Hallo-Weened – Halloween The End

Dear Organizers of the Halloween Oak Lawn Street Party,

I am writing this letter to address your unusual sense of timing. While Halloween magically fell on a Friday this year (woohoo, for a change!), you decided to hold the block party not on this perfect October 31st, but on a Saturday, a week earlier.

I ignore the reasons behind your bizarre sense of scheduling, but let it be known that by the time the real Halloween came around and after a week of working on photographs of your event, I felt absolutely not in the mood for yet another round of festivities. Not in the mood for the scary costumes. Not in the mood to see another young man running around in his underwear. Not in the mood to photograph another woman with abundant facial hair and boobs even surgery could not give me.

This year, at Halloween, I stayed home, turned off the light, and ate all the candy I was going to give away. Dozens of little children had to carry a lighter bag of candies just because of you and I will have to attend the gym assiduously for the next few weeks to atone for my gluttony (your fault too.)

Next year, Halloween falls on a Saturday. Would it be perhaps possible to hold the Halloween Street Party and Halloween on the same Saturday?

Thank you for your consideration. Here are the last few photographs of your party although you really do not deserve them.

Sincerely

Nathalie with an h

Insane Clown Posse of one

Homeless by the Sea

Satan wore a garter belt… to hold up his fishnet stockings.

In Dallas, people think sailors never wear pants. Really.

Cat Woman with fembots

If you are naturally red-eyed, do you really need a mask?

Posh grand dame

Posh grand dame with an attitude

Posh grand dame with an attitude screaming at me.

After encountering the thunders of the posh grand dame, I called it quits. I am very fragile inside, maintain a healthy fear of rejection and, to address more earthly considerations, my feet were killing me… but mainly and manly too, she scared the Beejeezus out of me. Very Halloweenishly so.

Halloweeny Duos – Halloween IX

The problem about gay Halloween in Oak Lawn is not only gender confusion or “who’s who”, but also “who’s with whom.” Making that determination appears highly hazardous and I will not venture to make a guess. It’s your call.

A couple (or not) of non-teeth brushers.

The Golden Boy and a woman. That one, I am SURE was a woman!

Death can be becoming with the appropriate flowery hat

Ok so perhaps the devil is not wearing Prada after all…

Redefining the mini-dress

Strange combo of non-coordinated costumes

“I’m not bad, I’m just drawn that way.”

A familiar face! The “Who you callin’ a fairy” boy from the Gay Pride Parade!

Striped-coordinated

Minimalist costumes – tres in vogue!

Who came first? The troll or the slutty chicken?

“It wasn’t us!”

Oh yes it was you! Practicing the hands-on approach with the practical big hands!

Tonight is another round of Halloween festivities. I feel slightly Halo-weened. I might not go photograph gay Halloweenies tonight (for a change) but instead stay home, turn off the lights, and eat all the candies I had bought for the trick-or-treaters. Just because I can.

Funny Halloweeners – Halloween VIII

More than scary costumes, I like the funny ones. In Oak Lawn, there were definitely a few that stood out last Saturday.

In the category “not practical, not comfortable, and a little bit before its time”: the Christmas Tree

In the category “I’m so damn scary I’m funny”, the ultimate underwear model

In the category “Dorin gets arrested once again”, Dorin gets frisked by Homeland Security

In the category “unbelievably hairy”, Vinyl Cop

In the category “Walk like an Egyptian”, eight of them. Not walking, but very Egyptian nonetheless.

In the category “accessorize your costume with a small child”, a very successful use of a 5 year old.

And finally in the category “most unpractical ways of getting tattooed”, someone gettin’ tattooed comfortably reclining on a motorbike.

Getting tattooed on a motorbike on a sidewalk is what I would tend to call an impulse tattoo. Probably more funny to watch then to wake up to in the morning…

He-She Fragility – Halloween VII

Most of the wo-men I saw on Oak lawn at the block party wore “exagerated” women artifacts (read triple Ds) but two stood out of the crowd. They had not bothered much with fake. They seemed simply ambiguous.

Elegant

Not as elegant… but strangely feminine

Up close incredibly unsettling

In all honesty, the annoyance in her face could arise from me holding her captive with my camera. I just would not let her go (think rabid dog), and she obviously had better things to do than to hang out with me. Still, no way was she going to pass me by… then she intimidated me with a VERY loud sigh and I lost her to the crowd.

A Bit o’ Cowboy Lovin’ – Halloween VI

Texas, boldest and grandest, and land of mighty cowboys. Right. Except that, in Dallas, I see a whole lot more suits than cowboy hats. Raised on JR and Jock Ewing, I’ve always felt cheated and entitled to a refund.

Then… last Saturday, at the Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party, I got an eyeful that probably compensates for the 15 years of cowboylessness.

At first, innocent enough, even though bare-chested and nipple-pierced

Then he turned around.

The new version of Rub the Buddha Belly, Texan style

Married women getting a bit of cowboy action

I plan on writing a letter to David Jacobs, the creator of Dallas, the TV show. He obviously completely missed the mark on that one.

Delicate Flowers – Halloween V

Funny how Halloween brings the inner women out of many men. Well, perhaps not in your neck of the woods, but in the Oak Lawn area of Dallas, it does. A lot.

A French maid with a plume duster… not cleaning.

A Beauty School drop out

The Three Amigas. The one on the right needs a boob surgeon or a better bra. Pronto!

Superman copping a feel of a delighted delicate flower

The Good Hairy Fairy that did not make it to the children’s books… and the Masked Meanie that did not make it to children’s book either.

Sisters

If it weren’t for the huge tattoos on their arms…

Seriously, isn’t it interesting that when men imagine themselves as women, they immediately envision themselves with HUGE breasts? Do they think that the ample mammary display will make us forget about their mustaches, beards, or 5 o’clock shadows? Do they think those things just grow on trees?

In Dallas, you have to earn your big boobies! More specifically, you have to save to get them (or, if you are very lucky, receive them for your sweet sixteen or graduation from your loving parents.)

Primary Colors – Halloween IV

I don’t know what it is about green-skinned people but they always inspire me to shoot color. I generally stick to black and white, but if you are a delicious shade of Key West Green, I’ll love you just the way you are. Devil Red? I’ll adore you too!

The Halloween Street Party at Oak Lawn in Dallas gives me all the colors, hues, and subtle nuances thereof to last me 364 days of shades of grays.

Beelzebub wore Prada’s next year’s collection.

A satyr who badly needs a haircut.

Bud Lights? Tim Burton and I are hereby disowning these guys. Really.

A precious Golden Boy.

Another Prince of Darkness. Sassy! I just received exactly the same horns!!!

My favorite Ralph Lauren green!

Just wicked!

More crazy funkiness coming your way soon…

Street Ambiguities – Halloween III

Halloween in the Gay neighborhood of Oak Lawn happens WAY before Halloween. You walk the streets and wonder if folks are regular or enhanced for the evening. What if you committed a horrible faux-pas? What if you asked them to pose and they were not disguised AT ALL? You’d hope they were tiny.

Regular? Enhanced? And the cops? Real cops? “Hey Hey butch lady, mind if I take your picture?… Oh nice handcuffs you are slapping on my wrists! Not a costume eh?”

Enhanced or Britney Spears in Dallas for the night? I think if it were Britney, there would not be underwear involved.

A lost Swedish tourist perhaps? “Ursäkta mig! var är Stockholm dig den galna Texanduden?”

A lovely distinguished lady drinking tea beer on the sidewalk?

Hot Mama or hot Papamama?

I think hot mama until I notice the agape mouth of the passer-by on the right. Then I know. That being said, she was smoking hot.

Viking Hairy Diva – Halloween II

Last year, at the Oak Lawn Halloween Street Party, he was a Dallas vagina. I spare you the details. Pretty it was not. This year, he went for something a tad softer, and more widely socially acceptable.

Wagner revisited…

That’s a Valkyrie who knows how to match eye shadow and roller colors. Very impressive!

I had never seen hamburger parts hanging from hair before. I’m quite sure that somehow it ties in the Nibelungen theme. I must have stayed home from school that day.

Oops I did it again! Dallas Halloween I/MMCXXIV

T’was the sixth night before Halloween and in the Oak Lawn neighborhood of Dallas, people congregated to celebrate Halloween six nights before Halloween. A gigantic street party. A Dallas Halloween Parade… kinda gay once again. When most people dress up, in Oak Lawn, people have a natural tendency to dress very little.

Colorful,

funny,

scary,

and very scary images. (This is a fake appliance.)

The next few posts will be devoted to bringing you the images of the Oak Lawn Halloween Parade or Street Party. Honestly, I did not stick around for the parade. I had so much fun photographing people on the sidewalks that by the time the parade started, I was POOPED. For all of you who are tired of my gay series, I’m so sorry. It’s way not over.