Early-August monochromes!
Hey, Hive. I’m back and I’m managing to fit a blog in before going to bed. I’m winding down after a productive day. I mentioned last night that today would be the first day on a new path and it was that. I made the most of it. Housework, kickboxing, time with @guthrie and a commitment to get a post here on the blockchain before I call it a night. I’m pretty happy with that. Midday, myself, @felblob and @swarddraws had a @mirrorpool meeting and even though we’re all broke and feeling the bear market pain, it was great to distribute our first profits from the Dark Pinup sale. With that, here’s some pinup photography.
Once or twice a month, I’ll share new monochromes. Black and white photos that even I haven’t seen before. I’ll go through the archives and find a few of my favorite images, then convert them to black and whites. First up, this is a photo of a beautiful Minneapolis based model named Bailee. We become friends on Instagram and had always talked about collaborating together. Finally, we set a date and decided we’d shoot at my home. This shot was taken in my bedroom which doubles as a set design for shoots when I need a location. This shot really blew up on social media and I love it as a black and white.
Next, this shot is of my friend Audrey and was taken in downtown Manhattan. We’d worked together previously once before at an even I used to host in various cities called NOIR. Because of this, we were familiar with each other and more importantly, she was familiar with my unusual approach to diegetic lighting and photography as a whole. We walked through the city at night trying to find adequate light sources, sometimes even using the headlights of passing cars. This shot was taken against a subway advertisement and I love it as a monochrome image.
Lastly, this shot of burlesque/pinup model, Ashleeta, was taken in Las Vegas. I’d become friends with Ashleeta in LA after various trips to the west coast shooting for vintage clothing and apparel brands in California. We booked this session at my friend Ralph’s speakeasy in Las Vegas and almost everything went wrong that day. We barely made it on time and she had a pageant event immediately after but these portraits were some of the my favorite of the entire year. Seeing this shot in black and white has me falling in love with it all over again.