MARK VELASQUEZ, ACCIDENT PRONE

Originally posted January, 2012. All photos courtesy of Mark Velasquez.

IN HIS OWN WORDS.
Hi, my name is Mark Velasquez, I'm 34 years old and live in the small rural town of Santa Maria, California. After growing up in a conservative environment, going through 12 years of Catholic school, being an altar boy and an Eagle Scout, I moved to Seattle, Washington at the age of 19 and attended Cornish College of the Arts. I spent my time there being boring, avoiding all drugs and most parties, focusing instead on making art in every medium available, both 2D and 3D, becoming proficient in photo-realistic drawing. When I moved back to my hometown in my mid-20s I had no creative outlet or space with which to work, so I taught myself photography just to stay sane. Eventually this led to my working with local, amateur women as my models, and I have spent the last decade posing them in various unusual situations.

MARKVELASQUEZ.COM | @MARKVELASQUEZ

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NSFW Magazine. Did you always dream of heading up a magazine? How did it all come about?



My creative inspirations as a kid invariably were mainly from comic books or books with highly skilled illustrators like artists N.C. Wyeth or Boris Vallejo, so I always associated strong images with the telling of stories. I remember being called out about it by the dean of the art department during my entrance interview for college. After I explained what a few of the images in my portfolio meant to me, he said, "You like to tell stories, don't you?"

I have also always been fascinated with magazines, pouring over the images as much as the articles, and appreciating that the relationship between the two are symbiotic. Of course, that made me dream about making a magazine of my own, but how or why I would do such a thing was never clear. Then I began to focus on photography and became fascinated with telling online the true stories of the people I was documenting. I was reminded yet again that the text accompanying the images I was posting were just as important as the visuals.

My good friend and now business partner, Michael Neff, has similar passions to mine about studying the human condition and we had jokingly talked about starting a magazine for years, but the reality of costs and sponsorships prevented any serious discussion about it. Then in early 2010 we learned about a website that made it possible to create print-on-demand magazines, taking out the problems of overhead costs, which was really the largest concern. Through a confluence of events all the major hurdles were gone and our passion to create a magazine was still there, so Neff and I took the plunge. Plus we have a wide variety of talented friends who we think deserve a little more attention and we are trying to give them an open platform with which to put themselves out there.

I'd like to talk about one of the stories that really grabbed my attention, The Accident Prone Calendar. It's such a cool and dare I say fresh concept --These aren't your average bikini models--. Can you walk us through it for those who are not familiar with it? What was the biggest thing that came out of that idea?



Well, this is kind of a long story. The calendar features thirteen lovely bikini models in cheesy situations, like posing on the hood of a classic car or laying out by a pool, but they all have some injury or handicap. Some are wearing casts, others have fingers or legs amputated, and my favorite has a fish hook stuck in her cheek.

The origin of this idea was complicated and nuanced. For starters, the women I photograph tend to become friends of mine whom I see through complicated times in their lives. I hear their problems, offer advice, and essentially just really get to know them as individuals. I become a little frustrated when the majority of the messages I receive from online fans are pervy comments that treat these ladies like objects. Add to this that I have always had a dark sense of humor and that I've known many people in my life who are either clutzy or like to fight. These people will proudly show off their black eyes, broken bones, and other injuries so cheerfully and it has always made me laugh.

Then I factored in the experience of selling my past calendars for the past five years, both online and in person at the small restaurant my family owns. For years I've heard from our blue-collar customers that my photos are never dirty enough, that they want to see more skin, skimpier bikinis, etc. So with all of that in mind, I made a calendar with the idea announcing:

"If these guys are going to look at these images and get turned on,

I want them to at least feel guilty about it."

It's a loaded question, but I'll go ahead and ask it. Apart from staying sane as you mentioned. What has your journey with photography meant for you?



I have learned a lot through photography. In the practical sense, I was forced to learn more about computers and become much more tech savvy than I would have expected. Conceptually I've learned a lot about humanity. I've heard every kind of tragic story from the young women I work with and have dealt with every kind of personality type including drug addicts, people who cut themselves, criminals, neurotics, and drama queens. Photography is a way for me to experience the most shocking or extreme moments of life while keeping an objective distance. Having a camera between me and anything going on in the world is like keeping one foot out of trouble. Through those people I learned about placing boundaries on myself and when not to put myself out there. Most importantly, being a photographer has taught me to be much more patient than I ever thought possible. Plus photography got me on a reality show, so that was definitely part of an unexpected journey.

Are you optimistic about the future?



It's funny you should ask that, the theme of the next issue of my publication, NSFW Magazine, is Hope, and I have been interviewing a lot of people about what they think will happen in the future.

Personally I am a Realist. I tend not to sugarcoat things and have been accused of being brutally honest, yet I am also very sensitive and sentimental about most things. By nature, I'm a Big Picture person. I think we all have to act as though what we do locally will affect the entire world. I have real concerns about famine, droughts, financial crises, and global warming. Here in the U.S. I fear that politically things will not get better for a long time. The immaturity and infighting between the political parties is aimed at only their most fringe constituents. The concept of moderate thinking and compromise have gone by the wayside, and I am afraid that they would all rather have the country be in ruins than give up some measure of pride. The difference between the income levels of the rich and the poor is only growing wider, and personally I don't have a lot of hope for my financial future to be better than my parents.

Now with all that said, I can't help but dream of things getting better. I have young nieces and a nephew who inspire me daily, who have such passion and joy in life that I can't help thinking they can make things better in the future. Of course, I know a lot of bad, dumb kids, too, so who knows? No matter what the future holds, my theory on life still stands:

"Hope for the best but

prepare for the worst."

THANK YOU. NEVER QUIT.