-------------------- —---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ----- --------------------------------------- January 7. 2005 »
just out 33
ART
..... ▼...........
A woman exposed
Self-taught photographer renders the body beautiful
by
M eg D aly
limbing the steps of Pasha Gross’ South
east Portland home, who should come
bounding up behind me but rock ’n’ roll
lounge singer Storm Large.
“Mammaaaa!” she yells as she knocks on
the dixtr, then explains to me that she has
brought Pasha’s “Christmas burrito.”
A glowing Pasha (she goes by her first name
only) embraces her friend and welcomes us into
C
the kitchen, offering jasmine tea. Strewn across
the dining table are black and white photographs
of people, porches and animals. C'hie image
catches Large jutting her ribcage out to a point,
nude except for long black gloves and a butcher
knife she holds along her hip.
Large is an enthusiastic model for the 33-
year-oid Pasha, whose photographic passion got
a kick-start right here on
the pages of Just Out two
years ago. The single
mom makes her living as
a yoga instructor and
childbirth educator, but
photography is more
than a hobby.
“1 love it,” says the
self-taught artist of her
medium. “When I see
people or things, I’m
attracted to the
light.. .to the shape of
Pasha (top left) won the Just Out Amateur Photo Contest with this
them.”
2002 image. Her other sexy subjects include Portland rock ’n’ roll
Case in point: a
lounge singer Storm Large (left).
photo of four naked
womei pressed together gleefully, standing on a
is hired to take personal photos of people.
beach. The two center women are pregnant,
Chief among her subject matter is sexy photos
and each body curves against the other like
of women together.
sand dunes hugging smooth lava rocks.
“1 think women are more beautiful than
This image won the 2002 Just Out Amateur
men,” she says.
Photo Contest, which Pasha entered on a
While she admits to having been around
whim, never before having shown her photos to
the dyke bkx:k more than once, Pasha now
defines her sexual orientation in
this way: “1 only sleep with straight
women—and my Italian stallion.”
Unafraid of ruffling feathers,
Pasha lives her life boldly, unapolo-
getically. Soon she will be opening
a yoga studio/gallery called The
Moving Throygh Center.
“All the work I’ve done in my
life has to do with transformation,”
she says. “With photography, I
watch people bloom.” JM
View more of P asha ’ s work at
www. pashaproductions. com.
just Out Amateur Photo Contest returns
If Pasha can do it, so can you.
After a two-year to the Jttft
pain exposure for your favorite images in
Entries musrbe color or black and w'to™ * '
* ¡ q ” or smafler and
and ,,t|e on ,he back. Submis-
iUjRCS a1“ Wi”
mn^e w.nncmrs wdl 2 pXhed tn the April 15 issue. Photos will be displayed tn the
Just Out office and cannot be returned.
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anyone but friends. She was at a
crossroads in her life where she
wondered if she should continue her
photography “habit,” as she calls it.
She was kxiking for validation.
“Winning the photo contest was
a turning point,” she says.
The accompanying gift certifi
cate allowed her to purchase her
first manual camera, rhe same one
she uses today.
“It’s killer!” she exclaims.
Now she has her own-Web site,
shows her photography locally and
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