Foggy memories of a costly shoot w/ Erin Kennedy!

6:00p.m. and I have finally gotten away to Adezzo coffee shop in Scranton, PA. I’ve got my headphones on, I’m listening to NOFX and drinking coffee. For fuck’s sake, why has this been so hard to accomplish?! I might not have even gotten to this in previous blogs, but I’m 36 years straight edge. I don’t have the same coping mechanisms for stress as most of society. I play Magic: The Gathering with @tarotbyfergus, @vermillionfox and Caffetto friends, I tinker with cryptocurrency and technology stuff, but more than anything, working keeps me centered. I like to sit for long, long hours drawing, editing or writing.

So, while I have this moment in my grasp I’m writing a Steemit blog. I don’t know what kind of ridiculous obstacles will fall in my way tomorrow. Today’s featured photography is from a few years ago. A crazy, […to be honest, I don’t remember much of it] out of control time in my life and career. I’d just shot in LA for the first time with Doris Mayday, the shoot that would come to define my relationship and notoriety with the vintage/pinup community. On that same trip, however, I fit in a few other shoots; one of which was with alt model […and Minnesota native, ironically], Erin Kennedy.

*Photo credit, Robert Alvarado

Erin and I had talked about shooting in Minnesota for years […similarly to the circumstances with Doris Mayday] and it just didn’t happen. Eventually, Erin […like Doris], moved to LA and this ended up being the right conditions for the shoot to finally happen. Some context, first. Erin, even at this point, was an extremely accomplished model. I’d first seen her modeling work after she’d shot with Robert Alvarado. If I’m being frank, I’ve never been a fan of the cheesecake pin-up stuff […while we’re at it, I should specify that I never referred to my photography as pinup, dark or otherwise. That kind of just stuck], but Alvarado’s pinup photos are in a class of their own. After seeing Erin’s photos with him, my interest was piqued.

Erin and I had set a date, rounding out my first trip to Los Angeles. Prior to those LA dates, I’d flown my son to the east coast to stay with my parents in charming Scranton, PA […where I am now]. From there, I’d flown to the west coast and burned through 10 shoots in 5 days on almost no sleep. When I tell you I don’t remember much from that trip of this shoot, I can’t even tell you where we were! I remember driving inland late at night. It was all desert and appeared to be a ranch of some kind. I was a fucking mess, I know it. I’d been wearing the same clothes for five days, sleeping wherever I could. Mentally and physically spent. Fortunately, I must have had a little left in the tank creatively.

Erin was a darling to shoot with. She was accommodating to my frail state, went as slow as I needed. She had an array of outfits and we worked with the available light in the dark home we were shooting. My favorite images of the shoot was this very Helmut Newton-esk […maybe I’m patting myself on the back a bit much with that comparison] photo of her stretched against the railing of the stairs in a light pink lingerie set. It’s the image still makes me feel that costly night of physical well being was worth it. 

Erin and I have talked about shooting again and I’d still be open to it. I’m shooting less now than I did then, so I have to be selective about the sessions I book, but these few photos remind me what an exceptional model she is. If it happens, they’ll be here on Steemit first. 

Thanks for reading! For more photography, art, illustration and  the stories behind the work, please consider following me @kommienezuspadt. I post daily.