Serendipity is a weird thing. So is social media and the internet. It was all of those things that brought together the cast and crew of my latest nostalgia-inspired photo shoot. As I continue on this new journey behind the lens, I am amazed (and grateful) for the amazing artists who reach out to work on projects with me.
At this point, my friend model/actress Brianna LeBlanc has become the Johnny Depp to my Tim Burton. We are frequent collaborators because we *click* in a lot of the same ways creatively. She had been wanting to do a project where she got to play a boy or masculine character. I thought that the role of Michael from the Lost Boys would be perfect for her often androgynous look.
Before I knew it, the rest of the cast, location and a lot of the details for this shoot came together organically. Mark (David) is a client of Brianna's who has insanely cool hair and is also in a metal band. Keishon (Marko) is a local model who I had been following on Instagram who volunteered to participate based on seeing my previous work.
Chance (Paul) was recruited by his wife, Chey, who has modeled for me on two previous shoots. This was his first solo gig as a male model--and he nailed it. We added Dana Shea (Star) in the last few days leading up to the shoot after seeing her in the same look at Portland's Wizard World Comic Con.
The location that I wanted to use was the "spaceship" at Sauvie Island. It's not actually a spaceship; it's a boat that washed ashore on Collins Beach but it provides the perfect stand-in for the hotel ruins from the movie. It also gave us the opportunity to use the shoreline--the movie takes place in the fictional beach town of Santa Carla. Collins Beach gave us the feel of the coast without the road trip--it's just 15 minutes from downtown Portland.
That was all that I had planned for that shoot, but thanks to my friend Trent, we were able to shoot some scenes at Bridge City Cycles in Portland. We hadn't been able to find anyone with dirt bikes or motorcycles who'd be willing to drive out to Sauvie's to shoot with us. I had just about given up capturing the vampires on bikes when Trent came through for us. What resulted in front of the lens was effortlessly cool.
I just knew that we captured magic that day. I am so grateful for all of my models, Trent & Anthony from Bridge City Cycles and my traveling assistant/makeup guy/life partner Brian for helping me bring this vision to life.
Every shoot always gives me new ideas and introduces me to new people. I can't wait to show you what's brewing. On to the next!