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About Just out. (Portland, OR) 1983-2013 | View Entire Issue (June 15, 2007)
JUNE 15, 2007 JUStpUt 29 Specpie ChU&jtfTtf Moppet in SllipW ©2. ee This photo would not have been possible without a mixture of serendipitous circumstances. • The queerest of images submitted by contest participants, this photo was actually shot hundreds of miles from gay-friendly Portland. In a small desert town bordering Splendora, Texas, Lee Kyle and Kajanre Pepper, of the infamous radical drag troupe Sissyboy, had an urgent need to shop. Headed to the International Drag King Community Extravaganza’s eighth conference, the perform ers accidentally left their drag accouterments in Austin. “My mother wanted to take us thrifting, and Kajanne found that dress,” said Kyle, whose stage name is Splendora. “We all found crazy clothes, and the women in the thrift store loved it.” Next came the wig shop and makeup counter. This led to an impromptu photo shoot by an abandoned bam next door to Kyle’s mother’s home. “We definitely enjoyed ourselves, just being radical with queemess,” he said. • There was more behind Kyle’s photo shoot and shopping trip than stocking up on country threads. The performer, who has created a hand called Splendora and the Gender Fluids with Kajanne, uses art to advance the movement. “As queer people, it’s about opening people’s minds through images and art and dialogue,” he said. The Fluids are performing 3:30 p.m. June 16 at Portland Pride’s Coffee House Lounge, and Kyle is working on a one-man show about the recent suicide of his brother. He is also working on film projects and music videos for his band and writing a musical. Kyle obtained a degree in painting and drawing at Sul Ross State University in Alpine, Texas. He began shooting photos in junior high schixil and was a photographer for his college newspaper. This photo was shot using the hue feature on his digital camera. Kyle finds the digital darkroom, to be fascinating. For more information visit www.myspace.com/genderfluids. ©S ju - 'dour Most people wouldn’t expect to find a ’49 Chrysler Traveler in the winning photograph of the environment category. But the scene of the rusted old car beside a dilapidated tin shack is . made beautiful by the surrounding blue desert sky and brown, jagged foothills. Joe Rowe is a single gay man who moved to Portland in early April. “Out of all the places I’ve lived, and there’s been plenty, this is already my favorite city," said tht*44-year-old, who works as a radiology technologist at Kaiser Permanente. Rowe has been an on-again, off-again photographer since the eighth grade when he lived in Omaha, Neb. “1 bought my first enlarger when I was 15 with money earned from a week of detasseling corn,” he said. “If you don’t know what that is, ask Cindy Crawford; she did it for several years in Illinois while attending high school.” Rowe was living in Nelson, Nev., which is 45 miles southwest of Las Vegas when he shot this photo two years ago. “It was one of those bored afternoons out driving in the desert thinking, ‘1 wonder where that road leads to?’ It was a jackpot of photo ops,” he said. Rowe later discov ered that some scenes from the 2001 film 3000 Miles to Graceland were also shot in this little ghost town. t Q Center exhibits winners and entrants of the JUST OUT AMATEUR PHOTO CONTEST July 6 to 27 at 69 S.E. Taylor St. Join us for the opening reception from 6 to 8 p.m. July 6. Continued on Page JI All Silver end 14/18K Gohl Jewelry on dr.pley nt the Pride f o'.tivel will be on '.»He »it 70U4 gold market price’.1 See us at Portland, San Francisco and Los Anaeles Pride Festivals! //hftn ft*!/ m -4 '1« /ciliclfl/ 5 fuGu />!/ 20th Anniversary Concert Sat. June 23rd 7:30 PM Directed by Ray Elliott • Erik Olson, Accompanist & Dance DJ Lauren $12 advance $14 at door hi th Bridgeport LCC 621 NE 76th Ave. ChCfl A’lb hffh'i'i •»//I't • ’.hl , Tickets: Music Millennium It's My Pleasure In Other Words :/»< u ha
