What’s up, Hive? I’m once again trying to restart the cycle to be on here with some regularity. I’m on the east coast right now visiting my parents, dealing with some heavy family issues. I decided to make the drive to Pennsylvania to be here as a support system for my mom who was, “absolutely sure”, Harris would win the election. I saw this coming a mile away. “What would you do different than Joe Biden?”, “Nothing I can think of.”, lol. GTFO! The visit wasn’t in vain because it’s taken her about a week to sober up to the reality of the next four years. I will say this; within a week of Trump winning the election, BTC hit another ATH! We’ll see. @tarotbyfergus just did a great reading on all of this on his Patreon.
Being here has been great. I’ve had some time to sit down and revisit old shoots and get caught up on work I’ve owed clients. Before I left, I brought six HD’s worth of photography that I’ve been meaning to catch up on and even with the family business, I’ve been able to haunt a local coffee shop for hours and dig up some gems. The photos from this shoot are from three years ago in Salem, MA. It was a session I always wanted to come back to but with the nonstop pace of my career and travel I was doing, I had to move on to the next client…and the next. I sat with my macadamia nut latte and flagged a few favorites and edited these from the original ten that I sent back to the client.
Salem is such an enchanting place. The cemeteries are the best you’ll find in the United States […I’ve been spoiled in Europe] and the atmosphere is straight out of a Poe story. I remember during this day, the clouds moved in giving me the most ideal diffused light one could hope for. The granite mausoleums and headstones were a perfect backdrop for a gothic aesthetic. I’d forgotten my 35mm lens on this trip and had to shoot all my sessions with a 50mm prime. It was an adjustment but it reminded me of when I first got into photography. The 50mm was the only lens I had and I absolutely loved it. I love anything that creates cinematic images like these.
I’m about to go to sleep. The Tesla is already packed and I’ll be getting on the road first thing in the morning. I’m going to try and document the drive home with @guthrie and make another blog post at the hotel tomorrow evening. I feel like there is some resolution on the family situation and I did need a change of scenery. I miss home, but I’m looking forward to sleeping in my own bed after ten days. Some balance is back and I’m going to try and mentally and emotionally prepare myself for the Minnesota winter as it’s long and dark — and cold. We’re just getting started. Thanks for reading and for following me here on Hive.
Nice shots! I'd love to visit Salem one day I think. It just has a lot of history and I like places where you can "feel" the history around you. It's going to be an interesting future for sure. I'm doing my best to see the silver lining in it all.
It’s beautiful, especially in the fall, @bozz. You’d love it.
Sorry to hear about the family issues. Hopefully over time, that’ll be eased.
Great shots! Looking forward to seeing you get back into the groove here.
Thank you, @blewitt. It sucks but it’s part of the aging process. How is life in the world of comics? Glad to see you’re still active on here. I think we’ve hit OG status.
Thx homie! Moving tons of issues of Copper Coins here! 😝
In all seriousness, it’s ok. I’m honestly pretty burnt out on all of it. The industry (publishers & distributors) simply keep making changes at the detriment to retailers. While I love this world, I look forward to the day when I’m no longer doing it for a living. It’s not here yet, but I now see it in my future clearer than ever.
But the shop is doing ok. Holiday season is about to (hopefully) hit hard.
What about you? Messing with comics at all these days?
The pictures look so great and the cemetery turned out to be perfect for the shoot. Over here our cemeteries are creepy and you sure wouldn’t be brave enough to have a photo shoot.
Great job friend.
Where are you in the world, @ibbtammy? Some of the cemeteries in Europe are incredible. I’ve seen the ones in Russia and they’re so beautiful. One day, I hope.
Ohhh that’s so nice ours is scary over here. I am from Nigeria though.
I love the theme and the model's outfit. Everything is perfectly in harmony in this session, good place and great work.
Than, you @dimascastillo. The east coast has some of the oldest cemeteries in the United States, granted, not near as old as the European cemeteries but for this shoot, I agree. It was a great backdrop for us.
Hope the family issues get sorted. We were in Salem last year and it was interesting. It happened to be the day they had their cardboard boat race, so that we entertaining.
Thank you, @steevc. I’ve never heard of that but it sounds entertaining. That entire area is very rich culturally. Once you’re into Rhode Island you start getting into all the Lovecraft lore, too.
Lots of literary history in that area. We did some Louisa May Alcott sites as daughter is a fan. Went to Spooky Hollow cemetery, but it seems there's more than one.
!HBIT