Kitten

People with 9-5 type jobs have weekends; I have an unpredictable schedule with a whole lot of days with travel and work, then days sprinkled in there without work. My past five days in Houston were exactly what I needed after a long trek back from the East Coast - they were my weekend days. I need to experience this phenomenon a bit more often. I was able to do everyday chores like fix the crack in my windshield, get my state emissions test done for my car, go to the DPS to switch back to my Texas license, pull together clothing and household items to donate, organize my things, go to the grocery store, sleep a little, go on walks to the neighborhood restaurants, visit friends and do general social activities. This all sounds so ordinary and yet, this felt so incredibly welcome to me. I also had a few shoots in my schedule.

And...

Photobooth Macbook Snapshot

I had a pet kitten for 48 hours. At the start of a photoshoot, the photographer and I heard continual mewing and after some searching the source of this sound was found - a tiny kitten was by the roots of a tree. Clearly abandoned, I picked her up, made a box for her and spent a portion of the shoot distracted by this adorable creature (but I look super happy in the photos and stayed an additional hour so the distraction proved a positive). I brought her back to my place and over to Friends for Life, a no-kill clinic where I was asked to foster her for a couple of days until they could find a more permanent foster parent. Thus my first and only days as the foster parent of a 3 - 4 week old kitten involved messy feeding sessions (even at 5 am), an abundance of mewing and me keeping her happy with rather periodic petting and cuddling. Little Lily was so adorable and I hated to see her go when I handed her over to someone else but this was a necessity seeing as I had more travel to do and the person I stay with in Houston is allergic to cats. Someday I will stay put and get my own cat - but not yet. 

Multiple

I am wearing tighty-whities. Why? Today I had the day off in Atlanta and ordered up a bit of thrift store shopping in addition to catching up on emails and taking a couple too many showers. Trying on clothing without underwear is sometimes a little disgusting, and when sharing a room with other ladies (yes, some stores still have communal dressing rooms) sparing the women the shock of seeing a panty-less girl seemed like basic politeness. Of course, I have good manners when in a store in the South, and yet, just a week and a half ago I was running around a friend's home in the DC area with a grey tape, which was not duct tape, covering up my butt crack. 6 cups of coffee and one pour of scotch and apparently I lost control, and the fun version of me came out.

Photographed by Mohandoss Photography

Raleigh, North Carolina - Summer 2012

I often joke about the two (or debated three) sides of myself. With my prose up above, I was reminded of this. 

I find pleasure in the small things in life. One of which is opening fortune cookies and reading their fortunes. I have learned Panda Express makes the most boring fortunes, so I do not recommend picking up a bag of their cookies for this purpose, but most fortunes are a bit more exciting. There is some order to my fortune cookie practices - I open a cookie, eat a small amount, and read the fortune. If I feel so inclined, I may eat the rest of the cookie, but having that one small taste is part of my being able to consider the fortune mine. I have no idea when I started doing this. A couple of weeks ago I found fortune cookies laying on the countertop where I was shooting, and decided to partake in the fortune experience. Upon opening my cookie I found this fortune - "a beautiful person is with you, confide your problems," and was of course in the room by myself.  Was my fortune cookie suggesting I embrace my multiple personalities and have them all talk to each other? :P (I of course say all of this in jest)

How are you?

I have been having requests to write more frequently, and have wanted this for myself as well, so I will endeavor to at least get a post out on a weekly basis, if not more. Time of my own which coincides with motivation to write is rather limited, as I have been on the road for 9 weeks with this current road trip and have friends everywhere who I visit when not working, which means my personal time has become time I share with friends. Tonight I am breaking this and ordering up a night in a cheap hotel by myself. A bit of quiet, "me," time is essential.

I am never too certain what is ascertained from one blog post. My mother appears to believe I was in the depths of depression based upon one blog about my disappointment in a lack of collaboration, and I want to assure you that is not the case. No person can be positive all of the time, but we maintain the impression of this as when walking down the street and asked, "how are you?" people do not truly want them to tell them anything negative. Usually on the rare occasion I am down and asked this, I exclaim, "I am terrible!" with a bit of happy enthusiasm. I have found that making a joke of my glumness can help pull me out. That said, I am doing wonderfully, thank you. :) And most often I am. 

I try to keep negativity off of this blog, and you may notice I have never pointed out specifics in terms of this. I'm a believer in positive thinking, and feel more people in the world could stand to be optimistic and hopeful about things. Yet sometimes a word about difficulties seems more real. 

Photographed by Reiver

Morrisdale, PA - October 2012

So, where am I today? At the moment I am happily sitting in a cafe sipping coffee as I wait for my photographer to battle through traffic to our studio location. The cup of coffee I picked up for him is getting cold, but I am glad today I have a bit of extra time on the back end of my shoot time, so I can stay a little longer to make up for the delayed start. Yes, sometimes photographers are late, too. :) And sometimes models bring photographers coffee.

I'm in DC one more day, then Virginia, and by Wednesday night I will be in Asheville, North Carolina and away from the east coast (I do not consider Asheville to be the east coast, but some may disagree) until about 2014. This notion excites me. I have some fun adventures coming up and my arriving in Texas in November will grant me a few days of "home."

Happy Place

I spent my final days in NYC just last week and was sad to depart knowing I will not return until basically 2014. I used to feel I could not keep up with the pace of NYC and I had no desire to live there, but while now I have financial concerns regarding the logistics of living in that glorious city, I have awakened to the charm of the place. I stayed up late, went to yoga class, drank an abundance of coffee and perhaps too much whiskey, hung out with friends, ate pizza and of course walked and walked and did quite a bit of shooting while in the city. NYC, I shall miss you.

Photographed by Rick Poston

NYC, NY - September 2012

Currently I am happily shooting and resting in the middle of Pennsylvania. Last night I was suspended over the dining room table, after spending the afternoon doing bondage ballerina erotica. With the colorful fall leaves all around me, and the smell of wetplate lavender, I'm in a pretty good place.

The dance

The rain has me down. Or maybe I am tired. Or perhaps shoots which seem they will not result in artistically sound or pleasant to look at photographs disappoint me. Or maybe shoots where many of the parties are in their own spaces, rather than opening up to see the opportunities available to them and taking the occasion to collaborate are what zap my enthusiasm. I begin all encounters with a positive outlook and attempt to maintain this as long as possible, but I am very much someone who feels the energy of the people around me and as their demeanor and the mood changes, I have to fight to keep myself in my normal happy state.

I am on a short lunch break and will head off to do another shoot soon. A new shoot in a new environment, by the time I arrive at Dunkin Donuts to meet the photographer, I will have a smile on my face and the energy needed to be fully me.

Photographed by Rick Poston

NYC - September 2012

People often do not realize what goes into a good photo shoot. An understanding of lights is a good base, then flows the ability to see the art possibilities laid out in front of you. Photoshoots can be like a dance with energy flowing between subject and photographer and light all swirling around a room.  When people are open to dancing, magic can occur, but when one party is disinterested in this dance, things are a bit more stilted.

I must caffeinate and hit the races, I am clearly sounding hippy-dippy and overly brief in my words. I will muse on this with greater eloquence at a time further down the line.

Fairie

Painting by Fred Fields

The majority of my shoots are with photographers whose end goal from a shoot is to create photographs, but on occasion the photographs are just one step in a long creation process. Time is elusive, but a while back I worked with an artist who took reference photos for his paintings. I was immediately impressed with the quality of his work - gorgeous whimsical scenes with fairies, plants and animals - and had a feeling great works of art would be created from our photos.

You can learn about the step-by-step progress of this painting by viewing his blog.

Central Park

Tomorrow morning I will be modeling in Central Park. Please do not tell the police.
While toplessness is legal in NYC, being completely nude is not, but with a handy dress that goes on and off quickly, a pair of panties I can claim I was wearing if need be, and a bit of stealth, I think the photographer and I will get away with this. Last time the two of us shot together, I was naked on the Brooklyn Bridge.

 Photographed by Andrew Kaiser

Sauvie Island, Portland, Oregon - Summer 2012

I awoke today about 30 minutes prior to my alarm, which was a glorious way to begin the day. I also felt miraculously rested. Of course this faded and I am currently running on my second cup of coffee as I have a late night shoot planned (ought to be low key and experimental as shoots with MC tend to be). I was in New Jersey for the entirety of the day, shooting in Greg Price's studio for the first time ever (he's known for throwing huge workshops with an abundance of photographers and models running around with various amounts of nakedness and a vast array of cameras), then modeling in my friend's home for a few hours. I have safely returned from that state (the state of New Jersey that is, although the state of disarray might also apply) and am ready to fuel up with sushi then carry on with my last portion of my NYC trip. By tomorrow at noon I'll be on my way to Boston. This week has flashed by.