Mid-December monochromes!

What’s up, Hive? This has been a weird day. For a litany of reasons, I only slept one hour, finally dozing off at 6:30a.m. and waking up to my alarm at 7:40a.m. to get @guthrie to school. I had to take care of a few things in the morning, then get on a @mirrorpool call with @swarddraws and @felblob at noon. Very productive, but by the time I was done, it was almost time to get @guthrie from school, again. I fit in a 45 minute nap, and then another around 5:00p.m., so a series of these has left me delirious for the remainder of the evening. I’m going to get this post on the blockchain then pass the fuck out.

Once or twice a month, I like to share a few new black and white images from some of my favorite shots taken during my career. Often times, you see a timelessness emerge from a monochrome image. It’s a way for me to fall in love with the classics I’ve shot over the years. This first image was taken in New Zealand in 2019. This was just months before COVID shut down the entire world. I shot a series of dark pinup sessions in Auckland, then we flew down to Christchurch and shot at this incredible space called the GBH. I can’t believe I was still making strong photos with so much travel and exhaustion.

This second image was shot in New Jersey in 2017. Young Sun Moon is a beautiful Korean model living in New York. I had shoots at a friend’s home booked in New Jersey and Sunny came with me to do make-up. Once all the other sessions were wrapped, Sunny and I did a series of portraits together. One of the shots was this haunting image of her looking in the mirror with running mascara next to an antique oil lamp. I love shooting through glass and capturing in reflections. It always creates an otherworldly vibe and I think this image is even more effective as a black and white.

Lastly, this shot is from 2017 taken in Las Vegas of my dear friend, @dressedtokillyou. She was visiting for the Viva Rockabilly Weekend, in town with her then boyfriend, @allangraves. She booked the session with me a few months earlier and this collaboration was the first in years of friendship. @dressedtokillyou is a brilliant fetish and latex designer and she brought several of her custom outfits. The Artisan Hotel was a perfect backdrop to the dark aesthetic. I’ve never seen this image as a monochrome until tonight and I love how rich the shadows are. The room looks like a dungeon. What a powerful black and white.