What’s up, friends? Sitting at Caffetto in Uptown Minneapolis. I have a lot of work to finish tonight. As some of you that participated in Topp’s Bernventures NFT event may know, this week, we’ll be deploying the golden mitten packs. I’ve got a lot to finish in the next 24 hours, but I have some new photography to share first. Sometime in 2019, I shot with an LA pinup model named Kelly. It was a last minute collaboration, only made possible by a cancellation I had during a trip to the west coast that was booked solid. Digging through some old shoots, I decided to finish a few more from this amazing session.
Kelly and I had talked about shooting together for several months. Ultimately, time was keeping us apart. One of the tragedies of finding some success in photography […or any medium, really], is that you lose your freedom to shoot just for fun. For me, that’s reinforced as a father, knowing that my time on the road has to make our household money. With the cancellation, Kelly and I were able to work things out and book the shoot. I was staying at the historic Clark Gable estate in Pasadena, and that would be our location for the shoot.
Kelly’s beauty carried so much of this shoot, making it near effortless for me to get great photos of her. I’ve been shooting at this mansion for seven years and I know it inside and out. All originally, Victorian and mostly wood, I’m able to shoot in the rich, dark areas throughout the estate. Subtle lighting from warm lamps, complimented with cool window light is one of my favorite illuminative combinations. Kelly brought an assortment of vintage wardrobe. Her hair and make-up we’re spot on as well. It’s those details together that create such memorable photos.
This’ll be the last edits from this shoot with Kelly. I’m not sure when or if we’ll be shooting together again. A lot of that will depend on the pandemic and what travel for the rest of this year looks like. In less than two weeks, I’ll be making my way to Austin, TX to visit my friend Tim. I have six shoots booked during my time there and I’ll have the new Z6II with me. I can’t wait to those sessions and to capture some behind the scene lighting and posing tutorials to share on Patreon. Thanks for reading!