Mid-January monochromes!

What’s up, Hive? It’s been a while. One day, when I’m old, probably bed ridden, I’ll review all of these blogs; years of my life on the blockchain. I’ll reminisce about this time where I felt like I was in fight or flight mode, just trying to survive. I’m going through a lot and so has @guthrie. I keep meaning to make a commitment to posting a blog on here and by the time I’m through my day, it’s 2:30a.m. and I have to have him up for school at 7:00a.m. Tonight, somehow, I managed to get early so before getting lost in a project or illustration, I decided this was the right time to write and share some new work.

So, when I say, “new”, I mean new to the expression of the photography. I shoot and edit everything in color but occasionally, I’ll revisit some of my favorite photos and retouch and edit them to monochromes; classic black and whites. This first shot is from last year’s Viva Las Vegas event where I met up with British pinup model, Miss Miranda. We shot in her friend Raquel’s home which had several items and mementos from The Artisan Hotel which had gone out of business the previous year. This shot seems to strike me even more as a black and white than as a color photo.

Lua Stardust is a Suicide Girl turned gamer personality and she really found her niche in the Magic: The Gathering community, which if you’ve been following me for any length of time, you’ll know that @tarotbyfergus and I are regular players of Arena online. She was in Minneapolis for a Magic convention so we made plans for her to come by my house for a quick shoot as the sun was setting. Of course we lit some candles for the studio place and captured images that are even more haunting as monochromes.

Lastly, this shoot is with Vaux D’Ville in Los Angeles. She and I talked about shooting together in 2019 just before COVID. Naturally, that didn’t happen but in 2023 we were able to catch each other on the west coast in a narrow window before her travel plans and my time in LA before heading to Vegas. We met at the Gable’s estate which is my signature location of preference and we shot in the gardens outside. Her fair skin and black silk and satin vintage lingerie made for particularly effective black and whites as you can see in this shot.