A Day In Joshua Tree With Brooke Eva (Patreon)

Starting off the post like that sounds so epic, suspenseful, that the shoot was the best one I have ever had, I have a completely new way of looking at photography. Well, sadly that is not it. The life changer came from a little bug with wings, black and yellow stripes and one small, almost microscopic stinger. A bee.

We were in Joshua Tree this weekend for our staycation with Derek and Julie Woods. At the end of the weekend we packed up our things from the Airbnb and we shipped out. Instead of driving back home, we stopped off maybe ten minutes down the road and met up with Brooke at her house. We were welcomed by her butt hanging out of these pink shorts, the strong smell of Marijuana and three fantastically amazing dogs. While she finished getting ready, took a few more rips off of her bong and chatted our ears off of where she wanted to shoot and what she had in store for us; I simply just sat there on the couch, nodding in agreeance and giving my full and undivided attention to these adorable pups. With all of the cameras packed up in her bag, all of my love given to the pups and one super high model, we were finally out the door and on our way to Joshua Tree National Park!

The Plan; Expectations: Brooke shoots Reed in a look she styled at the Cholla Cactus Reserve, We drive to our spot in Joshua Tree, I shoot Brooke and Reed together for some outfits she needed photographs of, then I shoot Brooke alone and get a full set out of the day for you guys.

Reality: Brooke shoots Reed, I shoot a few photos of Brooke and Reed together, my life changes forever because of a god damn bee, the shoot ends.

While I was shooting Brooke and Reed together and just getting into the flow of things; I felt a pinch on my ankle. If any of you guys and gals are familiar with Vans shoes, I was wearing a pair of size 11 men's 'Sk8 Hi's', they were tied. I reached into my shoe, down to my ankle and pulled out what I thought was going to be a pricker or a stick of sorts from the surrounding shrubbery. Fingers retracting from my shoe, pinched together holding what pinched my ankle. I looked down at what was in my hand and threw it quickly to the ground. It was a bee, a mother fucking kamikaze bee! There is no other explanation besides that of how he miraculously got into the bottom of my shoe that was basically a boot. After getting stung and saying out loud "That was a fucking bee!", I brushed it off and kept shooting despite them asking me if I was alright. Shot for a couple more minutes and then was in some extraordinary pain. I lifted my leg up off the ground and said "Ohhhhhhkay, I think I'm going to need to stop for a second." I sat down on the ground, took my shoe off and they inspected my ankle. The stinger was still inside my skin so they got that out, I put my shoe back on and we finished up a few more images. Sadly, the bees were upon us. This one lone wolf bee decided to yell to all of his friends, probably saying something along the lines of "Come get these assholes, I'm about to die now!" We packed up our stuff and quickly got out of there. Reed and Brooke kept asking if I was okay, to which I said "Yes, I am fine."

We drove back to Brooke's house, she shot another look of Reed in front of her garage, I shot a few more photos of Brooke in her front yard and then we shipped off back home. What was to come was the worst part of this whole ordeal and forever gave me post traumatic stress over bees.

The next day, we woke up ran some errands and had a normal day. We arrived home from errands, I sat down at my computer with intentions to edit and immediately became dreary, lethargic and drained. I had no idea what was happening! We took a look at my ankle and it was swelling more that it had before. Reed made me take Benadryl, soak my ankle in a scolding hot epsom salt bath and lay down. As the Benadryl kicked in, I started having hot flashes, fever sweats and utter sickness. By this time, my ankle was nearly double the size of what it should be. Reed took a sharpie and marked where the swelling and redness was to track if it was getting bigger or smaller. Over the next few days, it stayed the same size mostly; maybe a little bigger. I could barely put pressure on it and my range of motion in my ankle was shot. Over the next few days I kept making jokes about maybe having to amputate my foot, which then became more and more of a real thought. Thankfully, I did not have to amputate my foot, the swelling eventually went down after about a week and a half and I had full motion back in my right ankle.

Needless to say, I am now deathly terrified of bees. I was once walking the dogs and my shoe lace flipped up into my shoe and I felt a pinch. I immediately fell to the ground and swatted at my ankle in fear that it was a bee. Now, bees serve a very important part of our ecosystem. They pollinate and cross pollinate thousands of species of plants, flowers and flora; without bees our ecosystem would quickly change, crumble and diminish. However, Fuck Bees.

- AW Media

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/b4t43aal9yxdvas/AABNcVUNh4a8pLfd_8SXDuDea?dl=0