Ashley comes to Arizona

In 2014, I moved to Rome for school.

My roommates were randomly selected, and I was hopeful that it wouldn't be too painful to live with 8 girls I knew nothing about. We were lucky. Although we all stayed in that apartment for only one semester I made some of the most exotic and interesting friends. We represented five countries (Russia, Germany/Indonesia, England, USA) and five American states. 

We stay in varying levels of contact, and I stay most connected to Ashley, our Hawaiian roommate. Ashley and I traveled to Naples and Morocco while we lived in Rome, last summer I visited her in Oahu, and in February she came to me in Arizona.

One day while Ashley was here, we went up to Sedona with my friends Loretta and Eric (you may recognize Loretta from here, here).

Initially, I was put out when I learned it was going to be very rainy for our day trip, but in hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way.

We pulled off the road about an hour north of Phoenix, and found the most amazing field to take photos in.

Behind the scenes photos above are courtesy of Eric Hervey.

We wandered further north to Arcosanti which may or may not be an alien playground out in the middle of nowhere.

All of this occurred before we had even arrived in Sedona. After the sun goes down I tend to abandon my photography equipment. We had dinner and went shopping in Sedona and then returned back down to Phoenix.

On my last day in Hawaii, we took one final hike to Upper Makua Cave, and we took a "proposal" photo. On her last day in Arizona, we took one final hike up Camelback and took a matching desert version of the photo.

Loretta: Part 2

On our first shoot, Loretta and I ran around the Arizona Grand Resort which has beautiful architecture and landscaping and took a certain kind of photos. This time, I wanted to shoot her in my apartment in my self portrait style. You guys know by now that my apartments almost always have incredible light, and I totally take advantage of all the nooks and crannies of it. We shot mostly on the balcony, but we also did photos in the living room, bathroom, and in my bedroom. Everywhere except the kitchen.

Someday, I'll get a studio, but I'll be hard pressed to find a studio that can give me shots better than I can take in-home.