Dachs Thoughts

Just a couple of days after shooting with Magnolia I traveled down to the Santa Cruz area where I shot with frequent collaborator Jennifer Jones. We hadn’t worked together since Christmas time. We shot in an area not far from town referred to as the Garden of Eden. It’s a relatively popular swimming area for the locals, and is a beautiful area along a river at the bottom of a canyon. We shot late in the day and although there were a number of cars in the parking area we didn’t encounter anybody while we were working. We explored a handful of areas along the river an got some beautiful shots. Along with the nice scenery, it was also a nice opportunity to work with my new 135 mm f/1.8 lens out of doors with plenty of space to get a feel for its utility.

I had a nice (early) photoshoot with east coast based model, Magnolia. We had last worked together about a year earlier, on one of her first traveling tours. The weather was pleasant and we were able to shoot both in the house and in the back yard. We were able to explore a nice variety of setups. Since the last time I had worked with her she has gotten married and is about to take a break from modeling to start a family. Perhaps I will have one more chance to work with her before she take her hiatus.

I finally had a chance to work with well known freelance model Kristy Jessica. Kristy has been in the industry for a long time and has also produced a very interesting podcast highlighting the freelance modeling community. Many of the models I have worked with have been interviewed on her podcast. We had a wonderful photoshoot together starting a little earlier than my normal, however, the time seemed to fly by too quickly. I look forward to the opportunity to work with her again.

I had a terrific first shoot with local model Seraphina. She had reached out and we finally managed to get together. The time flew by much too quickly, but we still managed to get a wide variety of shots. I was also able to try out my new light panel and a new lens, which is always fun. It was very nice to make connections with another local model and I hope to work with her again many times in the future.

I had a chance to shoot with a model who is new to me, Tennessee based traveling model Erin Divine. She had reached out to me and we managed to get together. She has been slow traveling across the country with her dog, engaging in rock climbing along the way. Interestingly she originally had a background in academia before she got into modeling. We had a nice time working together before she had to rush off to another shoot on the coast.

Today I had a nice photoshoot with North Carolina based traveling model Keira Grant. This was our first time working together. We had originally planned to work together last year when my jury duty required me to cancel our planned photoshoot. She is a very experienced model and also does painting and photography herself, which helped her posing and collaboration. It was a lot of fun to work together. Not only did she pose well, but she was also patient and fun in trying some things I experimented with that I hadn’t worked the kinks out before.

I had a very enjoyable photoshoot with a model who reached out to me on Instagram, European based CurlyandBlond. She is originally from Hungary, but currently lives in Portugal, apparently preferring to move locations every few years. She had great communication prior to our shoot, and was very pleasant to work with. She had been staying in the city where it was quite cool, and although warmer out at my place it never got very warm. We ended up shooting everything inside but still were able to get a nice variety of shots. She said she was planning on leaving full time modeling in roughly a year which is disappointing, but I’m happy I got to work with her this time. Hopefully I will get another chance.

I had another opportunity to work with traveling Czech model, Išinka Luxova, whom I worked with last fall in San Francisco. She was again staying in western San Francisco, far from BART, so I bit the bullet and drove over and picked her up and brought her back to my place. She is a very photogenic model and we were able to explore a good variety of shots. Despite driving for over 225 miles and having a day that lasted 11 hours, much spent in traffic, I very much enjoyed our shoot and I think we created some nice images.

I had a photoshoot at my place with semi-local model Her Stillness Dances. She drove down from Petaluma, and we had a nice day to shoot. Despite good weather outside we ended up spending all our time inside or in the garage. She is fun to work with and poses wonderfully and the time flew by too quickly. Her dance training shows in her posing. While I had hoped to be able to work with her frequently after first working with her last year, it’s been more than a year since we have worked together. She pulled back from modeling for a while to go back to school, so I’m glad I got a chance to work with her now that she’s back to a bit of modeling. Hopefully we’ll work together again soon.