Thursday, February 2, 2012

Menace In Venice

Our first shoot of the trip was with Michael Keye for Keye Bondage Images . This would be my third time shooting with Michael, but it would be Ludella's first. I was anxious to see what sort of scenarios that Michael had cooked up for us!

The first scenario was pretty funny. Apparently, Ludella had picked me up at a lesbian bar, and I was bringing her back to my place for a little fun. Let me just say that it was totally ridiculous, and lots & lots of fun! Here's a funny candid....

Afterwards, we headed over to Venice Beach. I had actually scheduled a tarot reading for that evening, so we decided to just head over there to grab some food & walk around for a bit. 

 We found a coffee house close to where we parked & decided to eat there. The place was cool, the food was good & they had awesome cup sleeves, lol.

 We walked around for a bit until 6:30 finally rolled around, and I headed to the bookstore for my reading. I'm not going to go into detail about it, because it's private & personal, but I will say that I am very glad that I went. The reader gave me a lot of clarity, which is what I was hoping for, and I do feel better about the situation that I'm in. There's a long road ahead of me, but for once, I feel some hope. I haven't felt that in a long long time.

The Longest Day on My Way to L.A.

So, after a brief break at home, I left for Los Angeles on January 31st. It was going to be a quick trip, but I was meeting Ludella Hahn out there, so that was going to be awesome! Ludella & I have traveled together in the past, and I was really excited to see her again.

My day didn't start too incredibly early on Tuesday. My flight was only leaving at 3pm, so I didn't have to rush around in the morning, like I usually did, lol. I woke up, finished gathering my things together, and went to pick up Jeremy so that he could take me to the airport. I arrived on time, boarded my flight, and was on my way to Phoenix so that I could change planes & finally head to L.A. Ludella's flight was arriving about 4 hours before mine, so I was super anxious to get there. Not to mention, the flight to L.A. is pretty long. Get me off this plane!! LOL.....

I FINALLY made it to L.A. and Ludella was waiting for me in the baggage claim area. Like I mentioned above, the flight was long and unfortunately, it gave me a lot of time to think, and over think the things that are going on in my life. I did have a little bit of a breakdown in the Phoenix airport, but was ok once I got on the plane. I held it together until I got to baggage claim, and once I saw Ludella I just crumpled. Ludella gave me a big hug & I sat there for a minute until I felt better enough to grab my bags & head to the rental car place. 

We made our way to the rental place, got our car, and then headed out to Corona. We were both shooting with Michael Keye for  Keye Bondage Images the next day, and since we had a 10am start time, it was best that we stayed out there for the night. We checked into out hotel, grabbed some food at a local diner & finally went to bed. This was seriously one of the longest days that I have had in quite a while.....

Friday, January 27, 2012

Making A Big Production Out Of Things

This past weekend, I was flown up to Toronto to work on the re-issue of the book How To Be Kinky by Morpheous. Morph has two books out, How To Be Kinky & How To Be Kinkier, and he has decided to re-issue the first book this fall, so he wanted to re-shoot some of the photos from the first book. He is also building a website, so in addition to the stills that we took, we did some quick 1min- 1:45min of campy Klaw-inspired video. Both Nicotine & Casey Calvert were going to be there as well, so I was pretty excited for this!

Well, let me just tell you that I was not prepared for the type of production value that was happening for the shoot. First, Morph put us up at the Thompson Hotel in downtown Toronto, and the hotel was absolutely beautiful! I shared a room with Casey, and then Morph stayed in the suite that was adjacent to our room. I felt like such a rockstar, lol.

Here's a view from the entryway into the bathroom. The bathroom had heated floors, btw.

Here's a pic of the bathroom...
 And, here's a pic of Casey sitting on her bed....
 I realize that the photos don't really do the room justice, and it does kind of look like any other hotel room, but it was pretty spectacular, especially if you're used to traveling on the cheap & staying at 2 star hotels, lol.

Here's the Wall Of Booze that was in Morph's room...
A everyone arrived, we gathered in Morph's room for a quick production meeting. Production meeting?? I have done many, many shoots, but I have never once had to attend a production meeting, especially one with champagne.

I guess what I'm really trying to say here is that I thought that I was flying up to Toronto to do a small 2-day photo shoot, and didn't quite expect the production value that Morph put forth.  He had a lighting crew, wardrobe people, hair & make-up people, someone from the publisher was there, other photographers..... I'm not even sure what some of the people's jobs even were. People were asking me left & right if I was ok, did I need anything, etc. I'm used to being treated well on shoots, but nothing quite of this magnitude.

The shoots themselves went really well, and I got to do somethings that I have never done before. I got to use the ass hooks on Casey, and then Casey & I got to have fun with Nicotine while she was in a vac-bed.


After we wrapped up on Saturday night, one of the girls took the 3 of us out for putine. I had never even heard of putine before, let alone tried it, so I was curious about this popular Toronto delicacy. Essentially, what putine is is french fries, gravy (preferably chicken gravy) and cheese curds. Different places also have different variations of it, but that's basically what it is. Sounds gross, I know, but believe me....it was deeeee-lishis! I've actually been craving it since I've been home.

 Nom, nom, nom.......

Sunday was a little more relaxed of a day, and we just finished up some odds & ends for the book & did some fun glamour shots. Aslan Leather was kind enough to make some products specifically for the shoot & Ego Assassin brought by some beautiful latex pieces for us to use. 


Nicotine brought her amazing steam punk, ray gun dildos ;)


We wrapped up the shoot, and then Casey & I were driven to the airport so that we could catch our flights home. All in all, this weekend was truly amazing, and I am so honored to have been able to have been a part of it. A special thanks to Morph, and to everyone else who had a part in making the weekend so amazing!!!!!!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Florida Wrap-up

On Sunday we made our way back to Whitney's house so that Serene & I could film a custom with her, and also Serene wanted to do a few clips for Bound Beauties with both of us. Sydney Screams4u was also there, hanging out & shooting, and with all of the socializing we did, it actually felt like an afternoon off, lol.

 We finished up our scenes, and then Serene & I headed back to our hotel. We had Monday off, as well, but we still had to get up & check out & then head back down to Tampa. Monday ended up being a lazy shopping day for us. We went to a few vintage/thrift stores in Orlando, and at the one, Serene found a cute bullet bra & a few pair of stockings, and I found quite a few pair of stockings in some really awesome colors! I'm dying to do a shoot in them!! We then headed down to Tampa & went to the International Plaza mall near the airport. Serene was on a mad quest for a pair of flats (I know, I know) & I just wanted to nose around. Serene found her flats, and a pair of jeans, and I found a few things of my own. One of them being a very cute Betsey Johnson winter hat. We grabbed some dinner & then headed to our hotel. We had a long day ahead of us on Tuesday. We were shooting with JWTies most of the day, and we had a pretty lengthy car ride, too.

The shoot with JW went really well, and it hardly seemed like we worked for 3 hours. Catherine Fox was there to shoot with us, which was a nice surprise, and we also shot with a nice model named Ms. Malice. We did some tickling scenes, and even did a super heroine scene, which was cool. We finished up, put our stuff in the car, and headed back to Tampa. I was flying back home in the morning, and Serene had quite a drive back home to NC.

All in all our Florida trip was a success. We didn't get as booked up as I had hoped we would, but no one canceled on us either, which was cool. This was first time that Serene & I spent any sort of real time together that wasn't working, and I must say that it was really nice getting to know her better! I'm really glad that we decided to do this trip, and I hope that we will be able to travel together again, in the future. Serene is such a genuinely nice person & such a breath of fresh air. I considered her a friend before this trip, and afterwards I definitely consider her to be someone who is very close to me. I love you Serene!!!!

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

German-y Goodness

Saturday was a pretty low-key day for us. We had an early afternoon shoot with Space City Soles, and then we were meeting Whitney Morgan for a yummy German lunch. Chi from Space City Soles is a lot of fun, ad very easy to work with. This was actually my third shoot with him, but Serene's first. We started off doing a few scenes in his apartment, and then we moved on to some simple glamour shots outside. Chi had a location at a park down the street that he wanted to use, and of course we had to pick the coldest day of out trip to do it, lol. We finished up that part of the shoot, and then headed back to change & get our stuff together. 

We followed Chi to Whitney's house, and then all of us headed over to the restaurant. Whitney lives in Sanford, and apparently the restaurant we went to, Hollenbach's Willow Cafe, is the #1 German restaurant in America. Being of German descent, I have eaten a lot of German food in my time. I must say that, after eating at this place, I can see why they are #1 :) If you are ever in Sanford, I highly recommend!

We got back to Whitney's, and Serene had a custom for Whitney that she needed to shoot, so I helped out with filming. We had a few more things to shoot, but it was getting late, and tonight was the night that Serene & I made our reservations for Tutu Tango. I was NOT missing out on tapas two nights in a row! Whitney & Serene wrapped up their shoot, and we made our way to Tutu Tango.

Let me just tell you that is was completely worth the wait! Everything was sooooo delicious & so amazing! No wonder they had a 2 hour wait, lol. Since it was tapas, Serene & I ordered a few different things, and then shared. One of my favorite dishes that I had that night was the alligator bites ;) nom nom nom. Besides having amazing food, Tutu Tango had some other pretty amazing qualities. The showcased art by local artists, and had it available for purchase. There was also a jewelry maker & a tarot card reader in the restaurant. I fancied a particular peacock painting that I knew that Jeremy would also like, but.....it was large & expensive and not a very conventional purchase ;)

Sunday, January 15, 2012

In League With The Amazing

On Friday we had a fun shot booked with Mike for www.leagueofamazingwomen.com. Mike and his wife Vesta are the masterminds behind Fetishcon, and it is always a blast to shoot with him! This time, we were shooting at Orias & Professor Oni's house, so it would be nice to see & hang out with them as well. 



We arrived, hung out for a bit, and then tried to figure out who would be which character for the shoot. Believe it or not, I actually got to play a super heroine, but of course I turned evil during the shoot. Go figure :) We quickly did the four scenes, wrapped everything up & Serene & I got on our way. We were driving back up to Orlando, and tonight was the night that we wanted to get tapas. Since it was 4:30 on a Friday, we decided to go to a local Goodwill to kill some time so that we didn't get caught in any traffic. The Goodwill was actually a nice one, and really, really huge! In the end, I ended up with a pair of chartreuse suede peep-toe heels, and Serene got about a half dozen "damsel" shirts. 

Well, we didn't exactly evade all of the traffic, and we got to the restaurant around 8pm. We pulled up & the valet walked over & told us that if we didn't have a reservation that it was going to be a 2 hour wait. Fuck all that noise! We were hungry! We drove around & made a stop at Bahama Breeze. They told us that it would be a 70 minute wait. We drove away & went to the TGI Fridays across the parking lot. Open seating at the bar, and no wait.