Keep It Retro With Reed (Patreon)

The unstoppable duo met again.

A little over a year ago was the last time that Reed and I created together. It feels like an eternity ago, but the memories still feel like just yesterday. I remember the entire day so vividly. What started off as just getting together to shoot turned into spending an entire day with one another.

I stayed at Reed's Airbnb the night prior to this shoot. She had booked a space in Downtown Los Angeles, not even a few blocks from where I now live. Needless to say it was a beautiful space and an amazing location to shoot. I had work that evening and had to close, so I did not get off work until late and was not set to get to her Airbnb until at least 12A.M. With a couple of Red Bull's already coursing through me, I was awake and the midnight arrival did not phase me a bit. On the way, I stopped at a grocery to pick up a bottle of whiskey for me, which is a must and a bottle of red wine for Reed, a merlot to be exact. I hit the road to the address that I thought was her Airbnb, but turns out that there are two same exact address, just with different zip codes in Los Angeles. With an added fifteen minutes trying to find where she actually was, parking and gathering all of my gear I was finally walking up to the main door of the building. Reed was out front to greet me and helped me with my things. The first thing she told me about the building was that we had to be careful, quiet and weary for the Airbnb host had strict rules about guests and more importantly; shooting.

With a successful covert trip up to the space, I set down my things, walked around and took in all of the beauty of the space. I wasted no time opening my bottle of whiskey. I poured a glass for myself and one of wine for Reed. For the first time in months we were face to face with one another. We spent the first hour catching up, chatting, laughing and reminiscing. Sometimes, talking can work up an appetite and this was most certainly one of those times. Reed and I decided to take a walk down the road to Joe's Pizza, which just so happens to be the best authentic New York Style Pizza place in Los Angeles. Open until 2A.M., as the should be, pizza by the slice and all of the dipping sauce options. I was in heaven with pizza in my hand and Reed in front of me. The surrounding homeless, sirens and downtown noise did not phase me as my attention was solely on  her. After demolishing our slices and already feeling the stomach ache from eating gluten, we set off back to the Airbnb for one more drink and then some sleep. We could have chatted for hours on end, but check out the next morning was at 11A.M. and we knew we had to get some rest in.

With my eyes popping open to my alarms, the light trickling in through the windows, Reed and I began our normal, but past routine. My morning task was always to retrieve the most vital part of the morning; coffee. Reed's task was the most vital to being able to shoot; get ready. With a short walk down the street to Paris Baguette, the morning was officially on its way.

Arriving back at the Airbnb, Reed was in her normal position; sitting on a pillow in front of a mirror on the floor curling her hair and listening to her music. I set down her coffee next to her and went to grab my Mamiya m645. I always loved taking candids of Reed as she was getting ready, lounging or honestly doing anything for that matter. As she got ready I sat back and shot several frames, got all of my gear out and ready and sooner that we knew it it was time to work.

Reed has this brilliant outfit that matched the aesthetic of the space perfectly. I remember when I first picked up my camera, put it to my face and right before I shot the first frame I took a quivering breath. Nerves that it goes well, hopes that I do not mess up our first shoot in months and an overwhelming feeling of joy that I had her in front of my cameras once again. Needless to say, the shoot went flawlessly. It was like riding a bike; you never forget. our flow was flawless, Reed's posing was on point, per usual and less than a half hour later we had this beautiful and seemingly immaculate set. There were a couple hiccups, but that was mainly my Polaroid ProPack flash not firing and having to blow through the remainder of the exposures in the camera so I could replace the batteries that live behind the lens. Other than that, a perfect shoot.

As we wrapped up this look, Reed and I realized we had a little bit more time on hour hands in the space, so we spent it shooting random fun things here and there. A polaroid here, some boomerangs there and a couple 35mm exposures as well.

With a final wrap, bags packed and out the door just in the knick of time, we shipped off to Beverly Hills for an appointment she had. The car ride was all too familiar; cigarette in hand, Reed's music playing through the speaker sin my Jeep, the warm California sun hitting our skins through the windshield and the ever crawling freeways of Los Angeles. Finally to Beverly Hills, we found out that her appointment was not for another few hours. With a quick change in game plan, we then made our way to Pasadena to one of our all time favorite Pizza places to meet our friends Nova and Chris for lunch. We arrived quite some time before our friends did, so we sat at the bar as we always did after a shoot. I pulled out my camera and we began sifting through the images as we drank our beverages and remarking at the job well done. We both had to keep rubbing our eyes, so to speak, because it all felt so normal. Like no time had passed and it was just another day in our lives. To the memories, cheers.

- AW Media

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/r6g4kldl62ej87d/AADdBokT17FVudWhIt9R3FDxa?dl=0