What’s up, Hive? It’s been just over a week since I’ve been able to carve out time to sit down and get a blog post here. The last few months have been intense, mostly family stuff. Career stuff is stressful in its own way, and of course, we’re all reeling from this bear market. I have a big trip coming up in less than a week. I’ve been writing about Viva Las Vegas since my first entry in 2016 and this year will be no exception. I’ll depart Minneapolis on April 23rd for four days in Los Angeles, then drive to Vegas for the Rockabilly Weekend, returning on May 2nd.
Today I sat at , uninterrupted for nearly 8 hours. During that time, I handled a ton of administrative work for the upcoming west coast trip, hung out with
and talked with
about a tattoo. Additionally, though, I was able to get to a few new dark pinup edits. This first shot is of my friend Olivia. We shot together in 2016 and have remained close. She contacted me about my trip to Los Angeles in October and we scheduled a private session in La Cañada. The lighting in this shot is perfect, framing her figure, accentuating the hair and contrasting her against a haunting background. I love this shot.
This next photo is of my friend Ashley. She’s a well established model in the fashion fetish scene in Los Angeles and cities across the world. I’m not sure how we became friends but this was our first collaboration together. She woke up early and met me at the top of Topanga Canyon before checkout at my AirBnB. She brought an assortment of looks and immediately, once we began shooting, I knew she had that unique connection the only a few models possess. Everything was stunning; the kind of shoot you just wish would last forever. This one really stands out.
Lastly, this editorial portrait is of my friend Kitty. Kitty and I have shot together in 2018 just months before the release of my book, Dark Pinup, by . She was living in New York City and we connected during my last trip before the release part just weeks later in Las Vegas. We remained friends and she eventually moved to Los Angeles. She met me at the Gables estate in Pasadena and we banged this session out in less than an hour before I took a Lyft to the airport and flew home. I overlooked this shot during my first pass through the images and has become a gem from the shoot.