread your wings for meI've been other places looking for my dreamEastern cities move too fastSouthern ones too slowI can't go back to my pastAnd I need someplace to growCity of the AngelsClear your cloudy skies for meI heard you got some places that I oughta seeHeard you got a Disneyland not too far awayWhen it rains I understand the skies are clear all day– Bill WithersPHOTO: Hallie is one of many dreamers who hav...
Scorpion pose
Inga doing a scorpion yoga pose, and making it look easy. Called Vrischikasana in Sanskrit, it combines a forearm balance and backbend. It takes strength to get into the pose, but it is finding a sense of balance that allows one to stay in it.
Vinyasa Yoga
Daily yoga can transform our life. It is as much a mental exercise, as it is a physical one. Vinyasa is the most popular form, combining rhythmic repetitive yoga with breath and movement. After a while the poses become automatic and the mind starts to sink into a calm meditative state.PHOTO: I met Kel at a yoga teacher training program. When she arrived at my studio I let her flow through her practice as I photographed her.
Dancing in the Rain
Karina had just come from a workout when she arrived at my studio. She wanted to shower before we started our shoot.We were conversing through the open bathroom door as she rinsed off, and she started to dance to the music that was playing in my studio. Watching her gyrate I thought it would be fun to get some shots of her in the shower.I had just used a large red cloth for another shoot, and decided to hang it in the shower. Then I cranked up th...
Hanging in there
Sounds of the seas grow fainter,Sounds of the sands have sped;The sweep of gales,The far white sails,Are silent, spent and dead.Sounds of the days of summerMurmur and die away,And distance hidesThe long, low tides,As night shuts out the day.– a poem by Emily Pauline Johnson (1861–1913)PHOTO: Blair is a skilled trapeze artist. I met her at the Santa Monica beach where she was teaching at a trapeze school.
Pilates with Leah
I had been invited to exhibit my “The Body as Temple” art nudes at a Pilates Conference. I met Leah at that conference. She came to the show and told me how much she loved seeing art nudes of athletic muscular yogis and dancers.She said she did not have anything against sexual nudes, but that it was refreshing to see nudes that focused on strength and form instead.Like a lot of Pilates teachers, she had a strong background in dance. After we ...
Bird of Solitude
THOUGHthe day of my destiny’s over,And the star of my fate hath declined,Thy soft heart refused to discoverThe faults which so many could find.Though thy soul with my grief was acquainted,It shrunk not to share it with me,And the love which my spirit hath paintedIt never hath found but inthee.From the wreck of the past, which hath perish’d,Thus much I at least may recall,It hath taught me that what I most cherish’dDeserved to be dearest of ...
Phantom of delight
She was a Phantom of delightWhen first she gleamed upon my sight;A lovely Apparition, sentTo be a moment's torment– from a poem by William Wordsworth (1770–1850)
Sway
“Love is so short, forgetting is so long.”– Pablo NerudaPHOTO: Another image that celebrates the supple back of a dancer.
Vasisthasana variations
Vasisthasana, or Side Plank, provides a wonderful side stretch, but it is a challenging yoga asana. It requires strength and balance. Most yogis need to build up to it, by doing variations that provide a little support, such as “knee down”, or “kickstand” versions. But once the body is strong enough to get into it and hold it, it is time to have fun and do variations like the ones shown here.As a yoga photographer, I love how Vasisthasana...
Flight
Could I from this valley drear,Where the mist hangs heavily,Soar to some more blissful sphere,Ah! how happy should I be!Distant hills enchant my sight,Ever young and ever fair;To those hills I'd take my flightHad I wings to scale the air.– from a poem by Friedrich von Schiller (1759–1805)_PHOTO: Shautia is a sassy, talented, energetic model I had the pleasure of shooting with several years ago. She has become a skilled photographer hersel...
Remembering
When in the morning’s misty hour,When the sun beams gently o’er each flower;When thou dost cease to smile benign,And think each heart responds with thine,When seeking rest among divine,Forget me not.When the last rays of twilight fall,And thou art pacing yonder hall;When mists are gathering on the hill,Nor sound is heard save mountain rill,When all around bids peace be still,Forget me not.– from a poem by Ann Plato (circa 1841)_PHOTO: Remem...
Nothing Gold Can Stay
Nature’s first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf’s a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf.So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to day.Nothing gold can stay.– Robert Frost (1874–1963)PHOTO: Experimenting with gold paint on my model's skin. I was curious to see how it would come out in the images.
The Snow Fairy
And suddenly my thoughts then turned to youWho came to me upon a winter’s night,When snow-sprites round my attic window flew,Your hair disheveled, eyes aglow with light.My heart was like the weather when you came,The wanton winds were blowing loud and long;But you, with joy and passion all aflame,You danced and sang a lilting summer song.– from a poem by Claude McKay (1889–1948)PHOTO: It was an unseasonably cold winter day in Los Angeles wh...
Brazen Strutting
Desire naked, linked with Passion,Goes trutting by in brazen fashion;From playhouse, cabaret and innThe rainbow lights of Broadway blazeAll gay without, all glad within;As in a dream I stand and gazeAt Broadway, shining Broadway — onlyMy heart, my heart is lonely.– from a poem by Claude McKay (1889–1948)
Dream in a long winter night
Sometimes I wonder, sweetest love, if youWere a mere dream in a long winter night,A dream of spring-days, and of golden lightWhich sheds its rays upon a frozen heart;A dream of wine that fills the drunken eye.– Rumi translated by Annemarie SchimmelPHOTO: Sienna was the sister. She showed up at my studio when I was shooting a model for a magazine. Both sisters loved the art prints hanging on my walls. So they came again several times, together a...
Restless
Tonight the nightbrings no sleeptossing and turningmind churningvisions of youfilling my sightAllow me some restI pray to my heartgive up your pininggive up your behestThere is no tomorrowthat you yearn foronly the empty hoursand the ticking clock– Sierra Williams
A tear and a smile
I would not exchange the sorrows of my heartFor the joys of the multitude.And I would not have the tears that sadness makesTo flow from my every part turn into laughter.I would that my life remain a tear and a smile.A tear to purify my heart and give me understandingOf life's secrets and hidden things.A smile to draw me nigh to the sons of my kind andTo be a symbol of my glorification of the gods.A tear to unite me with those of broken heart;...
Transient joy
The flower that smiles to-dayTo-morrow dies;All that we wish to stayTempts and then flies.What is this world's delight?Lightning that mocks the night,Brief even as bright.– from a poem by Percy Bysshe Shelley (1792–1822)
Love’s Philosophy
The fountains mingle with the riverAnd the rivers with the ocean,The winds of heaven mix for everWith a sweet emotion;Nothing in the world is single;All things by a law divineIn one spirit meet and mingle.Why not I with thine?—See the mountains kiss high heavenAnd the waves clasp one another;No sister-flower would be forgivenIf it disdained its brother;And the sunlight clasps the earthAnd the moonbeams kiss the sea:What is all this sweet work w...
Gift of Loveliness
Was she of spirit race, or was she oneOf earth's least earthly daughters, one to whomA gift of loveliness and soul is given,Only to make them wretched?O lute of mine, that I shall wake no more!Such tearful music, linger on thy strings,Consecrate unto sorrow and to love;Thy truth, thy tenderness, be all thy fame!– from a poem by Letitia Elizabeth Landon (1802–1838)_PHOTO: Portland based dancer and circus performer Luna LaBelle visited my s...
Longing
Come now, and let me dream it truth,And part my hair, and kiss my brow,And say, My love why sufferest thou?Come to me in my dreams, and thenBy day I shall be well again!For so the night will more than payThe hopeless longing of the day.– from a poem by Matthew Arnold (1822–1888)
Day is gone
The day is gone, and all its sweets are gone!Sweet voice, sweet lips, soft hand, and softer breast,Warm breath, light whisper, tender semi-tone,Bright eyes, accomplish’d shape, and lang’rous waist!Faded the flower and all its budded charms,Faded the sight of beauty from my eyes,Faded the shape of beauty from my arms,Faded the voice, warmth, whiteness, paradise –Vanish’d unseasonably at shut of eve,When the dusk holiday – or holinightOf ...
Memories
When you and I behind the veil are past,Oh, but a long, long while the world shall last,Which of our coming and departure heedsAs the sea's self should heed a pebble-cast.–– Omar Khayyam_PHOTO: A testament to the timelessness of art nudes; from a shoot I did at my old studio, more than a decade ago.
Slumber
When its hard to rise from slumberthink of the love that awaitsthink of the sunlightand the butterflies that yearn for nectarthink of the roots that thirst for waterthink of the tendrilsthat yearn for Springwe live not just for uswe live for those toothat yearn for the sunlightthey hope we may bring– Pardesi Pyara
Unfurl
Like sunlight kissing a floweryour selfless loveyour unwavering faith in meunfurls my soul–– Pardesi Pyara_PHOTO: From an old shoot with Silvia. Ballerinas turn the simplest of movements into poetry.
Fleeting hues
Nature's first green is gold,Her hardest hue to hold.Her early leaf's a flower;But only so an hour.Then leaf subsides to leaf,So Eden sank to grief,So dawn goes down to dayNothing gold can stay.– from a poem by Robert Frost (1874–1938)_PHOTO: Mariah visited my California studio for this shoot many years ago. She became intrigued by yoga photos she saw on my walls. I told her about the many wonderful yoga teachers I had photographed ov...
Rose garden
“Pull the thorns from your heart. Then you will see the rose gardens within you.”— RumiPHOTO: Grace was stretching and warming up before our shoot, and I loved the shapes and feelings she evoked. I quickly threw up a couple of lights and started the shoot.
VYAGHRASANA (TIGER POSE)
Never forget who you areLittle starShining brighter than all the stars in the skyNever forget how to dreamButterflyNever forget where you come fromFrom love– Lyrics by Madonna and Rick Nowels, 1998
