"Fallen Art"

Tonight was fun. Next Friday I'm shooting a friend's side project with Dan from A Static Lullaby and this evening we met at the Cha Cha lounge to talk about ideas over $1.50 PBRs before dissolving into giggles and laughing with new friends and Danny from National Product. Outside I met a boy from Butte who was visiting his brother and no one believed it when we knew the same people. Montana is a small world! We then ventured over to the German bar Red Lion for Bloody Marys and more laughter. Then burritos and even more giddiness. Next week's shoot should be a grand grand time. We're thinking either a No Country for Old Men theme or Ski Ball... decisions...
I love making new friends that actually live in the city!

I love it when I hear a lyric that sums up exactly where I feel I am in my life...
"Don't you dare forget, don't you dare forget that nothing with meaning is easy."
-Lower Definition, The Weatherman
I want to paint that on my wall or something. I love this song.


"I know how you are with these things
And you're not gonna stop
I know how you are
Yeah you're an artist
When you tear things apart"

Can't wait to do their promos!

I'm back and the weather is absolutely incredible! It's 72, sunny, and completely clear. I think I might go up to the Greek Observatory today and take some pictures of LA. I actually put on a hoodie and warm socks this morning because my house is freezing, then walked outside and burned up. It's really amazing how weather affects my mood. Or maybe it's palm trees. Palm trees make me ridiculously happy because the ones around my house look like they came from a Dr. Seuss book.
I might make an effort to explore the neighborhood a bit more on foot before the work starts pouring in next week. I ordered the Canon 16-35mmL 2.8 this morning along with a battery grip (of course batteries for the 5D are sold out everywhere!) and they should get here Friday. Then I'm going to break in that sweet lens at In Fear and Faith's CD release show at Chain Reaction with Lower D on Monday. Then I'm going to shoot Vogue's show with Run Doris Run at The Roxy on Wednesday. I've always wanted to shoot at The Roxy, it's got the best lights, and barely a red bulb to screw up exposure! Excited, so excited.
Our mailbox was overflowing last night when I got home. Of course most of it is shredable waste from the Student Assistance Foundation for the three of us. I'm hoping that this tasty americano from Intelligentsia motivates me to clean my room, or the rest of the house which was left pretty trashed.
Welcome home Megan!

The high today in LA is 73. I CAN'T WAIT!
My house is going to be insanely lonely until my roommates get back. Everyone is freaking gone until after the new year. Hopefully I can shoot some bands this week and take full advantage of an empty house and set up my sweep for a couple days. Lower D, let's shoot before the 5th!
To do list:
Order prints from White House
Get tickets to Photo LA
Book stuff for SPE
Get press pass for SxSW
Go see the Vanity Fair exhibit at the LACMA
Finish Trish and From Aphony's pictures
Unpack stuff from when I moved in in the first place.

It will be a productive week alone.

Holy crap the new 5D is incredible! The top image is an unedited photo from my last shoot with Goodnight Sunrise shot with my 8mp Rebel. The bottom one is an unedited image from our shoot yesterday that I took with my 21mp 5D Mark II and an L lens. The difference is ridiculous! I could give them the extreme Jenga image with no Photoshop and it would be just fine! I can't wait to get back to LA to edit these!!

I feel like I just gave birth after 70 hours of labor. Here is the promo for Vogue in the Movement. I feel pretty strongly that these are my best band work so far. I think the end total including the shooting day was around 80 hours of work. I want to take a nap now, but have a huge amount of things to get done before I fly home to the arctic in the morning. So not excited about cold weather... not at all.

Today RULES! My 5D came in, AND... AND Vogue in the Movement is opening for Fall Out Boy on Saturday! I wish I could make it to the show, but I have to go freeze to death. I'm so stoked for the guys. I know they're going to get so huge they'll forget about me, but hey I can say I photographed them when... and I have the embarrassing photos of them to prove it. HA RYAN!
So my 5D is the most amazing thing ever invented. Bassett used it to take HD footage the whole drive back from Samy's and it looks sooooo gorgeous! Back to editing and geeking out like a crazy person!

Monday night Mike and I got to discussing whether or not it was possible to deep fry a hard boiled egg. Most people believed it would be disgusting, I believed it would produce a bouncy ball, and Mike believed it would be delicious. Verdict: "It tastes like breakfast"

Aaaaand the house is restored to its normal housey self. The guys left this afternoon after I forced them to drink massive amounts of eggnog against their will for a Christmas photoshoot. The results are quite... er... captivating. I'm looking forward to editing that ridiculousness.
The show last night was amazing fun, and I got to see another one of my favorite bands, These Arms are Snakes, on the other stage. The security were kind of rude near the end of the night, but we made our way back to the house for some beers and good times despite. Today its been raining non stop and it's 47 degrees. Which I realize is balmy and warm to you Montana people, but we're freezing. Of course Friday, the day I leave, it's supposed to warm up again and be in the 60's. Weather is exciting... anyway, I brought up weather because the guys are shooting their music video today in the mud, rain, and frigid temperatures. They're troopers. Eggnog and mud, you guys deserve an award for today!
Back to editing...

Edit edit eeeeedit!
This week is going to be a complete blur. Seems like a trend the week before going back home for a week. I have to finish Vogue's promos today, Fear Before is coming in a couple hours to stay for a couple days, I have to shoot Stereo Tragedy... sometime this week. I was supposed to shoot tonight, but it's SNOWING an hour north and they closed everything so they can't get here. I hope they can reschedule for this week. I'd love to have some cash right now for Christmas gifts.
Tomorrow night Fear Before is playing at the Knitting Factory and These arms are Snakes will be playing in the other room too! GAH! SOOOO STOKED! Then the boys leave Wednesday morning, and I get back to finishing the promo I did for From Aphony and Hide and Seek, and finish up Trisha's headshots which I have been terrible at finishing. Thursday Vogue is playing at the Viper Room, and I'm going to check that out and have an early night before boarding the plane to the arctic Friday morning.
Gahhhhhhhhh!
I'm marking my Calendar for January and right now I have four booked shoots, three tentative, and two pro bono shoots... all before the 16th. Things are getting crazy here! I love it!

This is what 15 hours looks like.



Finished the first Vogue in the Movement composite! It was a nightmare, but I'm fairly happy with the results. The band is stoked, so that's all that matters in the end. I'm 7 hours into their robot composite. That one is probably going to consume my soul a whole lot more than this one did. Wish me luck!
I put a down payment down on a new Canon 5D today at Samy's camera. Scariest thing ever! But if I could have walked out of the store with that camera today I would have. I can't look at my Rebel and not get scared anymore. It's just a matter of shutter fires before that thing takes its last breath. Knock on wood... seriously.

Here's a peek at what I've been slaving over for the past week and a half. These aren't totally the final versions, just what I have saved as process JPEGs. I'm working on the full band composites now. I'm on about hour 55 of editing the Vogue in the Movement promos... that equals about $10 an hour so far. I'm thinking by the time I'm completely finished it will have dwindled down to around $6 an hour. Sigh.

BRIT MOODY IS HERE!!!!! HOLLAHOLLAHOLLAHOLLAHOLLA! I am SO excited! YAY FOR A GIRL TO HANG OUT WITH!

Vogue's light show is cooler than your light show...


After Vogue in the Movement's show at Chain Reaction in Anaheim last night we spent some quality time in the RV before heading to the neighboring Denny's for a 1am feast. I recorded a bunch of silly videos which I intended on posting... Blogger won't let me though. So you'll have to wait until Blogger stops being lame to see Ryan feeding Chris his dinner, and all the guys showing off their deserts. Instead you'll have to make up your own story about the evening from these three pictures...




Just kidding. The show was pretty uneventful, but good none the less. In another effort to preserve my hearing I skipped most of the other bands playing and hung out on the RV. I was planning on crashing on the RV but it was crowded and after messing with a passed out Connor for their video update I decided to drive home. I met a couple guys from the band Run Doris Run and bopped around to their fantastic CD for my 4am drive home.
Things I learned... I now know more about Vogue in the Movement than I ever really wanted to know. Climbing on top of a passed out guitarist and yelling is REALLY funny. There are a lot of very good bands in Southern California.
Quote of the night came from Vogue's manager Brooke...
"I'll tell you what though, that nose job did wonders for what's her face."

An E-mail I just received...


"hello, my name is melissa and i'm doing a project in my photography class. for this project i have to pick my favorite photographer and write a bio on them but i could not fine one on you so my teacher told me to e mail you and ask if you might be able to send me on.

thanks, Melissa."


That kind of floored me tonight.... whoa.

Oh holy CRAP! Christmas is in 17 days! AHHHHHHHH!!!!
So silent fan kingdom, I have wishlists on Urban Outfitters and at B and H.
... I don't think my silent fan kingdom actually reads my blog.
Sad face.

So Lower D rescheduled for the week after Christmas. Boo, to that. But happy day at the same time because I got to drive to Victorville for Vogue in the Movement and Stereo Tragedy! I didn't get to see most of my lovely Victorvillians but had so much fun just the same!
I've decided there needs to be a Megan Picturetaker Tour next year, and it will be Lorene Drive, Vogue in the Movement, Goodnight Sunrise, and Flight 409... and I'm coming with! At least 50% of it might happen with GNSR and Vogue, I'm trying to get everyone on board haha!
Booked another band today for my trip home to Montana. Stoked. Rent won't be so hard to deal with come January which will be very very nice for once. So two bands booked, one is calling me back about booking, then I think I'll be topped out. I need some relaxed down time.
Today I'm trying to bust out the rest of Vogue's awesome promos then heading up to Canoga Park for Lower D's show and some more networking... I need business cards. UUUUGH!

Today was a loooooong day! I awoke at around 8 after not sleeping well, and constantly waking up to write down ideas for Lower D's shoot on Monday. Rian arrived around 9:30 and we loaded up the cars with our equipment and made a couple stops for coffee (so needed this morning), and a few other things. The day was spent shooting a band called Kingsley. During the shoot I was instructed to scream at each of the band members, and was hoarse by the end of the day. The pictures are hilarious though! I think that if I were male, I would be Stephen the keyboardist... it was weird.
I tore down and loaded gear in record time and hit the road for the hour drive to Palmdale to meet Monday's subjects; Lower Definition. After meeting with Stephan, Matt, and Eddie about ideas and money stuff I remembered that I had neglected to eat anything during the day and headed to In and Out for an animal style grilled cheese, and fries. Driving back to the venue it dawned on me that my earplugs were sitting at home on my desk and I was on my way to a hardcore show. Ugh. I stopped at a couple gas stations but was out of luck in my quest. I decided to save as much hearing as possible and opted out of watching the first two bands and instead chatted with Claire on the phone for a bit before going inside.
Once I made the decision to sacrifice my ears to the gods of metal I had a grand time enjoying Lower Definition's tour mates In Fear and Faith and a band who's name has slipped my mind at this late hour. Both bands had some crazy guitarists with mad skills. In Fear and Faith has two lead singers. One who screams and one to sings melody. It was really interesting, and I definitely dig that dynamic. Lower D played last and put on a pretty stunning performance. Those guys will definitely be a blast to work with Monday.
As for me, I'm dead tired, and it's 2am, and I have to go photograph skyscrapers tomorrow for Vogue in the Movement's backdrop, and decide which of three shows to go to. Vogue in the Movement and Stereo Tragedy in Victorville, Abeline at The Knitting Factory, or take in another dose of Lower D in Anaheim... decisions... I'll let my destroyed eardrums decide in the morning.

I'm having a lot of fun reading Bottle Clings and Late Night Flings, which is the blog of my friend Mike from Fear Before. He writes beautifully about the ins and outs of touring the country. I've read so many band touring blogs that basically say the same "Played a show, then got EPIC TRASHED! Wooo!", that his is very refreshing. I suggest you all check it out!

The Forgotten State was a staff pick over at Blurb! Not sure when that happened, but that's pretty flippin' sweet!
Tomorrow I'm shooting with Rian then driving up to Palmdale to see Lower Definition play and talk shoot business. Stoked.

Here ya go mom and dad! I don't think I've given you any pictures of my workspace. Also it's December and I'm wearing a tank top. Meet me at the airport with a reeeally warm jacket when I get home!

Here are a couple of funny pictures from fall so far that I just dumped off of my PowerShot. I'm so bad at getting stuff off of this camera.

From Aphony gets here today!!!! They are playing in the Ernie Ball battle of the bands with Escape the Fate tomorrow. They fly in around 1:00 and I'm going to go meet up with them and maybe take some pictures for Hide and Seek in the hotel room. They put me on the guest list tomorrow night which was really nice of them since I don't so much have $15 to spare for a ticket right now.
I booked two shoots in Montana while I'm home and a third is pending. It would be nice to make a grand while I'm home to pay for Christmas gifts and January rent. I'm really excited to go home for the holidays this year. That's probably because this is the first Christmas in a long time that I've been living out of state for. I hope Claire can afford to fly back.
Rian and I are thinking about going on "tour" to Vegas, Denver, Salt Lake, and back down the coast sometime this spring. We'd book shoots in every city and get to see our friends on the road. It could be super fun, and we could potentially make a bunch of money. I'm going to talk to the Fear Before guys when they are here about Denver bands that might need promos. I'd get to see Sam if we went! YAAAAY SAM!

This is Rian, my lovely assistant. Please notice his left hand, and his gauze and gaff tape ghetto bandage.

I thought this was funny. Rian snapped this one of me with the band after yelling stuff like "KILL EACHOTHER! ok now, look HORRIFIED! Ok ok... uh... now check out Megan!!"
This one was the silliest.

God today was fun! Haha!
Highlights...
1. My assistant Rian sliced his hand wide open on a knife in his car before we even got started.
2. Coming up with the idea of getting "curb stomped" for the shoot at the last minute
3. Turning my living room into a really functional studio!
4. Getting to use Rian's 5D. I MUST GET A NEW CAMERA!
5. Booking them for another shoot in a month.

It was probably the most fun I think I've ever had on a shoot.
Here are some ridiculous behind the scenes





Yes, Bryce is sitting on me in that picture, but the shot I got is hilarious!

How I achieve my "style": a rant
I've been getting a lot of e-mail lately asking how I post process my images because the writer "is trying to achieve the same look".
Think about that statement before you ask me this question. How about you tinker around with the CS4 suite you just pirated off the internet for a few hours, heck a few days! I am extremely protective of my post process for the following reasons...
1. I went to school for six years (YES SIX) five of which were spent in photography and graphic design. I am now roughly $22,000 in debt from it. However, I learned 90% of everything I know about photography in school. If you ask my advice, I will tell you to also go to school.
2. I gained another $20,000 in debt moving to LA after car breakdowns and the purchase of a 2005 Corolla. I don't have another job, I am a photographer, I make money to feed myself off of photography.
3. If I have a "style" most of it comes from lighting. Something that takes a hell of a lot of practice to get right. You can photoshop a good picture and make it great, but you can't photoshop crap into a diamond. Learn to take good pictures before you learn photoshop, and you won't have anything to worry about. Look at Tyler Shields, he kicks my ass and barely touches his images in post!
So! There you have it. Sorry I'm not being helpful, but I have to pay rent this month.
Oh and I know someone out there is going to flame this post because they kick ass and never went to school... well I did, I'm in debt so you win.

This is almost a year old, but I just found it again on youtube...
Goodnight Sunrise cover Wyclef

I love my adopted little brothers!

I stumbled upon a fantastic blog! Fashion Photography Blog covers everything from agents, to working with art directors, to portfolio cases, all with great links! It's definitely worth checking out.
I'm turning Vogue in the Movement into robots tomorrow. AWESOME!

It's that time of the month when I start freaking out about rent! YAY! I've got more money coming from The Syncope Threshold, and another shoot Sunday with Vogue in the Movement (they make me want to dance), and I should be okay just so long as Yoko doesn't balk at her quote for Saturday's shoot. Friday I'm going to see Vogue play at The Roxy so if all goes as planned I can hand out some cards and maybe potentially book another band for the beginning of December. Hopefully Rian moves it when he gets back from Sacramento and books something for me.
We're having a Montana Orphans Thanksgiving with the three of us and maybe Trevor. Everyone else is heading home. Everyone flew out this week and most of them are staying gone through new years because no new films start up during the holidays, and most of them are trying to ride out this potential actors strike. Thank GOD bands don't go on strike. I can only imagine what it would be like if bands and rock photographers were both unionized... hmm... maybe we photographers SHOULD unionize!

My friend Trish drove up from Victorville today for a shoot for her modeling portfolio. She photographs incredibly well and it was a fun chill day without other stressors. We did hair and makeup by ourselves and looked through magazines for ideas and played around with my new white paper sweep that I bought last week. I love that thing and can't wait to get wallpaper for it!

Back from Victorville again! It was Dan and Steven from Lorene Drive's birthday this weekend so I felt obligated to drive up and have another mini vacation haha!
Last night we went to see Strung Out play at Karma and The Syncope Threshold were the openers. Got to watch Strung Out from the side of the stage, and didn't have to pay to get in. Pretty sweet. My ears HATE me this morning. Last night we totally had a slumber party and watched Wall-e and Tropic Thunder and all fell asleep on the floor. It was a really good weekend overall. Oh, with the exception of getting three bites into my burrito before realizing the beans were beef! I have never felt so sick in my life! It was sooooo gross! Never ever EVER going back to Del Taco. GROSS! I want to puke my guts out just thinking about it. Bleh!
I got home and the roomies had stolen my computer and used it to watch movies on in the living room. I had a crap ton of work open in Photoshop and I'm about 95% sure none of it got saved before they moved my iMac. I'm annoyed.
I'm going to clean my room today, then go to Santa Monica for Michael Brown's ski movie, and then I'm going to go out and do some midnight bridge shots with Mike. Yay Reciprocity failure!

I love the Alternative Press podcast. It's so much better for editing than This American Life.
Aaaaaand I'm officially a complete nerd for judging my podcasts based on their ability to keep me focused on work. Today's shoot with Trish got canceled, so I'll be able to finish all the Syncope promos today. Woo! Going on a coffee break with Mike. Much needed.

This is what happens when you let Rian and I loose in the desert with a metal band, swords, and 6 strobes.
This isn't quite finished yet.

Today I photographed a band in the desert... with six strobes... and remote sensors... and they had swords.
My job rules.
Rian and I have decided to have a symbolic $50 that we pay each other to assist. Basically it's just going to get passed back and forth between us. He paid me $50 to do lights for I am the Ocean, and I paid him $50 today for The Syncope Threshold shoot. Today I used his battery, two extra strobes, and his kickass octabox diffuser. Renting all of that and paying an assistant would have cost easily $300. It pays to have a friend in the business.
We're talking about doing a lot of cool stuff together in the future... maybe trying to get an MSU kid an internship with us next summer for credit or something... keep your ears peeled kids.
Back to editing lightning. I get to say that and it's job related. Haha!

One more in the bag. Finished this and mailed it off to the band and their web designer. The designer is in a band called Vogue in the Movement and now I'm going to do their promos on the 30th. I really like this word of mouth thing when it works the way I want it to.
What this means is that I might actually make enough to pay rent on December 1st! HOORAY!

My birthday gift to myself was a roll paper backdrop and portable stand system. I got a gift certificate to Freestyle from my makeup artist and some of the models, and decided it was something I needed very badly. Now I'm looking for really wide rolls of antique wallpaper to play with on it. I'm really excited... really really excited to play with it!

THIS WEEKEND WAS AWESOME!
I had such a fantastic time! I LOVE my Victorville friends, and totally didn't want to leave last night. We had a great group of friends hanging out on Saturday night and then a BBQ on Sunday with more of the guys from Lorene Drive and tons of great food.
I took so many pictures! These two I took right before leaving last night. Dan was "dressed for a cookout" and looked so funny. I think I'm going to turn these sunset dust kicking in boots photos into a series. They crack me up.
I miss my Victorvillians.

Today was so ridiculously cool! I assisted for one of my favorite photographers, and he was really dang nice, aaaand he took Rian and my photo! Which I unfortunately can't post until the magazine is out in case the gods of music publications are watching me still. Hi big brother!
Now I'm heading to Victorville for good times with Lorene Drive and friends! I sold a couple of CDs of party pictures from last week so I have a little cash to tide me over until those checks come from the labels. I hate waiting on that!
Two days until I'm 25. WEIRD.

3:00 is not human. Today is going to be soooooo loooong!
All in the name of photography. Urrrrgh...
Need Redbull.

I left for a cup of coffee today and ran into my good friend Mike. It really weirds me out when I run into people in Los Angeles. Out of 15,000,000 and I run into one of the 20 people I know in this town.
So we chatted and had coffee and I got out of the house for an hour. Win!
Mike has a lot of tattoos, and he showed me his newest addition; a coffee cup with "Black till Death" around it. Apparently he and his friend were sitting at his house and the conversation went something like this...
Mike- "Let's go to Intelligentsia and get a cup of coffee"
Roommate- "Let's go get tattoos."
Both- "LET'S GO GET COFFEE TATTOOS!"
And they did. I think they also got some coffee while they were at it. I like to live vicariously through Mike's tattoo endeavors.
Back to editing.

I like the one with no fire, the band likes the fire. Le Sigh.

New least favorite thing ever: Waiting for paychecks from record labels. Hurry the hell up guys, I REALLY need that money like now. Uuuuugh!

I got an e-mail back from Rockett and the guy who runs it said he'd definitely keep me in mind for future shoots. Which is cool, if he actually does. He said he loved the pictures GNSR and EAPZ sent him. I'm meeting with a model and another band soon, and heading to Victorville for my birthday and doing a couple of shoots for Kevin (Lorene Drive) and Steven's girlfriend needs some work done on her modeling portfolio. It would be such a nice birthday present to come home with $400 extra bucks to pay bills with. This paycheck to paycheck stuff sucks.

I'm out of contact solution. Frick.

This is Shafer from Flight 409, and yes he is eating a Sonic the Hedgehog icecream bar, and yes it IS probably from 1997. The guy with the icecream cart didn't really specify the vintage.

NEAT! Dan from Goodnight Sunrise texted me last night to let me know that Rockett Clothing did this to their site...
Rockett is a HUGE company, and lately seems to have been sponsoring a ton of bands I've been shooting. For the hell of it I've been having the bands throw on their Rockett gear and taking an extra photo or two. It seems to be paying off! I just e-mailed them to let them know I'm the photographer behind BOTH of their head images. Maybe they'll send me a t-shirt or get the word out or something...

My head feels like a shoe.
Lorene Drive didn't win last night. There's no way that competition wasn't rigged. Literally 2/3 of the crowd was chanting for them and when Vince Neil announced the winning band they got booed, and when their bus drive away the bus got booed, basically there was a lot of booing.
Lame sauce.
So we all went back to the hotel where Dan from LD introduced me to the guys from Monty are I. SUPER NICE! They are in town for another couple weeks recording another record. Why do I keep making friends with people who don't actually live in LA? I think Lorene Drive is going to come up next weekend for my birthday though, which will be awesome because otherwise I'm just going to go down to Victorville to see them because 90%of my California friends are there. When we were saying goodbyes this morning I mentioned driving down there, and Judie suggested coming up to LA because it's more fun, so we'll see what happens. I love those guys, I really wish they lived here.
I need to go sleep now. Sleeping on hotel room floors does not agree with my hip. That and for some reason Lyle, Thomas, and I all decided the best place to crash was in between the chaise and the bed, about 3 feet of space. I need aspirin!

Eff. This always seems to happen to me when I come up with cool ideas... someone with more cred comes up with a similar one. It's definitely not too close, but I feel grumpy now.


Anyhoo, tonight is Lorene Drive's show at The Whiskey a Go Go in front of Motely Crue! Go boys go! I'm off to the venue now with all my gear. Dan was going to try to get me a photo pass. Hope he pulled it off!

Apparently people actually read this thing. Who knew... whoops

This is nowhere near done, but I thought I'd post because I've been working on it for about four hours.
This is Flight 409 from Freson, CA. I like them. They paid me well and gave me a CD and a t-shirt along with a ticket to tonight's show in Long Beach. I like signed bands!

PDN is out and Claire is now immortalized as the weird window long neck lady. Hooray! I got the 1st merit spot, don't know if there is an order or not. The guy who won my category's work is AMAZING! I'm obsessed with it.

Day three of nothing but editing... le sigh.
Flight 409 hasn't e-mailed me back... and we're supposed to shoot on Wednesday. Same goes for the dumb model on model mayhem. I'm annoyed.

Today sucked.
But I got a lot of editing done.

AHHHHHHHH!!!!
Tomorrow Right Away Great Captain is playing at The Roxy! I AM GOING! I AM EXCITED! His new music is so incredible.
For those who don't know RAGC, it's the side project of Andy Hull of Manchester Orchestra. He's the most amazing musician in my generation as far as I am concerned. God damn I am excited.

This is half of Archaean, from Helena, MT. Great kids to work with, super nice!

My new favorite Photoshop background music has to be The Quilt by Gym Class Heroes. I usually have a strong distaste for hip hop but I love this band. I had kinda forgotten about them until I picked up the AP with them on the cover... god this is a killer album.

This is Byron from Hide and Seek. He has a pretty cool sounding new musical project called Insomnia CA, which we shot for while I was in Missoula photographing Hide and Seek.
In other news I finally actually installed the software for my Wacom tablet so now it's pressure sensitive and has working buttons... yeah, I've been using it like an expensive mouse since Christmas, shoot me.

PDN comes out sometime soon... so keep an eye out for that I guess.
My neighbor is learning to play the drums, I'll keep you posted on my stance on gun control as this develops.

Alternative Press is better this month... or I guess October's issue is better than Septembers. Dave Hill has some really amazing work in it which is nice to see again. After September's awful Photoshop house of horrors I was losing faith in the magazine. I need to get on my shit and send them a packet.

Today's Sunset Junction farmer's market haul was pretty great. Matt and I made an incredible breakfast of veggies scrambled with eggs, whole grain toast, artichoke hummus, and a huge wedge of the ripest sweetest Honey Dew I have ever tasted. It was an epic meal. I love Saturdays. Today we're cleaning house and throwing a mini diner party. Should be fun. Last night we made cocktails dressed up and sat on the couch eating popcorn and watching Watcher in the Woods and Dawn of the Dead. It was a good Halloween.

I'm glad to be home.

Lorene Drive updated their myspace page and loaded it full of my photography. I heart them, my work has never looked so sweet!
I'm enjoying the free wi-fi at the Sacramento airport. What a novel idea! Something free in an airport. Next they'll be giving away soft drinks and peanuts or something. I also got a salad and coffee for under $5. Sacramento wins the airport challenge for this leg of my journey. Sitting next to the only obese lady on the last flight however was not fun. Luckily I can sleep through pretty much anything as long as I have headphones, so her ever present elbow in my ribcage wasn't too much to bear. But seriously, she jabbed me every SINGLE time she turned a page in her magazine. I wanted to tie her arm to the arm rest.
It's been raining about every stop on the trip. My widget says that it's 70 and sunny in LA, and raining in Burbank... reaaaallly. Could be, but I highly doubt that it's doing both of those things in the greater Los Angeles area at the same time.
I wish I felt motivated enough to photograph these airports on Halloween. It's kind of hilarious to me that people dressed up. In Spokane the TSA people were decked out in devil horns, (fancy that eh?) and before I almost got onto the wrong flight there was a woman in one of those huge inflatable fat suits handing out cupcakes to the crew. Then a woman with a spider hat directed me to the correct gate. Running on too little sleep, and changing the gate 5 minutes before boarding a flight at the same time is NOT nice.
... A woman just walked by dressed as a jockey.

I HATE AIRPORTS! Actually I enjoy people watching, but I HATE security, checking in, the act of flying in the plane, and everything else associated with flying. They canceled my flight, then uncanceled it and screwed everything up. So I didn't get a boarding pass, they gave me the stink eye at security, and then... get this... did a special check of my scarf. Apparently I look like a terrorist in it. Great.
So I had to go on standby, but I got a ticket and I will soon be on a plane to lovely Oakland California and then on to Los Angeles. I hope someone is picking me up. I'll start doing a freak out about it in Oakland. God I'm tired.

Montana is awesome. Hide and Seek are awesome. I love the new line, and how the pictures came out for the catalog. Good times. I don't really want to go back to LA and reality. It's going to be non stop as soon as my plane hits the ground. Ugh. Well anyhoo here are my two favorites from the Hide and Seek shoot.

I'm off to talk to more photo kiddos.