“Punk violin” … not two words that are usually used together. But last week I had the opportunity to shoot Nina .. and it was one of thoes “don’t judge a book by it’s cover” days. I heard I was going to shoot a violin player. But the violin player came in with a mohawk and a very punk attitude.

It showed me not to prejudge anything … she was talented, intelligent and sweet. And brave … it wasn’t an easy shoot — and her first — but she made it happen. (She was bodypainted with a violin across her back … it took hours and hours … makeup artist Keri doing an amazing job.) Here are a couple of pictures:

(Yes … she WAS wearing clothes in this one … we were just strategic about the placement of everything:)

Oh … and I haven’t forgotten … I need to do the photoshop tutorial on how to create a destroyed photograph. Still to come…

I love to be creative, and I love to see what different things come out of simply experimenting. The image above is just such an experimentation … could I do it? Is it cool?

I like it … but I don’t think Amanda did. When you see an old bloodied print of a girl laying on 40 pounds of razors (which she actually was, by the way … that wasn’t photoshopped — and it’s very cool in high-resolution) … I think you’ve got to wonder what the story is. These pix tell a story that I clearly have in my head … and I have to wonder, is your story the same?

But this experimenting is also part of a broad soul-searching that I’m going through. What is my photographic style? What was I meant to be doing, that I love, that will make my images truly great instead of just good or really good? What is that, and why haven’t I found it?

I’m not terribly worried about it, since I’ve only been seriously into photography for about 2-1/2 years … but it’s definitely big on my mind lately.

Next time … for you photoshop geeks, a quick “how it was done” …

As well as shooting Erin last week (see previous entry), I was lucky enough to shoot with the wonderful Amanda. Amanda and I have shot together a number of times, and have become good friends over the last year or so. We were also treated to makeup, hair and styling by Keri, which made a big difference in the final image.

And here’s another of Erin from last week …

Not that I had a bad day … not at all, I had a great day. But I was thinking about the owner of this car … and the guys that live in the “rivers” of LA. Not quite the same life we’re lucky enough to lead, huh?

Anyway, it’s been two weeks without posting. That’s bad.

Been super busy lately, not that that’s any excuse. But it’s “calendar season,” and the quote requests are coming in. I haven’t been keeping up, but I’ll make sure to post at least once a week.

Today I had the complete joy and pleasure to work with Erin, a model visiting LA from her hometown in Minnesota. She was sweet, nice, intelligent, interesting, and definitely intriguing. At last minute notice, we had to change the shoot location from home (OC) up to LA. With the help of my good friend Rich, we shot at this completely graffiti covered, dirty, under-bridge area in LA. Amazing location … and a bit — that being a vast understatement — a bit sketchy.

The best line of the day was Rich saying “Okay, let’s talk about security for a second. If something happens, if I pull out my gun, or start shooting, you clear out, get some distance away from me.” Always what you want to hear when you have an out-of-town guest you’re trying to impress. Gives LA a good name, right?

We also shot at the Disney Concert Hall for a bit … I’m in love with that building. Unbelievable. Yes, somewhat of a cliche to shoot it — since it’s been done a million times already — but I had to. And hey, it had never been shot with Erin before.