Thursday, March 28, 2013

The Naked and the Nude

Sometimes you just gotta say fuck it and get naked!
This is the incredible Nicolette on our 3rd shoot together. She's an amazing model with a ton of energy, great ability and no inhibitions. A great combo if you ask me. Not many people would be as stoked to shoot at an abandoned, dirty and far away dairy- but she was with it 100%.  Any model that will wear a rabbit mask in her birthday suit and rock it is aces in my book and it makes me very sad that she moved away back to Texas. At least I have a great (& larger) set of images to remember the magic.
If you are not familiar with this location, its known as the Scary Dairy and is an hour north of LA. You've got to walk about a mile on a gravel path from the entrance where you can leave your car, so it's best to travel light or bring a pack mule... I found out about this spot when I moved out here and was digging around the interwebs looking for abandoned locations to explore. I do love my urbex'ing! The dairy is home to SWAT team training and to street artists looking to go big and not be bothered. So yeah, every trip is an adventure. 
As soon as we got there and looked around, we decided that the barn would be the best place to get naked! The textures and colors were great and the trooper that she was, Nicolette just jumped in and did her thing without much help from me. I just needed to be sure to keep my eyes open and the shutter clickin.

She is pretty much one of the easiest models I have ever worked with

I am ok with sharing her... you can find her and book her here

Tuesday, March 26, 2013

A visit to the tree house with Gregory Siff

Back in November 2012, I had the pleasure of paying a quick visit to the Tree House. Well that's not technically a place really, but that's what artist Gregory Siff calls his live/work space in West Hollywood.
It's pretty much impossible to be involved in today's contemporary art scene and not have heard of Gregory Siff. Brooklyn born and now LA based, Siff is quickly becoming a heavy hitter in the art world. I became aware of him by seeing his art on the street in and around Melrose and downtown. Using bold colors and sketchy characters has gotten him a huge fan base and also quite a welcoming in many galleries, nationwide. I'd also like to add that he is a crazy sweet person who is the first to offer support and help to fellow creatives. 

You can see below, this would be a typical day at the tree house, listening to music, hanging out and making art. Many local artists come by and collaborate as well. His walls are themselves a gallery!   
 
 Gregory was the first person to sign on to participate in my own on-going photo project, these images are from that first visit to shoot him. Below is a shot of the man himself "tagging" my chucks! I wear them alot... it might be time for an update- sadly the ink wears off. But that's just how it is, Gregory is all for sharing the love. 

While I was there, another photographer was also working on something. Nobody Photography was getting a custom jacket made while shooting for his website. That jacket was incredible and now I must work on getting one of my own!  Gregory has been known to rock out shoes, jackets, shops- you name it, i'm sure he can work with it.

At any given moment, Mr. Siff is working on half a dozen projects and out at a million and one events. If you haven't met the guy, go up to him and just say hi. He's always wearing his million dollar smile and he's ALWAYS got a marker in hand.


Thank you to Gregory for letting me and my camera come by for a quick snap and thanks also to Nobody for being a trooper and giving me 15 minutes in the middle of his project

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

Holi Festival of Color

Holi Festival of Colors in Norwalk, CA 2013

This past weekend, I had the pleasure of participating in LA's first Holi Festival. If you aren't familiar with Holi, wikipedia describes it as:
Holi (Hindi: होली, Nepali: होली) is a religious spring festival celebrated by Hindus as a festival of colours. Every year, thousands of Hindus participate in the festival Holi. The festival has many purposes. First and foremost, it celebrates the beginning of the new season, spring. Originally, it was a festival that commemorated good harvests and the fertile land. Hindus believe it is a time of enjoying spring's abundant colors and saying farewell to winter. It also has a religious purpose, commemorating events present in Hindu mythology. Although it is the least religious holiday, it is probably one of the most exhilarating ones in existence. During this event, participants hold a bonfire, throw colored powder at each other, and celebrate wildly.
You will never be in the presence of so many hundreds of people in such a good mood any other time in your life! It was an amazing afternoon full of music, food, laughter and photo taking. So much laughter and free hug giving, all to celebrate the coming of Spring. For me personally, the day centered around the color throws. When you arrive, you can purchase packets of colored powder (safe and oh so lovely smelling) to throw however, wherever and whenever- but there were scheduled throws every hour on the hour. Count downs were led by some of the talent like my new fav MC Yogi. 10 seconds and BAM the world gets covered in psychedelic color love! This went on from 11am til 8pm, with yoga and live music keeping the revelers in high spirits as well.  Hopefully this is the first of many years of Holi in Los Angeles, it is a sight to be seen and enjoyed!

Hare Krishna!

Find the full set on Flickr