I really do scare myself sometimes…the way I can dive into situations that are absolutely foreign and for which I am probably absolutely unqualified.  Still, no matter how well I prepare…and this is strictly related to photography…I still end up creating better images when there are unexpected elements way beyond my control.  It’s like I shift gears and tap into that deeper sense of aesthetic that is part fight, part flight, and part accident.

Between now and next Sunday I have six…yes, count them 6 different shoots.  And I do still have a day-job.  One of those beautiful part-time jobs that keeps me happy and fed and where I’m kept in line and on point.  So first up is a quick test shoot for hair stylist Michael Haase who is concocting something fantastic that he wants my lens on.  The same day I am shooting my first nude session and as if that wasn’t challenging enough…there will be a 10 by 4 foot mirror involved in a rather small space.  How do I NOT get myself or this strobe or that reflector into the picture?  No idea…that’s where the scared part comes in.

On Sunday I am shooting two adorable children in continuation of my Eclipse series.  Without getting too much into my head let’s just say the series is about longing and an attempt on my part to handle white.  Apparently, white clothing/color is the easiest thing to blow out and the hardest to control texture and subtle nuance.  Having done the first of 10 shoots last week…I get it.  Not easy.  But oh, so worth it….

Then next week is a yet unconfirmed trip six hours up north to do some stills for a music video.  I’ll keep this one under the radar until I know for sure, but what I can disclose is my gittiness over Genart’s Fresh Faces in Fashion at Petersen Automotive Museum, which I get to cover on Thursday night.  Everything is a photograph as Steichen would say…everything indeed.

Wanna know something else?  I have a pending jury duty committment for next week….yup….got called in two weeks ago and there is still chance that they will tie me up when I show up in court on Monday.  This is NOT the time to panick, though.  I will still squeeze in a trip to the pumpkin patch with dear friends on Sunday night….oh, and I also embarked on a month of veganism…;)

Ain’t life grand.

Lest I forget…I COULD NOT do this without my boots.  The look that keeps me calm, cool and collected is perfectly embodied in this collection by twentysevennames…

…and I certainly couldn’t handle this week without Fever Ray…I set this album aside when it came out at the beginning of the year…it just didn’t have the resonnace…and this week it came back with a ROAR…

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My only comfort is that we’re still six months before Spring comes into bloom.  There is hope that I will be sporting a fashionable braid yet!  And it’s already popping in on Lookbook as far away as Stockholm.