Kapke Photography profile picture

Kapke Photography

In Praise of Art & Spirit

About Me


This account is intended primarily to showcase some of my photography and writings. Your comments and feedback are appreciated. If you'd like to see more, please CLICK HERE to visit my website.
I've put some of my photos from my trip to Thailand online. There are a couple galleries and I'll be adding more. CLICK HERE to browse.
I'm always happy to meet models, artists, dancers, yogis, gymnasts, contortionists, bodybuilders, stylists, and other creative people interested in collaborating on art projects. Due to unexpected health issues, I now have to reserve my energy for projects that are meaningful to me.
If you're interested in learning more about me as a person, please visit my personal myspace account.
Thanks for stopping by!
A more formal bio:
Barry Kapke has been a fine arts photographer for over twenty years, working mostly in northern California. He has a perceptive eye for line and composition, and much of his work is with the nude form, although he does striking portraiture as well. He is patient, soft in manner, very easy to work with, and he collaborates with aspiring, as well as professional, models. Currently, he is working mostly in a digital format.
Much of his time in the last 15 years has been involved with teaching and writing about massage and bodywork therapies. Now unemployed due to health limitations, he has returned to his first passion - viewing the world through a photographer's eye. With a background as both a dancer and a videographer, he enjoys exploring movement, time, and transformation, and as a meditator, he appreciates stillness and the interior landscape. He enjoys working in nature as well as in the more controlled environment of a studio. He is a perceptive observer, skilled in capturing the beauty he sees before him.
Barry is currently working on a series exploring Buddhist temples in Thailand.
It's not easy for me to ask for help (or to accept it) but it is clear that I need to learn to do so. I have advanced colon cancer and have run out of resources. I have come to Thailand to try to heal myself, having refused radiation, chemotherapy, and surgery. If you are able to contribute to my medical care fund, this will allow me to pursue alternative treatments. I have been touched deeply by the generosity of my friends, my students, and even complete strangers. Thank you for your assistance, your love, your kindness, your warm thoughts.

My Interests


I enjoy photography , massage , poetry , writing , and Buddhist meditation . I adore cats, hot tubs, lying nude in the sun, art, modern dance, butoh, contact dance, music, yoga, cuddling, kissing, sensual pleasures, laughter. I'm curious about people, exploring new places, tattoos, piercings, gender identity, androgyny, conscious sexuality (tantra), contortionists, other cultures. I like road trips, people watching, deconstructing identity. I love France, especially in the south, and want to explore Thailand, Bali, Cuba, and Brazil. I try to practice kindness, compassion, patience, curiosity. I learn many lessons from cats and children. I think sax and stand-up bass are sexy.

Love
You are a lover of love. You love to love and be loved. You are perhaps a hopeless romantic but those are rare nowadays. Think of it as a gift. Whether you are saving yourself for that special someone or you have already found him or her. You are part of an almost extinct species of human. The kind that believe in true love... Because love is truly beautiful!
Take the quiz: "What do you love about making love?"
CURRENT MOON moon info

I'd like to meet:


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Music:


Almost everything - except opera. Aerosmith. Agent Orange. Alabina. Alana Davis. Alanis Morissette. Alcione. Alpha Blondy. Angelique Kidjo. Ani DiFranco. Animal Things. Art Blakey. Art Pepper. Au Pairs. Avengers/Penelope Houston. Banda Eva. Bauhaus. Beausoleil. Beny More. Billie Holiday. Black Eyed Peas. Bloc Party. Blue Oyster Cult. Blurt. Bob Dylan. Bob Marley. Bonnie Raitt. Breeders. Bush Tetras. Cab Calloway. Cabaret Voltaire. Cal Tjader. Celia Cruz. Chaba Zahouania. Charlelie Couture. Clara Nunes. Clash. Concrete Blonde. Counting Crows. Crass. Cure. Damned. Daniela Mercury. Daude. Dave Matthews. David Bowie. Dead Kennedys. Debbie Davies. Delta 5. Diana King. Dizzie Gillespie. Doors. Duke Ellington. Dum Dum Project. Elvis Costello. Eno. Eric Burdon. Etta James. Eurythmics. Factrix. Fall. Fang. Fiona Apple. Free/Bad Company. Gang of Four. Garbage. Gil Scott-Heron. Graham Parker. Gun Club. Hakim. Hank Williams. Howlin' Wolf. Iggy. India Arie. James Brown. Jefferson Airplane. Jill Scott. JJ Cale. John Cale. John Mayall. John Prine. Johnny Cash. Joni Mitchell. Joy Division. Kana. Keri Leigh. Kevin Ayers. Khaled. Koko Taylor. Laura Love. Led Zeppelin. Legal Weapon. Leonard Cohen. Linda Perry. Lionel Hampton. Lou Reed. Magazine. Mano Chau. Manu Dibango. Marisa Monte. Mekons. Me'Shell Ndegeocello. Michael Franti. Michelle Shocked. Midnight Voices. Misfits. Mission of Burma. Morphine. Mott the Hoople. Moving Units. Mutants. Najma. Natacha Atlas. Neil Young. Nina Simone. Norah Jones. Patti Smith. Patsy Cline. Penetration. Pere Ubu. Peter Gabriel. Pharcyde. Phil Ochs. Poncho Sanchez. Pretenders. Prince. Pylon. Quicksilver. Radio 4. Rahsaan Roland Kirk. Richard Hell. Rickie Lee Jones. RL Burnside. Rolling Stones. Rory Block. Rosie Ledet. Roxy Music. Ruby. Ruts. Salif Keita. Salt-N-Pepa. Savoy Brown. Shakira. Sheila Chandra. Shelby Lynne. Sheryl Crow. Shriekback. Siouxsie. Slits. Sly & The Family Stone. Social Distortion. Steppenwolf. Stiff Little Fingers. Sue Foley. Susan Tedeschi. Talking Heads. Tegan & Sara. Throbbing Gristle. Tito Puente. Tito Rodriguez. Toni Price. Toxic Reasons. Traffic. T Rex. Tuxedomoon. Van Morrison. Violent Femmes. VKTMS. Wanda Jackson. White Stripes. Yeah Yeah Yeahs. Shall I go on?...

Movies:

My MA was is Film Studies so I watch and collect all kinds of movies. Amelie. Apocalypse Now. Bellocchio's Devil in the Flesh. Billy Elliot. Blood Simple. Blue Velvet. Body Heat. Bound. Brazil. Carny. The Conversation. Crash. Death in Venice. Diva. Doctor Zhivago. Don't Look Now. Foxfire. Ghost Dog. Harold and Maude. Hopscotch. I ♥ Huckabees. In Search of Gregory. John Woo's The Killer. Kill Bill. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. Kundun. Kung Fu Hustle. Leon (The Professional). Le Samourai. The Little Girl Who Lives Down the Lane. The Lover. The Matrix. Memento. Montenegro. Out of the Past. The Passenger. Prime. Pulp Fiction. Run Lola Run. Siddhartha. Sin City. Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...and Spring. Steelyard Blues. Sundays & Cybele. Sunset Boulevard. The Terminal. Thelma & Louise. The Third Man. V For Vendetta. Whale Rider. The Year of Living Dangerously. Most film noirs. Lately I am enjoying Hong Kong cinema immensely - and have an extensive collection. I love to cuddle and watch a good - or even a bad - movie.
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Television:

Inside the Actor's Studio. The West Wing. The Closer. House. Coupling. Alias. 24. Friends. La Femme Nikita. The Net. Dark Angel. X-Files. C-16. Ally McBeal. Northern Exposure. Twin Peaks. Spenser For Hire. Sherlock Holmes. Kung Fu. The Avengers.

Books:

Henry Miller, Albert Camus, Andre Gide, Louis-Ferdinand Celine, Alain Robbe-Grillet, Simone de Beauvoir, Jean Genet, Marguerite Duras, Vladimir Nabokov, Herman Hesse, Joyce Carol Oates, John Fowles, J.G. Ballard, Philip K. Dick, Robert Heinlein, Richard Brautigan, Sylvia Plath, Anais Nin, Anne Rice, Kathy Acker, William S. Burroughs, Jack Kerouac, Charles Bukowski, Tom Robbins, Carlos Castaneda, Joseph Chilton Pearce. I used to find pleasure in the essays of Roland Barthes. I like poetry and art books, particularly photography. I love Netter's Atlas of Human Anatomy.

Heroes:

I don't know that I have heroes - or believe in heroes - but human beings I have respect for include the Dalai Lama, Aung San Suu Kyi, Mohandas Gandhi, Martin Luther King, Gautama Buddha, Abbie Hoffman, Buckminster Fuller, Ajahn Chah, Bell Hooks, Osho Rajneesh, Arundhati Roy, Amy Goodman, Merce Cunningham, Moses Pendleton, Trisha Brown, Bill T. Jones, Edward Weston, Robert Mapplethorpe, Erwin Blumenfeld, Hans Bellmer, Auguste Rodin, Henry Miller.

I'm intrigued by Angelina Jolie, Shu Qi, Johnny Depp, Eric Roberts, Gary Oldman, James Spader, Natalie Portman, Jessica Alba, Jolene Blalock, Gina Gershon, Ellen Barkin, Jessica Biel, Jessica Lange, Julie Christie, Angel Boris, Leonard Cohen, Ani DiFranco, Fiona Apple, Jet Li, Chow Yun Fat.

My Blog

more Flower Expo

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Posted by Kapke Photography on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 08:02:00 PST

Royal Flower Expo, Chiang Mai

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Posted by Kapke Photography on Mon, 29 Jan 2007 07:44:00 PST

offline for awhile

My laptop just died and I'm not sure how often I'll be able to get to an Internet cafe - so, sadly, I may be offline for awhile. With my health seeming to be getting worse, you don't know how vulnerab...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Mon, 30 Oct 2006 11:26:00 PST

Well Enough - an invitation

I asked someone how they were doing and their reply of "Well enough" impressed me. It was truthful, not the "I'm fine" that has become so automatic and unconscious to so many of us. It acknowledged ...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Tue, 19 Sep 2006 12:38:00 PST

more photos from Thailand

I've added a new selection of photos from my Thailand trip to my website. Under the Thailand heading, select Gallery 4 for the latest batch. Images in Gallery 4 are all from Chiang Mai. Offering a dif...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Tue, 04 Apr 2006 11:23:00 PST

how to speak poetry

I'm indebted to my new friend Kristine for reminding me of this wonderful writing from my main man, Leonard Cohen. I hope you enjoy it as well. - Barry* * *How To Speak Poetry - Leonard CohenTake the ...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Sat, 25 Mar 2006 12:12:00 PST

bangkok - mae chee sansanee

During my short time in Bangkok, I was the guest of Mae Chee Sansanee at her monastery, Sathira-Dhammasathan. It is a center and learning community for peace and harmony, providing a variety of progra...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Fri, 17 Feb 2006 11:17:00 PST

bangkok - grand palace

Here are a few photos from my first day in Thailand. These are selected images from the Grand Palace. ...
Posted by Kapke Photography on Fri, 17 Feb 2006 05:48:00 PST