I haven’t taken a photo in two weeks now. Broken camera, sent to a service center in Virginia to be repaired. They received it Tuesday. *Seven Business Days it will take. Track the repair online. I need the fix. I need this fix. I’ll use your service to see how my baby is doing. Is there anyone I can talk to? It’s just something simple, right?

But the skies are blue and sunny. But the skies are blue and sunny. (Screen Kiss from Thomas Dolby is running through my headphones.)

I’m enjoying this time. It’s giving me time to reflect on everything. To reflect on exactly how it is that I got to this place. And it’s given me time to look at what I’m doing with photos.

I’m not doing anything fantastical. Or magictastic. I haven’t been, at least, for a while. There are moments. Really good moments. I can see those and they make me happy. I can see there are a lot of things I’m not doing. I can see where I could improve. Obviously.

But it’s nice. I see lots of things that I can do. I see good things that I’ve done and can look to see what made it good. I see good things ahead. Really good things.

I’m leaving the country soon. Traveling to South America. I’m going there to shoot some models. I’m excited about this. I have a really good feeling that this is going to work out marvelously. It’s almost like a dream come true, I guess. And somehow, I got here. I want everything to be perfect in Colombia. And I’m sure it will be.

*Actual repair times may vary.

I’ve created a sort of trailer/slideshow for my model photography. It’s a pretty good representation of what I shoot in terms of models, although there is little erotica in the video; don’t let the implied nudity throw you. And yes, the video is the entire length of the song. And the introductions go on forever. However, that last fact kind of makes me smile.

It’s REALLLLLLLY worth it to let the video buffer. Hit play and then pause it until it loads fully. I’m uploading to YouTube, but it may not rest there.

To put things in perspective, there are 141 images in the video. This is about %1 of the photos I’ve taken during all of the model shoots. If only there were a place to VIEW a lot more of those photos! Wait! There’s this place! And even HeadlessBuddha.com for the more erotic (only a select few models in the trailer appear on Headless)!

Enjoy!

Feed people, link to video here.

Today, I had the great pleasure of shooting Salome, a young woman I met just about six months ago. An interesting little twist here: I was actually supposed to shoot Christie today, but that was postponed until tomorrow and ended up shooting Salome entirely last minute after she called me today. The first time I shot Salome, I shot her with Christie.

SUUUUUUCH a great girl. I’ve always been so taken with Salome; just such a truly great personality and so sweet, not to mention ridiculously beautiful. Through and through. Funny story: two weeks ago when we had our party here at Club Meridian, none of my friends showed up. Save one. Any guesses as to which one?

Salome’s photos can be found here. These are the images she picked out tonight. There are a lot more to go through which I’ll be posting over the coming days. I particularly like the Pop Art Edition of Beauty. As we were going through post-process, I showed her this image in these colors and we decided to go with it.

(By the way… friends? You suck! I kid. You missed a good party, maybe next time.)

Nearly a month ago today, I was in line at the post office. There were three young women behind me from whom I borrowed a pen. All beautiful girls, but this one girl… she had this hair… this look… this figure… I looked at her and thought, “Wow, I’d really like to shoot her.” I thought, “Pinup.”

They went in line ahead of me as I was still writing. And then they left.

When I stepped out of the post office, I saw them across the street and they seemed to be heading to the beach. I got on my scooter and tried to catch up as they made their way over to Ocean Drive. Pulled up in front of them and asked the girl with the hair if she modeled. No. Asked if she lived here. No. Said I’d like to shoot her, that I was a photographer, and gave her my card. Told her to look at my stuff and just contact me if she wanted to shoot.

Thankfully, she did. And thankfully, she was awesome. And thankfully, her friends were cool and cool about everything. Roxy is actually the first and only girl I’ve ever approached on the street because I was so struck by their look. Just… wow. Beautiful. Striking. I’m pretty pleased with the way the photos came out from the shoot. All the photos of Roxy are here.

I received a few really nice emails over the past few days.

Hi. I enjoy your work. Could you take in consideration shooting a set of models in front of graffiti walls. Also perhaps have a woman pose with a spray paint can or marker. It would open up your fan base from people who enjoy beautiful women and great photography to also include avid street art fans. Thank you for your time.

-Goggles

Thanks Goggles. I’d love to do that, actually. After today’s shoot with Anastasia, I’m absolutely sold on the concept. I don’t know if it was just the location we were at, or if it’s like this everywhere, but the paint was just popping off the walls with Anastasia standing like the great goddess art student before it. Really dug it. If you know of any specific locations, email me and let me know.

Great Scott!

…I don’t know WHAT you do behind the camera but you bring out some amazing expressions out of the models that are warm and comfortable. I haven’t the money to attempt to have a model (or know anyone) of that callaber to hire to express the way you express with your camera. 822 822 822 Anastasia is
wonderful for my depressed eyes….

You just gained a Canadian fan, duder.

Wayne

Thanks Wayne. I’m ridiculously lucky to work with really beautiful models. They’ve all got their own expression and it’s a treat to see it come out in the camera. I barely know what I’m doing; I just point the camera at what I see, what’s before me.

THANKS Your South Beach work is so realistic and life like, makes me want to get back, we are going back for another get away weekend Oct 10th. my wife a teacher. Anyway, Thanks and look forward to your street shots, were you the gentlemen who did the fabulous series on Ocean Drive hostesses? The young lady who use to be at News Cafe was incredible, her outfits were fabulous? still remember Valentines Day?? Anyway Thanks Larry, the farmboy, from the cornfields of Illinois

Thanks farmboy Larry. I really like capturing people on the street in the moments of life as much as possible. I’m noticing that since I’ve been back, things look different. Everything seems to move at a faster pace. I’m shooting at a faster pace, it seems like. The shots feel more on the edge to me. They probably aren’t, but they feel that way. I’m really flattered that I’ve captured something that you like. Hopefully, I can continue to produce work that affects people in some way. It feels good to have a positive effect and I feel like that’s what I’m doing with the street life and with the model stuff, too. (And yeah, I did that South Beach Hostesses photo essay.)

I dont usually comment on flickr photos, but WOW!! You have really good stuff. Top notch!

Thank you. You’re too kind.

……

I did a lot of almost experimental photography with Anastasia today. I had a lot of concepts I wanted to shoot but it came down to really two, and even then we were hitting the limit on time when there was still so much more to get. After the shoot, I hopped on my scooter (parked at the Home Depot in Boynton Beach, having driven down from West Palm at 7am to meet Anastasia), and began the drive back to South Beach. (It took three hours.)

I saw things along the drive back. There were all these shots. Beautiful shots. I don’t know if I got them. But I tried.

Today was, without doubt, one of the best photo days I’ve had in a while as far as the work with models goes. Anastasia is an absolute perfect model and I looooove shooting her. It doesn’t hurt that she’s just hilarious and fun to be with. We kept saying that behind-the-scenes video would’ve been great to have had. (Video camera went wacky on me today; so no video at all. ) Anyway, spending the day with Anastasia is a day well spent. Total awesomeness. And the street was all secondary. Anything I captured on the way back from the shoot came from a great mental place; I wanted to capture the calm and goodness I felt from the shoot. Whether it came out or not in photos, I don’t know.

All photos of Anastasia are here. (That would, of course, be a not-safe-for-work link.)

On Monday night, I spent the last night of my trip in Palm Beach before driving the final stretch to arrive home in South Beach. And what better way to start my entrance back into South Florida than to wake up Tuesday morning and shoot one of my all-time favorite models, Anastasia. God, I love that girl.

I’ll be going through the photos for a while (there are a TON) but all of the photos from the shoot will be found here.

Alright, so I’ve been lounging around a while now. I’m at the beach in NC. I drove the scooter here sans backpack and crate. (I had a support vehicle called the ‘rents, woohoo!!) Here with the younger boy. Sooo very pleasant. We’re actually sitting on the porch right now, about to head to the beach.

Life is good.

I’m leaving on Friday to finish the trip back to South Beach. I expect to be there within 10 days from now.

In other news, I’ve had some time on my hands. I’ve been trying to organize things here on the site. I still have a lot to do. But it’ll get done. All part of a master plan. Because I’m good with master plans. Some of the changes you’ll note, some of them you won’t. (Admin type things for me.)

Additionally, when I embarked on this trip nearly three months ago now, I brought one external hard-drive with me containing a limited set of photos. I was pleased to discover a few days ago – man, I wish I had found this earlier in the trip – that I’ve actually had a lot of files stored on my website for backup purposes. So I’m sort of going through those now, too, and putting the occasional photo in the galleries, most notably in The Model Shoots. Neato!

I don’t think I need to add something about that gallery being not safe for work. But it pretty much isn’t. Sorry.

In the spring of last year, I scheduled a shoot with a girl named Kesley. Little did I know before we met, what a perfect model she would be. Such a treat. Beautiful, fun, funny, a sweet laugh, and photographed like an angel. The shoot was fantastic, producing some of my favorite photos.

I was so elated to have met Kesley and to have had the opportunity to shoot with her, we immediately scheduled a second shoot. Another great session: on the beach, indoors, at a baseball field… Perfect. And then, as it always happens with the girls I shoot, Kesley moved away. We’ve kept in touch and swore we’d shoot again if either of us were in the same town. And so on this trip, coming back through Houston, I met up with Kes for two great, great shoots. Woohoo!

The red hair is now black and Kesley is, of course, as beautiful as ever. The first shoot was done in two parts: the first sets were shot at a sort of pop-art motel (a complete stroke of good luck as it was a budget motel that I happened to stay in the night before en route to Houston), the second set is all outdoors in full cowgirl attire (down to the boots!!) replete with a mammoth pickup truck.

The motel shoot went really well, producing a sort of moody retro Vanity Fair look. Totally dug the way it went. The cowgirl shots could not have been any more perfect. In an abandoned field, Kes gave off just stellar poses around this gargantuan vehicle. A perfect cowgirl, even in the heat of the Texas sun.

The locale for our second shoot was a highrise in downtown Houston with spectacular views overlooking the city. (Thanks Liz!) Beautiful rooms, beautiful views, with Kesley in front. I wish we had been able to shoot into the night with the skyline behind her, but time limitations prevented kept us on a tight schedule. Actually, I wish we had been able to shoot every day I was in Houston. (You know I’m a fan, Kesley. )

A nice little milestone with our last shoot: Kesley is now the only model I’ve shot more than three times. (See moving away note above.)

Anyway, I’m still working through the photos from these last two shoots. And I STILL have photos I need to get to from the first two shoots. But all of Kesley’s photos from ALL shoots can be found here.

Before I embarked on this trip across country, I decided I wanted to do one model shoot while on the road. As it would turn out, I would get the pleasure of shooting Jas, a close friend of Ava’s in Houston. Absolutely beautiful and as sweet as Ava.

I’ve decided that I’m going to go through and process all the photos from our shoot before I hit LA on this trip. All photos from the first shoot with Jas will be found here.

Before I left on this trip, Ava, my roommate, had wanted to do one more shoot. Her friend Iris (an amazing photographer) and I shot Ava on Tuesday of last week. Iris had a great concept where she would write certain phrases on Ava’s body. Loved the idea, and it worked out rather nicely. I’ve only published six photos from the shoot so far, but they will all be in The Model Shoots under Ava, no. 3.