This past April, I made my annual pilgrimage to Las Vegas for Viva Last Vegas. Once a year, pinups and greasers from around the world come to the huge Rockabilly Weekend festival. I’ve gained somewhat of a reputation as the premier “dark pinup photographer” and typically book up for Viva Las Vegas at least six month prior.
Sometime around fall 2014 I received a booking from a beautiful New Zealand pinup named Ella Webster, also known as Miss Victory Violet. We had our date for VLV set, shooting at my friend Yocelin’s beautiful mid-century modern home in Paradise Palms, only hours before Ella competed in the annual Pinup Pageant […probably the biggest attraction during Viva].
Ella is an absolute dream client. She’s kind, gorgeous and a wonderful model. She does her own hair, make-up and came with a few stunning wardrobe looks. We made good use of our time throughout Yocelin’s home. I love my job, and shooting is my favorite part, so it never feels like “work”, but Ella was exceptionally fun.
Ironically […but not particularly unusual for me], my favorite images from our first shoot came once we snuck in to Yocelin’s backyard. It’s Nevada, so just dry sand, a few old classic cars and rusted out truck bodies. If there’s anything I strive for in my shoots, it’s avoiding the redundancy of poses and locations that many photographers fall in to.
The entire shoot was a delight. The photos did amazingly well on her blog, www.missvictoryviolet.com, and her Instagram @missvictoryviolet. One particular shot almost reaching 7,000 likes […which makes me wince imagining how that’d convert on Steemit].
Ella got changed and headed straight for the Pinup Pageant, where she won shortly thereafter. Super proud of her. Here’s the complete editorial from that first shoot.
One year later, Miss Victory Violet returned to the US for Viva Las Vegas, 2016. Clearly, we had to up our game after the success of the previous collaboration. We woke up at an ungodly hour to drive to Valley Of Fire before sunrise […poor girl was so jet lagged after a 19 hour flight].
I’ll be posting the second part of this series including a blog and the complete editorial from Viva Las Vegas 2016 tomorrow afternoon.
I post here on Steemit daily. Photography, illustration and general thoughts about life and Steemit. Follow my blog!
Also, a big thank you to @robinhoodwhale for featuring my photography in their alpha efforts of curating under represented artists just getting a start here on Steemit. Visit @robinhoodwhale and learn about the initiative.
More work on Instagram @Kommienezuspadt, and SnapChat @madeineighty.
oh my. i adore vintage lingerie. any chance to know which brand it is? you also did a photoshoot with lingerieaddict wow
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@thebluepanda I'm sponsored by What Katie Did lingerie, and I feel they're the best [...but take that for what it's worth considering the aforementioned sponsorship, lol]. I know Katie personally and she is incredibly passionate about making quality vintage lingerie. They have a location in London and LA. Orchard Corset makes great stuff as well. You may also want to look in to Secrets In Lace. Yes! Cora is one of my favorite people on earth. I have a two part editorial similar to this one coming with The Lingerie Addict.
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hey I know about community lingerie and who is who :) all indie lingerie producers are super passionate about their job :) I already followed you. Waiting for the rest of posts :)
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Once again another fantastic post! I love the photos:)
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@thecryptofiend thanks so much, man! I appreciate it :)
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Holy waist to hip ratio! Gorgeous shots of a beautiful girl. It's warm and friendly but still super cool and sexy. I hope you make a million steemit dollars. :) For real though.
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@melody24 Seriously. Her figure is incredible and her waist cincher game is tops. Thank you very much! I always aim to make my work tastefully sexy. Ugh! Million steem dollars sounds great, but I must say, in my short time here, a few whales have been very generous with my posts. I'm grateful.
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Great post. I love pinup, I have made many pinup poses for 3d Avatars. Being a kiwi myself I can see the kiwi girl raw look she has. Natural beauty is something many New Zealand girls possess.
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@cryptoiskey Ahhh! Wonderful. I'm glad I could represent your love for pinup and your country in the same post. I agree. I know for New Zealanders and Australians, there are serious distinct cultural differences but as I've become friends with more NZ and Australian's, I've always been astounded at how many drop dead, perfect 10 women both countries have! I'll be making a trip to Australia next years for Greaserfest and most like coming to Auckland for a few days to shoot and find a Hobbit house ;)
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lol awesome hobbit dwellings are only 45 minutes from where my family lives:).
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Very beautifully done, artistic and classically vintage ! What more can I say! ? Loved your post , this is why i keep following you , Keep up the the great work!
Image credit imgrum.com
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Thanks so much @karenmckersie! All of those things you mentioned are what I try to achieve in my photography. I have a natural style for this subculture of pinup because I shoot with only available light, and exclusively with 35mm and 50mm lenses. Many of the photos end up looking stills from Old Hollywood films. Thank you for the kind words!
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No problem, their all awesome! Another upvote!
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Such beautiful photos. I love this style Miss Victory Violet has going on here. Perhaps my favourite style. Beautiful photos. I seriously cannot pick one favourite, they are all absolutely stunning Great work. Upvoted and followed.
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Thanks so much @steemettes! Be sure to follow her on Instagram @missvictoryviolet and her site. She's a prolific blogger. She just moved to London but I have a call scheduled with her this afternoon to tell her about Steemit. I think she's enrich this site so much by contributing here, as well as her blog.
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Thank you for the upvote and follow!
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