***“…I’m here for a good time, not a long time. Life is too short not to wear fun clothes.”***

Ruby Marx - 2023.

September 23, 2023

I think sometimes you have to celebrate your challenges and failures along side of your victories. This session was a challenging one across the board. Ruby and I may have locked in this shoot over a month ago, but a week ago she let me know that she just wasn’t feeling as energetic as usual and wanted to take things a bit more low-key than the costume shoot we had planned.

Cool. No problem. I’m here to do the work. I don’t care all that much what I’m doing, as long as I’m doing it. Also I prefer to test new equipment on more “low stakes” shoots anyway (not to brag, but most of the time I really do like being a photo industry secret agent and getting to play with pre-release toys…this will come back to bite me in just a few seconds).

I’m not sure what happened this time around, but I think I was fighting my equipment from the first frame. My first mistake was thinking I could use good quality lights with a poor quality modifier. I’m spoiled I guess with having access to better equipment, but I still can’t believe I can notice a difference with something I relied on not too many years ago. However, that was only the first battle. No matter what troubleshooting I did I kept having blank frames where my strobes just didn’t fire. I have some troubleshooting to do, and even though I’m happy with what we ended up getting, I’m still a little disappointed we had to cut things short (even if it did mean we did get more time mobbing around a new antique store and Target for the afternoon).

Adryana - 2023.

August 25, 2023

Oh hey, look who it is. Miss me? I’ve been spending the last few months dealing with some health issues and general weirdness. But sometimes you just have to get back on the horse and do the work.

I’ve been planning this shoot for a few years now (in a way anyway), and in a lot of ways this is actually a “Part II” from an earlier shoot I did for my “Cats who live with my friends” series (which I probably should get back to at some point).

When I was invited over the first time, things just didn’t line up the way we both wanted, so I was happy to finally get another chance.

This shoot was a bit shorter than what I’m used to doing, but after several months away I was happy to take things a little easier this time around. Nonetheless I think we were able to get some great stuff out of it.

***“…I take off my noodles, I hump my bread, I play with my meatball clit. That sort of thing…”***

Roula Roulette - 2023.

April 29, 2023

Shortly after working with Golden Mystique a few weeks back, Roula Roulette reached out to get something on the books. If you are a long time reader of the blog (or know how to filter posts by key word) you may have seen some various shots of her in action (To be fair I only remembered this while I was making this post because I already had a tag in my system with her name on it…but I digress).

When I asked Roula what ideas she wanted to explore, she said she had a “Spaghetti dress” that needed to be shot for promotional materials. Little did I know what I was in for.

We spent a wonderful morning laughing and cutting up while her partner played DJ and knocked out some side work. I learned the story of how they became a member of the Atlanta burlesque community, and more importantly became a key part in the training and support of the next (and the next, and the next) generation of performers.

So without further ado, take a look at what we made together. And remember, when you’re here in the studio…you’re family. Or something.

***“…I’m going to need some harder music on this playlist…”***

Sunday O'Dare - 2023.

March 20, 2023

A couple of weeks ago I ran into Sunday at what probably could be considered her birthday party. We spent most of the night catching up about what all has happened in the last few years (it didn’t hurt that the both of us were more interested in being the quiet “adults” at said party than what else was going on) and decided it was about time for us to get back in the studio.

”I just ordered some new underwear”, she said, “…but it doesn’t come until March so we still have some time to plan”. I had some business trips planned this month, so it sounded good to me to get something on the calendar.

Looking back in the blog it was 2019 when we last worked together, and I don’t even think that shoot even got it’s own blog post. This both was far too long ago, and just wasn’t acceptable. So of course, we decided to change that in a big way.

I love the vibe that Sunday always brings to the table, and there is always something interesting to talk about from Disney-Singles Facebook groups, to the need for a little more Nine Inch Nails on the studio playlist.

***“…I assure you I’m not on fire– Unless I specifically tell you I’m on fire.”***

Caitlin - 2023.

March 04, 2023

I warned my housemate that I was going to be using “canned atmosphere” and told him not to worry if it looked like my studio was smoking, only to realize how flammable the whole ordeal actually can be (I’m glad I blew out that scented candle before we started shooting).

If you have never used fog in a can (as I hadn’t until today) it has a unique smell between burnt toast and rotting flesh. I’m not sure how long that scent will be sticking around, but I hope it dissipates while I’m away for the next week for work. Thankfully neither of us has any asthma problems, and nobody outside of my studio windows called the fire department.

After several rounds of unfortunate rescheduling, Caitlin and I are again back in the studio—this time with more (and alliterative) horror-themed hotness.

To be honest, at first, I was a little skeptical about the Ghost Face concept that Caitlin brought to the table, but after some trial and error, I think we ended up with something interesting.