Viewing entries tagged
Black Is Beautiful
Part Two: Time For Bed
Let your imagination flourish...
Blending Realities
The subjects of my screenplays and the subjects of my photography don't often intersect as much as I thought they would, considering that it was screenwriting that reignited my love for photography to begin with. I suppose going into photography with no real goal other than to photograph whatever I wanted at the time might have something to do with that, yet one medium will still often act as a catalyst for the other in some way. This time however, I found a rare crossroads between the two, which came in the form of interaction with one's own subconscious explored thematically throughout the narrative.
This came about after reflecting on many of the scripts I'd written in the past, trying to find unintentional common themes between them as a way of better understanding my own narrative voice. What I found was that just about everything I'd written was some form of introspective personal drama, with elements of the inner-consciousness of characters manifesting as physical elements of the story in some way. In To Police, we watch the aftermath of a police shooting unfold by exploring the lead character's own memory. In the upcoming Shine, the lead character has a conversation with his own subconscious which has manifested in the form of his father. This idea kept appearing in my work, so the next logical phase was to embrace it and find a way to bring it into my photography as well. "How?" you might ask. Well, with lingerie of course.
In my second collaboration with the lovely Brianna, we decided to try something new and come up with a way to blend a traditional lingerie shoot with this concept of personal introspection. So what did we come up with? Two distinct narratives being explored via two distinct types of film. The first narrative is told in Colour, and follows the story of a young woman who returns to her hotel room and enters into a hyper-realistic lucid dream. The second narrative is told in Black & White, and is the dream itself, where the character's thoughts and emotions begin to take on a physical form as she explores the depths of her fantasy.
This was such a fun concept to shoot, and has given me a lot to think about in exploring similar themes with my photography in the future. As always, Brianna was wonderful to work with and did an excellent job as the lead character in this play of pictures.
For the full series, see below...
THE DREAMSCAPE
- Prologue
- Part One
- Part Two
- Part Three
Part Woman, Part Wind
This weekend I collaborated with the beautiful and talented Luwam Mikael for a shoot in Downtown Los Angeles, a collaboration born entirely out of Instagram. And what a collaboration it was...
Luwam, DTLA 2015, Pentax 67
No Housewives Here
Braelynn, 2015, Pentax 67
Keeping the shoots coming strong in 2015 with my latest collaborator, Braelynn Taylor! Another Instagram connect made this happen. We got together in Central LA this weekend so I could put a few more miles on my new favorite beast, the Pentax 67.
Canon AE-1:
Pentax 67:
Easy to tell how it quickly became my favorite camera.
The Return of the Reluctant Muse
Although I will admit, after falling in love with the results from our first shoot, it was much easier to talk Anninka into shooting again. And of course, once again, I shot some of my favorite pictures to date.
She's quickly becoming a fan favorite among my followers on Instagram as well, and it's easy to see why. Our collaborations give off such a fresh Los Angeles vibe, it's always a welcome contrast to my more NYC-like street sets.
Smokin' Hot
Something about the way smoke looks on film is just so fascinating to me, so naturally I was intrigued when Jaelen brought her vaporizer along to our shoot.
Jaelen, 2014
It was also a good day to break out the Bronica ETRS. As much as I love this camera, it's not the easiest to shoot with when time is a factor as is common lately. But luckily I was able to take my time here and really get some use out of it. And what an immaculate image it captures...
Brianna On Film
This week model Brianna Michaela and I had some fun exploring the Downtown LA Rooftops in her first ever shoot on film. I'm really starting to enjoy introducing film shoots to those who are unfamiliar with it. The entire process of the shoot becomes much more freeing and relaxing. Instead of constantly worrying about how they look in camera and wanting to see previews, the models are just able to relax and be themselves, which makes it that much easier for me to really capture their true, natural beauty, and not the overproduced, oversexualized glamour prevalent in the industry today.
Brianna, Abstract - Downtown LA 2014, Bronica ETRS
In a collaboration with Fashion Designer Kabeh Ojo and Makeup Artist Vanessa Rene, today I shot four models in hand-made garments from fabrics sent directly from Africa. It just so happens that the offices behind my production headquarters for According to Him & Her give off a heavy island / African vibe. The perfect location for this shoot.
