Dark modesty; a genre?

I’m once again trying to stick to this routine of getting a few posts up every week. Routine in any capacity has been a challenge lately. I just went to the east coast and back to visit family. Now that I’m in Minnesota again, I’m finally settling in. As far as the Thanksgiving holiday is concerned, I could care less, but this is a meaningful time for me for other reasons. In 2012, I got custody of @guthrie just a few days before the Thanksgiving holiday. I remember I made a massive dinner, which at two years old, he asked for a PBJ. Regardless, it’s a tradition I’ve upheld, always cooking for hours; tons of vegan food and desserts. We had a couple of friends over. It was a great night.

So, keeping up with the plan, I have some new photography to share. Well, newish. Whereas a lot of the older pinup stuff are new edits of shoots from over the years, this is a recent shoot from the late summer. I was introduced to this model through a friend. With my life taking a new trajectory, I was more than ready for this chapter to begin. I’ve been curious how my dark pinup style of dietetic lighting would translate to modest or traditional dress. I called in a favor with the beautiful mansion event center, 300 Clifton, in uptown Minneapolis and our shoot would begin there in the garden. Almost immediately, I felt the confidence I’ve been missing in my work.

We shot in the mansion for about 90 minutes. It’s owned by two friends of mine and over the years, I’ve done a ton of events and shoots there. I was able to find the flow state early and the model was outstanding. After we got what we needed from the estate, we made our way to the Rock Garden near uptown Minneapolis. I’ve done senior picture shoots here on short notice and it always delivers as a backdrop for portraits. Midsummer, there were flowers and vibrant trees around us. It had a serene vibe and the model’s Bangali traditional dress made for some really memorable portraits. This was one of my favorite shoots of the year.

I’ve done a few more traditional and modest shoots since this. This was an essential part of my new identity as a photographer and what my career would look like for the future. Since then, I’ve branched out to other industries. Over a decade ago, I would occasionally get hired to shoot food photography and anyone that knows me knows how much I love to cook. One of my favorite passions is finding recipes and adapting them to being vegan. Lately, food photography is the majority of my income and I’m going to be sharing more of that on here in the weeks and months to come. For more photography, illustrations and the stories behind on the work, follow me here.