Thunderdikk

Thunderdikk is by far one of my favorite bands in Los Angeles and photographing them was a blast. We hit the deserted streets of Downtown LA for this shoot. This city isn’t as strict as New York about shooting permits so it’s a great place to scout for location. Thunderdikk is a stellar rock band with an impressive resume. They made an awesome cameo on Oxygen’s “Bad Girls Club,” last season (I loves some trashy reality TV) and their music has been featured on G4′s “X-Play.” Their song “Bra Off Party On” is available for download on the Xbox360 version of Rock Band. The band is currently recording their debut full length album, due out before the end of 2010. Check their website out here or check their music out on Itunes

New: One World Trade

I’ve been working on this project since Graduate School and it was a large part of my thesis. When I return home to New York to visit I dedicate one day to head down to One World Trade and try to pick up where I left off. It’s a grueling project, difficult to shoot kids or worse to deal with parents who are sketchy about signing releases, but it’s worth it. This is a new image I’m adding to the series. The rest can be seen here on my website. I have a lot of new artistic work but I lost my web designer in a very unfortunate and tragic boating accident so I’m currently on the look out for a new one to update my site. If you have any suggestions or referrals please let me know!

Nikki Forova

Nikki Forova is a musician who I didn’t really get to know very well. She was in my studio shooting her album cover with another photographer when I decided to snap a few photos of her gorgeous makeup for a how-to article on our fashion site Frockable. That has yet to go live, but I love these images. I don’t really consider myself a studio or super technical photographer, (I like to think that I am a little more raw and rugged) but these images turned out nicely. Nikki is currently touring the US and Canada. You can check out her music here. Those are not my photographs on her website. Same makeup different photographer.

SB 1070 Protest March

A couple of months ago there was a march downtown in protest of Arizona’s ridiculous immigration law SB 1070. I’m just now getting around to posting the images. This event was special to me because a big downside of life in LA is that it can be very segregated. The working class is also virtually invisible. What I miss most about New York is the accessibility to different groups of people and this made me a little less homesick. The crowd was welcoming and positive. Free of the normal Los Angeles pretension, the only agenda on this day was equality for all.

Samira Sizdahkhani

Los Angeles-based designer and sculptor Samira Sizdahkhani is owner of the jewelry line Samira 13. Accessories are made from gorgeous black pearls, diamonds, crystals and leather. A wonderful dichotomy between elegant and rugged. Shooting Samira was fun. It’s always lovely to shoot in Malibu on a gorgeous day, and natural lighting is really what I enjoy most.

Roadtrippin’ ….Daytrippin’

A spontaneous trip to Malibu with new friends. I had never been to Mulholland drive before. I went home immediately after and rented the movie.

The Equality Center

Proposition 8 is just about as dumbassed as SB 1070. Gays, Lesbians and supporters geared up to fight this violation of civil rights and recently won. These photos were shot before the ruling was overturned at the Equality Center in West Hollywood. When I first moved to LA I had no car so I would often just wonder up and down Santa Monica Boulevard looking for something to do. I passed the equality center a few times, and I liked the feel of the space so I asked the director if I could shoot there. He was totally friendly and one day I stopped by and shot for hours. The best thing about this space is that there is a giant hangar in the back large enough to house an airplane. It’s old broken down and absolutely gorgeous. I did not have the proper lighting equipment to shoot this space as there was no electricity, but I plan on going back with my strobes and my 4×5 so stay posted for that.