Trip to Los Angeles

Even though it was cloudy - the moment I got my hands the rental car, I texted Fedora to see if she wanted to go to Santa Monica Pier for the evening. I figured dinner, a few drinks... a pretty sunset with a pretty girl. Turns out Samantha was free as well. Drove by the Vibe (remember the neat little hostel that I raved about last year).... picked the girls up... headed west down the Blvd, oceanside in view. Wow. Was it worth it. Fedora, Sam and I were all dancing around in the water, talking about modeling and life and boys, experiencing this beautiful mind-blowing sunset - Out in the distance, through the colorful ripples of the sea, a school of dolphins swam by (followed by rainbows and fuzzy pinks slippers, right?...) - It was like watching the end of Free Willy, but with lots of little mammals instead of just a single one.

Life is really busy out here. It is a good kind of busy..... lots of people, faces... things to do. It is exhausting to shoot four times in a day... moving from one studio to the next studio... re-introducing yourself to each new person, catching up with friends, trying to find a creative hub - And while it is exhausting - At the very same time, it is extremely gratifying to survive four shoots in a 24 hour period.... I feel high. I feel like I have been spinning in circles all day. I feel like I have been living off six hours of sleep for the past three days....

While I am in LA, I am staying with my friend Lenny, the documentary man that I met last year. I love his house (stress the word love)... I love Lenny's house. It is a giant stone castle-like home.... with Spanish windows that reach the ceiling. When opened, these windows allow the smells of the most amazingly exotic dreamy plants into the house, especially after it rains. Even on the cloudy mornings, the sunshine manages to drape itself all over the house... it cascades over the copper colored tiles - it lights up all the rooms.... I love waking up in Lenny's house.

Lenny is not too shabby himself.... he looks like a pornstar. Women.... especially married women, are always looking over their shoulder at him.... Both Lenny and I have admitted that we are not sexually attracted to eachother and you cannot understand how much more comfortable that makes me when I am staying with someone....

Friday. What did I do Friday? Oh Friday! Worked with a photographer who shoots medium format film. He has a backyard full of hummingbirds, all different kinds of species - and they war with eachother over the feeders. His assistant, a really nice man who has upgraded to a digital camera, turned out to be a Burner! He has been attending Burning Man for the past seven years... part of the YearBook camp! Nothing like shooting really early in the morning... and actually enjoying yourself.... it was great....

Then worked a job where Samantha and I had to strangle and kill eachother for a few hours on video - lots of neck breaking and smothering - total fetish shoot. Creepy content, the guy was really nice, though. Went back to the Vibe with Sam, hung out with Carlotta, Malloy, Isobel, and Fedora for a few hours - mostly boy talk and trying to figure out what 'asscleets' could possibly stand for. Caught the tow truck guy, just as he was pulling away with my rental (never park in a parking zone without reading the entire sign.... ) - While there is a great law in California that requires a tow truck to unhook your car if you catch them, I still had to pay $208 in fees to have it released.

Saturday shot with the sexiest skater photographer .... ever! Yeaaaa. If I did not have such an amazing boyfriend - I would have eaten this kid alive. Adorable with all his long hair in his face... his MGMT on his radio.... his little Where the Wild Things Are action figures. He shot me in the shower, we both got wet, there were lots of bubbles, I jumped around on his bed with my pink wig on.... at least half his shots are me nearly dying of laughter - I think Fedora got to kiss him at the airport this morning.... oh so jealous.

Above photos: Steven Anderson's new Penthouse home in downtown LA - hanging out with Steve and his wife, Betsy, Saturday night after our shoot.... The two of them think that I should start a Taschen book from my roadtrip, full of stories and images.... he is even sending me the high-rez photos, hoping I will pursue it.. ha