Early-October monochromes!

What’s happening, Hive? I’m sitting down to write here a little earlier than usual. This wasn’t the productive day I’d hoped it would be. I slept late, still getting over this cold and by the time I was awake, I’d lost most of my morning. I had a meeting with a client which was most of my motivation to get up, and then she cancelled which doomed me to two more hours of wallowing in bed playing Magic: The Gathering Arena on my phone. I did make it out eventually and worked at @caffetto, struggling to focus over the haze of being sick. I swung by @ghostfish’s place to pick up an oak log to inoculate with a mushroom plug.

Once or twice a month, I like to share black and white photography, editing some of my favorite color dark pinup images from over the years. I always edit my shots as color images so this is a great opportunity to find the hidden monochrome gems. This first shot in from 2017, shooting my friend Alyssa Marie, a make-artist influencer at the Clark Gable estate in La Cañada, CA. She met me there during a trip to the west coast and I shot anniversary photos for her and her husband. This was a solitary photos but the gentle light creates such a dramatic mood.

This next shot is from a shoot in February of this year. I was working on an event with my friend Farah and @moustachejim and the idea was to do a production shoot so we’d have ads to try and get bookings in Minneapolis. Farah is so effective at spreading the word that we were sold out before the first flyer was made. The production shoot was outstanding, though, and I finally had a chance to shoot with a model here in the Twin Cities named Danni. I love how dark and haunting this photo turned out, especially as a black and white with just one candle.

Finally, this last photo is from a shoot in February of 2020. How do I remember that? This was my last shoot before COVID. I actually remember stopping at a CVS on the way home from this shoot and saw all the shelves completely cleared out. The model’s name is Adora and we’ve been collaborating together for almost 10 years. She was visiting Minneapolis from her new home of Atlanta and we managed to make this shoot happen in the lobby of her fancy uptown hotel. I’m glad we didn’t pass on this opportunity since it would be our last for years!