A decade later w/ @kellifury!

Oh, man. There’s a lot to talk about but I can’t start on that now. My life has gone through some wild transitions in the last few weeks. Whenever my last Hive post was, there has been at least one or two deaths and rebirths […from a mental, emotional and psychological point of view]. There’s a freewrite that I’m going to need to just sit down and write but for my first blog back in a while, I just want to keep it photography. This weekend, @tarotbyfergus […his readings have really helped me through much of this stress] and I will be going to Chicago for another death match wrestling show. Once I’m back from that, I’ll finally finish the freewrite.

For now, I have new photography I want to share with my friend @kellifury. I’ve been friends with her for over a decade. We’ve been through it all together and we’ve remained close. We shot together often in 2010 and then again with a risky shoot that happened in the waters of the Mississippi River. This was one of my favorites. Then, our lives took on new directions and challenges. We never lost touch but we did lose our creative spark for collaborating. It’s been a decade since she was in front of my camera; long overdue if you ask me. With that in mind, we began scheming a plot to get the band back together.

@kellifury is an incredible tattoo artist and lately, with the trials of life I’ve been dealing with, I decided I wanted to get something to new in the journey of reshaping my identity to whatever it is I’m becoming now. We talked about a trade where she would do my tailless whip scorpion next tattoo and I would do a dark pinup photo shoot with her. She came over, had hair and make-up done by two of our longtime friends and artists, then began lighting the many candles around my house. My style has matured and improved so much since 2013 and I’m shooting with a high end mirrorless camera.

The shoot was a perfect bookend to our friendships and collaborations, not that we’re finished, but it was a milestone considering where we started so long ago. I got to capture her with my signature style, candlelight and shadows. Having the shoot take place in my home was also a great memory I’ll cherish as these pictures age. I just had my tattoo finished last week and it came out phenomenal […I’ll be sharing photos of that in the freewrite blog I mentioned at the top] so hopefully there will be more barter arrangements between us soon. Photography for tattoos sounds like a great deal.