Las Vegas!

Good evening, Steemit! I fell off for the last few days because I’ve been frantically trying to finish “Dark Pinup”. @wcpublishing and I are in the final 2% of completion. It’s literally just print details now. All photos […well over 200] are edited and placed. Just polishing things up now. Once it’s sent off to the printers, I can breath a sigh of relief I’ve been holding on to for the last 8 months.  

Before I get to the travel, I want to remind everyone that the deadline for Trial by Comics “Inks” is this Sunday, February 25th at 5:00UTC. I just spent a sizable amount of my voting power bumping all the outstanding entries for “Inks”. As always with Trial by Comics, the completion is fierce. I can’t wait to see the final entries and who will emerge victorious! Until February 25th, join our Discord channel for comics conversation, art promotion and theme suggestions.

I’m going to finish my three part workcation blog, chronicling my trip with @vermillionfox and @guthrie throughout the west coast. If you haven’t, take a minute to read “Los Angeles” and “Palm Springs” so you have some context. Las Vegas was our final leg out an incredible journey for all of us.

We left @danielkiessler and Berrit’s in the early afternoon, en route for a nonstop 4 1/2 hour drive from Palm Springs to Las Vegas. We had dinner plans with friends and I was going to attempt to be as close to on time as possible. Fortunately, @guthrie has been traveling with me since he was six weeks old. He an incredible traveller. 

Leaving Palm Springs, I reveled in @guthrie and @vermillionfox witnessing sights I’ve come to take for granted, all for the first time. Fields of giant wind powered turbines, mountainous terrain entirely alien to our midwest home, Joshua trees in the Mojave desert and just before arriving in Las Vegas, the breathtaking sight of Solar City. 

We arrived in Vegas and I stopped to pick up Masuimi Max and her husband, Morat. I’ve been shooting with Masuimi for years and she’s become a close friend, bonded over our affinity for technology and all things nerd culture. As a teenager, I had Bizarre magazine issues with Masuimi on the cover, pinup art cards featuring her by legendary artist Olivia De Berardinis. Shooting with Masuimi has been surreal enough, but to consider her a friend is both unbelievable, and yet, completely unsurprisingly. She’s one of the most down to earth, humble “famous people” I’ve met in my time shooting in LA. We ate at my favorite Vegas restaurant, Paymon’s Mediterranean. @vermillionfox assisted with a shoot the year prior, so she and Masuimi caught up over dinner as well. A perfect start to the remaining days of our vacation. 

The next day, I had to get to work. Bright and early, I had a shoot with my best friend, @vintagevandalizm. For the second year in a row, we scheduled a shoot in February, knowing full well we wouldn’t be able to collaborate during Viva Las Vegas. This shoot was for the final pages of “Dark Pinup”. As always, @vintagevandal was over the top in her styling and preparation. She took me to a remote conservation land with tall dried grass, and a tropical palm and waterfall backdrop. We finished the shoot at our friend Sandy’s beautiful home in Paradise Palms. It was my favorite shoot together since our very first in 2014. 

@vermillionfox and @guthrie enjoyed the resort time-share we stayed at. I think he was missing the water since his first run in with the Pacific Ocean. I was making calls and pulling wardrobe from Glam Factory vintage for a huge shoot the next day. Ellie Rayne and I we’re set to shoot during my final day in Vegas before coming home. I’d lost a really important model for “Dark Pinup” and the prospect of shooting with Ellie meant new photos for the book, and a perfect fit for what was a devastating blow for me personally. Ellie has never shot vintage/pinup and I knew we’d create magic…if we pulled this shoot off.

At the final hours, I put a call out on Instagram for hair and make-up artists for this shoot. Within 30 minutes, I’d received a message from a make-up artist named Emily Caitlyn. She was available and was able to connect me with a hairstylist as well. My friend Ralph confirmed that his incredible midcentury modern home was available to us, and with that the shoot was slated to happen. 

Ellie met me at Ralph’s Speakeasy at 6:00p.m. I can go on about this shoot for another 5,000 words, but it was perfect. She looked stunning right through the door. She absolutely killed the pinup look with the help of a world class beauty team, shoot location and a collection of vintage wardrobe. She even felt comfortable enough to shoot implied/nudes, which the “Proclivities” chapter of the book desperately needed. It was perfect! I can’t wait to shoot with her again.

The night ended with me keeping a promise to take @vermillionfox for Korean BBQ. She found a place with great reviews and we arrived, savoring our remaining hours in Vegas. The food was so good, I knew it would ruin any Korean BBQ experience we have available to us in the Twin Cities. I was still on an art high, she was on a food high and we closed out the night grateful for the miles traveled and memories made these last ten days. 

Thanks for reading! For more travel, photography, art and the stories behind the work, follow me here @kommienezuspadt!