Return client!

What’s up, Hive? It’s about midnight. I’m laying in bed. I’ve gotten a lot of encouraging words on here, texts from friends and insights with my new therapist so overall, I’m feeling better. It’s a process. I had a few hours at @caffetto to get some editing done. Catching up on the work I owe has alleviated some of the stress. I’m still trying to find an equilibrium for the rest of my life, but once thing at a time. @tarotbyfergus and I have been doing readings together, and talking about the other existential threats to our future. My career is definitely going to be affected by AI. I’ll write about that soon. Fearful as I am, I’m still fascinated and seduced by it. For now, I have some new work to share.

My last trip to LA and Vegas was during April and May of this year. I’ve been getting punished by Instagram for not doing reels. Also, I’m constantly shadow banned for sharing photos of women in lingerie and it is inherently a misogynistic platform. Because of that, I tend to book way less work than I used to. I have to jump through hoops for visibility and just a week before I flew out of Minneapolis for the west coast, I got an inquiry for a sessions with a repeat client. Her name is Erica and she asked if I was able to fit in a last minute shoot during the four days I would be in Los Angeles. I was able to move things around to make it happen.

I love working with clients that hire more a second or third time because my style is so unusual, especially for new models. I shoot a technique called diegetic lighting, meaning there is no strobe, flash or other equipment. The first 1/3 of my shoots is usually getting the client accustomed to my directing style and using our available light sources to set up the shot. Erica was already familiar with my approach and had complete trust in me. We were able to move into the session quickly making efficient use of the mansion in Pasadena. She brought a few outfit changes as well.

This was just the first set of photos that I’ve edited from this shoot. There will be more in the coming days and weeks. Tomorrow, I’m going to be booked from the morning till the evening. It’s going to be busy. I have to access some areas of my life, mostly my career, and where I want to go. When you lose everything, it is a rare opportunity to do anything. I’m considering more digital sculpting, and of course, AI as a future path. There’s going to be bloodshed across all industries in the coming years and I recently heard a quote that said, “AI isn’t going to take your job. Someone that knows how to use AI is going to take your job.”. Something to think about. I’ll have a freewrite on this posted soon.