Shooting w/ Las Vegas headliner and entrepreneur, Claire Sinclair!

Good afternoon, Steemians Of The Veil! Here’s my State of the Union for all things Steemit. Many of us seem to be hitting milestones around the same time. A few of the big dogs are crossing the threshold of 4,000 followers and 75 reputations. There’s another tier of us in the 2,000 follower category and it seems like those celebratory posts are happening almost daily. One tier lower is where I fit in as I’m coming up on my first 1,000 followers. I’ll be honest, votes and rewards have been making a big difference in my life these last few months, but to date…the number I care most about on my account is my followers. You guys are the ones who will always see my new work as it leaves the memory card, ambles it’s way through Photoshop and is finally shared here on my blog. I wanted to do something special for my 1,000 follower milestone but it’s coming up on me too fast! Yesterday alone, I gained almost 40 followers thanks to great friends resteeming new posts, which in turn helps me reach new Steemians. I have a funny drawing in mind, but it would involve drawing 1,000 small gremlins. I’m not sure if I can pull that off in time for the big event considering I’m at 987 as of this writing.

This shoot features the star of Las Vegas’ long running cabaret show, Pinup at The Stratosphere, Claire Sinclair! This shoot came to me at a poignant and unexpected time of my career. Even Claire doesn’t know this part of the story. I’d recently had a big falling out with a group of friends in LA. I was left feeling betrayed and wronged by a few people that I’d invested much of myself in. The emotional work of sort through those feelings was hard enough, but I’d built my career over the previous four years within a very niche audience. I wasn’t sure how this would affect my job, my potential bookings, etc. It was a very stressful time for me.

Claire found me through some avenue on Instagram and liked many of my photos. Since about 2013, I’d been shooting many of the biggest names in pinup such as Micheline Pitt, Gia Genevieve, Doris Mayday and Masuimi Max. Claire was the 2011 Playboy model of the year and there is a distinct area of cross pollination between the pinup world, and traditional fashion world […including Playboy]. After some time, I’d suggested to Claire that we should shoot together in a comment, and she DM’ed me. The wheels were in motion and we’d set a date for my next trip to Las Vegas.

Claire and her make-up artists, Spencer Lopez met me The Artisan Hotel that afternoon. I’d pulled latex wardrobe from Jane Doe Latex in Hollywood a few days earlier […this, like many of my trips to the west coast involved more than one back and forth road trip to LA]. Claire is exceptional in person. I mean, I’ve been photographing beautiful people for almost 20 years, but in person, Claire is flawless! The thing I wasn’t expecting is just how fucking funny she is! She is by far one of the funniest people I’ve ever met. At one point, she realized the latex dress clapped against her thighs causing a loud echoey sound. It took her about 2 minutes to set her phone up on the side of the bed and SnapChat herself twerking towards the camera while she yelled “Here comes the thunder!”.

The Artisan management […and visually everyone in Vegas] knows of Claire and the Pinup show. They gave us complete reign of the hotel to shoot wherever we wanted. We me great use of the space. Like many of the models I shoot with, I had an oppounity to capture a darker, somber side to their beauty. The entire night was a blast and we managed to get some breathtaking photos. One of the many remarkable human beings I’ve had the pleasure to meet on their journey of photography over the years.

Claire has retired the Pinup show but she’s just launched a new project that I can’t wait to experience the next time in Vegas. ClairBnB is Claire Sinclair’s newest venture, opening this summer. She bought a building in download Las Vegas and completely renovated to her personal style and esthetic. It opens this July and I can’t wait to stay a night or two. Knowing Claire personally as I do, this will get all the effort she can put behind it […which is a lot of effort]. She is a brilliant businesswoman and entertainer. This will be one of the gems of Las Vegas. I know it. Visit www.clairbnb.com for more information and booking.

Thanks for reading! For more photography, art, illustration and thoughts, please follow my blog @kommienezuspadt. Like I said at the top, followers mean more to me than even payouts. I’ve got a lot to share!