It’s a cold night here in Minnesota! I’m at @caffetto and the coffee shop is desolate. Unusual for a Friday. I’ve got my favorite booth and I’ve been editing for a few hours. I’ve got some Mirrorpool logo design to work on and that is becoming an increasingly obvious hole in my art game. I can do it, but it’s a process of simplifying down again and again. For a comic book and illustration fan that has always loved Mucha, Todd McFarlane, Mark Silvestri and Jim Lee, the most detail centric artists of all time, that is a tough state of mind for me to get in to gear.

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I spent the first half of my day in my wheelhouse of photographer, which I do know inside and out. Tonight I went back to a shoot from earlier this year. My friend Brittany flew in from San Diego after a year of talking about collaborating while subsequently quarantining. After all this time, we finally made it happen when she booked a flight to Minneapolis. We got a room at the historic 300 Clifton bed and breakfast in uptown; one of my favorite locations in all of Minnesota. Brittany came ready to shoot with several outfit changes. We were about put the pandemic distance behind us.

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We eased in to the shoot, catching up while finding ourselves in the creative flow of a stunning location. I’d shot Brittany over a FaceTime call in the midst of COVID for a virtual shoot, and that, along with staying in touch during the rest of the year made for an easy chemistry in person. She took great direction but occasionally found a pose that caused me yell, “Stop!”. My style of shooting, I tend to know it when I see it, and when I do, I need the model to freeze for a series of low light captures. These images in particular are some of my favorites from the whole shoot.

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This was a real pleasure to shoot. Coming back around to these edits was even more satisfying. I’m thrilled to be back to this routine with creativity leading the way for how I spend my days. I love having the freedom to decide once I get to @caffetto what I want to work on and for how long. The essence of this will be a lasting part of how Mirrorpool is structured as a company, because ultimately, all of us are freelancers at heart. Tomorrow will be another day of art and I’m looking forward to it. Have a great night and thanks for reading!