http://www.flickr.com/photos/eisenbahner/3906734426/

Nominate your Zividude by posting their name on Twitter and using the hashtags #zividude, #zivity or #zivitydude. On November 1st, we’ll post a poll of all of the nominations and we’ll keep the poll open until November 10th to choose November Zivity Dude 2009.

We’ll start with the top choice and work our way down until someone is brave enough to say yes! We’ll pay for the photo shoot by one of our top photographers, so the Zivity Dude will look *fantastic*.

So, I know this is the question burning in everyone’s minds. How naked does a Zivity dude get? We’ll allow down to his skivvies, but our Zivity dudes can not get naked. Being fully dressed in your best works too. No requirements to take those tops off (though the ladies will love it) but putting on your best sexy is a must.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/difei/3946315894/t

Can you nominate a Zivity dude here because you don’t want to use Twitter? Yes, why not. Leave them in the comments. We’ll sort it out.

And, as always…

Zivity. Loves. You.

Please direct any questions to info@zivity.com

Update: Invites are back! Paying subscribers and published artists, access your invites on this page (bottom right).

And now, go vote for this set…(must be logged in to see the link)

High Class Junk, feat. MissKenz. Shot by Redrum Collaboration

Christine’s work initially caught my interest via the publicity surrounding the Zivity Photography Bootcamp.  After casting a vote on “Leather” with Angela Ryan, I quickly found myself immersed in the imagery on  MyFetishDiaryBlog, Christine’s personal blog site.  Although enamored with the garments draping her models, I was primarily interested in her photographic execution.  A few months ago, we traded emails, and I had the opportunity to pick her brain.

“If I wanted to be miserable at work, I would have kept my straight job,” Christine said.  As a self-employed photographer, she publishes the majority of her work on My Fetish Diary, which boasts over 60,000 images of statuesque models poured into latex couture.  However, her photographic endeavors are not singularly focused; Christine also experiments with lo-fi film photography, using her collection of toy cameras to tell her stories.

On the topic of muses, I asked if she had any advice for aspiring models.

“Be professional.  Show up on time.  Discuss the shoot beforehand, and be prepared to provide your own wardrobe, hair and makeup, unless otherwise agreed upon.

Practice!  Learn your body, learn how to move.  Cut out images from magazines or print photos you like, get in front of the mirror, and practice.  A model who knows how to move is a dream!

With regard to erotic photography, know your limits (fully clothed, topless, implied nudes, Playboy style, etc) and specify them when booking the shoot.  And for fuck’s sake, don’t let someone talk you into doing something you’re not comfortable with.”

If you’d like to see Christine’s work in print, and are local to the San Francisco Bay Area, consider checking out her current and upcoming art shows:

Current: Madame S, now through December 1st.
Reception: October 9th from 7-9pm
Address: 385 8th Street, San Francisco, CA

Upcoming: Center for Sex and Culture, December 12 through January
Reception:  December 12 from 7-9pm
Address: 1519 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA

1. Since we have it, flaunt it.
2. Turn our navigation’s (and users’) focus toward the content and our artists while opening the way to more content types/art forms.
3. Give the cream somewhere to rise *to* and help members discover content that may otherwise be overlooked or misunderstood.
4. Excite the user base and stimulate interest in, and conversations about, the future of Zivity.

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Flaunt it…

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Let’s face it, Zivity is sexy. If we can’t agree on that I can’t help you. Zivity has lots of beautiful photographs of beautiful people and places… So, let’s show them off!

A good example of this was the new “logged out” home page. That was the first release I designed and developed right after Zivity and Top Fans split up. The smallest photo of a model on that page is 134% larger than any thumbnail photo we had on Zivity prior to the release. Those photos proved to be 268.9% hotter in crash test studies done at the abandoned GM plant in Detroit.

The inspiration for that release, and the basis for the new Zivity theme, was found in an old comp Dustin Curtis left behind over a year ago when he left to start a Y Combinator company. The page on the left is how it ended up after we were through with it. I took the comp on the right, with effects and images we didn’t have the rights to, and factored in the goals that we had for the view: tell our story, make surfing easy, make registering easier, display a concise list of membership benefits and show off our amazingly hot content.

I built this that week in Vegas, after Defcon, when Zivity was in town for the Spread Premiere. Nice work, if you can get it.  I could have been designing the new Go Daddy if things had gone the way I had dreamed at one point while I worked there. Imagine staring at domain name specials all day long in Photo Shop and my browser. My job is making AddictedImage’s shots of Mischa and Illeana look sexy… Rule one for this job: The heavy lifting is done, just show more of it.

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The Zivity Showcase

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In the image above you’ll notice that the area in the pink box was all the real estate we’d given to arguably the hottest content on Zivity previous to this release. This gets into the whole “My Stuff” page dilemma… It wasn’t a great place from which to manage your account, it also wasn’t the best place from which to discover/view content. The overall purpose of this view had ceased to be something that was thought about. We’d find ourselves forced to this page to find strange, fast, and cheap places to get things added.

Here we finally made this a page with a focus. Think of this like the front page of the New York Times. This is where Cyan, our Editor, shows off the best of Zivity today. Cyan, however, has a sexier content base. On the sides we share your friends updates and (after a mild heart-attack we added) votes, suggest some models to friend/fan and show the upcoming chats. When Cyan picks a video it has a nice large video pane, when it’s a photo set there’s a nice large icon and a nice montage from the set.

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Shifting the Spotlight

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Well, once I finished the Zivity Showcase we couldn’t release it and have every other view using the old fonts, navigation and color scheme… So, off I went re-factoring just about every page on the site.

You’ll notice the navigation also took note of the shift in focus. The old navigation had one menu for Artists and Content and all the rest were about me and my account. The new one is mostly about Artists and Content and there’s one place for all the stuff pertaining to my account. (One bug I’m fixing now is adding the publishing menu to the side nav of the My Account area for Artists. Right now it can be accessed, but I failed to plan for you guys as much as I did for average users in this release.)

We also made some shifts in the “Leader Boards.” When we only had one photo set type the “Category” in our navigation for “New” and “Popular” photo sets made sense. Today, we have Editor’s Picks, Featured, Photographer’s Showcase, and Direct to Profile photo sets. All of these categories can also be sorted by New or by Popularity, so New and Popular don’t retain the meaning they once had. I approached this by making all the categories use a simple “Sort” drop down on the right side. When you’re logged out the leader board defaults to popular (to put our best foot forward to potential new users) while it defaults to new when you’re logged in.

Some things that noticeably didn’t change much in this release were the Photo Set and Video viewers and Profiles. We have plans for these in the future.

I truly hope you enjoy the new Zivity! We have lots more coming that we’re very excited about. If you want to share your thoughts I’d love to hear from you (wil@zivity.com)!

August 5th, Palms Casino Resort
Diggnation 5-7pm
Spread premiere 7:30pm

*You must provide your own transportation

Enter your Zivity username in the comments to win.

http://www.zivity.com/users/username   <–put your Zivity username there

We’ll pick 5 paying Zivity members Monday, each ticket comes with a companion ticket for your someone special.

The idea of government support for artists comes at an interesting time. The art market is in a colossal slump — it hasn’t been this bad since the early 1990s. And, consumer spending is in rough shape, obviously a major reason for the thrashed art market. Support for artists isn’t coming from collectors … but this is the curse of a hybrid market. A free economy heals itself, and government intervention begets government intervention.

So, what are we to do? Empower the artists!

The development of marketplaces where artists can be found (and sell there work) is crucial. At present, the art market relies on a dated system of galleries and auction houses, which makes it tough for artists to access potential buyers. Private networks are the only remaining alternative, but let’s face it: artists aren’t the best salesmen. A free and efficient market, though, takes the headache out of the equation.

Part of what drew me to Zivity is that I see it as a solution to the current problems in the art market. For art nude photography, the artists gain visibility — probably the greatest challenge they face in tapping the potential of a vast marketplace. One would hope that today’s art market mayhem will lead to similar platforms for painters, sculptors and those who work in other media.

An art bailout, however small, isn’t going to solve even immediate problems. Let’s build a better market instead. The arts will prosper, and we’ll fund (and enjoy) what we like.

[Photo of "Hot Carmen" by Julio Aguilera by Ron Melendi via Migrant Blogger]

The label in question, which belongs to Cycle Gladiator, depicts a winged woman gliding above a bike while grasping the handlebars. The picture is an artist’s rendering rather than a photograph. This violated an Alabama liquor regulation that bans the use of “offensive or immodest labels,” and the state’s beverage control board took action. This is the first time, according to Hahn Family Wines president Bill Leigon, that the company has had a problem.

Fortunately, the Alabama Beverage Control Board doesn’t make decisions about art, or a visit from Venus de Milo would be out of the question.

I understand that smoking is dangerous, expensive and incredibly unpopular. I don’t smoke cigarettes but understand that those who do have rights. I smoke cigars and wish other people thought the same of me, but I realize this isn’t going to happen anytime soon. I can live with the incessant battles for public spaces, dirty looks and many “smelly” gestures. But, a soldier shouldn’t have to put up with this shit. If he or she dons a Kevlar helmet and grabs a rifle, let the proud service-member fire up a cigar or cigarette.

Originally, the military called for a thorough smoking ban – one that would have included combat situations. I heard about it almost immediately from the editor of Smoke magazine, and I saw it retweeted endlessly in my small world, so I imagine we weren’t the only people spreading the news and the outrage. I hope that this was at least a small part of the reason why the DoD later pulled pack on the plan, with the combat portion noted in particular.

You’d be surprised at what the military has banned. When I served a decade ago (how hard it is for me to admit it was that long ago …), hard liquor wasn’t permitted in the barracks, and from what I understand, this rule has persisted. In Iraq, any form of alcohol is completely forbidden, along with gambling and porn. And yes, despite Zivity’s claims for the past two years that it isn’t porn, the DoD would disagree completely. In an article I wrote for Penthouse (May 2008), I noted a rumor on Camp Anaconda, Iraq, that one civilian contractor was fired for having a nude photo of his wife. Porn has also been shaken out of the barracks via illegal searches (by military standards).

And now, tobacco is on the hit list.

How can you fight back? I’d suggest by cruising over to Cigars for Soldiers and making a donation. Yeah, I’m hitting you up on my first Zivity Blog post, so call me shameless if you like. I don’t care. The upside is that some soldiers will get a few cigars, and the DoD will see just how important we feel about soldiers’ rights.

[Photo of a shipment of cigar sent to soldiers serving in Iraq and Afganistan by Steve Zak, donation by Jose "Pepin" Garcia and De La Concha]

Feels like my first Hello World!

Her source is tight.

Posted via web from zivity’s posterous