My Shoot with Edward
May 20, 2020 § 1 Comment
A few months ago I was lucky enough to become acquainted with a local photographer named Edward Duarte at a crowded bar during Downtown LA’s monthly Art Walk. Hipsters lined the walkways and I don’t remember what brand of funk was playing but it was a perfect mix of old school in this new setting, for me. Maybe it was James Brown but it escapes me. Let’s just say it was James Brown for effects sake, shall we? We exchanged some silly jokes and smiles and he slipped me his business card kindly offering to shoot me. Little did I know how seasoned Edward was when I slipped his card into my back pocket.
A few months later I finally collected the balls to take him up on his offer; I mean it took a nudge from my inner child to call him after seeing his portfolio, which you can see here.
On the day of our shoot I remember having a mini melt down trying to decide what to wear. It wasn’t glamorous, it was chaotic. After trying combinations of every one of my pant, dress, short, skirt and capri outfits, I decided on four basic black and white pieces to switch around. Then I met him at his Downtown LA studio.
It was exactly what I expected. The sun was shining through his wall to wall loft style windows. A bed covered only in white sheets against two picture windows screamed — get naked. Naturally, I got nervous while retouching my hair and make up, gagging a little bit but it passed when he turned up the Rolling Stones. CAN YOU HEAR ME KNOCKING put a smile on my face being the easy to please kind of girl that I am. And we started shooting. It was beyond awkward for the first half hour — not knowing how to pose, not feeling at ease with him. Don’t judge though, I’m really shy underneath it all, OK? He suggested some tequila, so I took a couple shots and it helped. And it was liberating. And it was loud music, a camera shooting my every move, in a Downtown LA loft. And I was young and it was fun. I HIGHLY recommend giving in to these experiences if they ever come along.
Here are a few of my favorite shots from the two hour shoot.
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