The Lone Loo

So, there have been a severe lack of posts lately because this session I've been shooting black and white film and have been stuck in the darkroom, neglecting the world of digital. I've only gotten around to scanning and editing one of my photos from my class (which is also my favorite) and wanted to upload it. I'll eventually get around to scanning more, and will probably post pictures of my final prints because I did a lot of toning and bleaching with them and some of them turned out pretty cool.

I call this "Moonrise over Outhouse". It's an abandoned outhouse in the Salton Sea.

And this is a cropped version entitled "The Lone Loo", since the moonrise above it has been cropped out.

"You can check in anytime you'd like, but you can never leave..."

"Hotel California" by the Eagles is one of my favorite songs of all time. Every time I listen to it, I'm transported to a different world full of nostalgic dreams and visual fantasies.

I've been longing to do a photo shoot inspired by this song for quiet sometime now, and finally pulled it all together; one year in the making. I am by no means a fashion photographer, and don't even consider myself a very good people shooter, but I wanted to try and pull this off nonetheless, because it was a self-project that had been on my mind forever.

Besides the usual pre-production of a shoot, I took sometime to sit down and really analyze what the song was trying to say. I read multiple interpretations online, and turns out the song isn't as literal as it sounds; its a metaphor for the singers of the Eagles pursuing the LA "high life" they had achieved as a result of their recent success. I decided to take that interpratation and make the leading lady in my shoot the symbol of that materialistic, fame-ridden world, and have the guy be the rock star pursuing that life.

Thanks to Mr. Britton Orrange and Miss Christina Svec for being such gorgeous models and troopers (6 hour drive round trip and high winds makes for a less than ideal shooting situation), along with my wonderful assistant Chris who almost blew away with a sunbounce reflector :). But all in all, I think we'd all agree it was a fun adventure :)

The shoot was done in the "living ghost town" of Randsburg, CA in the Mojave desert . Awesome location, besides the townspeople asking for money to shoot in front of their storefronts.

Enjoy, and if you'd like the full effect, listen to the song while viewing!