What’s up, Hive? Well, we’re on the other side of the great blizzard of 2023. We were suppose to get 22”, we got around 13”. I was somewhat underwhelmed and annoyed that @guthrie’s school has cancelled in person classes through the rest of the week [Wednesday through Friday]. Don’t get me wrong, I do love spending time with him, but my days are when I can focus on my own things, work, projects, take calls and meetings, etc. With breaks, holidays, our trip to the east coast and snow days, I feel like he’s barely been in school. Today was spent snow blowing, running @vermillionfox to and from work, and that’s about it, other than two hours at @caffetto.
Once or twice a month, I share a few newly edited black and white images from shoots over the years that I’ve only seen as color images. It’s a great exercise because I’ve always loved film noir photography. This first image is of a model I photographed in Las Vegas during Viva at our mutual friend Jamie’s house. Her name is Shonda and we were trying to collaborate together for years before we finally crossed paths on this fateful day. The color version of this is featured on a two page spread in my book, Dark Pinup, by @wcpublishing, but this is my first time see is as a black and white. I love the movement and flow in the pose.
This next shot is much more recent. This was taken in October of 2022. It was my last trip to LA and I’d booked an extravagant AirBnB in Topanga Canyon. The model is Renee Olstead, a talented singer that used to be a household name on the Disney Channel. She’s gone on to be an outspoken advocate for personal liberation and to be honest, I love this version of her. She’s become a very close friend and on little notice, she was able to meet me at 8:00a.m. before check out at the space to make a quick shoot happen. The color image I’ve posted here on Hive but this monochrome seems timeless to me.
Lastly, I get asked all the time if I shoot men. I do! I actually love photographing men, I’m just not hired by them often. This was part of a campaign for NOIR, an all inclusive black and white photography event I used to hold in New York, Los Angeles and Minneapolis with a creative in the Twin Cities named Yuli. We shot a model named Called for the promotional material. She styled it and we reserved a few hours at a nearby bar called the Kitty Kat Club in Dinkytown. Callan was a great model and this shot really calls attention as a black and white. I prefer it, actually.