On a day where we might have bitten off more than we could chew I had another opportunity to work with Her Stillness Dances. She has returned to school to pursue a graduate degree so it was nice to get a chance to do something within her schedule. We began with some shooting at my house for a few hours, then we trekked over to the coast to shoot at Bean Hollow State Beach. It was a bit of a time gap in our day, but it was a nice day for a drive. When we got to the coast we discovered that we had arrived at high tide which rendered some of the interesting features out of reach. Nonetheless we were able to take some nice shots with a very dramatic ocean. We got back after dark and grabbed a quick bite so Loreal could get back home at a decent hour. All in all a long day, but very fun, diverse, and productive.
On a pleasant day after the hot weather finally broke I had a chance to work with Florida based traveling model Alice Antoinette again. It had been a little over a year since we last worked together. We had a chance to work with a variety of wardrobe that she had brought, and since it wasn’t overly hot we were able to shoot a bit more outside than in several recent shoots. The time flew by, and since Alice had flexibility in her schedule, we extended the shoot for an additional hour to enable me to explore a couple of ideas I had that we hadn’t had a chance to get to. Afterwards we went downtown to grab some dinner, which was crowded do to a street fair focused on art. Then I drove her back to the city to a residence where many of my models have stayed ending a long but enjoyable day of creativity.
After working with Czech/Canadian model Muirina Fae at several events internationally, I finally got a chance to work with her at home. She is very experienced and pleasant to work with. I also discovered we share a passion for the Lord of the Rings, which I may have known a bit before but didn’t realize the extent of it. We have been in the midst of a late heat-wave here, so we shot inside and then tried outside for a bit until everyone overheated. I really enjoyed a chance working with her here under somewhat more controlled lighting conditions and I think we created some very nice images.
I spent the weekend on a remote property in the forested hill country beyond Healdsburg at a photography retreat organized by Kisa Hues. This property has been in Kisa’s family for decades and it is beyond the boundaries of civilization. It was remote and had some rustic cabins and beautiful landscape including a river running through. There was no electricity or internet, which was a bit of a challenge but also a good pull back from the habits of modern society. There were 4 photographers none of whom I had worked with before and 4 models all of whom I had worked with before: Kisa Hues, Illyria Wulf, Meghan Claire, and Lucy Tyler. It was a nice relaxing weekend of creative photography. It was also a good opportunity for some rest as without electricity (and lights) everyone went to bed around 9:00 which was good practice for me.
Bob and I BART’d over into the city to see this year’s San Francisco Shakespeare Festival production, Antony and Cleopatra. It was fun to go into the city, but the play didn’t really thrill me. At the kickoff they tried to put a real political spin on it tied to todays politics, and of course they threw in the obligatory land acknowledgement. Getting past that, this adaptation cut the play down to 1 1/2 hours which affected the story telling. Beyond these shortcomings the actors did a pretty good job. I’m glad I got to see one more Shakespeare play this year even if it wasn’t my favorite.
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In my third photoshoot in less than a week I had my second opportunity to work with east coast based traveling model Rebecca Lawrence. Rebecca is a very experienced model who has been traveling across the country with Anastasia Maye who I had shot with just a few days earlier. Luckily the heat wave from a few days ago had passed and we had some mildly warm weather, enabling us to do some nice shooting outside. It was great to work with her again. She had discussed continuing to work as a model into her maturity, and I’ll be happy to work with her in the future.
In the middle of a flurry of early September 2026 photoshoots, I again had the chance to work with Virginia based model Anastasia Maye. We had last worked together almost a year ago. Again this year she is traveling back and forth across the country with another model, Rebecca Lawrence, who I will be shooting with a few days later. Anastasia brought a large amount of wardrobe and I selected just a small subset, but we were able to create a nice variety of images during our shoot. She is very nice to work with and I look forward to her next trip.
Kicking off a rapid-fire group of days of photoshoots, I had my second opportunity to shoot at home with Arizona based traveling model Jamie Lee Bauern. We had missed connecting up last year, so it has been almost two years since we worked together the first time. It was a very hot day outside (later in the afternoon after our shoot it hit 108°), but Jamie said coming from Arizona it was no issue. We managed to explore a good variety of looks including the outside for a while until I and my camera started to overheat. Jamie is a pleasure to work with, and I look forward to our next time working together.
Shortly after returning from my long European trip I met up with Auroraa in Boulder Creek where she was staying and we traveled to a nearby area to shoot in the forest that contained a number of burnt Redwood trees. These provided some interesting colors and shapes. This is the first outdoor shoot we have done in a while and it was nice to get out to enjoy some nature. It was a little tough getting up so early to get down there, but eventually it was worth it. We mostly had the area to ourselves and had a nice chance to walk around and do some photography. It was a fun way to spend the morning and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
