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kungfubreakfast · 5 years

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June Gloom

Welcome back to the seemingly never ending carnival ride that is Kung Fu Breakfast. It’s June, one of my favorite months of the year for shooting in LA because it’s warm but not too hot, the days are long, and you get a good bit of that June gloom soft even light. Things on my end have been a bit overwhelming with plenty of things going on including my trip to Miami to shoot with Dahliaisdopey and her cam girl crew. Because of all that we have a GRIP of new sets. This might actually be a record of new sets for one post so let’s jump right in.

Easing things in is a new mini set with Ms. Petra Blair. Many of you may recall Petra’s first set in the forests of Switzer Falls from my last post in May. I invited Petra out for a drink at The Offbeat in my neighborhood of Highland Park. We wandered over to a late night laundry mat and shot until some woman working there kicked us out. Mini shoots are always fun in their organic nature and the story of what I do in my off time so hope you like it.

Several months ago Brittny Nicole took me down to San Diego to shoot with the babes of Little Black Diamond. On that trip I got to meet the owner of Little Black Diamond, Adrienne Abelle. Adrienne and I really hit it off and spent the next few months working on getting together for a shoot. We finally made it happen and enlisted the help of The Cosmic Daughter. The three of us explored a bit around San Diego before winding up on a beautiful little set built right in the Little Black Diamond warehouse. It was a really fun multi-muse shoot with vibrant colors everywhere.

I often go back and forth on my favorite types of Muses but rock chicks are always up there, including a new muse for me: BB. BB (of the band The Drained) is a mutual friend of my muse Xtine Reckless and we were able to connect on social media. BB had no real modeling experience, really only shooting some photos with her boyfriend and I thought she was a wonderful Muse. The two of us met up in Victorville to shoot at the abandoned George Air Force Base. It was super windy that day so we spent most of our time inside but you can see in the outside shots her hair just blowing everywhere. Love BB’s look and attitude and you’ll definitely be seeing more of her in the future (probably sooner than you think)

Last month I was very inspired by my solo adventure sets in The Bay so I decided to continue this new feature to the site including this new mini set I shot in the Los Feliz/Silverlake area. I actually wasn’t alone for this as I was with my friend Quinn but it has those solo vibes since I didn’t shoot any models. I did however shoot this beautiful Vhils/Shepard Fairey collab, a cute dog, and a Jurassic Park car amongst other things.

So from keeping it local we travel across the united states for my Miami sets. I’m going to do something a little different here and write about all of these sets together because really it was one main adventure that wielded seven sets. My friend Dahliaisdopey hired me and put me on a plane to shoot with her and her cam girl friends down in Miami. I arrived late on Tuesday night to a cute little Air BnB in North East Miami. I had no idea where Dahlia and the girls were staying until I got in the Uber and headed across town to Southwest Miami. Once I arrived I entered this dope house where I was greeted by Dahlia. Dahlia introduced me to her housemates Chloe Rydr, Daddy Daycare, and Neko. After a little meet and greet I got to work and shot solo sets with Chloe, Daddy, and Dahlia (Neko wasn’t feeling too well and decided to skip out).

I shot mostly around the pool area and a bit in doors with each of them but eventually I suggested we all get out of the house. We headed to Wynwood (Miami’s Arts District) where Dahila and I previously shot at one of my favorite abandoned places: The Old RC Cola Plant. My history with the RC Cola Plant goes far back as my first solo adventures to Wynwood in my street art days. The most time I ever spent there was during 2015 when I documented Angelina Christina and Fanakapan creating a mural inside the plant during Art Basel for The Bushwick Collective. Later I would do the shoots with Dahlia and Angie Mitchell there as well.

Unfortunately when we arrived The RC Cola Plant had crazy new reinforced gates and we were unable to get in. Still we had a fun shoot around Wynwood. After the shoot we headed to dinner at a fancy Mexican place where I met Millie Knoxx and her boyfriend. The five of us got amazing ice cream and then called it a night.

The next day I headed back to the Cam Girl Casa for more shoots. I shot more solo sets with Dahlia, Chloe, and Daddy around the house and eventually even got in the pool for the first shoot I’ve ever done where both the model and I were in the pool. I also burned forgetting how harsh the Florida sun can be. My favorite part of the pool shoots had to be the giant floating duck with sunglasses. I tried to include him in as many shots as possible. After some time Milli Knoxx and her boyfriend joined as at the end house and I shot a group set with Dahlia, Chloe, Daddy, Millie and the aforementioned Neko. I believe this was my first time ever shooting extensively with five models (my previous record is four when I shot with Satan’s Children) though I mostly wound up breaking them up in to smaller groups. Neko also had to leave us pretty quick which reduced the group down to four.

After a fun time in the pool, Dahlia, Millie, and I headed to the Master Bathroom where we shot a beautiful shower set. I’ve previously shot in showers just a few times but the last time was with Dahlia in Orlando so currently she holds the record for Kung Fu Breakfast shower sets! After the shower I chilled and relaxed for a bit at the house before shooting my final and favorite set of the group. Dahlia and Chloe put together a Velma and Daphne of Scooby Doo cosplay. I was pretty drained by the time we got to this set but the costumes just inspired so much creativity that I hit a new creative stride.

Overall this was a really fun experience to shoot so much content with so many lovely ladies over this period of time and I hope I get a chance to again. Chloe and I really connected creatively. She’s a badass and would just come out of the shower, nude, fresh faced and I saw how beautiful she looked and wanted to photograph her and she just smiled and started posing. We talked music and geek stuff and have since traded Spotify playlists. Daddy was a dynamo with a real spitfire personality. This girl gives no fucks and was on top of her game including the fun watermelon stuff we did in her solo set. Millie was really rad to shoot and had great chemistry with all the girls. We talked later that we both wished we had had more time to shoot. Fun fact: Millie and I are both New Englanders and Millie is a skater. I didn’t get to spend much time with Neko but she seemed really sweet and we got some fun photos during the group shoot. And of course I love Dahlia with all my heart and appreciate her bringing me out, taking care of me, and being a killer Muse.

Did you think my Florida adventures were over? Oh far from it. After leaving the ladies in Miami I headed North to go stay with my family in the West Palm Beach area. I got to see my niece’s dance recital, I wandered around West Palm Beach and checked out some street art, visited an old Courthouse turned Palm Beach Historical Society with my folks, went on a little day roadtrip with my older brother to Lake Okechobee, and went on a walk with my Mom around the neighborhood, shooting all along the way. I was in a Sunshine State of Mind

Finally before leaving Florida I got a chance to head down to Miami one more time to shoot once again with Angie Mitchell. Angie is one of my favorite muses of all time and I was so happy to get the chance to shoot with her for the time since our first time way back in the beginning of last year. We started off our shoot in this little cornfield near her house. I love when Florida doesn’t feel like Florida and this was definitely it. After that we headed to the island of Key Biscayne to visit an abandoned spot I’ve had my eye on for a while. The Miami Marine Stadium was the arena for boat racing and has been left abandoned for years. It was a wild place and I loved shooting with Angie there before we eventually got kicked out by some very polite security guards. We finished our shoot further down the island at this weird creepy park we found. I loved my first shoot with Angie but this might have topped it.

My first shoot back in LA reunited me with my homegirl Ingrid Mouth. Ingrid and I last shot at the end of 2017 so we had a ton to catch up. We head down to the South Bay of Los Angeles to hit up Sunken City and Angels Gate Bunkers. We started at Sunken City but there were so many people out that day it just kept getting so distracting (though we did get some rad shots). After that we made our way to Angels Gate Bunkers (my unofficial studio) and really hit our stride. This was a really fun shoot where we definitely got in to some weird stuff including the appearance of a tentacled strap on.

This next set might be the rowdiest shoot I’ve ever done. Getting back to LA I realized I had a lot of free time that week and hit up the one and only Girlwolf Cindy Clark who just happened to be free. We decided to keep things kind of local heading back to Downtown LA where we previously shot together. Cindy brought along her friend Viola and the three of us got super silly for the afternoon. I had seen Viola around social media for a while I swear we talked about shooting together sometime awhile back so I was really stoked to meet her. Viola was a super cool chick and I hope to shoot some solo stuff with her in the future. We sound some cool industrial spots around the outer edge of downtown, eventually making our way over to the Arts District.

We shot a bunch at this arcade bar by the name of EightyTwo. I’m always reluctant to shoot too much at private businesses in LA as most places either want to be compensated or just hate shoots all around. Cindy said she had shot before before so I figured it was chill. For a while it was and we got in a full look for the two of them playing all over the arcade games. The girls bought beers so that probably helped our cause. After we left Cindy and Viola realized they hadn’t closed out their tabs. After a quick outfit change and a little more shooting we headed back to EightyTwo. The girls bought more beers and we decided to shoot in the pinball room. Well after not too long a bouncer came barreling towards me yelling “ARE YOU DOING A PHOTOSHOOT?”. We agreed to leave despite the fact that the bouncer seemed to have more interest in scolding us than anything else. Finally on our way out he called out to us “FUCKING WEIRDOS” and that was it.

We threw together a few more outfits in the parking lot where we all met up including set off some sparklers that Cindy brought. Despite the scolding incident we had a wild time and probably never stopped laughing. Normally I like get plenty of solo shots during these multi-muse sets but I didn’t have the heart to separate the girls so this is all non-stop Cindy and Viola or Beavis & Butthead

Sometimes a Muse is new, but not really. Sometimes you’ve known someone for years but you just meet them. Maybe that doesn’t make sense but that’s the case with this next muse. Dri and I have known each other for years on social media through the world of street art. I’m friends with both Dri and her boyfriend Quinn on Instagram and started bugging Dri about doing a shoot together a few months ago. At first Dri was a little nervous as she hadn’t really done any modeling but eventually hit me about a month ago asking if I’d still be interested. I actually wound up meet Dri and Quinn in person just before I left for Florida. I met up with Dri at the Los Feliz coffee shop she works at and Quinn just happened to be there. Quinn and I left and went hiking with a friend of us for the day which is why I shot the Los Feliz/Silverlake set from earlier in this post. After she got off work, Dri met up with us and we all hung out.

Fast forward a few weeks to our shoot. Dri and I met up in the late afternoon and had a really rad shoot starting at her apartment building rooftop and trickling out to Downtown. Dri put together some rave looks and for someone with little to no experiences I thought she great to shoot with. We really clicked like old friends and put together a bootyful set.

In my adventures I drive a lot. I really depend on my car, but every now and then it’s nice to get away from it and jump on public transportation. When I got back to LA I needed to have a new adventure with Miss Chaos so along with the returning Liza, the three of us decided to take The Metro from North Hollywood to Santa Monica. We had a fun adventure though I have to say that taking the trains takes SO LONG. We stopped in Downtown for a bit before heading to Santa Monica. We shot some photos along the way so this set is sort of a mixed solo adventure set for me as well as a multi muse set with the ladies. My only regret is that I wish we had shot some stuff on the train.

Remember how I said' you’d be seeing BB again sooner than later? Well a few weeks after our shoot I caught her band The Drained at The Silverlake Lounge and decided to bust out my camera for some live music shots. The Drained really rocked and it was cool to see BB in her element. I didn’t tell her I was coming so she was really appreciative and grateful to see me. It’s always a fun time to see my performer muses doing their thing.

This next Muse is making her debut solo set BUT actually made her first appearance last month during my trip with The Spritely One and Steven Burhoe to The Renaissance Faire. Besides being such a big fan, Sprite also happens to work at The Ren Faire, so when we went together she introduced me to a ton of cool people including a girl portraying a Puritan and shaming the vistors of the Ren Faire, who’s real name is Cheyenne. Cheyenne and I connected on social and quickly made plans to shoot together. The two of us headed deep in to the forest to one of my favorite spots, Murphy Ranch. Cheyenne is a cosplayer and brought some dope outfits including a pinup type look and a super creepy exorcist type witch. We had a really fun shoot and also get in a more casual Cheyenne look. Sadly one of my favorite buildings at Murphy Ranch, The Stables, had collapsed in some time since the last time I visited. I had great affection for this building was and sad to see it ravaged by time, though these things certainly happen. The shoot was really lovely and Cheyenne and I will be reuniting in about a week during Anime Expo so stay tuned to my social media.

And finally the last set (whooo!) brings me back together with my love Rose Page. I travelled out to Victorville to see Rose. I had already shot with Rose at The George Air Force Base and had been there a few weeks before with BB anyway so I really wasn’t sure where to go shoot. Rose and I explored and wound up finding this really bizarre and cool park overlooking some train tracks. The park said it was by reservation only so we were really alone there and no one bothered us. Afterward we found a few little small spots to shoot before I realized how close we were to The Rock-A-Hoola Water Park. I hadn’t been to Rock-A-Hoola since I shot there with Laura Wrong because during that trip my car had been broken in to by junkies. I felt the magnetic pull of the abandoned spot and decided to risk it. Well once we got there we realized someone had broken in to one of the entrances to fence and we were able to drive right in and keep an eye on my car. We busted out a ton of amazing photos and I’m really glad I was able to go back to this location as it gives me such fond memories. It was wonderful catching up with Rose and the next time you see her here will be her maternity photos so congrats to Rose!

Before I got I want to take a moment to pay tribute to a Muse that is transitioning out of our world. Recently Mika Mae Jones had a seizure that caused her to fall and left her with severe brain damage. Her family has been very forthcoming with everyone on social media about what is going on with her and have stated that they are currently in the process of finding people to donate her organs to before she passes on. Mika was one of my first muses. I found out about the incident the day after my shoot with Cheyenne, which only hit harder because Mika was the first person I ever went to Murphy Ranch with. Mika had Muscular Dystrophy and still made the 300 stair walk in and out of Murphy Ranch. Though we only shot together once, I loved photographing her. She thanked me during our shoot for shooting with her despite the fact that she had chipped her tooth around that time after a previous seizure induced fall. She was a gentle soul and touched so many people particularly in our Los Angeles Art Community as a Muse, Painter, and Human Being. Mika was very important to my early confidence as a photographer and I will always be thankful to her for our time together. Thanks you Mika from the bottom of my heart.

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