I can’t believe I’m sitting down to write this right now, honestly. It’s 12:30a.m. It’ll be close to 1:30a.m. by the time I’m finished writing, and I have a 9:30a.m. flight to catch out of Minneapolis tomorrow. As you all know, ad nauseam, I hate flying. I’ve written about it a million times over the last 6 years and I’m sure I’ll write about it again tomorrow while I’m on the plane. I’m going back to LA to create new work and that’s something I’m excited about. I’ll be seeing friends that I haven’t seen in over a year and in the state of COVID mass panic, you really can’t take that for granted.
I have some older work I’m sharing tonight and I’m absolutely sure I’ve never posted it here. I’m going to be real for a moment. 2015 was one of the worst years in my life. When I first started coming to LA, there was this pile on where all these people, models, directors, other photographers, started treating me like I was the next big thing in the pinup scene. It was fickle, though, and after two or so years of accolades and success, 2015 was the year drama began and it all came crashing down. Quite a few of the shoots from around that time, I haven’t shared. They’re kind of painful memories.
This shoot was from that era. The model and I were friends and after a rift in the company I worked for as a photographer in LA, we also lost touch. Battle lines were drawn […not by she and I, per say] and everyone had to chose sides. I still think fondly of this shoot. It didn’t even begin until almost 11:00p.m. during Viva Las Vegas. I was at maximum burnout, at that point, probably already having done over 20 shoots in 10 days. Reflecting on these photos for the first time in years, I love how well they turned out. In a way, I feel it’s a testament to an enduring spirit of creativity I was somehow able to call.
I’m going to continue to explore some more of the shoots from this time. Maybe I needed to forget about them for a while so that I can let go of the feelings associated with the images. Now, I find myself able to appreciate the extraordinary effort that went in to making them and the overall composition and strength of each photo, almost as if someone else took them. Its therapeutic in a way. For now, I’m going to try and get a few hours of sleep. Tomorrow is going to be a busy day and I want to be sharp for the travel. Thanks for reading. Hope you’re all looking forward to the new work to come.
