Analogue With Destiny Smith | A Collection Of Polaroids (Patreon)

A short stint in Los Angeles. Quite literally.

Destiny and her friend Paige both flew into L.A. for a little more than 48 hours. The tickets were cheap from Iowa and they wanted an excuse to get away for a weekend. It just kind of worked out that I was able to take their full day in Los Angeles off of work so I could show them around the city, check off some quintessential Los Angeles things from their bucket list and of course, shoot with Destiny.

They landed late Saturday night and did not arrived to my studio until about 3:30 A.M. The only reason I know is due to my security system, Kylea. If I am home and she hears our door she immediately goes into defense mode, but the second Destiny and Paige walked him she was elated and guard dogs Ky went way. We said our hello and then right away said goodnight.

The next morning I woke up to two ladies getting ready for the day in my bathroom, Kylea all up in my face to go for a walk and without a doubt, a cup of coffee right when crawling out of bed. Destiny, Paige and I started the day off with brunch. The quintessential L.A. brunch spot is definitely Ivanhoe. At least, it is in my book. The food is amazing, the atmosphere mimics and the drinks are killer. We all sat and god to know one another over a delicious meal then shortly after headed off to Little Tokyo for a Boba and a walk around. Now, these are things that you would never really find me typically doing, such as Little Tokyo, but when in Rome right?

Next spot of the day; back to the studio. Destiny changed into some beautiful lingerie, I grabbed my array of cameras and we spent the next bit of time capturing some great exposures. It has been so long since I have shot and even more so since I have had a story to tell. It felt amazing to pull down some seamless, direct a model and hear the ejection of a integral type camera. I was looking forward to this part of the day the most. Destiny has such a unique look that I could not wait to shoot with her. It is actually what mainly prompted this trip.

Next, Santa Monica. Once again, no where you would normally find me, but I told the ladies "Whatever you want to do. We will do." The ride to Santa Monica was much more exhilarating for me than actually being there. We all got to experience our very own 'Twelve O'Clock Boys' documentary on the freeway heading towards the ocean. If you do not know what or who the Twelve O'Clock Boys are, I suggest looking it up because it is wild. Basically a gang of people who ride dirt bikes and ATV's illegally on the surface streets and freeways all while doing insanely dangerous wheelies. This show we witnessed was not just for a brief moment. It was the entire way to Santa Monica, over 14 miles of near death experiences. I have seen them on the surface streets downtown and even as I type this now, I hear the dirt bikes outside, but I have never seen a swarm of over fifty of them on a freeway.

A trip for the books for them and a fun day off for me. Enjoy!

These exposures were shot on Polaroid SX-70 Type Color film with a Polaroid SX-70 Sonar OneStep, Polaroid 600 Type B&W film with a Polaroid SLR680 and Fujifilm FP-3000B B&W Professional film with a Polaroid 600SE.

- AW Media