Back To The Sea

This past weekend I had the opportunity to again work with Katz Pajamaz & Shelby Katz, and also with Rusty Shackelford & Logan, we all met up and drove out to what's left of the pier at the end of Poe Road.

It was a warm sunny day, but quite windy, we made the best of the conditions and the space I think.

Broken

Working with this group was great fun, I thought it would be more of a challenge having 4 models on location but the ideas and inspiration flowed as we all collaborated on the places and poses. 

A Balance Of Will

And some poses are a result of found objects.

People At The Sea

It was great to have all 4 models on location together and everything worked together beautifully.

These two are just so much fun to shoot, you almost never know what might happen next!

The Salton Sea is pretty much a paradise for me, it can be dreadful out there in the heat and when the wind howls of which I've had to endure both, but it is sure hard to beat on a beautiful day, one thing for sure we all want to go back and shoot there again.

"Sometimes I think all my pictures are just pictures of me. My concern is . . . the human predicament; only what I consider the human predicament may simply be my own." ~Richard Avedon

Just Give Me A Kiss

This past Saturday I had the great pleasure of working with two incredible artist models, Shelby Katz and Katz Pajamaz

From The Inside

This was my third time working with Katz Pajamaz and first time working with Shelby Katz, this was also quite outside my usual style and I felt somewhat out of my element. Plus I worked Saturday morning at my day job so after work it was about a 2 hour drive, a bit of a mad dash and a couple of traffic jams later... We were shooting.

Let Me

The atmosphere was amazing and everything seemed to fall into place once we began shooting, the three of us had been discussing this shoot for several weeks in advance so we were definitely all on the same page from the start. 

Two As One

I can't say enough about how great it feels to work with such amazing and talented people, this shoot was fantastic because of Katz & Shelby. I was admittedly a little apprehensive about it mainly because it was a space I'd never seen, and I'm still new to using available indoor light and shooting in close proximity. 

Summer Lovers

This photo shoot was a joy to do and I'm loving the results, I also know there are those who prefer my desert work and I appreciate that, so this isn't to say I'm coming in from the desert, not a chance, in fact the three of us plan to shoot in the desert this coming weekend, am I lucky or what?

Only A Kiss

"I believe a key to status and recognition as a free-lance photographer is flexibility of approach. Be able to perform more than one type of photography." ~Jerry Rosen

Franck Leclercq

From some of my latest work, Franck Leclercq, a friend in Paris has done more editing and manipulations...

Living Stone (Fairy - Sunshine In The Desert)

I had the great pleasure of working with beautiful people in the last month, Sunshine In The Desert, Katz Pajamaz, Rusty Shackelford, Pearl Pardo & Wyldcat.

Fallen Angel (Katz Pajamaz)

Amazing work... Franck & I are actually in the planning stages of doing a book together.

Cracked (Katz Pajamaz)

I got to spend most of the day with Katz & Rusty out in Lucerne Valley, at the famous Flying F Ranch and in the hills and lake bed, what a treat going to the ranch and working with such amazing artists.

Trouble (Katz Pajamaz and Dallas)

This is from one of my last photo shoots with Pearl, incredibly beautiful and talented, she was my Muse for several years.

Life Out There (Pearl Edit - Pearl Pardo)

Rusty & Katz give me so much to work with, when these two are together there is a seemingly never ending supply of posing ideas and concepts.

The Lovers (Katz Pajamaz & Rusty Shackelford)

I also had the opportunity to work for the first time with Wyldcat, all I can say is wow, fantastic talent and take it from me, she cannot be tamed.

Wyldcat and Yours Truly

"You have to follow your instinct all the time. Otherwise you don't make it." ~Ruth Bernhard

Wyldcat

A few weeks ago I did a somewhat random search and 'tagged' (left a message) for 4 model's on Model Mayhem that I felt were exceptional and fit my photographic style, I simply said that I would love to work with them sometime. 

The Workshop

Only one of the models responded, Wyldcat, by leaving a message saying simply that she would also love to work with me. So, we began communicating via private messages, we set a date and traded contact info, we chatted back & forth about photography, modeling, music and locations.

The Microcosm Of Life

Last Saturday we headed for the high desert, I picked her up around noon and the plan was to shoot until sunset, the concept was to shoot for my 'decay' series in and around abandoned buildings, shoot for my flower series and also do some art nude in the desert. I'm not sure if it was from the brief conversations we had in e-mail or text, but practically from the moment we met I felt I had known her a long time already.

Nature's Overture

 

Conditioned

The first place we stopped was an abandoned farm house, I don't think we were there all of 5 minutes when 4 people drove up in a van, stopping there to shoot fashion, so down the road we went to a smaller abandoned house only a mile or so away, again 15 minutes after arriving a guy drove up who had come to sit on the porch and eat his lunch. Undeterred we went to yet another place I knew out there and this time we were able to work uninterrupted and the shoot began coming together. 

The Natural World

It was a beautiful day and Wyldcat is an exceptional talent as well as great company, we cruised the valley stopping at several abandoned places and then as the light improved in the later afternoon we moved on to desert nudes, in the rocks and on the lake bed. She was simply amazing and I am very much looking forward to our next adventure!

Corner Of My Eye

"No, I don't think you're ever an objective observer. By making a frame you're being selective, then you edit the pictures you want published and you're being selective again. You develop a point of view that you want to express. You try to go into a situation with an open mind, but then you form an opinion, and you express it in your photographs." ~Mary Ellen Mark